Well a few weeks of amazing listening sessions later, I'm in total bliss with this 64S / Coralstone setup. This is without question the best sound I've achieved at home. Sonic satisfaction has increased within this time, and I'm not sure how much of that may be settling in (e.g. how long that old tonearm wire went unused before I got it conducting again) and alignment/setup tweaks, versus psychological factors. Ignoring gear I outright dislike, components fall into 3 categories:
- Gear that bowls you over on 1st listen, then fades over time. E.g. "new gear syndrome". Sometimes a new component will present a different perspective that initially seems refreshing and exhilarating, yet over time the appeal of this particular perspective fades, and in its absence you start to pick up on flaws and shortcomings that were glossed over in your initial excitement. I've had a couple of these in the past year, and I'll refrain from calling them out, as they're still fine pieces; just not up to the level of competition here.
- Components that impress from the very first note, and continue to do so for the long run; instant classics. Ah, if only everything worked like that! This happy scenario becomes rare with experience, and usually reflects that you've landed a new component that performs at a substantially higher level/class than your prior references. Examples of this for me would be: Stax 009 headphones, Stax T2 amplifier, Koetsu stone cartridges, Tannoy Canterbury GR speakers, my CMS Maxxum rack for the turntable.
- Components that don't impress at first (even mildly disappointing), but over time develop into cherished favorites. My "theory": Your perception of "correct" sound can became inexorably intertwined with the sound of your prior reference. When this rug is pulled, sometimes the result sounds "wrong". However, given time, as your prior conditioning breaks, you find yourself forming a deeper more meaningful connection to music with the new reference.
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