SIY, if your intentions were truly sincere and you really tried to help me, then I would appreciate it. But the truth is all your (all of you) comments came very strong, defensive, disrespectful and full of negativity.
The only message that felt authentic ( I'm not sure if it was you or someone else) was the one mentioning I should focus on speakers, room treatment, EQ, etc...
But that one came too late. Only after I called you all out.
I really don't know if you were having a bad day, and I will give you the benefit of doubt. But I cannot believe all of you were also having a bad day.
Now, I'll take my well deserved break.
Peace, out
Are you a newbie to all this? I swear I'm not being patronising, but I was inexperienced and utterly naive once, many many moons ago and went through this thing of everything making a difference and changing this or modding that is going to make the sound better (even went to directionalising fuses, cables, felt turntable mats, drive belts, you name it...) Huge fun at the time until I heard a cheaper turntable which bettered my Scottish wonder-box in all the 'tune dem' ways, which cost far less, lasts longer without the main bearing (1980's issue) failing and needing a several hundred quid 'upgrade' and which also didn't need re-setting up regularly. The ivory tower began to crash down... I then went to a few small 'pub jazz gigs' and, although this genre isn't my favourite, I re-discovered how brass, reed (sax) and drums can sound fairly close up and how absolutely bloody AWFUL the domestic stereo gear I sold actually was - how coloured all this 3-D air, space, 'musicality' and PR@T really is when taken in isolation as audiophiles often do (I also got to know master recordings again and this almost finished me with vinyl forever! and showed how bloody good digital was even then if a known master reference was there). 'Real Life' in music terms is often 'dry,' forceful (not 'nice' as high end domestic stereos can make it) and hall reverb doesn't always sound cathedral-like as many recordings can make it. It was something of an epiphany and took me on a changed direction with which I was supremely happy as the music took over and I wasn't listening to the stereo any more.- And then I got married, my beloved fridge size active monitors were sold as they were too heavy and large and twenty six years and less money later, I'm desperate to get this vibe back - my deteriorated hearing needs it now as well, as a processed 'domestic audiophile vibe' doesn't do it at all for me now. My dealings and chats with ATC showed me the electronics is as nothing compared to the speakers themselves (later versions of my 'fridges' are clearer at lower volumes and measure better too - other makers do similar or better at lower prices and it's this which keeps me going, not trying different op-amps in my digital sources, foo cables connecting it all together or 'posh caps' in my amplifier.
I'm not being disrespectful or patronising here I swear, but doing some sighted comparisons I was fooled and in a later A-B comparison I forgot which was which and was royally fooled (the slightly louder one always won and if I got the levels exact by chance, there was no difference). I've read many documented experiences of A-A or B-B 'comparisons' when it should have been A-B.
P.S. Another forum some years back went wild as per mods to the Technics SL1200mk2 turntable. Some made sense and a vendor of a better supply presented 'scope grabs showing the reduced 'jitter' in the regulator's performance. Another chap made a hideously close tolerance main bearing with such close clearance, the drag was very high and the deck had to be totally stripped out to fit them. He did a high mass platter too, taking a short while to make sure the magnet assembly could be safely transferred over (later reversing direction to a low mass type) and all the Techie owning forum disciples bought these mods. ABSOLUTELY NO proper research was done to check how the drive electronics reacted to all this but who cares, the followers bought and raved about it. No idea how many of these butchered decks survive ten years or so on.... A Matsushita engineer joined up to try to explain how and why the deck was designed and made the way it was (the supposedly ringy platter doesn't ring with mat fitted and is lightly dished by a mm or so towards the centre and so on) but he was shouted down by the forum owner (the 'leader' in all this tweakery and who thought he 'knew it all') and simply walked away...
Some of us here have been round the block so many times, seeing fads and fashions come and go (slit foil supply caps and thin gauge solid core speaker cables anyone - and what about the Peter Belt phenomena which was totally bonkers in UK-audio reality but the main proponent deeply believed in it and 'proved' many things to me at his place (polarised water in and out of his fuse box cupboard anyone?) - which I 'heard there' at his place but could never ever replicate at home...). The ability of our minds to be bamboozled and totally fooled knows no bounds. One day, you may experience one or two of these situations and the 'wall of certainty' will no doubt gradually crumble. If our minds appear closed it's almost certainly because we've been there in the past and learned from it! I don't need to keep putting my hand in the fire now I know how easily burned it can be and how painful a (accidental) burn is and how long it takes to heal (in my case it was a fully heated soldering iron and I still bear the finger-scars...)
I am sorry, this is nowt to do with a cheeky little desktop amp. One thing I've learned from all the above tales I've recited is that if you want 'better sounds' you buy a bigger one - larger speakers, amp-power and so on... Works for me
