[Tyson]

OK, so some of  you make know that I recently got back into the audio hobby, after the birth of a daughter and a rather serious heart attack I'd re-focused on other areas for the last couple of years.  Plus we bought our first home, and I had to combine my HT and 2 channel audio system into a single system, which was a compromise.  Long story short, I sold off my HT specific equipment and am refocusing on 2 channel. 

Came back to the best audio forum on the net (AC, of course), to check things out.  I see the SB2 I have is pretty much obsolete w/the new Duet out, which has a much cleaner audio/power layout internally, so I promptly order one and have it modded by Wayne, since I have about 600 Gigs of music ripped to my external hard drive.  The stock SB2 was OK, but hardly a world beater.  Actually, it was pretty poor if I'm totally honest.  Splashy, hard, harsh, lightweight, flat, all of these apply to the stock SB2 unit I lived with for a few years.  But I'd adjusted to that sound and it really didn't bother me so much.  Of course my daily music listening had dwindled to only a few minutes a day, if even that.  I simply didn't have much desire to listen to anything. 

Enter the modded Duet.  At first there was no difference between it and the SB2.  I plugged them both into my preamp and switched between them in real time (via remote), and I could not hear any difference at all.  Hmm, not so good.  How much did I spend on this?  But I know that Bolder gear takes a while to break in.  So the Duet goes on repeat for a couple of weeks.  Now we are starting to cook!  I've got about 200 hours on it now and it's starting to relax and open up.  Suddenly there is bass.  Real, textured bass.  Rich mids.  Relaxed highs.  I know that I've still got a long way to go for full breakin but already I'm listening for several hours everyday, it's a joy to listen for the first time in 3 years.  What a salve to the soul.  And resolution is outstanding.  How good, you ask?  Well, it makes 50 Cent's Lyrics intelligible (Get Rich or Die Trying).  In fact this is not-exactly-high-quality MP3, compressed and only about 256k, and it still sounds great.  Pace, rhythm, clarity, a relaxed, authoritative ease, all are present. 

Lest you think the Duet only does well with thug-gansta-rap type music, on goes Amy Mann's Magnolia disc.  This normally sounds awful, awful, awful.  Papery, splashy, indistinct, lightweight, white-noisy.  But, the modded Duet manages to make it not only 'listenable', but actually sound good.  Not 'great' mind you, as I am certain the original recording is fairly mediocre, but now it is very listenable and enjoyable, and that's one of the poorest modern recordings in my collection. 

I could go on but this is more of a work in progress rather than a final report of what the Duet can do.  In fact I only have a CIA PS on it right now.  I'm expecting in the mail very soon the (not cheap) super-duper "Ultimate" PS for the Duet.  Wayne says it'll take several hundred hours to break in, so I'll report back again in a few more weeks.  One thing that I can say for the first time in a long time - I'm actually excited about a piece of equipment, and I'm back to really enjoying my music collection again (good and bad recordings both).

I've got a couple of other things up my sleeve too, I'll keep mum about it for now, but I can say this - my amp and preamp recently went from mediocre (pre) and good (amp) to very, very good, and possibly great (both pre and amp).  I'll have more to say in a few weeks.

Oh yeah, it's great to be back!

[EDS_]

It is good to hear that your audio Jones is re-invigorated.

You have no idea how much your Scotch thread has helped my groping lurch into the Scotch world.  Dalmore Cigar Malt OMG!

Again welcome back to the hobby. And good health to you.

[Tyson]

Thanks!  Oh, and if you love Dalmore Cigar malt, you HAVE to give Springbank 15 a try, it's stupendous.

[EDS_]

Thanks!  Oh, and if you love Dalmore Cigar malt, you HAVE to give Springbank 15 a try, it's stupendous.

Springbank 15 noted.

I'm interested in your journey with the modded Duet as well.  I've false started into the magnetic storage arena twice.

Thanks again.....

[kbuzz3]

Thanks!  Oh, and if you love Dalmore Cigar malt, you HAVE to give Springbank 15 a try, it's stupendous.

oh yeah on the springbank!!!!

