Author Topic: G2G August 2nd at Carl's  (Read 22156 times)

Offline Carlman

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Comparison List and Note Sheet
« Reply #15 on: August 01, 2009, 11:41:32 AM »
Please print the attached (especially if you have a color printer) and bring a copy with you to the gathering.  It'll provide a nice reference for what we're hearing, and a place to take notes! :)  Disregard the filename, the comparison is tomorrow, not today.
I can print in B&W if anyone wants one. ;)

-C
« Last Edit: August 01, 2009, 11:43:12 AM by Carlman »
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Offline richidoo

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Re: G2G August 2nd at Carl's
« Reply #16 on: August 01, 2009, 12:18:14 PM »
I know your are comparing Grover to JPS Q due to the similar price, I think that is laudable. But Grover finally heard a pair of JPS SC3 wires recently, and claims that his new design is significantly better than the big JPS on his system. If there is time I would like to hear all SC3 and all Grover compared on your system. And to ask Steve how he thinks they compare on his system.

I'm looking forward to hearing the new preamp and Mac together again. They have good synergy. But then the Mac takes kindly to every preamp I have ever heard it with.

Sol is coming to the meet. He is working hard on his i60 integrated amp and I have heard it evolve dramatically in the last month. It has new output devices now, so the annoying screech of the Motorola devices is now gone. The clarity is just amazing, top to bottom. Today we are swapping in some audiophile caps in the signal path to go for the last iota of treble refinement.

I think I will bring some vinyl. It sounded so good last month.

Offline Carlman

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Re: G2G August 2nd at Carl's
« Reply #17 on: August 02, 2009, 08:13:39 AM »
If someone brings the JPS SC3 speaker cables, I'll certainly use them... and we can compare.. but keep in mind I have no jumpers for SC3's... Unless I use Grover's...

-C
I really enjoy listening to music.

Offline stereofool

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Re: G2G August 2nd at Carl's
« Reply #18 on: August 02, 2009, 08:42:28 AM »
I can bring SC3's...speaker, rca's and/or xlr's...and jumpers.

Just let me know which to bring.

Cookies are baking as I type  :drool:!
Steve
Have you ever noticed.... Anyone going slower than you is an idiot...and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

Offline Carlman

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Re: G2G August 2nd at Carl's
« Reply #19 on: August 02, 2009, 11:29:55 AM »
I can bring SC3's...speaker, rca's and/or xlr's...and jumpers.

Just let me know which to bring.

Cookies are baking as I type  :drool:!

Maybe too late.. but just jumpers is all I need..
I really enjoy listening to music.

shep

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Re: G2G August 2nd at Carl's
« Reply #20 on: August 02, 2009, 12:45:58 PM »
You guys have all the fun  :(

Bigfish8

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Re: G2G August 2nd at Carl's
« Reply #21 on: August 02, 2009, 07:35:47 PM »
Thank you Carl for hosting another wonderful G2G this evening and it was great seeing the gang again.  I think this was one of the busiest if not the busiest G2G that I have attended.  We were basically concentrating on listening to the differences between cables from 4:00PM until 9:30 with only a 30 min. break for pizza. 

For me personally, it was not so important which cables sounded best in Carl's system as was the noticeable differences a change in ICs or PCs made to the sound qualities.  I learned that I definitely need to experiment with cables to find the optimum cables, that will fit within my budget, for my system.  While I also know that my room will never sound as good as Carl's man cave I also realize that I need to get to work on my room treatments (before I start cable evaluations).

It was a fun night and I am really thankful that I was able to attend.

Ken

Offline mboldda1

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Re: G2G August 2nd at Carl's
« Reply #22 on: August 02, 2009, 07:41:59 PM »
give us some meat man...meat :drool:  grover cables?
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Offline stereofool

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Re: G2G August 2nd at Carl's
« Reply #23 on: August 02, 2009, 08:05:51 PM »
Carl,

Once again, thank you for your great hospitality!!

I'll echo Ken...it was great seeing everyone and getting to spend some time together...doing what we all like to do. It was a busy evening switching between all the different cables, and there certainly were differences between those cables. I spent the evening in a 'peripheral' seat, so I won't be able to comment totally on how things sounded in the 'sweet-spot'. Plus, I spent a good deal of the time working on a personal project, on my laptop...so my eventual comments will be limited to those instances where one either sounded noticably worse or better than its predecessor/successor.

