A Confused streaming system - Mutec / SOtM Ultra

[K4680]

@K4680 - Why did you post that here!  I hope you are not suggesting that this is what my hifi rack looks like???  Although as it happens, there is some resemblance, including the settings on the first MC3+USB.  Anyway, it was a very interesting article - thanks for the link!  I think I would have enjoyed the gig.

Anyway, I was not planning any updates to this thread until my "Neo'd" sMS-200Ultra is back from Korea, but while I am at it I thought I would add something to @Greg 's post above.  (Although one update re the Neo, today I was stung by £26 "importation charges", it all adds up!)
 
First to say that obviously I do not agree with Greg about the Blades, I auditioned very many speakers before buying the Blades, and if they were not the speakers I liked best, I would not have bought them.  I do know of others that don't like the Blades, and I know some that do.  It is one thing that interests me on this forum, we all have Devialet amps (except maybe the Phantom guys), and many chose Devialet for the sound quality performance.  Not all I guess, for some it would be features or product form, but I am sure that sound quality performance was a criteria for many.  Then, we all go off and run our Devialet's with different speakers, in fact, I am quite amased that with a few exceptions, we all seam have different speakers.  So speakers seam to be a very personal choice, and along with the room influence sound mare that anything else I think.  Curiously, I did attend a demo of the Blades once, this was in a big room with a Moon electronics, and I thought the Blades sounded poor.  Many factors here.

Greg stated " It seems to me that his common denominator is his Kef Blades and would be whatever make/model of speaker he might use in his system. Therefore, unless a Kef Blade user, probably no-one can draw any conclusions from what Brian generously contributes in the spade fulls that he does, and in acknowledgement, bravo for that!"

This I actually agree with, in terms of the conclusion.  I maybe see some things slightly differently, firstly, I see the Devialet and AIR as being a common denominator, so it is for this reason that I sometimes post comparisons with AIR.  This is something many of us can relate to as a kind of bench mark.  But in terms of drawing conclusions from what I write, I agree, conclusions should not be reached, I would consider what is written as just one "data point".  So for example, I have stated that the mR/MC3+USB sounds similar to AIR with the Pro, that is just my view, but if two or three people post similar comments, then it becomes slightly more compelling, but still not definitive in any way.  In fact, this thread should serve as a cautionary tail warning against drawing such conclusions.  In the very first post of this thread I referred to the many good reports that I had read regarding the sMS-200Ultra, then many of the subsequent posts refer to why I did not like it, that is in my system, with my speakers, room and ears.  In fact, I think different rooms / speakers are only part of the issues, in the same way we all seam to have preference to different speakers, I suspect that we all hear differently and react to sounds in different ways.  This is of course speculation, I have very little idea what is going on in my brain, let alone anyone else's!  But the fact that we all seam to like different speakers (and some folk like valve amps) suggests to me that something different is going on in terms of what we like to listen to.  So I think our ears and personal preference are a bigger factor, and indeed the reason will all like different speakers in the first place.

As for Gregs's more simple approach to his system, many of the posts in this thread back that idea up too.  As I have posted here, the he one thing I am finding with the Pro is that it is very difficult to substantially improve on simply using AIR.  Don't think that just spending cash on something to plug into your amp will necessarily afford an improvement.

So what is the point of it all?  One thing I find is that this thread is useful to me as a reference.  Sometimes I check back on what I had written at various stages, it is very useful to me.  So it is worth me writing it even if nobody reads it!  Although I hope some find it interesting as a bit of light reading, and I hope some have picked up that my experiences with the SOtM kit serve as a cautionary tail regarding drawing conclusions from what others post on line.  That said, I love the REF10, and I would not have bought that if it was not for the many positive reports over on CA.  There are many ways to look at this one, but overall I have found that the sharing of ideas and experiences is a huge benefit to quest of getting the sound you want, far more use than magazine reviews and many other things.

@Confused - I think you are interested in something like that! Not necessarily, high-end!