I invited my good friend and audio buddy, David, over for a listen the other night. He was kind to take the time to write down his listening impressions and to share them with me. With his permission, I post them here to give readers a sense of the effect of the most recent change to my system: the cleaning of all male and female contacts in my system with the DeoxIT Gold contact cleaner. Here is David's wonderfully descriptive write up of his listening impressions and the effect of the DeoxIT treatment:
"Often I hear changes in your [Peter’s] system within a split second. This session was one of those times.
I believe it’s due to the very careful attention you —and Jim Smith— have paid to detail in setup and room amendments. It may also have something to do with how familiar I have become with your system over the years, a direct consequence of your generosity in so often hosting me as a listener. Either way, your system and room are so well tuned that changes are easily detected.
Immediately I felt a different sense of presence with the Janaki String Trio, showing specifically as a far superior rendition of the resonant sound boxes of the string instruments which sounded much more realistic, more whole-some than in the past.
Violin, in particular, was rendered in more balanced form. In the past, the resonance and texture of the violin has been represented almost exclusively by the sound of strings with a wee bit of wood from the instrument and occasionally the bow. This session revealed violins to sound as though their bodies were now a full and, in fact, commanding part of the instrument’s sound.
Using my audio axiom that you don't know what you've missed until you hear it, I have to say that I was unaware how little of the resonance of the wooden part of the violin was previously being added to the impression of string music. This change was not subtle; it was pronounced. I felt for the first time that I was listening to the entire instrument; strings, neck, body and bow. This was a revealing experience.
Another positive aspect of the system's change was extension. Lower frequencies, occasionally not thunderous in the past, were rendered with greater clarity, extension and convincing variety. It's been my experience that greater information in the 'low end' can result in an increased impression of tunefulness. (that's now officially a word) This time there was an impression of greater extension: more space around the string bass and noticeably greater information in texture, and sound —quality and amount— along with a commensurate improvement in wood texture from the bass’s sound chamber.
Extension was not limited to low frequencies. Switching to Way Out West introduced cymbals that showed their heels to past renditions: brass had both more of the kind of shimmer demonstrated by cymbals in live performance and a refinement of decay that forced me to smile and exclaim.
Saxaphone sound, one of Albrecht's reference points, again proved my axiom. I didn't know that previous renditions of sax had been colored --a little too saxy-- by which I mean the resonance sounded good, until we heard the post-treatment presentation which just sounded more real; less theatrical if you will. Specifically the bark of the horn came from a little way up into the horn and sounded very natural. I didn't know how much I was looking for a 'hi-fi sound' when listening to saxaphone, but this presentation set me straight.
Two other aspects of playback were also very substantially improved: the first, a solidification of the image, placed both Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy more solidly, or palpably, in the studio space than in past presentations. The second improvement is a little harder to describe because it involves the impression often described as 'sound stage' but it was more than that. Instruments sounded more solidly positioned in place but also this resulted in a more convincing 'presence' or palpability. I felt more cued by ambience than in the past which showed as a more vivid experience of being transported to the recording space, instead of feeling the musicians were in the room or that I was in a listening session.
Each one of these changes led, both individually and together, to a substantially stronger musicality in our listening session. I felt the music more. That's a direction I always prefer.
To that end, I would only add that the system’s presentation gave me a clearer and stronger, more convincing and refined sense of the performer’s intention in their crafting of performances. Peter has used the word ‘intelligibility’ and I feel this tweak presented the music, and the lntellect behind the musicians’ performance far more transparently. I have a friend who is a professional violinist. When she plays, I can hear her intention in each note —every single note. That’s what I take Peter to mean with the word ‘intelligibility’; that the intention, intellectual and spiritual, is easily discerned.
Despite the descriptive prose, throughout this session I felt liberated to feel the music, and revel in the performance and its intelligibility; sonic effects pushed me to this relatively rare and unfamiliar place. This was particularly evident on the Janaki String Trio LP, sounding to me as though I could hear them feeling, but also thinking their way through the performance while they played off each other at the same time.
This was a really memorable listening session, for all the right reasons: the music was varied, so it tested the system; the system became transparent to the music’s meaning and the musician’s thought and performance intentions, and the sonic effects, system wide, were made fully subservient to feeling the performance, the musician’s involvement and being transported to the venue.
I ordered the product, and hope it will provide the same degree of improvement in my system as it did in yours, Peter. Thank you, again, and thanks to Albrecht [Al M.] for finding and sharing this product. Can't wait to try it first hand.
It's a refinement, substantive, satisfying and brought more fun, intimacy, credibility and musicality to my experience of the music."
