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Reviews: http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php?t=1998
"I received my
S7700 transport earlier today from Steve. This had a
Modwright level 2 mod (with Bybee) done to it before
Steve did his
mods. I normally don't like to say absolutes without
A/B'ing, and I
could not A/B in this instance. I could not listen to the
transport for
2 weeks prior to today so take my comments for what they
are worth.
The rest of the system is: DAC is a Bolder Mensa, pre is
a Bent TX102,
amps are Symphonic Line Kraft mono 400's, speakers are
nOrh marble
9.0's and all cabling is Bolder Nitro.
The music sounded more
relaxed and closer to analog, the soundstage
seemed wider and deeper, and there was more air around
instruments.
The backround seemed blacker too. I really can't think of
an area that
wasn't improved over my memory of a few weeks ago.
The music I used was
Jennifer Warnes - The Hunter, cuts 1,2, 8. and 9.
On track 9, The Hunter, I noticed violins that I hadn't
noticed before.
Then I played some Herbie Hancock - Headhunter. About 2/3
of the way
through Chameleon I noticed some sharp bass guitar licks
that I hadn't
noticed before. With Eric Clapton - Crossroads third CD,
it was just
more realistic in the presentation, wider deeper, with
more of a "you
are there" feeling.
I cannot A/B this modded
unit with what it was before, but the results
are not subtle. To me there was a significant upgrade. I
have spent a lot
more on audio stuff and gotten a lot less in return than
this upgrade.
Highly recomended
IMO."
Robert C.
2003 - (Mod II only)
http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php?t=3602
I have had my Empirical
Audio modified DVP-S7700 for a few weeks
now, and I just had to say a few words about it. Nothing
too detailed
as I haven't taken notes and analyzed the hell out of it.
First, I just do
not understand how the transport can make much of a
difference in the
sound. I always thought the biggest bang-for-the-buck
would be the
DAC. I mean the transport just sends the signal of 1's
and O's to the
DAC where it gets re-clocked and sorted out into an
analog signal that
my pre-amp can understand.
I could not have been
more mistaken. The difference was jaw-dropping.
I used to listen 80% to vinyl and 20% to CD's. For the
past few weeks
it has gone the opposite. I have been spinning a lot of
CD's lately, and
I just keep pulling them out.
On orchestral pieces in
particular, strings have a naturalness to them
that I have never heard in my system. Separation and air
are there in
spades as well as a smoothness and refinement that I have
not had
before. And it really doesn't matter what type of music I
am listening
to, they all seem to benefit. Classical, jazz, rock,
thrash, speed metal,
punk, ska, easy listening, east african wind chime
ensembles, grunge,
disco, hip-hop, rock 'n roll, gospel, R&B, opera and
my daughters
Disney CD's all sound better.
So in case I wasn't
clear, I don't understand why it works, all I know
is that this is one of those jaw dropping, I can't
believe my system
had this potential, WOW kind of moments.
If you are looking for a
great transport pick up a DVP-S7700 for under
$300 and get the mods for $500. You will not regret it.
Oh, I almost forgot to
mention that Steve from Empirical is the real
deal. He knows what he's doing and he is very fast at
getting the mods
done and back out the door to you.
Steve J.
July 2003 (MOD II only)
http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php?t=11868
My first impression was,
I can't believe that a transport can make this
much difference in the sound coming out of my system. I
listened to
both of my demo/audition discs almost all the way
through. Smooth,
listenable, very very real sounding, emotion conveying,
bass with
authority, detail, DYNAMICS!! Much much different than
before.
Whenever I read about the 7700 being harsh on the high
end I really
didn't understand how the writers could have been
listening to the same
piece as I owned. Now I know how they said that, because
compared
to the Turbomodded 7700 the "regular" one is
definately sibilent up
there, however, now any harshness is simply gone. If I
could use one
word to describe everything it would be smooth. On some
tracks where
previously there was background noise or hiss - now, it's
not there
anymore. Background is "blacker". Jesse Cook's
Bahgdad is the best
I've ever heard it from my system. His guitar appears out
of nowhere,
the image is spot on, instruments are now more easily
identified and
not all lumped into the middle of the soundstage.
