[Patrick82]

Since my main system isn't properly warmed up my impressions will be little flawed.

I'm using 10+ meters of stock extension strips and stock cables with my computer now. It sounds more neutral than Valhalla, it doesn't sound as bright. Stock cable sounds harsh, muddy, dark, thin and open. Valhalla sounded whiter and edgier with smooth openness, the extra whiteness made the background appear blacker and calmer, but everything was brighter and more fatiguing.

I always suspected Valhalla was colored, and I guess this confirms it. Valhalla adds some kind of jitter to the sound which makes it sound good. It also compensates for muddiness in the system. I think it removes some low-level details as well, because the background is almost too calm. It's both blacker and whiter than neutral. It gives fake dynamics. It makes everything sound more separate. It seems like Valhalla both reduces jitter and adds jitter on its own.

Valhalla must have done something to the computer which made it work badly. After my system is warmed up I will do the harddrive experiments with stock cable.

 

[Febs]

You know, Patrick, it is really pretty pathetic when you start trolling in your own thread.

 

[Patrick82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Febs /img/forum/go_quote.gif You know, Patrick, it is really pretty pathetic when you start trolling in your own thread.

What do you mean?

 

[dknightd]

I admit I did not read the whole thread. But what I don't understand is why you are still using AC power. Likely every thing you have runs on DC. Try batteries - recharge between listening sessions. Get all AC as far away as you can.

 

[Patrick82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dknightd /img/forum/go_quote.gif I admit I did not read the whole thread. But what I don't understand is why you are still using AC power. Likely every thing you have runs on DC. Try batteries - recharge between listening sessions. Get all AC as far away as you can.

Because with batteries I can't color the sound with Valhalla power cords.

 

[dknightd]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick82 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Because with batteries I can't color the sound with Valhalla power cords.

Have you tried? I'm pretty sure the Valhalla power cables can be adapted to carry DC power. Who knows, maybe their effect is even more dramatic when used for DC. . .

 

[Patrick82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by dknightd /img/forum/go_quote.gif Have you tried? I'm pretty sure the Valhalla power cables can be adapted to carry DC power. Who knows, maybe their effect is even more dramatic when used for DC. . .

I'm using Valkyrja DC wiring and the difference wasn't big, maybe I need Valhalla DC wiring.

The Valhalla power cord does something to the transformer.

With the multiwave settings of P300 Power Plant the audible sound of the transformer changes. It can be heard when putting the ear very close. There are huge vibrations going on. Sinewave gives a humming sound, and the multiwaves give thumping sounds. The setting with the loudest thumps (MWave4) gives the most low-level detail.

Maybe the Valhalla reduces vibrations of the transformer which makes it sound cleaner! That would explain the open, clear and smooth sound. I remember similar differences when moving the transformers out of the chassis and placing them on top of separate Magix levitation feet. Rear soundstage got huge. With Valhalla, the soundstage gets little bigger as well.

 

[Patrick82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick82 /img/forum/go_quote.gif After my system is warmed up I will do the harddrive experiments with stock cable.

I found the problem!!!

It wasn't because of jitter of the computer, it was because more wattage of the PSU resulted into more noise getting dumped back into my amp and DAC which was plugged into the same outlet!

Now I use extension strips and have the computer plugged far away from my system. I added extra harddrives and don't hear a difference, I put CPU on maximum and no difference.

[size=large]Problem solved![/size]

This explains everything.
After I removed the Ultimate Outlet between amp's and DAC's P300 Power Plant I got better sound but also more edginess, this is when the problem appeared, I thought my system revealed jitter of the transport more. Underclocking the computer reduced that edginess. Using a dedicated P300 Power Plant for the computer made everything very warm, the difference was night and day!

But the Power Plant also changed the sound of the transport from the multiwave settings, because I could hear the same sound signatures as for the amp and DAC. With my Cary transport I also hear the difference.
The flavor of power still changes the sound of the transport, it's either better or worse. I like the flavor of MWave4 + Valhalla.

The edginess came from noise being dumped back into the wall. The computer needs a dedicated line.

 

[wnmnkh]

Jesus Christ.

 

[SR-71Panorama]

You should get a t shirt that says "proud Valhalla owner". And bumperstickers of the same persuasion.

God just marry the cables already.

 

[fordgtlover]

^

Maybe the t-shirt could say

I'm crazy...

[size=xx-small]for Valhalla Cables[/size]


Or

I'm Patrick82... ask me about Valhalla cables

 

[GotNoRice]

WOW this thread would have been 500 times more informative if someone had just come in as the 2nd post and said "Sorry, you're wrong" and then had someone lock the thread.

 

[hypostasis]

This is probably a bad place for my first-ever post here, so you can chalk this up to lack of common sense on my part. I'm not responding directly to Patrick, and I have no comments on whether he's a nutjob or just trying to start trouble, BUT:

It's entirely true that FLAC and WAV can sound different on playback, even though it's "theoretically" impossible. I have no idea why. I have an old 800 Mhz G4 12" iBook. I ripped a bunch of CDs to WAV, and then FLAC'd them at level 8. When replaying these using a PIMETA plugged directly into the headphone out (using HD-580s and Ety ER6 to listen), I got some really annoying pitch distortions on the FLAC. This would come and go, kind of like dragging your finger on a turntable for a second and then letting go. When it first happened I thought I was imagining things, but I kept listening and it was fairly consistent. I popped the WAV version into the playlist for a comparison, and no distortion was there. Now before you go telling me I don't understand FLAC, get this: I decompressed the FLAC and did an MD5sum on the resulting WAV. It mached the original WAV perfectly. I repeated this several times on different FLACs whenever the distortion appeared. Always the correct MD5sum.

Why the weirdness? I read somewhere there was a bug in VLC that caused it, which was subsequently fixed. I no longer use my iBook for music, as the hard drive was getting too small and I have a bigger box now... and that was the first and last machine I ever saw this problem on.

Anyway, this is not exactly on topic, but since this thread is so full of silliness I thought I'd chime in.

 

[Patrick82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fordgtlover /img/forum/go_quote.gif ^ Maybe the t-shirt could say I'm crazy... [size=xx-small]for Valhalla Cables[/size] Or I'm Patrick82... ask me about Valhalla cables

MWave4 is the best match for Valhalla as you can see in my drawings. Valhalla grabs the tiny bass transients more to the surface, and it adds a fake clean, smooth and open bottom for the music to stand on.

 

[rhymesgalore]

I really, really hope no one will reply to this last post in a serious way.

Because if you haven't understand what Patrick is trying to do by now....