[woodsyi]

I definitely went into this audition with a healthy dose of skepticism.  I heard it at RMAF and noted that it did something.  I couldn't tell if the change was for better, worse or just different since I wasn't familiar with the sound of the room.  That's why I signed up to audition when Rollo offered.

My "verdict" is an unconfirmed impression from a few hours of listening.  Having heard it in my setup playing a lot of music I am familiar with I heard some good things, but not consistently.  It never made music worse, but it did not make music better all the time either.  I heard passages that sounded clearer here and there but that's from memory and mine can be faulty.  I need to spend more time with it to be sure.  But it's got possibilities.  I don't want people to think this is bad for vinyl just because it makes surface noise worse.  It was just one particularly bad (and rare) copy.  I played a lot of records that sounded wonderful through the qøl™ stage.  In fact, the possibility that it can possibly improve on an already good analog front end is what interests me because it ain't cheap to try different combos in the analog realm when you are on the steep side of slope of diminishing return. 

[Scottdazzle]

I really enjoyed getting to audition it in a system with which I am very familiar (and insanely jealous of!).  I had heard it at RMAF and thought it was very promising but wasn't sure if I was being bamboozled in a foreign environment on a foreign system. 

At Rim's, I did not notice any obvious improvement on my mono vinyl copy of Dylan's "Queen Jane Approximately".  But on Miles Davis's "So What" (cd) which I am very familiar with, the improvement was marked.  I don't think it was simply the difference between bypass and inserted.  This recording has never sounded so vivid, spacious, and alive as it did with qol.  It definitely eliminated a veil and brought out subtle colors in the music.

I had a similar reaction to its affect on surface noise. Since I listen to vinyl LP's more than 50% of the time, this could be a problem. 

My conclusion is that the qol can improve the sound of digital sources with room for improvement. I don't think really well-recorded music (e.g. Chesky or Reference Recordings) with good spatial information would benefit greatly. I do think it could provide good to great improvement on most commercially available cd's. The question for me is would I want a device that I could enjoy say 25% of the time?

A good time was had by all.  Thanks Rim!

[r.wasserstrom]

As Maxwell Smart said, "Missed it by that much."  How could I not see the post about this get together? Glad t hear that everyone had fun.
Rich

[woodsyi]