[Xi-Trum]

First of all, let me thank Wayne for giving me an opportunity to check out the Audition Pack.  The Pack has a lot of goodies in it.  I was able to play with most of them.  With a compressed audition schedule, I wanted to devote more time to the more interesting stuff.  

The Audition Pack was played in two separate but similar systems.  The first system was an untreated room consisting of:  modded nOrh CD-1, Bent Transformer Presamp, Ampzilla2K, VMPS Rm40 with TRT cap and nOrh IC.  The second system was a treated room (at the speaker/component end) consisting of the same equipments except for the PC as the source and Home Grown Audio Silver IC.  The first system has better details, transients, dynamics, and bass definition.  But it's also brighter sounding.  Relatively speaking, the comparison results in the two systems were the same.

Cryo-ed M80 Interconnect

This IC was first to bat.  It went up against the nOrh silver IC and HGA SuperSilver IC.  The result was rather interesting.  Simply put, it blew away the silver IC in clarity, details, transients, dynamics, prat.  I was also mightily impressed by the its bass: punchy and well defined.  I love its low bass control: phenomenal.  This IC certainly has a WOW factor.  It seems to do so many things right. But, subjectively, it's not without its fault.  The one area that I would change it, unfortunately, is the tonality.  In both systems, the M80 sounded cold and sterile.  In contrast, the silver IC sounded sweet, lush, full and more musical.  But the silver IC also sounded slower and more sluggish.

In the first system, the M80 will most likely cause long term listening fatigue.  In the second system, the sound was a lot more listenable.  In short, I prefer everything about the M80 except that it doesn't have that sweet sound of the silver IC.  Just add the sweet sound to the M80 and it would be perfect for me.  Since preference for tonality is so subjective, I would still highly recommend it IFF one has a treated room.  I would shy away if the room or system is bright.

Regular M80 Interconnect

Honestly, I was extremely skeptical about this cryo thing.  One of my biggest interest in auditioning the Pack was to check out for myself what the "hype" was about.  Needless to say, I'm now a believer in cryo.  When comparing the cryo-ed M80 directly with the regular M80, the difference was less grain and quieter noise floor.  It seemed that more music just came out of the cyro-ed M80.  It was not a night and day difference, mind you.  But easily discernable nonetheless.  Considering that it doesn't cost that much to cryo cables, I'd recommend doing that if you want that extra ounce of performance.

Mensa DI/O

Cheking out the Mensa DIO had been my goal for getting this audition pack.  I had been using the nOrh CD-1 and loving it.  But when I started to get into music DVD, the CD-1 suddenly became less useful for me.  And my Toshiba DVD player was just plainly unlistenable.  I had to look for something to help it out.  The Mensa has been at the top of my list.  I even bought the stock D/IO and was ready to have it modded by Wayne.  This was not the first time I had listened to the D/IO modded by Wayne.  Previously, I had listened to the Smart D/IO.  I liked it in many ways, but was concerned about its brightness and its effect on long-term listening.  Many Mensa owners who had upgraded from the Smart had commented that brightness is not an issue with the Mensa.  I would agree!

The Mensa (with CD-1 as transport, M80 Cryo-ed digital cable, Nitro power supply) was compared against the CD-1.  So basically, the analog (tube) output of the CD-1 was compared with that of the Mensa.  If I were to make an analogy, the result was similar to the comparison between the M80 and the silver IC.  The Mensa was breathtaking in so many ways.  It had terrific clarity, details, and bass.  I mean VERY impressive bass.  But its midrange seemed thin.  The CD-1 had a much fuller sound.  On top of that, The Mensa didn't sound as natural as the CD-1.  It didn't sound bright or harsh.  But it seemed to have a nasal like quality in its sound.  Again, it had the initial WOW factor.  But it didn't draw me into the music or evoke any emotional response.  I was left scratching my head.

Bybee Inline Filter

Well, the Mensa wasn't the only component that had me scratching my head.  When I went through and checked out the components in the Pack, I didn't pay that much attention to the Bybee filters.  It was at the end of one listening session that I decided to check them out.  For the test, the cryo-ed M80 were plugged into the Bybee filters and the combination was plugged into the inputs of the Bent preamp.