I must say the break in on my Bolder SB3/PS has been long ...long ...long but profound

[Tyson]

Additional info on the mods to the duet itself, per Wayne:

"DUET has the analog only mod with V-Caps and WBT NextGen connectors. No Bybees were used in the analog output. I did do some work in the power supply distribution internally in the DUET. That is standard with that mod."

The new power supply came today also.  It has "cryo-treated, silver plated IEC, fuse holder, and fuse. All internal wiring is cryo treated solid core silver. It has a monstrous power transformer for the current, Fairchild Stealth HexFreds, Jensen four pole caps and FOUR Slipstream Bybee Purifiers. The circuit uses a current tracking pre-regulator and a "regular" voltage regulator. The DC cable is made with all solid core, 99.9995% pure silver."  And the circuit board is hand made from 1/8 thick fiberglass. I use the turret board technique for running point to point wire. This is the same sort of thing used in the hand built, boutique guitar amps. It ensures a quality mechanical and electrical connection with minimal susceptibility to vibration. The case is ... made from steel to deflect RFI and EMI. I line the interior of the case with a material similar to Dynamat to dampen the resonances. I also use some Ebony "pucks" on the capacitors, circuit board and transformer for resonance control.  The XLR connector uses silver for it's contacts."

Holy crap!!!!!!!  OK, the technogeek in my loves that stuff.  But it needs a serious amount of break in.  I'll report back to this space regularly, but my initial impressions are that it conveys an impressive amount of air and acoustic space but is light in the bass and a little flabby and closed down.  If it's anything at all like my experience with previous Bolder modded equipment, it will take a while to break in, but should open up quite a bit.  I also anticipate that the bass will improve quite a bit.  We shall see!!

In the meantime I'm going to be drinking some Springbank 15 in honor of the people replying to this thread

[Tyson]

As a wise person once said, money is just a number in a bank account.  You only have one life.

[Wayne1]

Tyson,

I really happy that the modded DUET has brought your music collection back to life for you. The V-caps and the power supply will S L O W L Y break-in and hopefully add to your enjoyment of the music.

Robin,
 The very first Ultimate Power Supply, built for Double Ugly, had a pair of silver Slipstream Purifiers in it. After more experimentation I found that four of the "standard" purifiers sounded better than two of the silver. It was the same price for four standard vs two silver, so I went ahead with that. I have not tried four silver or four gold in the power supply. Would you care to pay for me to try that out? 

I did build a custom PS for Mike Garner. It used an old case and transformers from a Monolithic Sound unit designed for the Perpetual Technologies product. I gutted the PCB and installed a pair of Bybee SE purifiers, HexFREDs 60,000 uFd of Nichicon Muse caps, regulator etc. That sounded fantastic. Of course the Bybee SE purifiers are $500.00 EACH!

I have not been offering Bybee Purifiers in the digital line for some time. There is no way that the impedance can be 75 ohms with a purifier in line. There was also a problem getting them to fit inside the case of the SB3. I may just go ahead and try it again with the DUET. Both Tyson and I like what Bybees do in the digital signal path. It may not measure correctly, but it sure sounds VERY good.

[jesterbot]

Just talked to Wayne and he mentioned this progress review...

I just got my modded DUET (full mods w/ V-cap and Cardas Rhodium) along with his "standard" DUET power supply, and as yesterday marked the 50 hour mark, it's still baby-fresh.  Luckily I have another stock DUET with standard wallwart, so I've been A-B testing, including blind testing on my roomy.  They are both hooked up to the same amp, level matched and synced up, for easy toggling. 

Here are my (early) impressions:

0 hours:  I wanted to test it fresh out of the box.  I have read enough about the mods, and the v-caps in particular to know I should not be expecting much.  I've heard AWFUL, HARSH, etc used to describe the initial burn in period.  As it was i could not tell much of a difference right away.  Listening back and forth, I could detect slightly rolled off highs on the modded DUET - which made it sound a fraction "smoother".  I had my roomy blind test me, and after a couple switches I was able to pick out the modded one each time.  My roomy didn't even know which was which until he told me which he liked better (the modded one, barely).

