Another day with the Remedy Reclocker. Today I loaded some FLAC files onto a USB drive, some 16bit, some 24bit. This was then used to play music via a Pioneer BDP-450 to Remedy Reclocker to Devialet. The results could not have been more different to yesterdays test via Toslink from a Panasonic TV.
There was a clear improvement, more or less in all areas. Better resolution, manifesting itself in mid range detail, better vocals, better resolution in the lowest bass. It struck me that it was simply a more pleasant listen, less fatiguing and more "analogue". That was my impression anyway, I was impressed and even more puzzled by yesterday's poor results.
Early this afternoon I was joined again by my "blind tester". We started listening to a few tracks direct from the Pioneer. Then I connected the Reclocker, and we listened again. It took about 5 minutes, only a few bars into the second track, for the "blind" listener to announce "this ones better, no 2 is best". So fairly clear cut.
Back to my own listening this morning, I was struck that my cheapo Pioneer Blu-ray player, pretending to music server, was actually sounding rather splendid when coupled with the reclocker. Consider this, this is a D800 with KEF Blades running off a piece of kit that that costs less than £200 and is a music player only as a secondary function.
Having done much back to back testing with and without the Reclocker and coming to the clear conclusion that it did in fact make a big improvement, I asked myself the question, is this as good as AIR Ethernet? Surely not? To be honest, when I had got to this point I was getting a bit fed up of overly careful listening to the same stuff again and again, plus this kind of listening this does effect my sanity a little. However, I was intrigued enough to give it a quick try. The result? Well I think I would need to spend additional time with this one to get definitive conclusions, but initial impressions were a little mixed. One thing that was very clear in one track, is that the depth and resolution with the very lowest bass was significantly better with AIR, more realistic, more "magnificent" sounding. (this was with the timpani bass in a 24bit copy of Freddie Mercury's "Barcelona", 2012 Orchestral remake). That was not the end of the story though, in other aspects, I think I was enjoying listening to the Pioneer + Reclocker combo more than AIR, it's back to that combination of being less fatiguing an "analogue". Anyway, I did not spend a massive amount of time comparing with AIR, but this is definitely something worth revisiting some time. Makes me wonder what the reclocker might be capable of with a slightly less rubbish source feeding it? I'm also wondering if it will work between TV and Devialet, Toslink in, SPDIF RCA out, but that's another one for another day. I guess I am now a little frustrated that the thing worked splendidly in an application that I don't really want to use, but seemingly poorly in one that I do!
There was a clear improvement, more or less in all areas. Better resolution, manifesting itself in mid range detail, better vocals, better resolution in the lowest bass. It struck me that it was simply a more pleasant listen, less fatiguing and more "analogue". That was my impression anyway, I was impressed and even more puzzled by yesterday's poor results.
Early this afternoon I was joined again by my "blind tester". We started listening to a few tracks direct from the Pioneer. Then I connected the Reclocker, and we listened again. It took about 5 minutes, only a few bars into the second track, for the "blind" listener to announce "this ones better, no 2 is best". So fairly clear cut.
Back to my own listening this morning, I was struck that my cheapo Pioneer Blu-ray player, pretending to music server, was actually sounding rather splendid when coupled with the reclocker. Consider this, this is a D800 with KEF Blades running off a piece of kit that that costs less than £200 and is a music player only as a secondary function.
Having done much back to back testing with and without the Reclocker and coming to the clear conclusion that it did in fact make a big improvement, I asked myself the question, is this as good as AIR Ethernet? Surely not? To be honest, when I had got to this point I was getting a bit fed up of overly careful listening to the same stuff again and again, plus this kind of listening this does effect my sanity a little. However, I was intrigued enough to give it a quick try. The result? Well I think I would need to spend additional time with this one to get definitive conclusions, but initial impressions were a little mixed. One thing that was very clear in one track, is that the depth and resolution with the very lowest bass was significantly better with AIR, more realistic, more "magnificent" sounding. (this was with the timpani bass in a 24bit copy of Freddie Mercury's "Barcelona", 2012 Orchestral remake). That was not the end of the story though, in other aspects, I think I was enjoying listening to the Pioneer + Reclocker combo more than AIR, it's back to that combination of being less fatiguing an "analogue". Anyway, I did not spend a massive amount of time comparing with AIR, but this is definitely something worth revisiting some time. Makes me wonder what the reclocker might be capable of with a slightly less rubbish source feeding it? I'm also wondering if it will work between TV and Devialet, Toslink in, SPDIF RCA out, but that's another one for another day. I guess I am now a little frustrated that the thing worked splendidly in an application that I don't really want to use, but seemingly poorly in one that I do!
