+1
Another enjoyable meeting at Charles & Joann's. A bit smaller than usual turnout due to the re-scheduling issues we had for September I'm sure, but fun nonetheless. I liked your re-arranged listening room, Charles. It somehow looked bigger or at least more "roomy"!? Good music, good snacks and good friends. A winning combination!
SN
+2
Of course the room looked smaller, he moved the ARC D-250. That amp is bigger than my first car!
We tried to do a shootout between the AER Disc Energizer and the Bedini Ultra-Clarifier, but unfortunately Charles made the mistake of playing some LPs first. We listened to a few minutes of Danny Boy from a Jacintha XRCD first untreated and the from two separate discs each treated with one of the devices. After listening to all three the groupwas asked what the thought and the universal response was "I think we should go back to listening to vinyl" (warmed my heart
). We just could raise a whole lot of serious interest in spending more time on the treatment devices (or even discussing them to any great extent.) But for what it is worth here is my personal take on the demo (I invite anyone else who was there to also post their own thoughts):
Keep in mind that this opinion as formed after a single 2 minute exposure to one song from one disc, so I am not sure I can even call it an opinion. Maybe first impression is a more accurate term. Anyway, both devices change the some of the disc, but not in the same way. The AER treated disc had more of a smooth mellow character kind of like a classic tube sound, while the Bedini treated disc seemed to bring out more detail and resolution which also made it sound a bit harder as compared to the AER disc (on a relative basis, it did not make it sound overly hard in and of itself. Again this was only a quick 2 minute sound bite with each treatment and before I would form a complete opinion I would want to hear the same discs over again as well as do the same thing on several other discs and types of music.Bottom line is that I get the feeling that this may very well come down to a matter of taste and system matching and there might be no definitive right and wrong over which one (or neither) is the best way to go. (why should this be different than anything else in high end?
)
