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I began with aural richness. This I heard mostly in the midrange which made things more palpable and rich. Yet it didn't move the presentation towards the listener. Usually greater warmth means that the first soundstage plane gets closer to the listener to become dominant whilst depth decreases. This platform did the opposite. Whatever was happening in the front seemed to move back a bit to create a more open perspective for the observer. Since instrumental bodies became both more dimensional and more cleanly outlined, I enjoyed a more distinctive 3D sound which I could now watch from some distance rather than up close. Everything farther back in the virtual stage became clearer and more defined as well.

At first I suspected a reduction in treble and associated minor dullness. But that was merely the first impression. What I really had was richer treble. This was obvious with the breathtakingly realistic Salzau... where different parts of the artistic installation were moved from time to time by the musicians (see the photos taken during the recording). The slightly dull sounds accompanying this sounded most real. I could guess what the various pieces of installation were made of and how strongly they were hit.


When I listened to this recording with the CEC platform beneath the amplifier, these sounds were no longer just occasional extraneous elements. I still heard them independent from the music but now they somehow became a part of the performance by sharing a common acoustic background with the singing birds (this was recorded lakeside), instrumental textures, real air surrounding the musicians which conveyed itself differently from tape hiss or microphone noise. Things had morphed into a performance to transcend a mere listening session.

One actually doesn't require such a sophisticated recording to appreciate what I'm talking about. Nicely produced but commercial (intended for a wider audience with wildly differing playback systems), a Daft Punk album sounded more natural and the sounds of all instruments coexisted in a better harmony, playing together rather than besides each other. Until this improvement I'd been very happy with the sound without the platform. The Ayon amplifier and Jeff Rowland converter delivered nicely extended range, great dynamics, fast attacks and very good timbres.


The vibrant powerful piano opening of Within seemed to have a slightly lower pitch but this was introduced by the Austrian amplifier, not Jeff Roland's DAC itself. There were nice fast kick drum attacks and richly saturated vocals right after that. The platform didn't introduce any significant revolutionary changes. As mentioned the Wellfloat barely affected tonal balance. Instead it introduced a lot of new information as though there were more data. Things got denser and everything that happens became more meaningful. The outlines of instruments were better defined, their 3D relief gained in depth and the differentiation between instruments improved.


When I removed the Wellfloat, I lost depth and things got flatter. This didn't mean I suddenly heard issues with the amp or DAC (these are very good machines). Simply by way of how our brains work, better instantly replaces whatever previous reference we might have held. Such is the endless upgrade spiral also in hifi.