There was a thread here recently where someone (Konut maybe?) commented on the fact that he would occasionally hear what seemed to be a little distortion. Some others said they thought they heard the same, and that got me thinking more critically about what I sometimes perceived as a little distortion and slight lack in clarity in my system. I asked some people in the know and was reassured that the Continuum's in their original incarnation as studio monitors are some of the most revealing speakers anywhere. Which made me think more about the signal path. I have pursued the computer as source in an attempt to get bit perfect signal to my DAC and thought I was getting close.
Fortunately, Karsten was kind enough to share his knowledge with me. He advised that the USB output to the DAC had some technical limitations and that a RME 9632 soundcard, as he uses, would greatly improve the signal integrity. I was able to obtain a RME Digi9652 card and after some software difficulties (all due to my lack of software intuition) was able to make it function with both Sonar and Foobar. So my signal chain is now Win XP PC > Foobar playing .flac files via Asio > RME Digi9652 s/pdif out to AVA Omegastar DAC > B&K Pro 10MC in passive bypass mode > Hafler DH500 with Musical Concepts mods > Continuums.
I guess the best way to express the difference is this; when I listened to Diana Krall "The Girl in the Other Room" I was literally floored. Breathtaking would be an understatement. Please understand, this song, and everything else sounded flat out amazing before. You can read my prior reviews and this is in no way meant to diminish them. It's simply that a seemingly minor change in my upstream signal has delivered a tangible improvement. The slight distortion is gone, the twinge of lack of clarity I attributed to bad recordings - gone. Everything is absolutely crystal clear, stereo imaging and soundstage both markedly better, dynamics - even more than before!
Karsten told me that recordings I had thought were not so great would now sound good which is true. And good recordings would sound fantastic. And great recordings are now an out of body experience. I spent nearly an entire day listening, I couldn't stop. I played the Bach Cello Suites, John Balka playing the Great Organ at St Mary's, some Gregorian Chant, Chick Corea's Romantic Warrior and To The Stars, Coltrane Ballads, Joni Mitchell, Eric Johnson Ah Via Musicom, Bill Evans Sunday at the Village, DoctorFunk, Tower of Power, Little Feat Time Loves a Hero, Peter Gabriel, Planet X Quantum, Clarke, Dimeola, Ponty - the Rite of Strings, The Yes Album, and many others. It all sounds phenomenal!
As I told Karsten I am amazed that these speakers just continue to sound better with improvements in the upstream signal path. They are most definately revealing, and a whole lot of fun to listen to!
