[Equus]

I agree with Seamaster on the smoothness, and on the particular song I was testing them on they seemed to help tame some of the edginess on the treble.  The song is the same one I tend to try to audition things on, since it has a really hot treble.  Same song that made my ears bleed with the P-1u with T1 or LCD-2.  Really will be considering them when Ken gets them out.

 

[tunarat]

 
Quote:

 
To my observation the most notice improvement is vocal and mid range, to be more smooth in a good way. go back right away to V1 or stock cable, I would notice nonlinear sonically, and some edge.

 

The comparison I did was on the more mid-fi Doge with Madeleine Peyroux - Dance me to the end of love - ultimate smooth to begin with. Didn't get a chance to a/b with the "good" stuff there, but the piano was clearly more detailed and full -real- sounding (sorry, not an audiophile here, just love music but always liked the piano to compare). In any event, agreed upon the improvement
 

 

[Seamaster]

My trick is bring the same one CD that I listened over 1000 times every time, make things easier.

 
Ken will use a better connector,, and maybe new solder to make V2 cable even sound better.

 

[Equus]

Quote:

My trick is bring the same one CD that I listened over 1000 times every time, make things easier.

Pretty much the same for me.  I have the same CD and same track that I tend to listen to most things on, since I'm very familiar with it and it's strengths and faults.  The track has some pretty fast portions, decent drums and bass, and a very high piano run, so it's made a pretty decent test for me so far.  It's also pretty representative to me of the genre I listen to most, so I can get a good feel on how it'll work for my purposes.

 

[KingStyles]

Just curious as to what cd you 2 use for testing. Also what is Poppas new music recommendations.

 

[Equus]

For most impressions I listen to a rock piece out of Japan: "Kimi no Shranai Monogatari" by supercell.  Like I said, it's got a good range to it with a lot of the elements I commonly find in music I listen to, and I went through a phase where I listened to that song almost every other day.  If I want to see how a rig does with something mixed really hot and bright, I use "Utauyo!!! Miracle" from K-On!! because it's stupidly fast and almost any of the songs out of K-On! seem to be harsh.  Sachu was briefly exposed to the latter song, but he had to bow out about a quarter way through the song because I think it hurt his brain. 

 
I've also tried using Copland's "Appalachian Spring" since I'm also very familiar with that piece, but the volume is too varied and meets are really not conducive to critical listening...especially to pieces like that.  There's some other CDs I'm considering using more to give me more range and options, but I'm all new to this so I'm basically making a lot up as I go.
 
What music do you tend to listen to for auditioning rigs, KingStyles?

 

[BIG POPPA]

Menomena "Mines". Ratatat "LP4" Wolf Parade "Expo 86" And a new one that came out yesterday, Mogwai "Special Moves". These should get anyone started with new music. The oldest CD is just a few weeks old.
 
And Autolux "Transit Transit", The National "High Violet" LCD Soundsystem "This is Happening" a few more.

 

[KingStyles]

If I had to pair it down to 5 rather than 10 that is on my sample cd, it would be
Pink Floyd   ---   Hey You     Good rolling drums, the bees are good for detail, the guitar section for space and to see if too hot in treble, male tone
Beethoven 5th symphony  ---  by Kleiber    Dynamics, sound stage, prat, separation and placement, tone of natural instruments
Eva Cassidy  ---  Imagine    Female tone, guitar detail, dynamics between the guitar and her voice.
Sara Mclachlan  ---   Angel   Female tone, how well it up her voice echoing in the room, am i able to easily hear all the soft and different instruments (her voice can cover them up)
Alice in Chains unplugged ---  Rooster    Detail of voice and guitar, male vocal
All of these should also be able to also emotionally involve me in the music. If they dont, I know there is something missing.

 

[Equus]

Nice choices, KingStyles.
 
Ya know, I have no idea why I hadn't even THOUGHT of burning a sample CD.  I have a bunch of lossless files, and probably should just put together a good mix of male/female/instrumental that I really like and am really familiar with.  :facepalm:

 

[KingStyles]

 
Quote:

For most impressions I listen to a rock piece out of Japan: "Kimi no Shranai Monogatari" by supercell.  Like I said, it's got a good range to it with a lot of the elements I commonly find in music I listen to, and I went through a phase where I listened to that song almost every other day.  If I want to see how a rig does with something mixed really hot and bright, I use "Utauyo!!! Miracle" from K-On!! because it's stupidly fast and almost any of the songs out of K-On! seem to be harsh.  Sachu was briefly exposed to the latter song, but he had to bow out about a quarter way through the song because I think it hurt his brain. 

 
I've also tried using Copland's "Appalachian Spring" since I'm also very familiar with that piece, but the volume is too varied and meets are really not conducive to critical listening...especially to pieces like that.  There's some other CDs I'm considering using more to give me more range and options, but I'm all new to this so I'm basically making a lot up as I go.

I think I found the supercell and k-on but which copland version are you listening to. I still have to look at big poppas suggestions.

 

[Equus]

Nice.. I mispelled the supercell title...though it's probably close enough for a search...lol.  Here's the some images of the scans, just in case.
 
Kimi no Shiranai Monogatari

 
Utauyo!! Miracle...obviously...like when they use English.  Or at least DON'T use kanji...I can't read that to save my life.

 
I don't have the Copland on my work comp, so I'll have to check when I get back home.  It's one of the versions (I think conducted by Bernstein) with "Appalachian Spring", and I think "Rodeo", "Billy the Kid", and "Fanfare for the Common Man".

 

[tunarat]

 
Quote:

Nice choices, KingStyles.
 
Ya know, I have no idea why I hadn't even THOUGHT of burning a sample CD.  I have a bunch of lossless files, and probably should just put together a good mix of male/female/instrumental that I really like and am really familiar with.  :facepalm:

 
Wow, too simple an idea to have not thought of. Only need the one cd to take to meet then, other than the sharing

 

[KingStyles]

Just make sure you only use a cd-r. A lot of cd players cant use/read cd rw (rewritable) disks. It wont read it due to a thinner data layer. I found this out at a meet when my cd rw wouldnt play on most of the cd players. I researched it and discovered that they dont work on a lot of cd players. The next meet I used a cd r and it worked fine on all of the cd players.

 

[tunarat]

Good call, I've always used cd-r. Taiyo Yuden has always been good, although recently bought by JVC, quality seems to be holding up for now. Might want to stock up though, you never know

 

[Equus]

Quote:

 
 
Wow, too simple an idea to have not thought of. Only need the one cd to take to meet then, other than the sharing

I know right?  Then you don't have to swap CDs and stuff.  BRILLIANT!
 
...I still have to facepalm about it...

 
Quote:

Just make sure you only use a cd-r. A lot of cd players cant use/read cd rw (rewritable) disks. It wont read it due to a thinner data layer. I found this out at a meet when my cd rw wouldnt play on most of the cd players. I researched it and discovered that they dont work on a lot of cd players. The next meet I used a cd r and it worked fine on all of the cd players.

 
Gotcha.  Good thing is I checked the spools sitting here by the comp, and the remaining CD's are CD-R.  Thanks for the heads up.  Looks like I'll be spending time going through my library for some good references that I want to burn.  By the way, if you get a chance to listen to them, let me know if you hear anything in the songs I use.  Would be interesting to hear opinions about the sound qualities, if not about my taste (or lack of, depending on the point of view) of the songs.