Must go over my notes and collect thoughts, before I make any specific comments.
Steve
Have you ever noticed.... Anyone going slower than you is an idiot...and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?

Offline richidoo

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Re: G2G August 2nd at Carl's
« Reply #24 on: August 02, 2009, 10:33:46 PM »
That was very educational and fun. Thanks to  Carl for the great hospitality, yet again.

We started off by setting the system up and establishing a baseline from which to begin evaluating the ICs.  We used JPS SC3 speaker cables, with Aluminata jumpers. Then someone said should the SCs connect to the bass posts or mit/tweets? So we experimented and found that whichever got the direct SC connection sounded better than the other. So luckily we had two pair of SC3 speakercables on hand, so we biwired, and BAM it was awesome. Everyone picked a track of their favorite music from Carl's network drive. We played this playlist over and over through the night.

We started with Reality ICs. 2 pair from source to pre and pre to amp. I did not like the sound of these. They will first and they were already playing when I got there, so it was not due to let down from expensive cables. They obscured a lot of information, colored the tone and sucked the life out of my test track, which was Jupiter Quartet playing Ravel Quartet #2, Vivace.

On to the JPS Ultraconductor 2 ICs. 2 pair. This was very good. Moderate clarity, but typical JPS shock absorber silent spaces and control. Amazing performance for the money. I think this is the first time I've heard these, I'm considering buying them. Not as good at soundstaging or tonal transparency or magical bloom as some others to follow, but good honest cable delivered satisfying music.

Next was Grover SX. Classic Grover Huffman sound. Very articulate, especially in the upper frequencies. Good bass. A feeling of added energy makes for an exciting presentation. A slight metallic tonal coloration in the 3-5kHz region, which I have grown accustomed to with my own Grover SCdots and Graphite S. I recognized it from home and got to hear what my music sounds like without that coloration when listening to the other cables. Overall a decent cable. Later we informally listened to my 2 pair of SCdot and some preferred those to the newest SX ICs. 

Audio Techni?  2 pair. These were warm and soft, a drastic change from Grovers. I liked it, reminded me of a Single ended tube amp, or vintage paper drivers. It was relaxed, comfortable, very musical, balanced frequency response, overall happy sound. Mild, not fast or extended, but inviting and rewarding for long listening. I can't remember the details about tone, some commented that they were boring. Good for acoustic music, maybe less so for electronic or amplified music with an edge, which was mostly what was used for test tracks.

JPS Superconductor Q. 2 pair. Nice wire, typical JPS house sound, quiet, controlled, detailed. More revealling than the Ultra2. But something was not as centered and comfortable as the ultra or SC3 which felt more satisfying whole pieces. I think I would go for Ultra before Q, but a friend has Q and I liked them on his system. Gotta do that comparison agains sometime on my own system.

JPS SuperConductor 3. 2 pair. Boss Daddy. The Shit. Obvious winner. It was a "Well, there you go..." moment when they first started. Unlimited resolution, yet never harsh. Musically balanced, rich thick tone, bass impact and volume, glistening highs, natural tone and air on strings, only wire that was truly accurate tone on snare drum rolls. Intense presentation of the music seems to be pleasing to everyone, but it's the opposite of the gentle comfortable Audio Techni that I liked so much. It is more audiophile/high performance that serves the music well, but you better be ready for the ride. If my memory serves me correctly, Aluminata gives all this performance clarity and intensity, but somehow the smoothness and comfort are added, especially with the Aluminata speaker wire. I haven't ever compared an all Aluminata rig with all SC3, that would be interesting to do someday too. The one time I heard all Aluminata I had no idea what I was hearing so I did not appreciate the details. I just knew I loved the way everything sounded.

Then we took out an SC3 from source to pre and replaced with Audience Au24. Softer than SC3, similar detail, less bass. I can't remember much. The sound of the other SC3 from pre to amp was still showing through.

Then we put back the winner, JPS SC3 ICs to prepare for the USB wire shootout. Started with Cryoparts Axis $700 model. We had been listening to that all afternoon so far. Then switched to Reality tweaked USB cable, big difference from the Axis, but not in a favorable direction. It was confused and smeared sound. I could not make head or tails of it. I did not analyze the sound in detail.   Then folllowed a stock POS USB cable. I thought it sounded sligtly better than the Reality tweaked cable, but not by much, maybe just a little more coherent. Putting the Axis back in cleaned everything up and brought back the music. 

