Last night Marty and I had a Shunyata fest/experiment. Not surprisingly there were some surprises and fortunately many smiles on both of our faces. As you know, there has been a lot of talk about Shunyata's Alpha Digital cable with people weighing in on both sides and a few, well you know.
As someone who has owned each of the Shunyata Zitron products and gone through their respective burn-in scenarios, I feel that i am getting fairly seasoned on this front and thus do not expect to be surprised in this arena. Well color me "wrong" again, except this time it was not only a Shunyata lesson, but a psycho acoustical lesson- one that was repeated in both Marty's system and mine.
Last night's experiment started out simply enough with me picking up 2 more Anaconda PC, one for my Spectral 260 and one for my slightly tweaked BAT VK 32SE preamp. These replaced Zitron Python's which Marty was probably going to buy from me for substitution into his EMM XDS1 where he had an Alpha Digital PC, with some reservation, and the other was to power his Talos which runs his TACT which he uses for DSP full range/low pass crossover.
I too have Alpha Digitals somewhat newly (3 weeks) in my system plugged into my Meitner DAC and my transport. While more of a fan of the Alpha's than Marty, I had to keep chanting to both Marty and myself that the slight discontinuity of sound we both heard was a function of uncompleted break in. However on the positive side, and essentially addictive, was the marked absence of digital hash and marked lowering of the noise floor allowing many important auditory cues to be heard that were previously somewhat masked by the hash.
First we took the Alpha Digital (three weeks old) out of Marty's EMM XDS1 and substituted one of my Pythons. The difference was immediate and only became more pronounced over the next hour as the annealing proceeded. There was more bass with greater force and articulation after an hour, BUT the hash was back and gone were all of those subtle auditory cues that became apparent when the noise floor dropped. Said another way, we put the Alpha Digital back in and took the Python out. Both of us concluded the same thing. Clearly the Python is vastly superior to the Cobra PC (the basis of the Alpha), BUT the digital Zitron circuit is essential for digital components.
The second surprise came at both Marty's house and at mine, but for somewhat different reasons, producing the same end result. We then inserted one of my Pythons between the wall and Marty's Talos, where the TACT is plugged in. Within seconds we both looked at each and essentially in synch said, whatever was wrong with the sound from the Alpha/XDS1 was now either not noticeable or somehow being isolated/filtered or psycho acoustically enhanced. Although things were clearly not settled in yet, including the Alpha, this was close to the best sound I have ever heard from Marty's system over the years. Impressively, Marty, ever the audio skeptic, agreed.
I then returned home with my two new Anaconda's and one of my Pythons which was dethroned by the Alpha into the XDS1, and promptly put the Python back into the preamp and the Anaconda between the wall and 260 where there was a Python previously. Sorry no Typhon on this circuit, yet, because I believe it is better to get all of the cords right first and then there is the reality of the cost. My plan was to evaluate one change at a time, and in this case the Anaconda for the amp.
As I mentioned, I have broken in many Shunyata PC's, including Anaconda's and do not expect a lot out of the box, but this time I was wrong. Similar to what happened at Marty's when we put the Python into the Talos, the less than pleasurable qualities of the Alpha into the DAC at my house and player at Marty's were no longer apparent. What was apparent was the benefit from the lack of the digital hash and the return of all of those auditory cues.
Granted, in my system the soundstage has collapsed a bit, but then the Anaconda has only 12 hours on it. But even this early, the sound is so much more pleasurable and listenable than it was with a Python in the same location as the new Anaconda.
So in conclusion at this step, I have two things to offer:1) my music is more visual/real than before and not surprisingly more pleasing, even if there are some early break in issues leaking through; and 2) I cannot wait till everything has fully broken it to hear the synergy then.
My current plan is to retube the preamp tonight with NOS 6H30 DR-P's and let the new tubes settle in for a 100 hours before putting the Anaconda PC into the preamp so I can evaluate the tube change. Anyone looking for a essentially new Python 15 amp cord for $1500?
