A couple of days ago, my arsenal of Grover cables (coaxial-digital, regular analog IC's, and speaker) arrived here like the Cavalry, to bring my dormant system to life. For better or worse, I'm burning them in the old-fashioned way (by playing them!), but the preliminary results are in: Stunning!!
Over the last several months, thanks to a healthy tax refund
, I was able to make a number of major upgrades to my system -- all through used equipment purchases. From fellow Head-fi'er ted_b, I bought a Stealth headamp/preamp, and off of Audiogon, a Classe Audio DAC-1, as well as a pair of Paradigm Studio 100 speakers. As wonderful as these acquisitions were, however, up until now, I was unable to take full advantage of their sound-enhancing capabilities.
Enter Grover. . .
I've been using Grover cables for over a year now, starting with the beginning of the SR series, and have been a true believer for awhile. With each upgrade, there have been marked improvements, and so, my expectations for the new UR's were quite high. Still, as I write this, after only partial burn-in, what I hear sounds incredibly wonderful, and I'm thrilled with the level of clarity and realism!! At first, things sounded good and all, but at about the 18 hour mark, things really started to gel. These cables are ridiculously good!!
As far as the speakers go, I was planning on bi-wiring, using the SR cables for the hi end, and the UR's for the lo one, as Grover suggested. Unfortunately, in the process of trying to get all those wires into the little holes on my amplifier, I tore one of the connections loose on the SR's, and will need to have Grover fix it.
In the meantime, however, the UR's by themselves sound fantastic, especially in the bass, which is deep and strong, yet tight and defined. I can hardly wait to hear the full bi-wire set-up!
Now, as for headphones, I have only my meager Grado SR325's to offer for analysis, but what a difference so far!!
In fact, thanks to my now, Grover-equipped Stealth, I have, at least for now, replaced my Todd flat-pads with the bowl pads I started with. As a result, I now hear all the hi's, but without the harshness, I would otherwise get. And the bass is deeper and airier, with much more resonance. Amazing!
Another great development is with my digital audio sounds (i.e., CD player & PC), as assisted by my now, Grover-equipped Classe Audio DAC-1. As far as the computer, I like to listen to broadband streaming audio. With the DAC-1, there is a vast improvement over what I got from my E-MU 1212m soundcard, making live music sound amazing! With my CD-player, using it as a transport for the DAC-1, especially with its HDCD capabilities, things are even more refined than with the CD-player alone (which also sounds great!).
My third source is my modified Yamaha T-85 AM-FM tuner, complete with rooftop antenna. The Stealth had already catapulted the sound upward to audiophile dimensions, but assisted by the Grover UR's (by the way, based on when he actually sent them to me, I assume they're UR-3's, but Grover didn't actually say), the music sounds awesome (I've already run out of audio superlatives!. . .
Again, things are still burning in, and these are only preliminary impressions. With all of the cabling involved, it will undoubtedly take a lot more listening before things get just right. It's a grueling job, but someone's got to do it!!
