23-Jul-2016, 17:09
Much listening this afternoon, plus some back to back checks with Windows AIR, and a brief visit of my blind testing volunteer.
A very interesting afternoon, but I have to say all this back to back testing genuinely messes with your mind. I have had to stop listening now because I think I am going quite mad!
Anyway, earlier I was listening to the tracks I had previously used for auditions of the Aurender, Melco, Cad Cat & indeed the mighty dCS rig. What can I say? I was really enjoying what I was hearing. With reference back to my earlier auditions I thought the piano in the Bowie track that I loved on the N1Z, sounded as good as the N1Z, then the Bowie vocal on the same track that was elevated to magical heights by the Aurender W20 sounded just as good via microRendu + Mutec. This was good! Everything else sounded good too. I did even find myself thinking just how good was that dCS rig?
It was only a brief run with my poor suffering blind tester. This was interesting, as I too was listening back to back tracks with Windows AIR & mR Mutec, of course I knew which was which. It is doing these A/B tests that really messes with your head, we only got through six tracks, and to be honest, that was enough. (this did take best part of an hour though, listening to everything at least twice) An interesting result though! Blind, it was 4 to 2 in favour of the mR Mutec combo. So not a slam dunk victory! That does not quite tell the whole story though, for 3 of the 4 track that went in favour of the Mutec it was a case of a clear 'the second one was better' (or the other way 'round, playback method for 'first up' was selected at random). Then there were 3 off tracks declared as 'I'm not sure this is hard', two of these went to AIR, one to mR Mutec. So it did seem that when the mR Mutec was picked, it was by a clearer margin. All very interesting though, and I think it shows how hard blind testing is, how phycology plays a big factor, and indeed it indicates just how good Windows AIR is. (when AIR works, luckily it was flawless and stutter free today, massive stuttering would be a bit of a giveaway in a blind test) As an example, there was one track where played via AIR the I thought the bass was much fuller and better. I switched back to mR Mutec and came to a similar conclusion, but this time by only a tiny margin. I think the bass sounded better on this track because it was less accurate, which kind of worked in this instance. I then started googling 'phone numbers for lunatic asylums, I think I had had enough. I think this shows how maybe focusing on one aspect of the music or sound can be misleading. Frankly humans are not brilliant at evaluating these things.
When doing the back to backs, I did tend to prefer the mR Mutec combo, better details, more realistic, much sharper soundstage, but rapid A/B's do stop you getting too carried away. I would absolutely love to get the mR and Mutec together with an Aurender and a Melco for decent A/B testing. (or even the dCS) I wonder what Windows AIR 3 will be like? Maybe no better than AIR 2 SQ wise, but maybe miles better and I'm wasting my time and money here.
For me though, I have concluded that the mR / Mutec combo is a bit of a winner. For whatever reasons, when I was just listening to stuff I fancied for fun, I was loving this rig, for me definitely the best I have heard at home. Next step will be to stop evaluation mode and just live with this rig for a couple of weeks or more, I often come to slightly different conclusions given time and indeed a decent selection of listening material, it's surprising how many subtleties you pick up over a month's worth of listening with new kit.
Tomorrow I'll do some thinking about PSU's, if this mini rig can get better by ditching the iFi and getting cleaner power, then I'll be very happy indeed!
The best way I can sum this up is that I can say that I am really looking forward to some normal non evaluative listening with my mR Mutec fed rig, I think that says enough, I want more listening!
A very interesting afternoon, but I have to say all this back to back testing genuinely messes with your mind. I have had to stop listening now because I think I am going quite mad!
Anyway, earlier I was listening to the tracks I had previously used for auditions of the Aurender, Melco, Cad Cat & indeed the mighty dCS rig. What can I say? I was really enjoying what I was hearing. With reference back to my earlier auditions I thought the piano in the Bowie track that I loved on the N1Z, sounded as good as the N1Z, then the Bowie vocal on the same track that was elevated to magical heights by the Aurender W20 sounded just as good via microRendu + Mutec. This was good! Everything else sounded good too. I did even find myself thinking just how good was that dCS rig?
It was only a brief run with my poor suffering blind tester. This was interesting, as I too was listening back to back tracks with Windows AIR & mR Mutec, of course I knew which was which. It is doing these A/B tests that really messes with your head, we only got through six tracks, and to be honest, that was enough. (this did take best part of an hour though, listening to everything at least twice) An interesting result though! Blind, it was 4 to 2 in favour of the mR Mutec combo. So not a slam dunk victory! That does not quite tell the whole story though, for 3 of the 4 track that went in favour of the Mutec it was a case of a clear 'the second one was better' (or the other way 'round, playback method for 'first up' was selected at random). Then there were 3 off tracks declared as 'I'm not sure this is hard', two of these went to AIR, one to mR Mutec. So it did seem that when the mR Mutec was picked, it was by a clearer margin. All very interesting though, and I think it shows how hard blind testing is, how phycology plays a big factor, and indeed it indicates just how good Windows AIR is. (when AIR works, luckily it was flawless and stutter free today, massive stuttering would be a bit of a giveaway in a blind test) As an example, there was one track where played via AIR the I thought the bass was much fuller and better. I switched back to mR Mutec and came to a similar conclusion, but this time by only a tiny margin. I think the bass sounded better on this track because it was less accurate, which kind of worked in this instance. I then started googling 'phone numbers for lunatic asylums, I think I had had enough. I think this shows how maybe focusing on one aspect of the music or sound can be misleading. Frankly humans are not brilliant at evaluating these things.
When doing the back to backs, I did tend to prefer the mR Mutec combo, better details, more realistic, much sharper soundstage, but rapid A/B's do stop you getting too carried away. I would absolutely love to get the mR and Mutec together with an Aurender and a Melco for decent A/B testing. (or even the dCS) I wonder what Windows AIR 3 will be like? Maybe no better than AIR 2 SQ wise, but maybe miles better and I'm wasting my time and money here.
For me though, I have concluded that the mR / Mutec combo is a bit of a winner. For whatever reasons, when I was just listening to stuff I fancied for fun, I was loving this rig, for me definitely the best I have heard at home. Next step will be to stop evaluation mode and just live with this rig for a couple of weeks or more, I often come to slightly different conclusions given time and indeed a decent selection of listening material, it's surprising how many subtleties you pick up over a month's worth of listening with new kit.
Tomorrow I'll do some thinking about PSU's, if this mini rig can get better by ditching the iFi and getting cleaner power, then I'll be very happy indeed!
The best way I can sum this up is that I can say that I am really looking forward to some normal non evaluative listening with my mR Mutec fed rig, I think that says enough, I want more listening!
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
