The Rocky Roads of Hi-Fi
This isn't fundamentally about entry-level systems, but rather about audiophile, and even more so, high-end sound. By audiophile, I mean listening to recordings that sound truly beautiful, are pleasant and listenable for long periods, with a large soundstage. The emphasis is on the recording. For me, high-end begins when I'm no longer just listening to a beautiful reproduction, but the instruments are in the room, sounding right there. The keyword is naturalness.
Everything I write is about my ears, my taste, and my opinion. When I say an amplifier doesn't sound good, for example, it's not a divine truth, but an opinion about the sound I heard in my system, with my ears, and according to my taste. This should be understood with every sentence I write. Furthermore, synergy is crucial in a given system. An element I dislike might sound excellent in another system, and of course, others might like what I don't.
Just for orientation, I primarily listen to jazz, followed by classical music, then rock, blues, and everything else. "Everything else" does not include electronic, rap, or repetitive club music.
I believe listening to music can also be learned. The starting point, if possible, is listening to acoustic instruments without amplification. I've had the good fortune to hear real musicians play in my living room many times. Listening to unamplified music is important. The next step is listening to as many high-quality sound systems as possible. To realize what to pay attention to, to analyze what sounds different. This applies to testing; when listening to music, it's just about the music and the experience.
For testing, it's worth compiling a list that you know well, with which you can comprehensively examine how individual instruments sound. Before purchasing, it's always worth listening to the chosen equipment, preferably at home in your own system, and for as long as possible. A well-informed decision takes several days, or even a week. You can listen at a dealer, but that will probably not lead to a well-informed decision.
A long journey led me to a place where I can listen to music at home without feeling anything is missing. True hi-fi is a difficult sport. My current system, I believe, delivers a very detailed, neutral, natural sound. It's unified, balanced across the entire frequency range, fast, precise, with full-bodied bass, powerful energy, and a warm, delicate, but not soft or blurry sound.
Let's look at its components.
Room Acoustics
This is the foundation of everything; if it's not right, you can build any expensive high-end system, it won't sound good (see Hi-Fi Show 2023). I have a 25 m² living room, almost square, but fortunately not exactly (4.80x5.25 m). The front speakers and the listening position are arranged in an equilateral triangle. All are more than 1 meter from the walls. The room is not acoustically treated, but there are no large empty wall surfaces; the back wall is almost entirely covered with bookshelves, but with offsets, not regularly, and the books are not neatly lined up. By ear, the acoustics seemed good, but I called Fapaci to measure it. The result was that it is suitable for quality music listening and home cinema, and no changes were recommended.
Clean Power
This is often overlooked, but my experience is that it is truly very important. Earlier, it never occurred to me that I should pay attention to this, but when I bought my first serious cable set (speaker, power, RCA), when we tested the cables, they also included a power strip. When it was decided that I would buy the cables, I said, "Let's remove the power strip, let only what remains play." It never occurred to me to buy such an expensive "simple" power strip. I gritted my teeth, but after a few minutes, I asked them to put it back because the difference was so huge. The phase-correct power cable connection is accepted, but after they adjusted all the electrical consumers in the house, that also noticeably improved the sound. The system sounded calmer, more balanced, and the silence became quieter. The next step was to pull a separate wire from the meter to the media devices. The final solution was to complement the system with the TEP network power isolator. I read about virtual ground, the homemade solution made from batteries, and many enthusiastic comments about it. Out of curiosity, I tried it myself, but in my case, it not only didn't improve but clearly and definitively degraded the sound quality. From this, the conclusion can certainly be drawn that it has an effect on the sound. In my opinion, it got worse precisely because my power supply is freer from interference.
Electronics
A few years ago, I also listened to music on a 200,000 HUF Denon home cinema amplifier, but I was never satisfied with its sound. Later, the Marantz 7012 (then 8015) home cinema amplifier meant some progress, but it was far from the real thing. For stereo music, you really need a separate amplifier. The Audia Flight Three S was heavily hyped, so I bought one (I listened to it at a dealer beforehand). This was indeed a big step forward, but overall, I still felt a sense of incompleteness. I had the opportunity to listen to a tube amplifier (Primaluna Prologic II, with Valvo EL34 xf4, Tungsram ecc82, Rft ecc83 tubes) at home. I swapped the Audia Flight for it, and it clearly sounded much better. The digital edge, dryness, and harshness disappeared from the sound. It has a much more natural, better, detailed, and pleasant sound, free from any tube softness or blurring.
