Shunyata
Research Denali review?
September
23, 2016
Marc,
Do
you have any plans to review the new Shunyata Denali power conditioners? I am very anxious to see it
reviewed.
Jerry
Belben
Not
only do we have such plans, the review is in the works right now, and we'll get it online
as soon as we can. -Marc Mickelson
New
Wilson speaker for home theater?
September
20, 2016
Marc,
I
own the WATT/Puppy 6, which I know you had. I love it very much. I use it strictly for
home theater; I don’t listen to music whatsoever. In fact, the Wilson speakers are of
great importance in my system, as I don’t use a center-channel speaker. I love the
phantom effect and the system relies on their capability. The system also consists of four
surround speakers and a B&W DB-1 subwoofer.
So,
here is the thing. The WATT/Puppy 6 is old, and I would like to upgrade. I feel the
midrange/tweeter range, hence vocals, can be better, and I presume that in the last 20
years or so from the introduction of the WATT/Puppy 6, Wilson Audio has made progress. The
obvious choice would be the Sasha W/P 2, but that's out of my reach financially, so I'm aiming for the
new Yvette, which I guess you have not heard, but you did review the Sophia 3.
Before
owning the WATT/Puppy 6, I had a rare chance to audition the original Sophia and the
WATT/Puppy 5.1 head to head. While the Sophia was nice, it was no match for the 5.1, which
for home theater was fabulous. It was fast, dynamic and had lots of drama; it was a clear
winner, so based on what I heard with the 5.1, I bought the WATT/Puppy 6 without even
hearing it. It was a good choice. I will not have a chance to hear the Yvette before
purchasing.
I
wonder if based on the above you can shed some light on what to expect from the Yvette, if
for a moment we presume it’s a true upgrade over the Sophia 3. It has a new tweeter,
a new woofer, and a new midrange, all from much more expensive Wilson speakers. Do you
think it will be an upgrade in terms of vocals? Do you think it will retain the beefy
midrange I like so much? Do you think it will have the same speed and sense of drama?
Ran
Moyal
While I don't have the level of home-theater sound system that you have, I also
don't use a center-channel speaker and find the sound from my simple 2.1-channel system to
be very satisfying.
The
WATT/Puppy 6 was my first exposure as an audio writer to Wilson Audio speakers, and the
point where the company's sound began to evolve to where it is now. I reviewed it and
ended up buying the review samples. I've since replaced the WATT/Puppy 6es with other
Wilson models, a few times in fact, and you are correct that Wilson has greatly refined
the performance of its speakers in the intervening time. One of the most significant
changes occurred when Wilson switched to its current Convergent Synergy silk-dome tweeter
from the older inverted-metal-dome model, which your speakers have. With the new Yvette,
you would get the latest iteration of that silk-dome tweeter, and with it you can expect
both more natural presentation of detail and greater expressiveness. The midrange of
Wilson speakers has always been substantial, physical, and the dynamics abundant, -- all
very good for movies. The Yvette is not the next version of the Sophia; it is an all-new
speaker, and while I haven't heard it (it's only now beginning to ship), I am confident
that you will consider it an obvious upgrade to your older WATT/Puppies, especially as
they provide dialog for movies. -Marc Mickelson
Upsampling
versus high resolution
September
11, 2016
Marc,
I
have been using Roon for playback of downloaded high-res files and it seems to work quite
well. I also have a Cambridge Audio CD player that upsamples to 384kHz, I believe. The
unit is approximately eight years old at this point. My question is this: since the CD
player upsamples to “high-res” numbers, shouldn’t that be the same as what
Roon is doing?
However,
the CD upsampling, at least to me, doesn't sound much different from standard CD playback.
The Roon software does sound like high resolution one would expect to hear, however. If
the upsampling CD player and the Roon playback are both, conceptually anyway, doing the
same thing, why do I not hear the very same quality from both? Perhaps because the CD
player has an eight-year-old DAC as opposed to the new PS Audio DAC I just purchased?
Maybe it's the quality and newer technology?
I'm
wondering what your thoughts are regarding this.
Sheldon
Simon
I
suspect the answer to your question lies mostly with the source material. What you're
listening to via Roon is native high-resolution material -- i.e., remastered from
the master tapes at a resolution above CD's 16 bits and 44.1kHz. When you're upsampling a
CD, while the output data may be 24 bits and 384kHz, for instance, it's still ultimately
CD's 16 bits and 44.1kHz. You can't create something from nothing. Upsampling will
certainly change the sound of a CD and may even improve it in some specific way, but it's
still a CD. With Roon, you're beginning with higher-resolution digital source material.
-Marc Mickelson
Wes
Phillips
September
1, 2016
Marc,
Luke
and I were also saddened to hear that Wes passed away so suddenly. What
you wrote about his writing is absolutely right on. His writing was concise, to the
point, easy to read and easy to grasp. It is sad that he had been plagued by ill health
these last couple of years and we could no longer read his reviews.
Luke
visited Wes several times when he was reviewing our equipment. Wes loved his cats, and one
time, after one of his cats passed away (almost at the same time as when my cat passed
away), I asked him how he felt about the loss. He said that he was sorry that he kept his
cat alive for way too long and that he should have lessened her suffering by letting her
go sooner. I felt exactly the same way about my cat -- I kept her for way too long. Wes
taught me an important life lesson.
Bea
Lam
VTL
