Argo Duck
Formerly known as "AiDee"
- Joined
- Nov 6, 2007
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(I just posted these impressions in the Decware appreciation thread - so yeah I'm cross-posting - sorry to those following both
. Any further comparisons I'll keep to this thread).
I got a clear couple of hours two days ago to compare Lyr & Taboo directly (both amps set to 80dBA with pink noise; two of my std review tracks).
I started with the Lyr in stock 6BZ7. Both tracks sounded really good. At that point I thought this is a pretty high bar for Taboo.
Then the Taboo (stock except for a NOS Tung Sol 12AU7 substituted for the JJ 12AU7 driver). Heavens, what a difference! So much more information in the low-tuned bass guitar and accompanying vocal of the first test track; more presence and definition to hi-hats.
This particular track is a lightly instrumented and fairly sparse ballad. The next one (Rodrigo e Gabriela Hanuman) is a lot more busy. Whilst I didn't notice as much difference in attack as I expected, very apparent was a far more "full range" sound from the Taboo - everything evenly balanced, nothing 'artificially' forward. In contrast, the 6BZ7/Lyr was bottom-heavy and (maybe because of this) gave an impression of being muddled and slow.
This was a worthwhile finding for me. I had been starting to wonder if the Taboo might be a bit bottom-dominated (which I don't want). Not because it sounds like it is, but because of how "richly" it renders the bass and lower mids. I wondered what could be doing this.
I needn't have worried. It actually puts everything up there in pristine balance. I think my "bottom-dominated" impression is just that it's given me a lot more information in that area than I've had from (stock) Lyr or Concerto; hence I noticed it more.
It's obvious stock Lyr versus (near) stock Taboo is not a fair comparison. If/when I get time I'll repeat this with better Lyr tubes such as Siemens 6DJ8 and my faves the Matsu 6922.
Quote:
I got a clear couple of hours two days ago to compare Lyr & Taboo directly (both amps set to 80dBA with pink noise; two of my std review tracks).
I started with the Lyr in stock 6BZ7. Both tracks sounded really good. At that point I thought this is a pretty high bar for Taboo.
Then the Taboo (stock except for a NOS Tung Sol 12AU7 substituted for the JJ 12AU7 driver). Heavens, what a difference! So much more information in the low-tuned bass guitar and accompanying vocal of the first test track; more presence and definition to hi-hats.
This particular track is a lightly instrumented and fairly sparse ballad. The next one (Rodrigo e Gabriela Hanuman) is a lot more busy. Whilst I didn't notice as much difference in attack as I expected, very apparent was a far more "full range" sound from the Taboo - everything evenly balanced, nothing 'artificially' forward. In contrast, the 6BZ7/Lyr was bottom-heavy and (maybe because of this) gave an impression of being muddled and slow.
This was a worthwhile finding for me. I had been starting to wonder if the Taboo might be a bit bottom-dominated (which I don't want). Not because it sounds like it is, but because of how "richly" it renders the bass and lower mids. I wondered what could be doing this.
I needn't have worried. It actually puts everything up there in pristine balance. I think my "bottom-dominated" impression is just that it's given me a lot more information in that area than I've had from (stock) Lyr or Concerto; hence I noticed it more.
It's obvious stock Lyr versus (near) stock Taboo is not a fair comparison. If/when I get time I'll repeat this with better Lyr tubes such as Siemens 6DJ8 and my faves the Matsu 6922.
Quote:
has anyone compared a decware taboo and a schiit lyr?