It was interesting to note that I could hear much more of a difference while standing AT the rack (between the speakers), toggling signals on the amp, than when I stood out front.

50 hours: After two days of 24/7 I came back for another preview.  This time I could definitely pick out more differences.  On highs like female vocals, or piano/harp/guitar "plucks", the modded one definitely sounded cleaner/clearer.  Hard to describe it as anything but "grit" on the stock box.  Like singing with a very slightly scratchy voice rather than a pure "open" sound.  The modded one is starting to get that clear delicate sound.

Also, the deep bass is tightening up.  I threw on "Lollipop" by Lil Wayne, which has some really hard hitting bass lines.  Here, the modded unit has much tighter and faster bass.  I didn't even realize how loose it was before - and part of me still prefers the loose, smooth, bass in that sound - but the fast concurrent bass hits get totally muddled together on the stock unit, while sound hard hitting and distinct on the modded one.  That part was cool to hear!

As far as sound stage - this is the weird part.  I still hear more of a difference when I'm standing between the speakers at the amp, but regardless the following effect is still present:  For some reason, I'm getting a very compressed sound stage with the modded DUET.  The stock one throws a much deeper sound stage, with more center focus (although less separation than even a cheap DVD player I may add), whereas the modded one almost sounds like a vertical plane of music between the speakers.  I've read another review that mentions this during the early break in phase of the v-caps, so I'm not too alarmed.  I'd blame speaker placement since it is far from an ideal setup - but with nothing changing except the signal - it's definitely the mods at this point!

Other than that, most rock, or "dirty" music still sounds almost the same as before.  Much easier to detect changes in the highs (female vocals, and slow smooth tracks) and lows (fast hitting bass) right now.

I'll try and post again at 100 hours, then 150 or 200.


Kevin

BTW, thanks Wayne for helping me with all my questions!!!

[Wayne1]

Kevin,

Welcome to AC and thanks for the post.

I'm sure that between you and Tyson, there will be some good observations about the sound and break-in of the modded DUET.

I do have one suggestion. When you listen to the Standard PS, unplug the stock PS from the wall.

The stock PS is a switching type. It does produce quite a lot of noise that does pollute the AC lines. When it is plugged in it is still creating the noise so you really can't tell what the linear PS is doing.

Give it a try and let us all know if you can hear a difference listening to the Standard PS with the modded DUET with the stock supply plugged in and then removed from the wall outlet.

Thanks again.

[jesterbot]

Wayne,

Would it make much difference if all the components (except for the stock DUET) are run through the equi=tech Son of Q?

Right now, that's the setup, with the stock unit being left out of the equi=tech (direct to wall).

I'm having some company over tonight though - so I'll have some eager ears to listen to it and see if unplugging the stock one makes an audible difference.   

[jesterbot]

Update:

Hour 150:  Oddly enough the sound is now VERY hard to tell apart from the stock unit.  However, the sound stage seems to opening up back to stock levels at least.  Maybe my ears are playing tricks on me...  the slight clarity over the stocker seems to have been replaced with a little more harshness - matching the stock unit.

-patiently waiting-


Also Wayne, tried physically unplugging the stock unit to see if it was polluting the lines.  I heard no difference whatsoever.  I will note that's not as easy or quick A-B testing as toggling inputs on my amp, so your mileage may vary.

[bprice2]

Update:

Hour 150:  Oddly enough the sound is now VERY hard to tell apart from the stock unit.  However, the sound stage seems to opening up back to stock levels at least.  Maybe my ears are playing tricks on me...  the slight clarity over the stocker seems to have been replaced with a little more harshness - matching the stock unit.

-patiently waiting-


Also Wayne, tried physically unplugging the stock unit to see if it was polluting the lines.  I heard no difference whatsoever.  I will note that's not as easy or quick A-B testing as toggling inputs on my amp, so your mileage may vary.

Just curious...what does your system look like?

[jesterbot]

Just curious...what does your system look like?

