My sons are visiting this weekend (to hear my new X3s, lol). I've decided to delay any rewiring to run the DAC direct to my amplifier until next week after they are gone. Meanwhile, today I focused on listening to piano music. The piano is a very difficult instrument to record well (Paul McGowan of PS Audio just discussed this on his YouTube channel). For us consumers, it is equally difficult to reproduce well. The X3s are supposed to do a pretty decent job of piano reproduction.
My experience: I played a variety of Jazz and Classical piano pieces. All were very enjoyable. In the case of classical piano, I could hear different sound from different piano makes. I checked the booklet that comes with each album and sure enough, each had a different make and model piano. Some were striving for period authenticity and played on vintage pianos. Others used modern pianos. It did not sound like a piano was in my living room (too much to hope for). But, the music was the best piano reproduction I've ever heard. Jazz ensembles were especially great. The recording engineer and venue, as always, plays a large role in music recording.
All in all, a win for the X3s. My room is 30 feet long and more than 40 feet wide. If I had flexibility to use more of the space I might just be able to fit a grand piano in to my listening space (lol) by rearranging everything. But, I am already pushing the WAF factor to the limit. I'm happy with what I've heard today.
Low volume level listening: I'd heard that the X3s can play well at lower volume levels. I tried this a few times. Not bad, but I am plagued with a high noise floor. I have run around and turned everything off. What a difference. But, I was lazy and did not turn off everything before my low volume level listening. I just chose to turn up the volume and enjoy the music.
Marcus
