will
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My experience is like CAJames. Everything in my system notably influences the whole of the sound whether toward the beginning or end of the chain. I think this is in part due to our very simple and revealing Decware circuits. Also, over years I feel like I have sorted out notable weak links as much as I am able at this point. Always evolving, I seem to always be working on fine-tuning my system and room from power to speaker modifications and room treatment and adjustments. The baseline has been really good for a long time though, the pretty tuned up pieces before my amp critical to how far the whole can go.... computer, USB convertor, DAC, ZBIT, and CSP3, the initial sound is quite revealing, resolving, and musical to me, and I can change any of the cables, feet or fuses of these components and clearly hear it after the sound makes its way through the Torii and HR-1s.
But the Torii is the same here. I can change tubes in one of five tube positions and hear quite notable changes to the whole of the sound...
Further indicating that it all matters, I modified my Torii part by part, and by sound, testing lots and lots of parts over time. And though some are more similar than others, be it a connector, wire, cap, or resistor, all comparisons were clear enough to make sonic choices toward a more complete system sound.
Leading me to Brian's thought about resistors. Resistor changes, whether in the signal path, power path, or to ground, I was really impressed that they all were quite noticeable. So much so, even after I knew them better, finding the most synergistic and complete one for a given position might have taken 3-5 tests with resistors I had already narrowed down for my tastes over other well-liked resistors. And like caps, they didn't appear to make any more change in the signal path than in the power paths. After years of this, it remains amazing to me that a cap or resistor in the power supply can make as notable a sound change as in the signal path.
Early on, I bought a number of Shinkoh tantalums on sale because those who loved them really loved them, and I apparently believed them. I also got a more costly Audio Note tantalum to test in the signal path and a few other places. After living with them a while I felt like I got their sonic characteristics, and overall, I could see why some people like them, especially if their component is lacking weight and density in the signal.
To me these tantalums are notably extended, smooth, articulate and bold. They tend to feel quite solid and nicely detailed with openness and articulation, and without being particularly hard. Sound like an audiophile dream?
Unusually bold in presentation, they do all they do in a powerful way. So they can be used to pump things up. The Audio Note especially, if extra strong bass supplementation is needed, but for me both were finally overstated sounding, too much self sound, and the Audio Note too exaggerated in the bass for me to enjoy.
The Shinkohs, still bold and extended with a strong solid bass, were better balanced to me, so I played with them a lot. Especially going to ground, they could add a nice articulate solidity while not showing as much of their self-sound. But in time I more fully noticed some other traits I grew to dislike.
First I noticed they were smooth and warmish, but without a sweet musicality.... So though having traits many of us associate with "musical," they seemed a little technical and cool in expressing those traits to me, more an intellectual representation of music than music. Then I noticed, even to ground, where I was liking them for the most part, their solid, extended and bold sound seemed to come, in part, from consolidating all that made the signal.
The ringer for me, this concentration of the signal was at a cost of reduced discrete fine detail complexity. They appeared nicely detailed, articulate and spacious, but I felt they combined too much of the micro detail with macro detail for my needs, making them incomplete. It was not a lack of detail per se, most everything there, but a distinct lack of fine detail that contributes to harmonic complexity....textures, feathered edges, air quality, decays, ambience.... these were present, but all suffered from detail complexity consolidation to me.
This is not to say they could not be well used. But for me fine detail and space are critical to the natural musical experience, and it was a minor revelation to notice that these resistors damaged that in my explorations, making the detail complexity I love easier to get by slowly replacing the tantalums. And detail complexity and spaciousness are things I imagine to be important aspects of "euphonic" sound. Also for "warmth" I need fine detail to harmonize increased bass in the balance. Without complex detail and space, the tube would be dark rather than warm to me.
So my experiments indicate that tantalums can be really good at what they do, but I am thinking they may not necessarily be the best fix for increased warmth or a euphonic sound.
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