How good can it get?
This weeks listening notes.

I have been neglecting you all for a few weeks, I apologize. There has been a lot going on...  There will an update on my home system in it's thread soon (I hope)

I have previously thought that I might try to organize my thoughts on things and try to post in appropriate sub-forums for thoughts on things like Vinyl, tape, or on the various amp models... I may still in the future, but for now I think I will stick to posting my hodgepodge of thoughts in the general discussion area as they are really just musings on the experience more so than anything about specific pieces or models or setups.

------

Part of the real wonderment i find in a Decware system is in its limitations. Or rather, trying to find them. How big is the envelope? How far is the edge? How fine of a detail is perceivable? How many layers does this song really have!?!  It's a bit of a wild goose chase, really. I know they exist, but I can't find them! I have been listening , waiting for the point where a crescendo muddies, a bass drum hit falls flat, or a split second of shriek ... even when these noises are part of the original recording, highs never really achieve a 'piercing' quality... It usually becomes clear quickly that it is not part of the system.

Without getting too far off track for myself imposed limitations on subject matter to keep myself from rambling, I will say that tape is pretty much the absolute top dog in the audiophile format wars. However, it seems that the real magic happens in the very top end of the category. Master Tape... or a very close rendition thereof. I am told, if I am remembering it correctly, that this is due to the density of the medium, and thusly the music. It has a larger, more robust physical bandwidth range available on a tape versus the limitations of the available groove width in vinyl... At this level of media the details of each layer are preserved so well that the reproduction of each of these into a coherent single signal is done so eloquently that it really is hard to believe.

Sound density is possibly one of the most elusive links in the Hi-Fi chain. It is the thing we are seeking from all of the new and improved DAC's, streamers, transports etc.   When paired with top notch production work on a piece of music, it can yield results that might seem other worldly to someone not as intimately familiar with the reproduction capabilities of a Decware system as some of us are. Although these qualities are always present, IMO, with our amps, it is always best when facilitated by at least a modest amount of room treatment in addition to proper room placement.

For the last several weeks I have been listening to various versions of Stella(?) by Yello. Particularly focused on the hit song "Oh Yeah" made famous in a couple movies...

Tonight was a good one, it seems there was some user error on our end and the full experience was not had in our last play through, so, we tried again.

#NailedIt

We definitely pushed the envelope on this recording. What an experience!

My major comment on the evenings listening came from the track "Oh Yeah".

Having just heard this track in rare form on vinyl from a 12" single, I had been very impressed with maybe up to 80% clarity in the words said/sang throughout the song. Indecently, all of these words are clear and vivid on the tape. Every single bit of them! I never knew that! The whole thing was ridiculously lively with a soundstage that pressed far outside of usual bubble with authority. Absolutely Massive! The music was so accurate it almost seemed thin, until the artist decided to fill that space in again... and then you would have really thought that we were listening to a push/pull amp instead of a 4 watt "Sarah".

This entire situation sheds light on how the record gained its popularity. Tape is AMAZING, but vinyl has a lower bar to entry, and it IS good. It's pretty damn good, and given the recent advancements in vinyl technology, along with the people and companies that are releasing brilliant cuts of recordings like "Aja", or the gentleman I met at Axpona that is soon to release a cut of Art Pepper's debut album in Mono (from the master), the list goes on.... Vinyl is the available solution and is at least making solid headway towards being a more robust medium. Thank goodness.

Some of you may be wondering if, by chance, the Sarah we listened to last night was recently cryo-treated by Don at Cryotone...

... and incidentally the answer would be YES. I don't think I knew this for at least the first few minutes that music was running through it, I am pretty sure it was something streaming, I thought that it seemed to have a slightly different tone than usual. I blew off the notion as it was a fleeting thought on the sound coming from around a corner, I was not even in the room. I was probably just in a weird sweet spot of 9th reflections, or plainly just making it up all together in my mind. As we strolled into the room to turn on the turntable was when it was mentioned.

As we settled in and started the record, it took me several songs to adjust to an album I had never heard before, but, after the general tone of production was established and I could focus on the presentation, I started noticing the some things of my short personal list of 'Cryotone hallmarks'. This is not a real list, yet. It is really just a bucket I throw everything that might be considered to be an attribute of these tubes (and amps). Then as I continue to hear more pieces and notice things I put a little hash mark on them to be counted up later, figuratively speaking. Some of these reoccur often, but I am not comfortable really linking any definitive opinion without more time observing. That being said, I will say that what I currently consider the most pivotal attribute with cryo treatment is a lower noise floor with even less artifacting or smear than we are generally use to with the gear as stock ( which is already very low!). I think that this is the factor that influences all of the other noticed nuances revealed by cryotreament. Blacker blacks make the colors more vivid, to me. It would make sense that this is the effect that makes the high end extension so noticeable. I do not remember the exact pricing Don had mentioned, but I remember thinking that the price of treating a unit made it a no brainer. If you are looking for a tweak... I highly suggest a treatment or set of treated tubes from Cryotone.