A quiet rainy Saturday morning, so I have spent a couple of hours re-doing the AIR versus Mutec back to back test. Very interesting today. The first observation is just how much more stable AIR is now. When I first had the REF10 and SOtM kit, so back in the spring, I tried a back to back test with AIR, and it was a little problematic. Sometimes you could switch between the Mutec and AIR, but sometimes AIR would get confused, not work, and require the amps to be shut down to resume proceedings. Today, I was running Roon AIR as one zone, and the microRendu Mutec as a second zone, I could switch between AIR and the Mutec via the remote app at will, whatever I selected would play without issue. Indeed, I had the remote app on my iPhone to facilitate switching between AIR and the Mutec, as well as to check on the volume, and this was 100% stable too. Little things, but it does indicate that Devialet have been quietly making progress over the last few months.
So to the listening. Today, I have no doubt that the mR/MC3+USB/REF10 combo is a step up from AIR. In my head, I know exactly why and exactly how it sounds better, it is difficult to put into words though. The best way I can describe it is that it is a step away from music produced by a digital audio system and one step towards the actual music. So when listening very intently via AIR, you are aware of those little things that niggle sometimes with reproduced music, with the mR/Mutec you start to notice magic in voices, ambiance within the music. So the stuff that might induce listener fatigue is diminished, it sounds more organic, less digital, more like real instruments producing music, choose your description. I do not think I have actually managed to fully describe how all this manifests as sound in my head, but I am sure you get the general idea.
So subjectively, the mR/Mutec combo is the one that would keep me happy and keep me listening the longest. I can give some more objective thoughts. I tried playing with SAM. Before the I had more or less settled on SAM at 40%, go beyond this and you might get a bit more bass and punch on some tracks, but it can start to sound a bit bloated, and back to 40% SAM will go. Today switching between AIR and the Mutec, I noticed that bass was a touch cleaner, more distinct and defined. So I tried running SAM at 80%, this indeed provided more bass punch and sounded superb, switching to AIR, just a touch bloated, SAM is too high. I played around with this for a while this morning and the conclusion is that bass accuracy is a level up with the REF10. Consider that SAM at 40% was my established limit with the mR and MC3+USB, and it remains so if I try AIR now, but with the REF10 80% sounded splendid. OK, lots of talk about bass, but I mention bass because it is the most objective thing I established this morning. The bigger gain is with the stuff that I cannot really describe fully in words, but to be clear, in the pursuit of small incremental gains, a small gain has been obtained, but this particular small gain I think will massively increase my enjoyment of the system. It is a small gain that will draw you into the music more, and let you forget about the 1' and 0's flying around. For me, that is a very good result.
So back to @sam1000 question "Hypothetically, if AIR is 80, Mutec with Pasternack is 85-87, where would you place Mutec with Habst?". That is a tricky one to answer, but with AIR at 80, I would put Mutec Pasternack at 84 and Mutec Habst at 90. That still doesn't relay my true thoughts on the matter, but it might give you an idea.
I can repeat my earlier thoughts that this is the best my system has ever sounded. Curious, when you consider that my SOtM kit is still in Korea. Thinking about this, my current system does make some kind of objective sense. I have a noisy high powered PC doing the Roon and HQPlayer grunt work, this then feeds the mR via Ethernet, hence isolating the PC from the delicate audio stuff. The mR is a simple purpose-built bit of audio kit designed to take an Ethernet feed and turn it into a USB protocol feed without losing any bits. The mR has clean power, and the USB feed gets buffered, very accurately clocked and sent to the Devialet at it's preferred 24/192 rate. How can you improve on that? It certainly seems to work, but I guess noise can be reduced, maybe USB eye patterns improved, who knows. Anyway, yesterday SOtM were in touch, my sMS-200Ultra has now had it's Neo upgrade and both this and the tX-USBUltra have now been fitted with 20cm internal clock cables. They are now parceled up and waiting for DHL to pick them up on Monday. Will the Neo update nudge the sMS-200Ultra into being something I grow to love? Time will tell, but based on today's listening I am starting to wonder. Lets put it this way, with the system sounding like it does now I just want to sit down and listen to some more music.