Pizza was delish. Thanks Carl.

Back down to the lab for PC comparo. I don't remember much from this. My favorites were the JPS Power AC+ and the Black Sands Silver Ref. V. The Black Sands was gentler, allowed more midrange detail to be perceived. But the JPS had that JPS controlled clarity edge. It's a matter of taste here. For once I was glad to hear a product I own at one of these comparisons hold its own.  I was sitting front row off center, so I could only judge dynamics tone and overall presentation, not soundstaging. Some others commented that the JPS had an advantage in staging. Grover had the Grover house sound as expected, like the ICs and speaker cables there is consistent bump in upper midrange/low treble. I noticed the increase in energy and reacted positively to it. On Kaplan Rhodium, bass was big and round, not as controlled and precise as BSA or especially JPS, but a fun sound I would like to spend more time with Kaplan.  

We stuck in the Running Springs Jaco before the preamp only. And tried some cables on it too, which require 20A IEC connector. The VH Audio was the winner with 2nd place to Black Sands and 3rd place to Mongoose (Monsoon?, or something like that.)

Then we stuck in Grover's new (SX?) speaker wires. The silver leads were long enough to use them as jumpers between speaker binding posts. Big improvement over the last two Grover SCs. It was more relaxed, more tonally accurate, musically balanced and still retained the Grover excitement and clarity. The treble bump was lessened. I would like to compare it with an all JPS UltraConductor2 set in same price range. JPS SC3 in biwire mode was untouchable in comparison, but that costs at least 15x more.

Then we played Sols latest i60 integrated amp. I thought it sounded very good. I liked the added detail it brought over the Mac which sounds somewhat veiled on my music. Sibilants were still a little too bright but the bad stuff is gone now with new output devices. Adding the Belles tube preamp before the i60 as was used with the Mac smoothed out the sibilance and was very nice sound. But it still sounded a little strained on the hungry Piegas, compared to Mac. So we brought down Carl's Era 5 bookshelfs. Still mid 80s sensitivity like Piegas, but more manageable and made a nice collaboration.   More changes are on tap for this amp, including replacing the output devices again, with three pair per channel to increase headroom dramatically, as well as some parts quality upgrades, like film caps and power resistors.

After that everyone started peeling off, it was 9pm on a weeknight. After a while it was me and Carl, digging some jazzy vinyl, chatting up the night. Overall a great satisfying G2G for me, great to see everyone and share some laughs, good food and good music (at the end.)

I'll post some pictures tomorrow. Already looking forward to the next g2g.
Rich
« Last Edit: August 02, 2009, 10:54:04 PM by richidoo »

CryoParts

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Re: G2G August 2nd at Carl's
« Reply #25 on: August 02, 2009, 11:23:38 PM »

Then we put back the winner, JPS SC3 ICs to prepare for the USB wire shootout. Started with Cryoparts Axis $700 model. We had been listening to that all afternoon so far. Then switched to Reality tweaked USB cable, big difference from the Axis, but not in a favorable direction. It was confused and smeared sound. I could not make head or tails of it. I did not analyze the sound in detail.   Then folllowed a stock POS USB cable. I thought it sounded sligtly better than the Reality tweaked cable, but not by much, maybe just a little more coherent. Putting the Axis back in cleaned everything up and brought back the music. 



Cool!

FYI--the Axis is a "Locus Design" product.  It starts at $549 for a 3ft'er.

Peace,

Lee
« Last Edit: August 02, 2009, 11:26:00 PM by CryoParts »

Offline mdconnelly

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Re: G2G August 2nd at Carl's
« Reply #26 on: August 03, 2009, 05:23:08 AM »
Rich, great writeup which echos my perceptions as well.   I think the most amazing thing about Carl's room is just how resolving it is.  The ability to so easily hear differences in that room just blows me away.  If two cables are close in his room, I doubt you'd hear the difference elsewhere.    It was also good to hear Grover's latest speaker cables.  As Rich indicated, the JPS SC3 speaker cables still reign without question (albeit for substantially more $$), but Grover's latest seems like a significant step in the right direction.

