About 2 weeks ago I visited Bryan again. He was very excited because he had made some substantial improvements since my last visit, including a better DAC chip, better parts in his Tram 2 preamp, and all-new audiophile-grade parts in the crossover. So I went over with great anticipation, but as I listened, I couldn't help feeling that something just wasn't quite right with the sound. There wasn't any one thing I could definitely point to, but somehow the seamlessness wasn't there any more; the bass seemed almost a little overpowering, and there was a slight hardness to the midrange at times. But I felt very unsure about this, and said nothing to Bryan at the time, in particular because he played almost exclusively recordings that were unfamiliar to me and were certainly not 'audiophile'-quality recordings (i.e., he was playing great music)!
I found the visit a bit unsettling, particularly as I had previously decided to follow Bryan down almost the same path, and I couldn't help wondering if the magic in his system might be lost forever. For me, the key is that - for the first time - i realised i was intellectualising the sound while i listened. On previous visits, I would do that only very briefly, in astonishment at the lack of any sonic defects, and then just immerse myself in the music, the performance, the emotion. Bryan's system had always spoken to my heart, and on this visit that just was not happening. My guess was the brand new crossover parts, which had just been put in the day before. Or was it just that I was extremely tired that night?
I am pleased to report that I visited again on Sunday (with rawl99 and a friend of his), and the magic is back big-time! I am struggling to recall now exactly what further changes had been made. One was that he changed the direction of current flow through the crossover inductors, but I think there may have also been some further changes to the preamp, and clearly there had been substantial run-in time. Regardless, the system was sounding even better than I had ever heard it before. It was a happy moment for me. Rawl99's friend is also an audiophile and was amazed. He commented that he had installed an extremely expensive high-end system with Wilson Grand Slamm speakers, but that system could not match the sound quality of Bryan's system..
If that wasn't enough, Stevenvalve and Rawl99 had a theory that the sound might be improved if they removed one of the two Freed oil chokes from the DAC power supply, the idea being that the current flowing through the two chokes was too low, being well under spec for these inductors. So some surgery was done with the soldering iron and we sat back and listened. I was astonished: it was immediately apparent that the sound was better. With the single choke, the speakers now disappeared for the first time, and the depth of imaging improved. Also, as much as I love horn speakers, I generally feel that they are not always the best thing for a small acoustic solo performance because the scale is always so large. With the single choke, we listened to a few solo and small scale performances. Somehow the scale seemed much more natural now, and quite intimate. For me, this is a huge plus, as I love solo performances.
I later heard that the next day rawl99 also replaced some wire and the output connectors in the DAC, and that even further gains were achieved. I confess I find it hard to imagine how the sound could get much better than it was already. Quite astonishing. Where can Bryan possibly go next? This is an end-game system if ever there was one.