Speaking of which,
the soundstage is wider, deeper, much more precise. A
Patrick O'Hearn
cut just seems to float there in front of you - the
Stones' Sympathy for
the Devil is a huge party! On Dave Matthews' Say Goodbye
the strikes
to the drum heads and cymbals are much more dynamic, less
shimmer
around the cymbals and like everything is right there in
front of you.
Ray Brown's bass has so much more detail to it, the piano
and his bass
now aren't piled on top of one another but placed so that
they are
easily picked out on the soundstage. And RIGHT THERE in
the room
with me. The detial on Hotel California - wow - I can
much more easily
hear the difference between the nylon string guitar and
the steel string
one. Before it was there but now it's just so obvious you
can't not hear it.
Obviously, I'm quite happy I finally decided to do this.
Steve does great
work and even when above and beyond by securing the power
cord and
providing some strain relief for it. I'm using Steve's
bitmeister digital
cable - I've yet to compare it to my Aural thrills gold
active digital cable.
Brian T.
July, 2004 (Turbomod/Jensen)
http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php?t=12225
I received the modded
unit on Tuesday, and I put it in my system
(currently consisting of the Dodson DA-218, using an
Acoustic Zen 1m
Silver Byte cable, a Blue Circle BC3 Galatea mkII preamp,
BC28 hybrid
stereo amp, and Focus Audio FS888 speakers). Compared to
the stock
unit (one of which I still have and keep as a
spare/backup), differences
were immediately noticeable...but clearly not broken in.
The modded
unit immediately produced transients with much better
speed, and low-
frequency extension appeared improved. However, there
also appeared
to be some "chestiness" in vocals and a
somewhat closed in sound on
solo instruments. Compared to the stock unit, there were
some things
that were better, others that were worse, overall a
difference (but not
necessarily an improvement).
Not to worry...
Steve told me that it would take about a week before the
Jensen caps
would be broken in. Being anxious, I left the player
running on "repeat"
with my favorite Bela Fleck CD (Greatest Hits of the 20th
Century) overnight
for a few days straight, only giving it a break Wednesday
evening during
a lightning storm when I turned off all my gear. By
Thursday afternoon, I
found all the issues to disappear...no more chestiness or
boxiness; instead
I was getting a sound wth clarity, dynamics, and overall
presentation that
I hadn't experienced in my room/system before (when Zybar
had originally
brought his EA S7700 over, we were using a lesser-preamp,
and although
we had the more powerful BC206 in there, I recently
replaced the Sovtek
6922 tubes in the BC28 with Electro-Harmonix 6922EH in my
BC28 to
better effect). I want to emphasize CLARITY, because
that's really what I'm
noticing the most...not that I wasn't getting decent
sound before, but the
EA S7700 has just lifted an amazing amount of haze that I
didn't even
know I had. The other thing that I'm noticing is that the
system imaging
and soundstaging holds together much better at low
volumes than it did
with the stock unit. In some demo situations, my worries
about getting
the best performance when showing my system usually had
me turning
the volume up a bit...I no longer feel that need. And
this was only after
2-3 days of breaking in. I'm salivating at the idea that
this will get even
better as we get through the week!
I'm thoroughly impressed with the overall performance of
the Empirical
Audio modded S7700. It does make me wonder what I'd be
writing here
had I gone ahead and gotten the Turbomod and/or
Superclock2. Perhaps
one day I'll be able to compare them in my system and see
if they make
a substantial difference given the technical design of my
DA-218. But at
the moment, I am one happy audiophile-camper! Thanks,
Steve!
Phil L.
August, 2004 (Basic mod/Jensen)
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Reviews: http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php?t=4150
"Recently, I had
Steve Nugent from Empirical Audio modify my P-3A DAC
and was more than pleased. Based on the quality of his
work, I decided to
take a chance and see if he could improve on the PD-65 as
well. I received
the unit back from him a few days ago. And, once again I
am very happy.