Given that the RS Jaco was mine, I was a bit surprised (dismayed) at how poorly the Mongoose 20a PC did feeding it since that is the PC that came with it.  While it presented a very relaxed and musical  sound, it also seemed truncated on top and softened on the bottom when compared to the VH Audio Flavor 4 and Black Sand Silver Ref PCs feeding it.  (these were the only 20a PCs we had on hand).  I also felt that the system was a bit more 'alive and engaging' when the preamp was powered directly from the wall rather than via the Jaco (albeit with a bit more bite and growl).   Overall, the Jaco does quiet things down and takes the edge off, but based on last night, at a bit of a price.   At some point I'll want to try a JPS power cord on the Jaco just to see what it can do.

Ken is right - it was a rather intense session but a great learning op!  As always, thanks, Carl, for hosting the G2G. 
« Last Edit: August 03, 2009, 07:03:34 AM by mdconnelly »

Offline rollo

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Re: G2G August 2nd at Carl's
« Reply #27 on: August 03, 2009, 07:19:25 AM »
Sounds like I missed a good one. Oh well my misfortune. It is still amazes me that cables can make so much of a difference.
  Just thought I would through in a sleeper . Supra cables. Si Senor, It is an open litz design with tin plated copper conductors. It is recommended to use as a complete system. [ ICs, speaker cable]. The price is right and the cable sounds marvelous. Check it out.



charles
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Offline hometheaterdoc

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Re: G2G August 2nd at Carl's
« Reply #28 on: August 03, 2009, 07:40:21 AM »
Thanks as always for hosting us audiophools, Carl... give us a good room, comfy chair, and feed us some pizza and we're all pretty happy :)

It's uncool of me to comment as I have an obvious bias as JPS fanboy and dealer for some of the products used in this test.  I tried really hard to keep my mouth shut and not influence anyone with comments during the proceedings.  How successful I was is up for debate :)  hehehe Those in attendance know where I sit on some of the products in question.  I did have a bit of an advantage as I sat in one of the primo seats and got a handle on the soundstaging and imaging aspects of the presentation as well as tone, etc.  I enjoyed the seat, but it probably should have went to someone else who could comment publicly on those aspects of things...

There were some good sounds, some surprises, and some cables that made people leave the room covering their ears in pain...  Carl's system, *to me*, is still just a touch too aggressive in midrange to up top....nothing at all wrong with that... just isn't quite for me....  So if a cable leaned towards tizzy and forward, it wasn't going to elicit a positive reaction from me or others in attendance.  Some of these cables, in much more laid back systems, might produce entirely different results...........

always great to have a room where its so easy to hear these differences.  It provides motivation to finally finish up things at my place in the next week or so...  Thanks again, Carl!
Shane Sangster
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Offline Carlman

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Re: G2G August 2nd at Carl's
« Reply #29 on: August 03, 2009, 08:33:32 AM »
Thanks so much for all that came and 'hung in there' for the long haul.  It was work but I found it rewarding and enjoyable.. and a nice learning experience.

Prior to the event, I had only had a chance to 'sample' cables while I tried to burn them all in.. and I put them in an order I thought would best show them off without having to go back and forth too much.. and I'm glad it worked out.  We had a LOT to get through... and everyone had a good attitude about the comparisons ahead and I really appreciated it.  This is not the kind of gathering I want to hold very often but it 'must be done' in the name of science! haha.  Plus, how often to you get this many cool cables to hear all at once?

The music we chose was:
Jupiter String Quartet - Track 7
Mark Mothersbaugh - Ping Island/The Life Aquatic
Earth Wind and Fire - Shining Star
Steve Ray Vaughn - Texas Flood/Track 12 Z Cables demo disc

Here's the notes I took..

Reality Cable ‘Special wire’ version (2 pair)
To me, still a very good cable.  One pair that I had was malfunctioning when I came downstairs just before the meeting.. of course!  I tried to re-solder it without success so, I will say that the test was at least slightly flawed on this setup.  If I moved the wire, a channel would go out.. so, something's wrong... probably broken wires.  Generally, this cable sounds nice and worth the price and doesn't have the blurry mids it exhibited last night.

