Quote:
Originally Posted by markl
In your (not-so-humble) opinion.
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Heh...yeah.
Let's agree on 'human' opinion.
The opinion doesn't look very humble,
at self!
I've been cautious, I've checked and rechecked. It's not a comfortable position to put your neck on the line. To put yourself in postion to feel embarrassed should someone not have the same experience. It's also not comfortable to say A is better than B knowing an audience, including the creater, is watching. You feel like you're introducing Japanese automobiles into 1970's Detroit!
I take as much comfort as I can from the difference in price between the UR and X-1 and want to emphasize it. For some guys $140 is a stretch and $199 out of reach. I like the UR and I like Grover. Music lovers are fortunate to have the UR around. But tip toeing around the truth would nag me as well.
You know me as impatient with subtle upgrades. I was relating to a friend how upon entering higher end gear, cables were the biggest disappointment in not living up to the hype. 1000 cables and 1000 great reviews. Grover, Au24, PS Audio, Nordost, whatever, same old, same old sounds under $500.
I didn't think a listener should have to go meet the cable half way in hearing it's subtle differences. To have to meditate in order to detect. To be imaginitive in finding the words to describe. I wondered if I had lousy ears. I was content with that prospect, it would save me money.
The differences in sources, amps, etc are totally apparent without effort and I thought cables should be held to the same high standards, however unrealistic that was. And along comes the rookie Oritek with an interconnect that is in the order of a source upgrade!
I was equally overjoyed and uncomfortable. I was going to sound like a nut. But I felt I should still speak up. I kept having to verify again and again that it was true as my own opinion sounded like so much BS to me. What if I were to be alone in this experience? I'd look foolish. The only support I had was the reviews which precisely mirrored what I heard. Larry Cox was listening with ATC gear as was I. Could their revealing nature be magnifying the X-1's affect? I don't know. I'll have to live with it (with a smile).
My view is now obscured though with the addition (with some arm twisting) of the now unavailable Oritek S-1 speaker cable (web site is out of date. Soon the much more expensive S-2). I'm not hearing an IC as much now. The picture deepened, darkened but increased in detail and holography. But it did not wow me the way the X-1 did. It was not revelatory. It's impact was less. Detail 5-10%? Holography 10-20%?
One reference for $140 and another for $199.
Quote:
Originally Posted by euclid
yes but in my experience the grovers were substantially better and really a completely new sound when i [substantially] upgraded my source. this doesnt meean they are more colored, in fact the opposite, they came to life when their source could step up to the challenge. they always felt really transparent but i thought they sounded anemic, what i ultimately found is i just didnt like how my source sounded.
in your case maybe the Oritek are the colored cables and you dont like the sound of the grovers b/c you dont ultimately like your source. im not trying to start with you just playing devils advocate on the topic.
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Swapping back and forth short term, blind, long term: consistent results} with the X-1, soundstage multiplies in all directions with images having more definition and independence, far more detail. Grover UR, everything shrinks and flattens, grayness increases and details disappear.
If transparency (letting info pass untouched) and colored (interfering and obscuring of info) are opposites, which IC is which? The UR is revealing the lousiness of the source and the X-1 is independently generating musical information? Maybe
The beauty, I've discovered, of a high degree of transparency is that even with poorly mastered CDs it's easier to look past the bad, the good stuff that is there can shine through. Colored tries to hide the bad but loses the good. I guess it's a personal preference in the end.
(The X-1 did confirm what I knew to some extent though, that my $200 Graham Slee phonostage was a weakest link. It ruined it!
).
Maybe the UR-5 is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow? That would be perfectly fine with me. I'd be overjoyed! If so, I shall not tippy toe around the truth either.
I will report it here immediately.