My impressions after listening:
As Danny suggested I used familiar snippets of music and also did some casual listening.
The Tester:
I’d describe myself as mostly neutral on the general subject of wires, interconnects, network components and such, so this was an interesting endeavor. My dad taught me zipcord… later I concluded there was something better, but drew the line at what smells of snake oil or carries an outlandish price tag. Yep, it’s mostly subjective… although, truth be told, if I had more money to spend on gear I’d try some esoterica just to satisfy my curiosity. No agenda except to gather knowledge. My hearing isn’t perfect, I certainly don’t have golden ears but love music and the stuff that reproduces it.
The Gear: Cary CD308 CD player, Musical Fidelity A3 integrated amp, Goertz Micro-Purl interconnects, PS Audio Power Plant. Speaker cables are whatever Danny included. Setup is shown in pic.
FWIW: I was a little surprised by the Behringers, especially considering their price tag.
Primary Music Snippets, all at beginning of track to facilitate repeating.
“The Be Good Tanyas – Blue Horse”, track # 2, Broken Telephone
Leads in with what sounds like an ocean wave background and an acoustic guitar.
“Eleanor McElroy – Yola”, track #1 I Got You To See Me Through”
Lead in is strummed guitar?(maybe steel or Dobro), and single notes on Piano.
“Vienna Teng – Warm Strangers” track #8, Homecoming
Starts with Piano
My Conclusions: There is a difference; it’s not in your (or at least my) face to be sure, but I can hear differences when listening carefully. I honestly don’t know if I could pick out the Danny network every time. If it were a concentrated listening session with familiar music, I’d stand a better chance than if I was mindlessly listening, which is often the case in this house.
What am I hearing? My mind wrestles with all the adjectives I’ve encountered describing how systems sound…a slippery slope at best, but I’ll give it a go! The original network sounds a little “wooly” in comparison, a bit less detail or clarity perhaps, “inner detail” is the best I can think of. I wouldn’t put it on a gross scale, but rather the “edges” of the music are better defined.
Let me try an analogy where I have more knowledge…wood finishing. It’s not about the stain or lacquer, it’s about that single drop of red dye that almost imperceptibly shifted color to a more organic and pleasing tone. It’s a hard thing to quantify, but there none-the-less.
That’s my assessment. It may have just reinforced what I already thought. I’d conclude that, for me, knowing it made a difference wouldn’t be enough to make me buy the whatever-it-is. I’d have to put it in the context of how I’d listen. Big boom movie soundtracks or speakers for the echo chamber shop? That’d strike me as a waste. If it were a sit down and listen in the living room kinda thing, I’d probably decide I wanted all the water in that well.
Who's next in line for a listen?
