A Confused streaming system - Mutec / SOtM Ultra

[Confused]

Devils advocate time again, sorry.  

We all know from experience that audio unit matching is important.  How often have we read or heard of a ‘bright’ sound being the result of very similar sounding kit.

So, is it possible that the SOTM kit is too similar to your highly revealing kit, accentuating a particular frequency range.

I know you want to keep the SOTM kit for its many other musical qualities but it’s the one that grates on the ear that you have to live with, hopefully without regret.

I know what you mean, and certainly the Blades are ruthlessly revealing when it comes to HF.  However, I remembered this earlier, here’s something I posted back in January regarding comparing mR Shareport versu CI AirPlay:


A slightly strange result. CI AirPlay nominally sounds great, but there was something slightly disconcerting about the sound, although everything sounds crisp and much as it should, it somehow not that pleasant after a while, the words harsh and digital hash come to mind. Another thing, something a little odd was happening to the accuracy in sound staging, it was a little messy, with vocals that normally come from slightly to the right, sounding less clearly positioned and coming more from the right, I even did a quick left / right channel check to make sure the channels had not somehow been transposed, which they had not. Strange that I felt the need to check though! Versus the mR/Mutec, the treble was noticeably brighter too, a bit like the treble had been turned up +4dB or something. Overall, listening via Sharport / mR / Mutec was a far more pleasant experience.

This backs up my conclusion from the weekend, it is the mR that is a touch on the dull side, not the SOtM kit that is bright.  Maybe this apparent shortcoming with the mR just happened to suit my ears, room and speakers?  I’m not sure myself yet to be honest, I need more time listening to a wider selection of music / recordings.

I also recall the comments about the mR in this review:

https://www.audiostream.com/content/audi...re-vs-sotm

The reviewer refers to the “microRendu’s somewhat dark sound”, which sounds awfully like a touch of treble roll-off to me. Plus, if I do find that this characteristic of the mR just simply works with the Blades whereas the SOtM kit does not, I can mimic it almost perfectly (and cost free) by nudging the Devialet’s treble setting down 2dB. A move to the dark side!

Meanwhile, I just need some decent listening time without tinkering and A/B testing over and over again with the same tracks. So the plan now is to listen to lots of music. What a radical plan!