This is another mod that I consider very worthwhile.
Basically, what he does
is reduce the jitter to extremely low levels. He mods the
digital power
supply. And more importantly, he redesigns the digital
output circuitry.
The improvement was noticed immediately. My system before
this mod
was already very good. To be honest, all I was expecting
from this was for
the upper end to become liquid smooth. What I heard was
that and more.
The upper frequencies(female vocals)did become somewhat
smoother - it
already was very good and there was not that much room
for improvement.
The most significant improvements were in the following
three areas:
1. The bass became very tight and focused. I was not
expecting this at all.
It was truly a pleasant surprise.
2. The overall focus became dead on. The 3-D stereo
effect is really quite
amazing now.
3. The micro-dynamics really stepped up. This part really
is related to #2.
By hearing these secondary sounds so clearly, it causes
the spatial effect to
really come to life. For all those who have PD-65’s,
I think you will be quite
pleased with the performance Steve can extract from these
units. I could
go on and on with details of how this mod sounds to me.
But, to really
appreciate what he can do you would have to hear it for
yourselves. I am
extremely impressed with Steve’s work and would
highly recommend this
mod. Combine this with his modified P-3A and Bitmeister
SP/DIF cable and
you have a digital front end that is something
else."
Steve K.
July, 2003
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/digital/messages/71179.html
Mr. Nugent's mods have
raised the performance level of my transport to parity
with the performance level of my AN DAC. Stated another
way, my formerly
"mid-fi" transport is now a "hi-end"
unit. It was evident with the very first
cd I spun after putting the modded transport back into my
rig how much of
my DAC's potential had been previously untapped.
Startlingly improved
coherence, focus and "air" down to the bottom
end (30Hz w/my speakers).
The difference was FAR from subtle. I've gone through
enough upgrades in
building my system (details available on this site) to
know when a change
is significant (for me, many haven't been). The PD-65
together with the mods
set me back over $4000 less than my AN DAC.
I have absolutely no
affiliation with Steve Nugent or Empirical Audio.
I am simply an extremely
satisfied and grateful customer. The results in my
rig tell me that Steve CLEARLY knows how to
cost-effectively engineer hi-end
digital into the stock units he mods. He's a real
gentleman as well, and was
very generous with his time both by phone and email.
John B.
August, 2003
http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/viewtopic.php?t=4416
My first impression of
Steve Nugent of Empirical Audio was very positive.
He responded quickly to my email inquiry and was very
generous with his
time by phone. He got into my transport the day after
delivery, a very
pleasant surprise. More importantly, he listened to it in
his own reference
system FIRST, before opening the case, comparing its
pre-mod performance
to that of his reference transport. To me, this is no
trivial matter. It told me
Steve is no mere "parts and solder slinger". He
wanted to make direct
comparisons of my transport to his best, both before and
after modification
to assess for himself the performance gains that
resulted. After completing
the mods, he informed me about what he changed, in
understandable not
overly technical terms. He let me know what was
previously modded by
Musical Design, and what was not. For example, he told me
that the BNC
output connector I use had not been properly terminated
to 75 Ohms (thus
far totally negating a benefit I THOUGHT I was getting by
using a BNC-BNC
digital cable from CDT to DAC!). Steve let me know how my
money was
spent which I liked very much. His bottom line was that
the result, to his
ears, matched his reference transport. Whoa!
What improvements do I hear?
1.) "Air" around instruments and vocalists is
much greater. I think this is
what Steve meant when he said my CDT had much better
focus post-mod.
Instruments and vocalists now seem locked into discrete
positions in space,
to a greater degree than ever before. Have you ever
closed your eyes to
better create the illusion of your system's creating a
live performance in
front of you? I've done so many times. Now, I get that
illusion with eyes
open as well. I've read many reports of speakers
"disappearing", and have
gotten increasingly closer to this ideal as I've upgraded
my system. This
CDT mod has really put my system over the top in this
regard. That focus
thing highlights, in a very appealing way, interesting
aspects of cds I know
well. Example: "Closer To It", Brian Auger's
Oblivion Express - Brian
handles the vocals here(which he didn't for his live
gigs) and his voice is
actually multitracked at the far left and right of the
stage, with his
incomparable Hammond B3 playing taking the center. An
interesting twist,
never more enjoyable than now.