I must say that of all the components in the Pack that I tried, the Bybee filters were the most disappointing.  But it's not without its positive attributes.  The Bybee filters managed to remove a certain amount of "glare" from the sound.  It altered the tonality to a warmer sound.  All those were desirable (to me).  But it also took away something else, like details, transients, dynamics.  The sound wasn't as rich with them as without them.  It seemed like a thin veil had been cast on the sound.  In short, the Bybee filters seemed to rob some vitality from the music.

I understand that the idea of the Bybee filters was to reject noise.  But it seemed like it rejected more than that. It was at this point that my audition partner showed me a box full of funky looking little cylinders of various sizes.  I was told that these little cylinders would do the same thing the Bybee filters would, but in a non-intrusive manner.  Needless to say, I got interested.  So,  out went the Bybee filters and in went the little cylinders.  The cylinders were put on the cryo-ed M80 IC at the input of the Bent.  The result was quite interesting.  Like the Bybee filters, the cylinders removed the glare from the music and gave it a warmer and more natural sound.  But it did not hurt the sound in any other manners.  The sound was still lively, engaging, fast, and dynamic.

I went back and forth with and without the cylinders to try to believe what I heard.  The first comparison was cryo-ed M80 with and without the Bybee filters.  The second comparison was the cryo-ed M80 with and without the cylinders.  I felt that a head to head (cryo-ed M80 with Bybee filters vs the cryo-ed M80 with the cylinders) was necessary.  The result pretty much comfirmed it.  They sounded similar tonally.  They took away the harshness.  They sound more natural.  But the Bybee filters also took away some of the music.

I can't tell you what the cylindrical thing is.  I'd rather let my audition partner do that.  But I can tell you this much:  it's cheap and costs about a buck ($1) a piece.  It's not easy to find and I'm still looking for it.    I'd say this would be the biggest bang for the buck improvement to the sound.  (Room treatment is now the second biggest on my list)

Nitro Power Cord

I did not spend a lot of time with the Nitro power cord.  In the past, I had the good fortune of checking out Wayne's Type 2 power cords and was very impressed with them.  In this test, the Nitro power cord went up against the Harmonic Technology power cord.  The cords were used for the CD-1.  I'd say that the Nitro was a slightly better cord.  It's impact maybe magnified if it was for a power amp or something.  But since the Bent is passive and the Ampzilla2K has its own captive cord, there was no other choice other than the CD-1.  Anyway, my impression was that the Nitro power cord had slightly better clarity and bass control.

Conclusion

I'm very impressed with the M80 IC.  Cryo is even better.  Don't care for the Bybee filters.  Thumbs up for the Nitro power cord.  Really like the Mensa but wishing it could be more involving.

Theory: If I were to build a system using the above components (minus the Bybee filters), I would definitely get some tubes (preamp or amp) in the chain to get a warmer and fuller sound.  Room treatment alone won't do it.

[jackman]

Great review.  I have always wondered about Cryo treatment on my M80's, maybe I'll give it a shot.  Also, I've always wondered about the effects of Bybee conditioners.  It may be system specific or maybe I don't have ears that are as sensative as some people, at least in the area of the sound that is supposedly improved by Bybees.  In my experience, wire changes have been subtle.  I've compared very expensive wires with VERY inexpensive wires and the sonic differences were NOT as great as the ones achieved by moving my gear to proper room position.  

I will say that my next call will probably be to 8th Nerve or one of those sound treatment companies.  After hearing the difference in simple room setup changes, I can't imagine how things would be improved with some room treatments.  

Great job!

Jack

[JoshK]

Xi-trum,

Nice honest review.  The one thing that I find interesting about this review is this.  Tyson and a part of the DAM seemed to have a very different impression of the Bent then I and others did.  However, they were using the Mensa as part of the source and I wasn't.   Here you use the Mensa with the Bent and find you don't like what you are hearing, more or less.  I wonder if it really is a mismatch, the Mensa and the Bent?  Great products alone but not together?

Josh

[audiojerry]

Thanks for providing a thorough description of your audition. Without the details, making statements as to which component is better or warmer or more analytical doesn't have much value. As a former NorH CD-1 owner, I concur with your description of its sound. It is warm, and very easy to listen to without suffering from listener fatigue. There are other higher resolution components out there, however, and that is why I ultimately moved on.

