Kamran
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Engulfed
Yup, that’s it.
God, how that title eluded me for the past four days is anyone’s guess (those who know my title fetish, are perhaps chuckling at this point).
Ever since watching the R&D video of the SnubWay noise reduction testing a couple months ago, I was convinced Mark had just scaled another audio peak. I decided to go all in and ordered two units for each of my dedicated Hi-Fi Circuits. The price of entry was compelling and allowed the luxury of going big.
I was pleasantly surprised by the packaging—at first I thought Mark had over secured it but then it dawned on me that he probably didn’t want to chance the sensitive snubbers to any rough handling by the carriers prior to reaching their respective final destinations.
And once I held the Snubway in my hands, I couldn’t help but admire Mark’s Production Values! The Snubway is so exquisitely crafted that I would be equally happy to display it as a decorative item. It’s a damn shame having to plug it in at the back of the rack, hidden from plain sight, for it deserves being center stage—to be seen—in addition to being heard.
Since both of my conditioners (Puritan PSM 156 for source gear and PI Audio’s MajikBuss for Sarah) have independent isolated outlets, I didn’t want to curtail the impact of the Snubways and decided to plug them in the available receptacle in each of my duplex Shunyata outlets so it would feed both conditioners (and the gear plugged in to them) equally.
I plugged in both SnubWays in the afternoon as soon as they were delivered and used up a lot of self-control to not have a go at a listening session until 9 hrs later. Mark suggests waiting at least 10 hrs before critically listening so I lost that fight an hour early as I had to go to bed and knew that I wouldn’t be able to sleep peacefully, without a quick drive-by. I listened for an hour not expecting much but was still able to pick out some positive differences. I went to bed, excited for I was certain that after another 24 hrs, I’d be in business.
Now, after spending 5 excellent sessions, I’m ready to share my thoughts.
Volume
There was a mention of a volume boost in the thread, to which I both agreed and disagreed with. I continue to find this subject more complex and fascinating.
Yes, I am detecting more volume at my typical preamp volume dial/setting, so I had to turn it down a little to compensate. But, it’s not because there is any sort of gain provided by the dual Snubways—it’s actually the complete opposite. By strangling the SMPS noise in the line, the Snubways are decreasing the noise-floor to astonishingly inkier blacks. With this reduction in the floor, a couple of interesting things are happening:
While I need less gain to reach my desired 75-85 db level, I was actually taken aback by how satisfying music sounded, 5 to 10 (and in some cases 15) db below my desired level. At the same time, I’m finding the higher frequencies much better controlled even at a higher gain setting on the passive pre. On one track, I was about to turn up the volume because I was conditioned to expect the female vocalist to be a tad shouty, only to realize that the decibel meter was reading at 80 db! In other words, even at a higher gain setting, the Snubways are making the listening experience equally enticing and making sure the higher frequencies are not making out like a bandit.
Speaking of volume—-there is a profound difference in blackness on certain dynamic tracks, when it goes from loud to soft. Not only is it more blacker (which is to be expected given the reduction in noise), but also the speed and control with which its going dark is astonishing. I know this might be hard to comprehend but it’s turning from loud to soft (or vice versa) on a dime. This very noticeable shift in speed is captivating.
The review could just end here folks. I’d be extremely happy with these results, but the positive changes in the noise-floor and how it impacted listening at various volume levels was:
Just the tip of the iceberg…
Soundstage, Space, and Immersion
The stage, nah the canvass, is bigger in all dimensions. There was another mention in this thread about it sounding open and not congested. Similar to the volume boost comment, I agree and disagree at the same time. To my ears and in my rig, the scale of the soundstage has opened up significantly. Think smaller painting vs. a painting 5x its size. That, by definition, will make everything appear less congested. Height, width, and depth are all positively impacted. Notes are noticeably wider, taller (as if I had a large tower speaker), and have decidedly more depth to them (even with the voicing switch on Sarah facing forward).
Closely related to the above is space and or spatial cues. The Phoenix Net (PNET) in my system was already doing a great job of rendering great spatial cues, which transport certain tracks to just another level/dimension. I think the reduction in SMPS noise is allowing the PNET to shine even more. It’s really challenging to describe this phenomenon. You know it when you hear it.
The writing was on the wall during the first listening session. Yello’s track— ‘Rush for Joe’, ends with a jet flying overhead from left to right. I often use this to gauge soundstage and imaging. When dialed-in correctly, you should hear the jet travel right over your head as if you had Dolby Atmos speakers on the ceiling (which I do, but I digress). I was sitting on my couch the first night, not opting to worry about critically listening from the sweet spot, a couple of feet in front. I was expecting to hear the jet fly by in front of me from this particular spot.
Thank God, I wasn’t consuming a beverage at the time since the jet not only flew by right on top of my head (as opposed to a couple of feet in front), but also did with a sense of gusto and realism that left me speechless.
Oh and it didn’t end there. Once it passed on the right, I was expecting the track to stop, but there was an extended decay of ‘let’s just call it a jets after stream’. I had never heard that before.
Jaw dropped, I shut off the system and went to bed determined to explore this new frontier over the next couple of days. The sound just took off from there. Night after night, track after track, I’ve never experienced this level of holography. Here’s what I mentioned to GS:
‘The rig is sounding 2x more holographic than it was ever before—the ease with which the notes are dancing all around me and behind me—-was not expecting that.’
The Snubways appear to have unlocked another level of immersion that I didn’t think possible. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it (no pun intended). It’s akin to being engulfed in a 3D cocoon of sound.
Mark, congrats—you’ve done it again and I have no doubt, that you’ll keep doing it.
End Notes:
Two things I’m not convinced about.
Bass: I am not entirely certain bass has been impacted as much. The Cryotone 300Bs and better isolation feet on my Holo DAC had made a profound impact on the lower octaves. Maybe, the Snubways are just making it a tad more noticeable.
Resolution: I’m also unsure whether resolution has been impacted, though I’ll take Roger’s word for it. He has far more experience and better cabling to discern that particular impact.
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Snubway by Verafi (Read 10610 times)