2.) Soundstage DEPTH is now very apparent, especially on
live recordings.
My system was already throwing a very wide soundstage
with nice center
fill, but FLAT. Just prior to writing this review I
listened to a Elvis Costello
and the Attractions' 1978 "Live at the Mocambo"
cd and got the sense of
a 3D vocalist and band, rather than cardboard figures.
3.) Tight bass - This is a subset of the improved focus,
but deserves
mention in its own right. My speakers are fairly flat to
30 Hz, and I want
to hear notes and chords as distinctly as possible to
that floor. Steve"s
mods really cleaned up the mud. I have two "acid
tests" for assessing
bass reproduction in my system. Disc #2 of Miles Davis'
"Black Beauty -
Live at Fillmore West" NOT an audiophile recording,
with hiss at the start,
and a very audible transient dropout about a third
through the disk, but
(to me) the epitome of improvisational jazz. Problem:
trying to make out
Dave Holland's electric bass at left-center when everyone
but Chick Corea
is essentially coming out of the left half of the stage.
I can FINALLY
distinctly follow most of his foundation for the the
three great pieces on
this disc. The Who "Live at Leeds" In a classic
power rock trio, there's no
mistaking Entwistle's playing out of the left speaker,
but he's got a pretty
"fat" sounding bass that has tended to blend
into Townsend's guitar when
Pete is at the lower register and both are essentially
soloing at once
(particularly on"My Generation" and "Magic
Bus"). The improved bass
focus with Steve's mods really shows up here!
4.) Microdynamics - For my system, this aspect of the
music has always
been most challenged by recordings with lots of
multitracked percussion
elements, especially from upper-midrange on up. My
"acid test" has been
Weather Report's "Black Market" - The title
track HAS to hold the record
for cymbal crashes and has driven me from the room with
earlier stages
of my system. They are now tight to the point that, for
the first time, I
realized that Chester Thompson is not doing all the
work-at front right,
Alejandro Acuna clearly moves from congas to
cymbals/gongs in the
course of the piece. Another treat: Black Uhuru's
"Sinsemilla" - the Sly
and Robbie signature production style gets no better than
on this disc,
with heavily multitracked percussion, gits, keyboards. My
modded CDT
opens the mix up in all its lush beauty.
In summary, the results of the Steve Nugent/Empirical
Audio CD transport
mods have far exceeded my expectations. Add to that the
very reasonable
cost and Steve's personalized service, and it's a no
brainer. Big time.
John B.
August, 2003
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Reviews: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?rdgtl&1081629290&read&3&4&
"I usually
don’t do reviews (actually never). After all, we all
have two ears and
our own tastes. Not to mention, a review of just one
piece of equipment in a
system is sometimes meaningless to someone with different
associated
equipment and rooms. However, I also realize that
auditions may not always be
possible and that there is some value in the third party
review process. Hence,
I figured I’d review my least known component and
the hardest to audition –
the Shanling SCD200 Turbomodded by Empirical Audio.
To-date it’s the first
one modded by Empirical Audio, so this should be the only
review, although I
suspect that will change soon.
If you
want to get right to the review of the Shanling, skip the
next few
paragraphs or so. My pet peeve though with reviewers is
the lack of background
information on them and their system, so I’ll share
a brief synopsis.
I’ve
been in this hobby since I was 15 years old (now 35).
I’ve seen and heard
quite a bit of equipment over those years. I regularly
attend both the Stereophile
and CES shows and keep tabs on my local dealers with the
latest and greatest.
Not to mention, the area audiophile group has some
noteworthy members who
have pretty impressive systems. While I’m not
claiming to be some audiophile
Jedi, I feel very confident in delivering an accurate
review that may be helpful.
For those interested, I’ll give a quick rundown of
my associated equipment.
