Hello Srajan, how are you and the Young Lady surviving the winter in the Emerald Isles? Frost bite got your tongue? Never underestimate the cooling power of a volcanic eruption. Enjoying your articles. Some very interesting musings. Just wanted to touch base, offer a progress report and ask an opinion. Eyesight has been restored to acceptable levels. Had to train myself to see again. Contrast range is still a little limited. Greyscale compressed. Blacks slightly elevated. Sufficient to get my driver's license back though. Spouse no longer required to bear combined title of wife/chauffeur. Something I didn't mention, hearing was also affected. The brain's CPU appears to be a combined audio/video card. Manifestation of damage? Super-low volume level resolution. Bats have nothing on this super power. Downside was intolerance to loud levels. Also, no stereo. Dual-channel mono aficionados would be pleased. Other stangeness? Internal EQ compensation curves wiped out with a response displaying prominence in the 50-60 cycle range. You want to say room-lift sensitivity?! As a result, have been training myself to hear again too. Getting there.
And here's the request for opinion. Wellness aspirations and C-19 cabin fever got a bit of audiophile itch in motion. Still have the Mark & Daniel Monitor Maximus/Auralic Altair G1/Audio Zone (Pascal-based) combo. I'm looking at some changes. I know that immediate improvements would be gleaned by adding a preamp and letting the Auralic Altair's digital volume run full throttle. Dynamics and scale of presentation would expand. Eying a Wyred pre or full passive again with single-ended and balanced connectivity. The other dark horse idea would be to go full integrated amp. (Kinki anyone? Alternate suggestion would be the Hegel 390.) The only hesitation there would be that one of your current compatriots found the Pascal a step up from the Kinki so perhaps not an ideal upgrade solution. Plus, a waste of capability for one input.
Or the obvious solution. Just enjoy what's there and keep exploring the Tidal catalogue? Audiophile nervosa be damned? Most itches can be cure with calamine lotion. So there you have it. Surviving, restless and recovering from January's gift of shingles. Almost lost the right eye plus looked like a losing prize-fighter. 2022 looking great. From what I can see at least. Best wishes from the frozen Covid bunker, Glen
Hello Glen, mild winter for us thus far. Had some strong storms already but that's it. So both ears hear fine but the brain refuses to create the stereo construct? That's unexpected. I didn't know that was possible. And automatic midbass compensation thrown in ? It does show that our brain really is a super computer. Different programs are running, then a medical emergency throws in a reboot and suddenly certain things reconfigure themselves. Perception rules. It doesn't sound fun for sure but – interesting of sorts. You certainly write about it from a slightly amused perspective. Bravo! In my pantheon of audiophile revelations, replacing the super-dear DHT Vinnie Rossi preamp with an autoformer-coupled passive was a biggie. It's what I now use upstairs and downstairs. I don't see myself going back to active pres anytime soon.
The new icOn not mentioned on the website yet offers I think 80dB attenuation over 0.5dB steps. An included Apple IR wand does the remote business. This icOn stuff has been my secret weapon also because (Batman alert!) the more attenuation you select, the higher the output current gets. It's voltage/current conversion at work in some form of log function that really improves low-level listening. The dreaded white-out delays and things sound full, robust and dynamic farther down the SPL ladder than they otherwise tend to. So for preamp upgrade itchitis and particularly with your new aversion to high SPL but keener low-level resolution, that'd be my #1 reco. I've not heard the Hegel so couldn't comment. Hope that helps? With my best wishes, Srajan
PS: For readers who didn't know, Glen suffered a minor heart attack last year which had him resign from reviewing for us. As you just learnt, the incident triggered a lengthy recovery period which includes his hearing. That's why I've published this exchange. It's a good reminder. We should really enjoy what we have while we have it. Flemming Rasmussen, Gryphon's founder, found himself in a similar situation. He woke up one morning deaf in one ear and the other only working at 50% capacity. Fretting as we all do over hifi hardware, it's too easy to overlook the most important ingredient: us the listener, our ongoing health and ability to perceive the world the way we're used to thus take for granted.