It often occurs though, that when you insert a highly resolving component such as wire or a dac into a system, the resulting sound is bright, harsh, or thin. In many cases, instead of blaming the component that was inserted, it may be revealing weaknesses elsewhere in the system that are responsible. I'm not suggesting that this is the case for Xi-trum, but as you try to move up to more resolving (detailed) systems, the potential for a resulting bright or harsh sound increases, and it takes additional trial and error, and unfortunately more money sometimes, to get the sound right. However, I've been able to arrive at better sounding high-resolution system by moving to less expensive components in many cases, but it takes lots of auditioning of different combinations, and sometimes coming back to a component or a wire that you previously rejected.

I believe that Wayne designs his stuff for high resolution systems and will not work well with some systems.

[Tyson]

DueN,
Having heard the Bent in my system (very similar to yours), I would say what you heard is definitely a synergy thing between the Bent and the source (and cables).  In fact, when I had the Bent, I would describe the sound of my system exactly the same way you describe yours with the Mensa in there.  With most other pre's I've heard (many of which are tube based), the Mensa did not suffer from the lack of involvement that you describe.  The Mensa does not warm up or color the sound in any way.  Neither does the Bent, (and probably neither does the Ampzilla), and I know the RM40's don't color the sound like so many speakers do.  So you end up with completely uncolored sound.  Which is what many people "say" they want, but if they ever actually hear it, most can't live with it  So, my current working theory is that a bit of coloration is a good thing.

In my system, I get a bit of warmth from my pre and my amp (using Siemens and Mullard tubes), so I get an involving sound, plus the great bass and killer dynamics.  Like Klaus would say, it's all about synergy

[audiojerry]

So, my current working theory is that a bit of coloration is a good thing. In my system, I get a bit of warmth from my pre and my amp (using Siemens and Mullard tubes), so I get an involving sound,

I don't think it's because tubes are adding coloration. I think it's because tubes capture timbral and harmonic structure better than SS.  

[Juan R]

I had the chance to audition the Mensa and in my system the dac was like restriction of the sound , bright, with decrease on instrument separation.

[Xi-Trum]

audiojerry, if things are taken as absolutes, then one can insert a poor component into a system and then claim that it reveals the weaknesses of all the other components.

What I'm trying to say is that, in auditioning a component, I don't believe that anything is absolute.  Everything must be compared relatively to each other.  It depends on what you use as your point of reference.  If you use the Mensa as your reference component, then you can see it as revealing the weaknesses of the other components in the system.  But if you use the system as your point of reference, then you'd see it as revealing the weaknesses of the Mensa.

Rather than arguing which point of reference should be taken, one can take the approach of auditioning the component against another component that provides the same basic function.  In this case, the Mensa analog stage was being compared against the modded CD-1 analog stage.  My observations were based on how they compared to each other RELATIVELY.

Btw, I had a chance to compare the stock CD-1 against the modded CD-1.  The modded CD-1 sounded much better than the stock version in pretty much all areas.

Tyson, believe it or not, when we first listened to the Mensa, we were wondering out loud whether we were listening to (or close to) accurate reproduction of music; and that was how it was supposed to sound like.  We didn't know the answer to that.  You noted that the Mensa doesn't suffer from lack of involvement when paired with tube preamps.  I was thinking along the same line that if one uses Wayne's Mensa, ICs, and power cords, one really need tubes or warm sounding components to match them.  And that's not to say it's a bad thing at all.

JoshK, the Mensa may match better with tube [preamps].  I'm sticking with the Bent.  

jackman, if you haven't done so, I'd highly recommend that you try room treatments.  You may find out that the "lively" sound of your system comes from your room.  

[Wayne1]

Xi-Trum,

Than you very much for the fair and impartial comments you have made about the audition pack.

I still am amazed at how each person has a different viewpoint on the exact same products.

These comments just reinforce the need to listen to every piece of gear IN YOUR SYSTEM. Comments such as this are a great way to gather information but each room is different and each system is different.

Xi-Trum, I am glad you like the Bent and have your system tuned to it. When I heard it here, to my taste, it was a bit too analytical. Now maybe it was the sound of the DI/O, but I had the same thoughts when we listened to it with SACD. John Chapman will be demoing it with the Hagerman Trumpet for a front end at VSAC. I will be using the same phono pre-amp for my demo. I will make the time to take another listen.