Spendor
S9 speakers – After owning these speakers for almost
2 years, I still
find no better way to sum up the S9 than Spendor's own
words…"The S9 has to
be heard to appreciate the grand scale of its superbly
integrated sound. Whether
you play loud or soft, music or film, the S9 has the
uncanny ability to convey
the energy and emotion of the performance. The bass is
rock solid, treble delicate
and airy, and the mid range captivatingly realistic.
Often you'll feel you could
reach out and touch the performers."
While
the last sentence is somewhat cliché, the description is
pretty accurate.
In fact, the only adjective I might add would be
“intoxicating.” They simply sound
like music and not a bunch of drivers. Probably the best
all-around Spendor model
since the BC-1. Caveats -- likes solid state
amplification or high power tube amps.
May not have the midbass hifi sounding punch some prefer.
Also not as “alive” at
very low listening levels.
Conrad
Johnson Premier 17LS – Closest thing you can get to
the sound of the
incomparable CJ ART at less than $5000. I could live
happily with other preamps
in this price range, but the combination of features,
sound quality, and CJ pedigree
won me over Caveats -- need to keep cable runs short and
low capacitance or the
performance drop-off from the ART and 16LS is more steep.
Inverts polarity and
has a relatively high gain.
McCormack
DNA.5 Rev. A Platinum Monoblocks – The guy who was
modding things
before modding became hip- Steve McCormack - went all out
and I have everything
done that he knows possible for now. Is it the best solid
state amp??? Well, no amp
is best for all applications, but I can safely say if you
have these amps you can’t be
too far from the best regardless of price. I’ve had
more than one aficionado of the
venerable JC-1 amps admire these amps, and I’ve
heard many stories of Levinson
and Krell amps being embarrassed in direct comparison.
Music just explodes around
you with a sense of effortlessness and liquidity that
transport you out of stereo
listening and into the music.
Accessories
– I use a few, but the most noteworthy is the BPT
3.5. Good enough to
be considered a component, not accessory. Almost a
neccessity in some environments.
Caveats – I’ve heard some owners have a hum
issue and it’s not the bargain it once
was at $1400.
Room
– My room is small – 12 x 14 x 8, but heavily
treated and totally dedicated to just
two-channel listening. It measures pretty flat although
there is a slight suck out around
63 Hz. I do get low frequency extension down to almost 25
Hz without much drop-off.
I
suppose that’s enough (or too much) background. Now
to the main attraction – the
Shanling.
I was
intrigued with the Shanling SCD-200 with the Level 1+
mods from
Partsconnexion/Underwood soon after it came out. I
usually stick with companies that
have a pedigree and have been around for awhile; however,
I noted that Shanling met
ISO 9001 certification standards, which is fairly
impressive and gave me some comfort.
I did
a brief audition in an unfamiliar environment (not
smart), and decided to buy it
since it seemed to be better than my previous
redbook-only player. In hindsight, it
definitely was, but I also think I was fooled early on by
my first extensive exposure to
DSD SACD recordings into believing the player sounded
better than it really did.
Once I
got it back into my system and played it with familiar
material in redbook, I
slowly started to realize weaknesses that I missed or
were masked in the brief audition.
Sibilance was a problem and the unit lacked extension at
the frequency extremes. The
sound was not particularly dynamic, the soundstage was
confused, and the overall
presentation was opaque. I almost thought it was my
associated equipment, but
switching out the Shanling on occasion proved otherwise.
In addition, there were some
quirky things about it mechanically. First, it would not
read approximately 1% of my
collection. I could never put a finger on why, and
apparently they have come out with a
fix, but it takes shipping it to Japan and 3 months.
Also, the drive mechanism is
somewhat slow and noisy when reading a disk. When
playing, it’s much quieter although
it is an open air top-loader and can be heard if your
environment is otherwise silent. On
the plus side, it is very attractive and truly an
aesthetic marvel compared to most CDPs.
I did
have one actual malfunction that required service and a
small part to be replaced.
Mind you, the customer service was excellent and
turnaround was only a couple weeks.
Nevertheless, I became concerned about its long term
prospects both mechanically and
sonically. I don’t want to go overboard though.