As a source, I first started with the Node 2i; it's considered a good device for its price, but it's very entry-level, almost unlistenable for me with my current ears. The Lindemann Audio Limetree was the next step; according to tests, it's a very good device, it's a matter of comparison, compared to what. Compared to the Node2i, yes. Reading tests, I found the Arcam UDP411 Blu-ray player. I was attracted by the fact that I could also play discs, they wrote very good things about its sound, and a used unit was available. This was a huge leap from the first moment, and I haven't heard anything better at home since. I listen to music from a hard drive connected via a docking station (now replaced by a larger SSD) via USB to the Arcam. Its big advantage is that I noticed it reads the file into memory and plays it from there (when playing from a NAS, the file can be deleted from under it, and it will still play through, even if it's a full disc ISO file).
A few words about the handling of Hi-Fi devices and their associated apps. Tragic. The Node 2i was the best in this regard, but even there, there were some inconveniences. The Lindemann and the Arcam... speak no ill of the dead.
I also tried several other devices, for example, I considered the Zidoo NEO Alpha, a supposedly high-end media player, hoping I could save a device (currently I play movies with the Dune HD Duo 4K, because the Arcam is not 4K capable). I borrowed a Zidoo NEO S, which is an earlier version, almost the same in terms of hardware. It has a pleasant audiophile sound, but it falls far short of the Arcam for music. I thought it might be usable as a transport with a good DAC. I tried a few (in the million-forint or near-million-forint price range), surprisingly they couldn't even come close to the much cheaper Arcam, so it will stay as long as it works.
Loudspeakers
Previously, I had mid-range Quadral speakers. When I started to take music listening more seriously, along with the amplifier, by chance, I bought an Audio Psychic Classic 30 glass-covered speaker. It sounds surprisingly good and has served me very well.
Cables
A sensitive topic. Reading forums, many consider the whole thing a scam; this description is not for them. I managed to listen to many expensive cables from renowned manufacturers. The final choice was Darsana Audio (power, RCA, speaker). I had the opportunity to follow the development of the speaker cable as a beta tester.
The first thing that immediately captivated me, even in the early, undeveloped versions, was the very, very detailed, clear, almost ethereal high notes. After finding the right composition for the cable, the same detail and clarity also appeared in the bass range, which became full-bodied, warm, yet fast and accurate. It was also interesting to see the effect of the connectors. With rhodium connectors, the highs were very impressive, with a large soundstage, but at the same time, the sound became a bit dry and more tiring in the long run. After several contenders, the final choice was WBT gold-plated nextgen connectors. It's probably no coincidence that many renowned speaker manufacturers also use WBT (Audio Psychic too). The main advantage is the natural sound, which brought the entire system's sound into place. Interestingly, similar WBT connectors didn't work out for the RCA cables.
I managed to listen to many high-end cables, without being exhaustive:
Acoustic Zen: good value for money, it was a long time ago, seemed good back then.
HiDiamond 8: seemed good at first, detailed sound, but after listening a bit longer, I didn't like it.
Emanation Pro 600: musical, pleasant sound, but dull and not detailed enough compared to Darsana.
TEP (the 800,000 HUF category cable): very musical, pleasant-sounding cable, almost a winner, but in retrospect, it was worth waiting for Darsana's development; it's clearly the winner.
Neotech: I don't remember the exact type, priced over 700,000 HUF, rhodium connector, very large soundstage, detailed impressive highs, balanced sound, but not warm or "friendly" enough bass, and far from as natural as Darsana.
For power cables, I also tried a lot of cables:
AudioQuest Blizzard (colored, dull sound for me).
Neotech (similar category cable), I liked this better than AudioQuest, less colored sound, but it didn't convince me.
