My Infinity arrived yesterday, only 22 1/2 months after my initial campaign contribution. It arrived late and I only had time to unbox it and power it up, no signal applied, before I had to leave for the evening. This at least gave it six hours of warm up time before I gave it a listen. The downside is that I did not get to listen to it dead cold and brand new for reference and lifecycle comparison.
When I got back home from my usual friday night concert (http://www.unclecalvins.org), I moved the now warm Pulse to the computer desk and hooked it up to the system. My first listen was through headphones (ZMF Master model V1) with a balanced cable. Sounds REALLY GOOD. After a few tracks, or rather partial tracks, I doffed the 'phones and had a listen through the speakers (Magnepan MMG powered by a PS Audio GCC-500). Also really nice. A few switches back and forth for comparison with the previous DAC in the system (PS Audio NuWave DAC) showed that they both make great music, but there are differences. I don't have the most finely tuned ear, so I am not sure that I could reliably identify which DAC was playing, but they are still clearly if subtly different. I will say here that I am not prone to audiophile hyperbole. A Huge difference is something like a table radio and a good audio system. A big difference might be between good "computer" speakers and a good audio system. A subtle difference migt be something that I can hear but cannot specifically identify, at least not without an hour or more of comparison and study. I am not patient enough for that - I decide which I prefer and move on.
Anyway.. back to the DACs. I tried different filters and I do notice a difference between them. The clearest difference is between FTM and the other two - I don't count SSM as I am not sure that it is implemented yet. For now, I prefer FTM as it has good clean sound and the most clearly defined sound stage. At this point, with only an hour on the infinity, there are greater differences between the filters than between the two DACs that I have compared.
About an hour and a half into listening, I was reminded of an earlier post in this thread - this thing has no bass! I listened closely, and there IS bass, but it has no impact, no life. I seems to have no life in the 60~100 Hz range where much of the life in bass seems to come from. This is in clear contrast to when I first started listening to the infinity - initially it had this wonderful warm, lush but in no way bloated sound. The sound was now rather thin and unappealing. WOW! This is the most incredible demonstration of a burn in cycle that I have ever heard. At this point it was about 2AM, so I left the DAC running with my favorite burn in playlist: a variety of seashore and wave sounds that I also use for background / ambience. These sounds happen to be very similar to the output of the Hagerman FryBaby burn in device, so I use them for burn in as well as background.
10 hours and a good night's sleep later (no, not 10 hours sleep
), the Infinity is mellowing a bit. The bass is starting to come back, at least it is better than at the hour and a half mark. The mids are okay and at the moment the highs are a bit rough. I'll leave the burn in / ambience playlist running for at least a week, with occasional listening sessions. I expect the mids and highs to clean up and hope that that initial wonderful lush but not heavy sound quality returns. It may take a couple of weeks, but at least I do not have to be actively involved as it can just keep playing away as I go on with the rest of my life.
Just another report and non-review from another music aficionado and now happy Geek.
J.P.
