It’s too bad people don’t apreciatee the value or potential of iPhone video comparisons. When I heard an earlier version of these footers the difference in information retrieval and presentation/listener perspective very obvious. I strongly suspect this would show up in a video comparison which of course can be done very quickly in real time.
of course this is no substitute for Ashley hearing them in one zone system, but it is a effective way to do quick comparisons later after settling and conditions have been optimized.
I think a product sounding apparently so improved should certainly demonstrate some noticeable scale of change in even a video replay… and videos do clearly demonstrate change. Whether they then allow you to assess all the implications of that change may be a different matter. That’s where traditional audition experience comes to play.
But I’d love to see some videos from the CS2M compared to their previous model in a system where CS already has proven to work. Using videos to show in ways these upgrade shifts would be useful especially given the products inordinate settling times.
But I’d add that I still feel the success (or otherwise) of any strategy with any components is still most likely in large ways context specific.
I usually steer clear of discussions on tweeks but after years of reading regular use of disparaging criticisms on stillpoints I’ll simply say that I’ve made stillpoints work so have come to doubt the universality of the claims. Certainly poor match or inappropriate implementation isn’t going to work with a revealing product and I never suggest stillpoints are at all a universal solution either. But the claim that they rob the sound of any information isn't what I’ve found at all… quite the opposite. I find them more revealing and extended and so if your setup has issues in the top end or is too lean in balance they certainly won’t hide that away. They definitely need a considered approach to application and in concert with using the appropriate mass for damping.
So its always about finding the appropriate solution to bring what is there already more into rightness… and everyone has a different road to get to rightness. CS might be perfect for some but I think tweeks are so system specific and the choice to use any or none is justifiable if you can simply make the strategy work for you. That is our job (and perhaps our journey).
So while I’ve largely stayed out of this topic I’d simply add that the other thing that has not sat easily for me is the notion of the whole immersive thing itself where you are projected up onto centre stage. It just doesn’t sound to me to be a natural effect but getting some clarity on what that actually means would also be useful.
And I’m not saying that CS does or doesn’t exaggerate but there’s plenty of tweaks that actually tend to hype things up and make them seem more exciting or more surreal or the sound-field more obvious or noticeable and that doesn’t sound to me a recipe for more natural. So implementation and expectation about what is rightness and how we assess and then bring it together comes in to play here as well. How the parts come together into the whole.
Ultimately though just because something works for some doesn’t mean it will be right for others let alone make it the only way to go. Where’s the challenge for us in a off-the- rack one way only plug and play one system fits all… it just isn’t reflective of anything real or possibly even desirable. Monocultures are vulnerable to fail and if there wasn’t an available diversity of rightness then we’d all be at home playing music and not here enjoying the journey.