What was very good was the Furutech Powerflux power cable, but ultimately, Darsana clearly won with its more natural, finer, more detailed sound.
There were also TEP and Emanation; I also listened to Synergistic Research (1.5 million HUF), and the balance here also tipped towards Darsana.
First, I bought a Darsana for the amplifier, then I tested it by connecting one to the Arcam as well, and it was not surprising that this further improved the sound. Finally, the 4th version, the highest category power cable, was the final choice (amplifier, Arcam, home cinema). It's a little better in every aspect: even more detailed, clearer, airier highs, tighter, more precise bass, rounder, "darker," more unified sound.
Darsana is truly the clear winner on the cable front with its natural, detailed, and clear sound. Darsana is a Sanskrit word meaning sight, vision, appearance, glimpse. There is a branch of yoga that is not based on physical exercises (asanas), but is a purely spiritual path. Here, at the end of a communal meditation, the guru (master) gives darsan to the disciples, meaning he looks into each person's eyes individually. They say that through the guru's eyes, God looks at them... This is where the name of the cable comes from, as it allows a glimpse into true music. I think the name choice is good.
Vibration Damping
There are high-tech solutions costing hundreds of thousands, which are surely very good, but for me, a self-made, cheap vibration damper worked wonders. It's based on a hollow, hard, but flexible tube, about 3 mm in diameter. Its clear effect is tighter, more precise bass. I placed these under the speakers, the amplifier, and even the player.
Summary
I believe this system, in terms of price-to-value ratio, is currently unbeatable for me. I have only rarely heard better sound, in systems roughly 10-20 times more expensive and in larger spaces than my room. Previously, I couldn't truly enjoy classical music, but now it's finally a real experience. I've finished the testing; from now on, the focus is on the music. This is my final stop (never say never...), because, on one hand, I no longer feel any lack, and on the other hand, I don't think it can be improved at a reasonable price anymore. I've probably gotten the maximum out of the individual components with proper synergy.
A friend of mine, not an audiophile, visited me recently and listened to a few tracks (I didn't tell him details about the system). His first sentence was exactly what I wrote at the beginning: he felt as if the instruments were playing right in front of him, in the room, and that's the essence.
It's difficult – actually impossible – to talk about sound with words; it's a bit like describing colors to a blind person. I wrote earlier about the calm, delicate, soft sound that characterizes the system. The sounds have a pleasant "aura." This is what allows for long, enjoyable music listening. This "aura" of pleasantness can also be heard when an acoustic instrument plays live. With a colored sound (e.g., Blizzard power cable, or even the Zidoo), there's a kind of pleasant sound, but this is not the true sound of the instruments, but rather like the blur on retouched celebrity photos. On a superficial glance, the picture is pleasant, but it's very artificial, like a wax doll.
2024.01.20 Update: Never Say Never...
In the meantime, the 5th and 6th generations of power cables have been completed. The 5th contains the same plugs as mine, only the composition and quantity of the wires have changed. The 6th is a version equipped with extremely expensive plugs and wires of suitable composition, which is not yet final.
We started with a blind test of the 5th power cable compared to my own (4th generation). The first cable we heard sounded very, very good. Listening to the other cable, I felt that it had a larger, more precise soundstage, the details were even richer, and the overall sound was cleaner and more refined. The sound of individual instruments was enriched with new flavors and became fuller. I asked to put the first one back to see if I was really hearing correctly. Its sound was indeed more blurred and grayer. Needless to say, the 5th was what I heard as better. The quality leap was between the 4th and 5th; putting on the 6th, the music sounded even calmer and more refined. I could illustrate the difference by saying that the 4th is like going to a good restaurant and eating a professionally prepared traditional meal. All the flavors are harmoniously in place, very delicious. After that, we taste the same dish in a reimagined version prepared by a gourmet chef. Its original character is still there, but new flavors and textures appear, and they merge in perfect harmony, subtly weighed on a pharmacist's scale. It's astonishing to experience what an effect even a power cable can have on the sound. This really has to be experienced to be believed.
Vladár Gábor, 2024.01.03