Power: Equi=tech Son of Q 1.5, and BPT L-9 power cables for Son of Q, DUET, and amp
Source: Full mods DUET (with v-cap) with standard Bolder power supply, M-80 interconnects
Amp: Musical Fidelity A5 Integrated (dual 250W mono)
Speakers: B&W 604 S3

The standard DUET is on the same wall outlet as the rest of the system, but isolated from it - then run to the A5 for input toggling.  Players are synced for direct comparison, and streaming FLAC.

[bprice2]

 
Seems like your system should be resolving enough to hear a significant change for the better.  On the other hand those BG's take a while to reach their full potential. 

Keep her buning in!  I'm sure you will be pleased when it gets there. 

Wayne did his thing on my SB and it is far superior to the stock.  But, that was a couple of years ago and I don't remember how long it took to fully ripen.  I hope everything works out for you.

[Tyson]

Sorry no updates from me lately, I've had my system completely disassembled and all of my furniture in temporary storage while we've been doing some serious re-painting this last week.  Looks like I'll be able to get everything moved back and hooked up again tonight, so watch this space for more updates soon.

[Pez]

Glad to hear you've made improvements to your system Tyson, too bad your taste in music and company is still terrible. 

[Tyson]

Well, Pez came over for a listening session, so I suppose he qualifies as "company", which means I agree with him completely - my taste in company certainly has not improved.

I'll start a separate thread to discuss the session.  For this post I'd like to keep the focus on the Duet.  I've had everything hooked up and running in again for a while now and I'm amazed at how the sound of the unit (and power supply) change over time.  When Jason was over on Sunday, it was quite relaxed sounding, very easy, almost tube-ish.  Honestly I liked it but I also though it was a slight bit boring.  Luckily, that was not a permanent state, as the Duet has changed yet again over the last few days. 

The sound has gone from somewhat soft to more detailed and dynamic, but without the glare normally part and parcel with SS based equipment. 

Actually, based on the other (very, very high end) SS equipment I now have in my system (reviews coming), my honest opinion is that the vast, vast majority of SS equipment out there simply sucks.  But there is some out there that is pretty good and when you find it you should hold on to it (Heston's "Pry it out of my cold dead hands" comes to mind).  Odyssey Audio had that type of quality down, Bolder has it down, Levinson had it down (not anymore!), and the very, very latest Krell gear has it, and a couple of others (reviews coming!) have it, but that's about it.

OK, here's the test.  Put on your sh!tiest recordings.  How do they sound?  Do they drive you out of the room?  Are they "unlistenable" for any length of time?  If so, then your equipment sucks.  Sell it and get better stuff.  Seriously.  Oh wait.  Your riposte is that "Well, my great recordings sound great!".   Here's a tip - great recordings ALWAYS sound great.  The test of a system is not how good your great recordings sound.  The REAL test is how good your average recordings sound.  If they sound average, then your system is average.  If they sound great, then your system is great.  And if your poor recordings sound great, then your system is insanely good.  That's where I'm at right now with (mostly on loan) equipment. 

I rue the day when I have to give back the amp and preamp I am borrowing.  But the Duet is staying.  Cold dead hands!  It is that good.  And getting better.  It's not done breaking in.  Check back on this thread in a couple more weeks.  Then I'll actually have something substantial to say.   

[bprice2]

Check back on this thread in a couple more weeks.  Then I'll actually have something substantial to say.   

Thank goodness! 

Seriously though...I find it interesting your thoughts about crappy recordings sounding better on high-end systems.  My original thoughts on this issue were that if you put garbage in, you'd get garbage out. 

Over the past year or so I've made a few tweaks here and there in my system with some significant outcomes.  Most significant is what I've done utilizing the Inguz DRC plug-in (I will eventually get around to doing some real room correction).  Anyway...my point here is to say that I've recently been giving a listen to some the aforementioned "crappy recordings" and it really is amazing how much better they sound after I had previously pronounced them unlistenable.

Thank you, I'm done now.  Looking forward to you final assessment of your new duet.

[loxllxol]

Any updates to the modded duet?