HA! So I was waiting to continue my alphabetical re-ripping of cd's until I have finished moving, which I have now done. WELL, I finally found my mastered led zeppelin albums (boxed set, how west was won, etc) and got them into the computer and played a little a/b magic with the previously ripped mp3s I still have in the library.
First I should disclose that the prior rips were only 128 kbps (!) though in my defense they were some of the first tracks I ripped back when my then-sweet mp3 player had a robust 256MB of storage, and I used it for running mostly.
Anyway, I was playing with switching between amp/no amp, dac/no dac, crossfeed/no crossfeed, and then all of the above with the original 128 k rips and the brand new lossless rips.
Note: I know the 128 v. lossless is silly but they helped as a reference base line since these were tracks I am intimately familiar, and refused to listen to since dipping into the head-fi realm (didn't want to normalize my ears to 128 kbps of ANYTHING even on entry level audiophile gear) I would have gotten to them sooner, but all my cds were in boxes.
The results were potent. My HD595s sound very fun with no amp, but the 2move really added depth to the whole experience, and the dac cleans everything up (like always) but the whole thing packaged with the crossfeed was what put my listening experience over the top.
Page, a master of mastering, plays with channel separation and channel transfer with a great deal of attention, so I was hesitant to think I would like the crossfeed circuit better than the stock recording. Of course, I was wrong (why else would I post such a long review of my experience?) I really feel like I am sitting right there listening to all the guys tear my head apart in the front row. I spent probably 10-15 minutes going back and forth over various portions of 'whole lotta love' switching the crossfeed on/off just to make sure I wasn't living some kind of placebo effect.
It just feels so [insert expletive of choice] real!
I have been posting with frequency lately as I attempt to distract from the mounds of studying yet to do, but now I think I will just put on the rock and pretend I am studying at a concert I can finally attend.