I shall sign off with some questions for @zzzap above. An I right in saying that you run an Od'A? Do you also have a REF10? I am curious as to why you are interested in the Habst and how you are running your Od'A currently?
So to the listening. Today, I have no doubt that the mR/MC3+USB/REF10 combo is a step up from AIR. In my head, I know exactly why and exactly how it sounds better, it is difficult to put into words though. The best way I can describe it is that it is a step away from music produced by a digital audio system and one step towards the actual music. So when listening very intently via AIR, you are aware of those little things that niggle sometimes with reproduced music, with the mR/Mutec you start to notice magic in voices, ambiance within the music. So the stuff that might induce listener fatigue is diminished, it sounds more organic, less digital, more like real instruments producing music, choose your description. I do not think I have actually managed to fully describe how all this manifests as sound in my head, but I am sure you get the general idea.
So subjectively, the mR/Mutec combo is the one that would keep me happy and keep me listening the longest. I can give some more objective thoughts. I tried playing with SAM. Before the I had more or less settled on SAM at 40%, go beyond this and you might get a bit more bass and punch on some tracks, but it can start to sound a bit bloated, and back to 40% SAM will go. Today switching between AIR and the Mutec, I noticed that bass was a touch cleaner, more distinct and defined. So I tried running SAM at 80%, this indeed provided more bass punch and sounded superb, switching to AIR, just a touch bloated, SAM is too high. I played around with this for a while this morning and the conclusion is that bass accuracy is a level up with the REF10. Consider that SAM at 40% was my established limit with the mR and MC3+USB, and it remains so if I try AIR now, but with the REF10 80% sounded splendid. OK, lots of talk about bass, but I mention bass because it is the most objective thing I established this morning. The bigger gain is with the stuff that I cannot really describe fully in words, but to be clear, in the pursuit of small incremental gains, a small gain has been obtained, but this particular small gain I think will massively increase my enjoyment of the system. It is a small gain that will draw you into the music more, and let you forget about the 1' and 0's flying around. For me, that is a very good result.
So back to @sam1000 question "Hypothetically, if AIR is 80, Mutec with Pasternack is 85-87, where would you place Mutec with Habst?". That is a tricky one to answer, but with AIR at 80, I would put Mutec Pasternack at 84 and Mutec Habst at 90. That still doesn't relay my true thoughts on the matter, but it might give you an idea.
I can repeat my earlier thoughts that this is the best my system has ever sounded. Curious, when you consider that my SOtM kit is still in Korea. Thinking about this, my current system does make some kind of objective sense. I have a noisy high powered PC doing the Roon and HQPlayer grunt work, this then feeds the mR via Ethernet, hence isolating the PC from the delicate audio stuff. The mR is a simple purpose-built bit of audio kit designed to take an Ethernet feed and turn it into a USB protocol feed without losing any bits. The mR has clean power, and the USB feed gets buffered, very accurately clocked and sent to the Devialet at it's preferred 24/192 rate. How can you improve on that? It certainly seems to work, but I guess noise can be reduced, maybe USB eye patterns improved, who knows. Anyway, yesterday SOtM were in touch, my sMS-200Ultra has now had it's Neo upgrade and both this and the tX-USBUltra have now been fitted with 20cm internal clock cables. They are now parceled up and waiting for DHL to pick them up on Monday. Will the Neo update nudge the sMS-200Ultra into being something I grow to love? Time will tell, but based on today's listening I am starting to wonder. Lets put it this way, with the system sounding like it does now I just want to sit down and listen to some more music.
I shall sign off with some questions for @zzzap above. An I right in saying that you run an Od'A? Do you also have a REF10? I am curious as to why you are interested in the Habst and how you are running your Od'A currently?
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
