ZERO LINK: A new technology from SFORZATO and SOULNOTE in Japan (with sample WAVs)
- Thread starter KyoichiOda
- Start date
A Japanse audiophile compared ESOTERIC Grandioso G1 with SOULNOTE X-3.
"The soundstage is clearly wider with the SOULNOTE.
The vocal rises upwards appropriately and the X-3 gives a better sense of the front and rear of the instrument. ESOTERIC Grandioso G1 is flat in comparison.
I'm not sure what the technical reasons are for the superiority of the crystal X-3 over the rubidium G1 in terms of clock accuracy, but that's how it sounded."
https://ameblo.jp/tiromie/entry-127...YdB5v5JVF5J1O2_jUY24C6WzEq10OUgqlyt9QXXhSQBp8
"The soundstage is clearly wider with the SOULNOTE.
The vocal rises upwards appropriately and the X-3 gives a better sense of the front and rear of the instrument. ESOTERIC Grandioso G1 is flat in comparison.
I'm not sure what the technical reasons are for the superiority of the crystal X-3 over the rubidium G1 in terms of clock accuracy, but that's how it sounded."
https://ameblo.jp/tiromie/entry-127...YdB5v5JVF5J1O2_jUY24C6WzEq10OUgqlyt9QXXhSQBp8
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I had the opportunity to check the soulnote sacd transport 3 weeks ago.
I was contemplating a 1-box sacd player. Either tis or the playback design MPS-8 which had also been made with D&M transport.
I was most concerned how the D&M transports would behave.
Is it going to be like esoteric transports where their front panel buttons are slow to react to finger touches => leading to less than ideal reading of the encoded data?
My concerns were alleviated. The D&M transport on the soulnote player react very well to finger touches.
Using my track-cueing technique, it could cue up the desired track and commence playing without leaving memory imprint.
The sound is so much more opened, so much more detailed and more dynamic, and more relaxed and musical compared to the same track cued up by using the remote control.
Incidentally, I hear unusually pronounced levels of ear fatigue (real physical sensation) when the same tracks of music were played when they were cue-up using the remote control. When using my hand technique to cue up the same tracks to play, this sensation of ear fatigue completely disappeared.
OTOH, on the TX2/DA2v2 combo, even with its retarded optical transport, doesn't exhibit this physical sense of ear fatigue when music is cue-up with its remote control.
I was contemplating a 1-box sacd player. Either tis or the playback design MPS-8 which had also been made with D&M transport.
I was most concerned how the D&M transports would behave.
Is it going to be like esoteric transports where their front panel buttons are slow to react to finger touches => leading to less than ideal reading of the encoded data?
My concerns were alleviated. The D&M transport on the soulnote player react very well to finger touches.
Using my track-cueing technique, it could cue up the desired track and commence playing without leaving memory imprint.
The sound is so much more opened, so much more detailed and more dynamic, and more relaxed and musical compared to the same track cued up by using the remote control.
Incidentally, I hear unusually pronounced levels of ear fatigue (real physical sensation) when the same tracks of music were played when they were cue-up using the remote control. When using my hand technique to cue up the same tracks to play, this sensation of ear fatigue completely disappeared.
OTOH, on the TX2/DA2v2 combo, even with its retarded optical transport, doesn't exhibit this physical sense of ear fatigue when music is cue-up with its remote control.
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Soulnote chief desiner Mr. Kato explains his idea of clock generator. (English translation at the bottom)
Karl-Heinz Fink commented on SOULNOTE:
Excellent...thanks for posting! Will there be an English page for the pages that explain ZERO LINK? The follow-on pages for ZERO LINK
at the link on the English page seem to still point to the Japanese language pages...
at the link on the English page seem to still point to the Japanese language pages...
Welcome to WBF Oda San. It's great to have your voice heard here! The Sforzato/Soul Note collaboration looks very interesting.
I heard some Sforzato products playing along with a Fidata server, Blumenhofer speakers, Takatsuki SE integrated amplifier, and True Power Lab cables at the Florida Audio Expo this past weekend. In spite of the big established brands attending the show, the Alex Sound Tec room was one of my favorites. US parties interested in Sforzato can inquire with the US importer at:
alexsoundtech.com
I heard some Sforzato products playing along with a Fidata server, Blumenhofer speakers, Takatsuki SE integrated amplifier, and True Power Lab cables at the Florida Audio Expo this past weekend. In spite of the big established brands attending the show, the Alex Sound Tec room was one of my favorites. US parties interested in Sforzato can inquire with the US importer at:
Alex Sound Technology – Distributor of Hi‐End Audio Equipment
Alex Sound Technology is a distributor of Hi‐End Audio Equipment in the American market
alexsoundtech.com
Hmmm. So it's synchronous. As I understand it many early digital systems were synchronous too (and most on chip designs). But the quality of the master clock was of ultimate importance to not lose data. Which was expensive and clock circuits were a lot less precise. So this could cause dropouts etc, and bad sound. Also the length and quality of the cables affected this equation greatly.
While clocks are stupendously better than the early ones (and I'm sure these clocks are excellent), there is still the issue of cable length?
There is always an issue with cable lenghts. IMO, it should be possible to design the ZEROLINK transport and the DAC in one case.
This would reduce cable lenght and would improve timing. But for marketing reasons it is much better to have two cases.
Matt
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