The Audition pack is on it's way to OH. After the next audition is done, I am going to ask that it be sent back to me so I may check out how it has been holding up. I will send it back out on the road starting again in mid-October

[Xi-Trum]

Hi Wayne, I can't thank you enough for the opportunity.  You're absolutely right that one has to listen in his own system.  Going along the line of what audiojerry said, when we insert a new component into a system, we [kinda] automatically assume that the new component is responsible for everything, good or bad.  What we have now is a very good example of that. Yes, when the Bent and the Mensa teamed up, the sound is VERY analytical.  In my system, the Bent was anything but analytical so I would assume the Mensa was responsible for that.  In your system, the sound was not analytical until you inserted the Bent.  Hence, you would assume that the Bent was analytical. To further illustrate the point, let's say that the Mensa and the Bent combine to make a musical/involving system.  Then the Ampzilla2K is inserted into the system, we would assume that the Ampzilla2K is responsible for the analytical sound.

What I'm trying to say is that rather pointing at other components in the chain, it's more useful to compare components in the same category.  How does the Mensa perform when compared to other DACs, etc?  In this case, one should look at it as a comparison between the CD-1 and the Mensa in a particular system.  Others with similar systems may get an idea of how it may sound.  But there's no substitute for actually auditioning it in one's own system.

Cheers

[Psychicanimal]

Your review was done well.  On the Bybees, I think they are not to be used indiscriminately.  They do have their applications, though...

So, my current working theory is that a bit of coloration is a good thing.

The Melos preamps are colored *in a good way* and there's people who love "the sound of Melos".  Now when I compared my Melos SHA-1 with Channel Audio's passive preamp it was a no brainer.  Clarity and neutrality won hands down.

 ...as you try to move up to more resolving (detailed) systems, the potential for a resulting bright or harsh sound increases, and it takes additional trial and error, and unfortunately more money sometimes, to get the sound right. However, I've been able to arrive at better sounding high-resolution system by moving to less expensive components in many cases, but it takes lots of auditioning of different combinations, and sometimes coming back to a component or a wire that you previously rejected.

What Jerry has explained here is what audio is all about.  Anyone who does not reallize this fact is constantly doing lateral moves.  As a system gets to be more and more resolving it becomes increasingly difficult to make it sound musical, except with audiophile grade recordings.  Every change requires readjustments in the system and it becomes painfully tedious.  That's one of the reasons I am so much for power delivery/noise control and cryo treatment.  Done properly, improvements in power deilvery/noise control benefit the whole system, regardless of the music's recording quality.  Cryo is even better, not needing any readjustments at all.

[markC]

Sorry to go off topic here, but what mods have you done to your CD1 Xi-trum?

[Sa-dono]

Nice review Xi-Trum! I would definitely agree with you about the Bybees. It's good to finally be reading others with the same impression, as when I first heard them and commented on them, everything I have read had been nothing but purely positive.

As far as your thought about comparing different components relatively, aka DACs to DACs, ICs to ICs, etc....I agree. At least this way we get an idea of characteristics in how they compare to each other. That way if we're listening to our system, want to buy a new DAC, and want a warmer sound, then we can figure out which DAC is relatively warmer, and try it in our system. I agree with Klaus in that it is all about synergy..so we just have to find out what components go best with our system. That is why we need some constant for relativity..and would not critically compare speakers based on different rooms and gear.

[witchdoctor]

Interesting point on the tube benefits. I am using the Sunfire TG3 which has a very tube like sound. I also have a Musical Fidelity X-10 D tube buffer with Mullard tubes and Waynes little dampers on them hooked up to the tape loop in the pre/pro. The Mensa is sweeeet in this set up.
If you have not treated your room yet the $250 for an 8th Nerve room pack WILL be the best audio $ you have ever spent IMHO>

[grub]

Cool review Due.
I was just wondering if you did any re-tuning of your 40's when you did your listening.  If not, that could play a role in the end result of your findings as well.
I remember a few months back when I dropped a DAC into my system I had to do a little puddy adjustment to tame the high-end, also, when I switch out cables I do a little fine-tuning.
It's always fun to compare gear,
-->grub

[Xi-Trum]

Sa-dono, I've located a couple of the cylinder-thing look-a-like.  I'll be checking them out when they arrive next week.  If they work out, I'll post about them.  This much is certain: they can be gotten for cheap, ~$1 a piece.  How they're used and their effect on the sound are incredible.

grub, we did not re-tune the RM40.  I suppose that we could to make the sound warmer, etc.  And there's only so much that one can do with the tuning.  But considering that we looked at the component comparison relatively, that was not necessary.