A sudden sound improvement

Audio Systems
#1

Ok, system is quite simple: Rossini+clock, integrated amplifier, loudspeakers (see below for details).
Something incredible happened yesterday: a substantial improvement of sound quality: my wife and me looking at each other saying “it never sounded this good”. We were listening to Earth Wind and Fire, and specifically “Feeling Blue”, “That’s the way of the world”, “Devotion”, “Fantasy”. We immediately put on some more well known tracks, and… yes, it was better! And not slightly better: really BETTER!

I looked at what I had recently changed, and obviously it was …

NOTHING!

Today it’s still sounding great, and we are left here wondering where this change comes from.

Any idea?

Amp and loudspeakers are not new; Rossini and clock around 300 hrs, cables around 400 hrs.

System description:

Rossini player + clock, connected to the network via 16ft Blue Jeans cable; Qobuz streaming, no particular music server, but both my Macbook PRO M1 with minimserver and my Windows 10 PC with its internal UPNP work seamlessly and with great sound quality.

SPEC FX33A integrated amplifier https://spec-corp.jp/audio/RSA-F33EX/index.html

Suesskind BEO EX speakers https://suesskindaudio.de/en/beo-ex/

Cables from Rossini to SPEC are Hijiri Million Kiwami http://www.combak.net/cables/HIJIRI-Interconnect-Cables.html

Loudspeakers Cables are Hijiri H-SLC Million Speaker cables
http://www.combak.net/cables/HIJIRI-Speaker-Cables.html

Clock cables are Geistnote.

Power cables are Hijiri Nagomi http://www.combak.net/cables/HIJIRI-Nagomi-Power-cords.html

#2

IMO there are two typical causes of sudden improvements in SQ without the user taking any action.

Most typical is an improvement to incoming power. This can originate in many ways from the utility supplier who had been providing under specified voltage now remedying this to a reduction in EMI/RFI interference from some unidentified environmental factor. Even nearby neighbours leaving home for the evening and thereby not running a device which, unknown to you, is polluting your local power. I note in this context that you do not specify any power conditioning device. Obviously you are not fully in control of your environment and so , if this is the cause of your improvement, it may also be subject to reversal.

The other is component or cable burn in. I would guess that you thought you had burned them in but the number of hours that you quote are comparatively modest, more then enough for initial burn in but perhaps you have just reached full burn in. I am certainly not imagining this as the cables that I use are known for requiring long burn in times. I was happy with them after about 36 hours of use but I also underwent a big and unanticipated improvement to the sound in my system only last week some 10 months after my full cable loom was installed!

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#3

Thank you for your answer, informative as usual. My reseller is trying to convince me to adopt some form of harmonizer. Not too expensive, below 4000 euros, he also suggested that he might leave it (https://add-powr.com/) at my place for a couple weeks, but as a mathematician I know about Fourier transform and that stuff, and the whole thing sounds (pun unintended) fishy. Now if only someone could help me understand where I am wrong and how this box can possibly improve sound quality, that would be great.
Generally speaking, I am not convinced about the neutrality of any power conditioning equipment, what I experienced when I tested some was a reduction in dynamic and more “plastic” sound, but I am open to change my mind and listen to some good advice.

A.

#4

I have no idea how those Add-Power items actually work but I would point out that they appear to add frequencies to what should, by normal thinking, be a pure sine wave. Whether or not by no longer providing a sine wave ( or a close approach) it can be considered to constitute a form of power regeneration I cannot say but if it can its use may be in danger of voiding your Rossini’s warranty . It does seem reminiscent of the thinking behind PS Audio’s Multiwave feature. I am guessing that due to the timing of the arrival of this feature and the subsequent appearance of the warning issues arising from use of it may lie behind the warning . BTW It is stated at the beginning of all current dCS user manuals. So if you do want to take up your dealer’s loan offer I would bear this in mind.

As to the neutrality of power conditioning equipment my experience has been along the same lines as yours. Everything that I have tried seemed impressive for the first few days but I soon discovered that different recordings tended to sound increasingly the same ( or, to put it another way, have similar textures) . Further, whatever happened to the sound, in all cases the music itself was somehow diminished from what I had previously experienced. So the result is currently no power conditioner for me ( even if I had the space).

I am not entirely without hope however and reserve the right to change my mind. I do note that conditioners from Torus Power and Shunyata seem to get consistent approval here.

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#5

I have had similar experience, except that I had some clear better/worse sounding moments in my system. I pretty soon nailed it down to my (BEV) car charging and/or my solar panels producing. Both generate measurable amounts of wideband noise on my electrical system.

I’ve been able to improve the situation with a couple of steps.

  • Having a 3-phase grid connection the easiest was to have charging only done on 2 out of 3 phases and use the 3rd one for my audio system. It was not possible to do the same with the solar panels because I need all 3 phases to be able to feed in maximum power.

  • I’ve tried various power conditioning devices and came to the conclusion that little was gained with the lower budget versions (say <€1.000). Often it even made it worse (flattening the soundstage, even introducing some harshness). Probably because my electronics (dCS and Ayre) already has some (more than) decent power conditioning measures build-in. I’ve tried various options from PS Audio, Shunyta and Audioquest. In the end I’ve settled with the Audioquest Niagara 5000 because on the digital equipment most options I tried gave similar results and the Audioquest was by far the delivering the best results on my power amplifier.

  • I’ve also created a dedicated earth connection close to my audio system.

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#6

Exactly, and I should also believe that there is some sorcery in the box (maybe an AI based predictive model? That’s what I do for a living) that after analyzing the waveform frequency components conjures some ecm (electronic countermeasure) to neutralize the bad guys?
And the Fourier Transform should be REALLY fast ,

I don’t know, really. And, as Pete pointed out, I don’t want to void my Rossini warranty.
Shunyata and Audioquest are on my shortlist, but if sound quality remains at this level, I’m fine.

Thanks

A.

#7

Power is everything.
I have been struggling for years.
First step: an Isotek Mosaic Genesis came my way; almost absurd improvement in sound; no downside I could detect
Second step: power chords; another absurd improvement in sound but also: a matter of taste
Third step: Nordost QRT gizmo; it all works as described on the tin
I would personally advise to explore step 1 + step 2, especially on the 2nd hand market.

In parallel, I would look into vibration suppression, prioritizing the digital equipment (I have excellent experience with Nordost Kones on really “dead” bases; but there are so many variations on the theme!); again the 2nd hand market offers real opportunities.

Power improvement and vibration suppression will unleash the potential of your dCS equipment. Experiment! Enjoy!

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