Country of Origin
Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial interests: click here
Main system: Sources: Retina 5K 27" iMac (i5, 256GB SSD, 40GB RAM, Sonoma 14), 4TB external SSD with Thunderbolt 3, Audirvana Studio, Qobuz Sublime, Singxer SU-6 USB bridge, LHY Audio SW-8 & SW-6 switch, Laiv Audio Harmony and Sonnet Pasithea; Active filter: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box 2; Power amplifiers: Kinki Studio EX-B7 monos & Gold Note monos on subwoofer; Headamp: Kinki Studio THR-1, Enleum AMP-23R, aune S17Pro Evo; Phones: Raal 1995 Immanis; Loudspeakers: Qualio IQ [on loan] Cables: Kinki Studio Fire, Furutech; Power delivery: Kinki/Vinshine Tai Hang on amps, Furutech GTO 2D NCF on low-level gear; Equipment rack: Artesanía Audio Exoteryc double-wide 3-tier with optional glass shelves, Exoteryc amp stands; Sundry accessories: Acoustic System resonators, LessLoss Firewall for loudspeakers, Furutech NCF Signal Boosters; Room: 6 x 8m with open door behind listening seat; Room treatment: 2 x PSI Audio AVAA C214 active bass traps
2nd system: Source: FiiO R7 into Soundaware D300Ref SD transport to COS Engineering D1 DAC/pre; Filter: Lifesaver Audio Gradient Box 2; Amplifier: Kinki Studio EX-M7; Headamp: Cen.Grand Silver Fox; Loudspeakers: MonAcoustic SuperMon Mini + Dynaudio S18 sub, sound|kaos Vox 3awf, Albedo Aptica; Power delivery: Vibex Granada/Alhambra, Akiko Audio Corelli; Equipment rack: Hifistay Mythology Transform X-Frame [on extended loan]; Sundry accessories: Audioquest Fog Lifters; Furutech NFC Clear Lines; Room: ~3.5 x 8m
Desktop system: Source: HP Z2 work station Win10/64; USB bridge: Singxer SU-2; DAC: iFi Pro iDSD Signature; Speakers: DMAX P61; Headphones: Final D-8000 & aune SR7000 Audeze LCD-XC
Upstairs headfi system: FiiO R7; Headphones: Meze 109 Pro, Fiio FT3, Raal 1995 Magna, HiFiMan Susvara
2-channel video system: Source: Oppo BDP-105; All-in-One: Gold Note IS-1000 Deluxe; Loudspeakers: Zu Soul VI; Subwoofer: Zu Submission; Power delivery: Furutech eTP-8, Room: ~6x4m
Review component retail: free
A reader gets a new MacMini. It's his first-ever computer with SSD. He thinks it perhaps sounds a little better than the prior unit with hard disk but asks whether that's possible. Or is he imagining things? I tell him that an SSD could be superior but that not just his drive is new. So are the operating system and hardware. Regardless, in this game perception is reality. If we believe something sounds better, it does; to us. He concedes my point about perception being king but counters with "it's still nice to know that it's possible". That triggers a personal question which 20-odd years in hifi still haven't answered. Why is it that audiophiles can't cop to the fact that our ear/brain and the entire psycho-physical apparatus attached to it shape our experience? It's intensely personal and wholly subjective. Why does this trigger the 'scientific validation' reflex like a shattering mule kick to the shin? Are audiophiles so worried that their ears might trick them? Trick them into what, pray tell? Enjoying something that should cause grief instead? Thinking something lovely which really isn't? Why must opinions of strangers on the Internet infiltrate our own experience by confirmation or denial? Why must we consult inanimate test kit and its graphs when in front of our system, we use our ears? Really, such audiophiles labour under a yoke of authoritarianism. The joke is, I'm an author. That makes me partly responsible for this mess. Simply being an author of sufficiently long tenure in the field, some readers view me as an authority. If you ask me, this questionable journey from author to 'ity' to 'ism' is bloody thorny. Sometimes it drives me bleepin' balmy. Yet the antidote is so simple. As Richard Vandersteen once quipped, the proper way to know whether a hifi is good or not is to pour yourself a glass of wine, hunker down in your comfy chair and listen. You'll know soon enough whether you enjoy the sound or not. There's no more to it. Really.
Why can't audiophiles accept that? Why do they insist that it's more complicated? Why must a thin veneer of science cover up the endeavour's sexy subjectivity?
That I still haven't figured out. I think I never shall. But if it keeps me in biz, perhaps that's a good thing?…
