That said, with the passage of a little time, the extent of how I perceived this more linear visibility increased. By linear visibility I mean insight into the sonic tapestry that's even from top to bottom. We don't cross an obvious seam below which lights dim and minor ambiguity intrudes. It's something my Raal 1995 ribbon headphones don't suffer to be my firm North star for navigating my speaker systems toward closer parity.
A lot of that must be addressed with the speaker/room interaction to minimize modal excitement. I've addressed that with sealed monitors and a force-cancelling sealed sub set up for time-correct integration plus phase consistency via 4th-order electronic high/low-pass division of labour. With that in place plus my seat in a suck-out zone to avoid the room's longitudinal peak, I was already well set.
Just so, this insight linearity down to the infrasonic chicane of Patrick Chartol's fab Istanbul album¹ was more polished than before. So in the state which my aural archaeology dig was at when GS showed up, its biggest reveal—what lay in the soil's next layer perhaps—was this resolution enhancement in the LF. More subtle by being broadband to not telegraph by standing out was slightly greater overall sweetness.
My kitchen turns over a lot of grapefruit and lemon. I regularly fancy a piping-hot lemonade with honey; or pure pamplemousse juice freshly squeezed. I like sour tart vitamin-buzzy things not just on my tongue. When playback overdoes the virtual sugar, I bolt. It's why I abolished tubes. It's why I generally prefer PCM to DSD unless the latter is advanced enough to be mild. I don't mind a bit of sweetness. It just can't pay in subjective speed, transient incisiveness, clarity or musical energetics. Else I prefer erring on rawness and excitement. Yet the sneaky infusion of fine sweetness noticed upon departure with the GS's removal didn't come at that expense. So it was both a surprise and welcome. Incidentally, by sweetness I don't mean treble shift but transients just slightly mellower on their edge to not yet dilute PRaT. That probably segues back to me feeling a bit more relaxed with the Akiko wired up?
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¹ Not only is Patrick Chartol a very gifted composer who also works on film scores. He's also a very accomplished abstract painter with an uncanny sense for composition and colour. Check out his art pages here. Talk about being multi-talented. Damn!
Talking in terms of archaeology and multi-layered digs seems fitting to insure that prospective buyers don't expect the same things to surface or in the same order. I only have my systems to go by. Common sense and accompanying caution suggest that other systems—at different stages of their 'completion' and being tuned for a different balance of qualities—could react in their own ways. My own sense also is that given the notedness of GS's presence in mine, however other systems will react, exactly, shall be noticed.
I really can't say the same for digital filter selections on D/A converters; or differences between many net-music servers. Whilst my still limited exposure to audiophile ground solutions doesn't have me feel fully grounded in the topic yet, with Castello Solo I feel on far firmer footing than before.
♦ No flashing lights, in fact no lights of any kind.
♦ No spider's web of star-ground wiring mess.
♦ No extra power cord stealing another power socket.
♦ Definitely not no on audible benefits.
At this juncture, reviewers traditionally pronounce value or lack thereof. "Competes with things at twice the price" without naming said things is popular if meaningless. Given my still shallow immersion in the subject, count me out. I've not investigated current alternatives to know what else today's money can buy; and what that would accomplish by contrast Here's what I can leave you with. I'd not entirely counted out the external ground-box subject but neither lost sleepless nights over it. My first exposure left me thinking that my hearing and/or system wasn't refined enough to notice anything worthwhile. My next date definitely heard something and liked it but couldn't tolerate the many Audio Alchemy-style small boxes with blinking LED, power cords and messy wiring. 'Not for me' is how that encounter concluded. And there the story could have ended hadn't it been for my very pleased ownership of Akiko's Corelli Corundum; and Solo plugging right into it without any fuss. Again, as Stenheim, Tannoy and others would remind us, Castello Solo isn't just looking at components or power bars. It's ready to tango with loudspeakers sporting ground posts as possibly a new frontier for most of us. I'm glad I asked for this gig to head closer toward this frontier myself. I would have been genuinely sad to see this black mystery box go and say, vaarwel. Instead I made it welkom thuis: welcome home.