JPS Labs UltraConductor (2 pair)
A bit of a surprise for me.. The first time I listened to this cable I wasn't impressed.  For whatever reason, it sounded pretty good last night.  Imaging was really good to me, with a wide soundstage, wrap-around-my-head affect and very good instrument separation.  It was smooth sounding but lacked just a little at the extreme ends of the frequency range.. but it lacked gracefully.

Grover ‘SX’ (2 pair: Source to pre, Pre to amp):
Grover house sound but with more bass than I've ever heard in a Grover cable.  They seemed tonally accurate.  Compared to the other calbes, the imaging fell flat.

Audio Tekne (2 pair)
Full bodied sound, extended and enjoyable with good imaging and instrument separation.  Very good PRAT, nice emotional involvement... No problems to note.  I've used this cable for a while and have come to enjoy it.  

JPS Labs SuperConductor 3 (2 pair)
The SC3 added 'air' and spacial cues with a fantasy-like presentation.  Nuance and 'presence' was the best in the bunch.  Peter Gabriel sounded more like he was in the room on this one.  You could hear into the instruments more.. I wrote: 'blats are blattier, reed vibrations present, can hear skin on drums/percussion'.. This pair was not fully broken in yet which I think creates a little edge and dip somewhere in the upper mids/low highs.  In my experience, this mellows out over time.

Audience Au24 (1 pair, source to pre)
'Great overall, not magical like SC3's and not as open'... But they also had an 'honest' sound to them and didn't pollute or add elements or artifacts and created a deeper soundstage than I'd heard up to this point.  I can understand why these cables are a favorite to so many.

JPS SuperQ (1 pair, source to pre)
Satisfying bass, lots of air and space, great detail, and still delicate (much like SC3's) but with a squeek or bite in the upper mids/lower highs and only on certain instruments/sounds that annoyed me.  If you're not sensitive to this one thing, this is a clear winner for value and all around performance.
 
USB Cable Comparison
Standard USB Cable
Adequate music processing.  

Locus Design Group Axis USB Cable
Created a new dimension/layer of micro detail that enriched the entire musical presentation.  Much more engaging.  Took a 'pretty good' sound to 'very good, wow'.

Reality Cable USB
This is a standard little USB cable that Gregg did a minor tweak to.  He's not selling it but was interested in how it faired.. I found it worse than the stock USB cable I was using.  My stock USB cable sounded better... more coherent, less confused presentation.

Power cords (using preamp only)
BlackSandAudio Silver Ref
Very smooth, solid musical performance as always.  I found the sound relaxing and engaging at the same time but it didn't hit me in the gut either.  The transients and details were presented in a smooth, flowy kind of way.. very musical/enjoyable.

Kaplan Kords
We used the Rhodium verison.. These hit me in the gut with great mid-bass detail but at the expense of some forwardness and hyped midrange.  In the right system, these would be 'just the ticket' but for my system they're a little too much.

JPS AC+
Somewhat of a blend of the best of the 2 cords previous.  The AC+ has a nice visceral impact but does it with a nice touch.

Audience PowerChord
Not bad, good cord, missing detail and impact of the others.  I hear they have a new 'enhanced upgrade' that addresses its shortcomings.. I recommend getting that done.

Grover Power Cord
This cord provided adequate power to the preamp.  The preamp was able to operate with this cord in place.

Other comparisons:

Utilize power conditioner on Preamp, swap power cord
Very interesting to hear what the Jaco was doing.. and how much improvement was made between different power cords.. Mongoose was dull, Flavor 4 added the needed detail and impact, and the Silver Ref seemed to have the same affect as the Flavor 4 but gave a little darker/quieter background so it was a tad more 'intimate' to me.

Compare Grover’s latest speaker cable to JPS SC3's.
Grover's speaker cables have come a long way and are a definite value.  To date I have not liked a single pair of his speaker cables I've heard.  These I don't dislike.  They're probably right for a system that needs a little boost in the upper mids/highs.  But my system does not need a boost that way.  These had a strong and detailed bottom end and were good all the way into midrange.  The upper-mid/high area just seemed over-hyped as is the house sound with Grover cables.. but that's my opinion/what I hear.


Thanks again to everyone.  It was really nice to have everyone there and I appreciated the cookies, brownies, beer, and most of all everyone's involvement in this comparison.  You really helped make it go smoothly and I appreciated it.

-Carl
« Last Edit: August 03, 2009, 08:35:08 AM by Carlman »
I really enjoy listening to music.