Compared to what else is out there (I’m
talking strictly digital, not analog), I’d say the
Level 1+ is pretty decent sonically, but
still a good bit away from the best. When the 6moons.com
review came out, I was
somewhat surprised by the tremendous review, which
basically inferred it was world-
class. Perhaps the plethora of poor sounding CDPs on the
market makes a decent CDP
seem better than it really is. Or maybe the reviewer was
fooled as I was early on. Anyway,
I knew I could do better, so I started looking for
alternatives. Sound wise, the Meitner
was my favorite alternative, but a few other things about
the Meitner turned me off, so
I kept searching. Gradually, I learned that my best
course may be to just have the
Shanling further modified.
Steve
Nugent at Empirical Audio was the guy I decided to try
since he appeared to have
the background and expertise required for such a custom
project. Here’s where I will stop
and give a plug to participation in local audio clubs,
and, specifically, Duke Lejeune
(Audiokinesis). I probably wouldn’t have heard of
Steve Nugent if Duke hadn’t sent me a
link with the interview done on Steve by Positive
Feedback Online. Ironically, it was over
a year ago and had nothing to do with CDP mods. We had
just been over at another club
member’s house listening to JC-1s when we realized
that they just weren’t sounding right
without a preamp. Sure enough Duke later found this
interview where Steve Nugent says
essentially the same thing. I was intrigued by the rest
of the interview and noted that
Steve seemed to have the ability to go beyond mere
parts-swapping mods. Recently, when
the issue came up with the Shanling, I retrieved this
from my quickly fading memory banks
and decided to email Steve about doing this custom
project. I basically gave him carte
blanche to do whatever was necessary to make it truly
world class. He immediately
embraced the project and started as soon as I shipped it
to him. In short, the experience
was exceptional. He kept me constantly informed and
detailed each step of the process.
Overall, I believe it took him approximately 24 hours of
work and a host of new parts/design
alterations. The Shanling was back with me within a
matter of a couple weeks. You can go
to his website or email him to get the details, as I will
just focus on the end result.
In
short, all I can say is Mission Accomplished! I wanted
Meitner-esque level performance,
and we are pretty much there. (Steve actually
believes it’s better than the Meitner on
redbook, and he has more experience with the Meitner than
me.) The Meitner does offer
balanced outputs and is probably better running direct to
amps, but the Shanling is much
less expensive and more attractive. Either way, whichever
is better is strictly splitting hairs,
in my opinion. The bottom line is that both are
absolutely stunning. I still can’t believe how
much changed with Steve’s mods to the Shanling.
Every aspect improved substantially, but
the thing that really stands out is the increased
authority and dynamics. Sibilance is totally
gone and soundstaging is precise, layered, deep and wide.
It’s actually quite hard to put
into words or even audiophile jargon, but anyone
who’s gone to the various shows knows that
something is different when they walk into a room with a
Meitner front-end. Yes, it usually
has $50,000+ of associated equipment, but so do many
other rooms that don’t have that
same magic. There’s just a continuity to the sound
that’s analog like. Images appear in 3
dimensions, not 2, and instruments sound like they are
really being played (i.e. you can hear
fingers or prop hit an instrument with an unprecedented
authority and sense of realism.)
Let’s
see if I can’t break it down further using specific
music as a guide. Christian Mcbride’s
CD – “Gettin’ to it” – is a
fairly common audiophile reference CD. It will sound good
on
almost any decent system, but there are chances for it to
highlight the spectacular. For
example, the first cut includes a bass, trumpet, sax,
piano and drums. Many of those are
not easy for digital to accurately reproduce without
sibilance and/or lack of dynamics, control
and extension. Even fewer can provide these things at
high SPLs while still preserving inner
harmonic detail. Only the elite can give you the feel of
the trumpet valves being pressed
and a sense of the sound cascading from the bell of the
trumpet, all the while producing
every other one of those instruments as a coherent music
ensemble. It’s the combination
of dynamics, detail, control, authority, imaging and
organic presence that’s so difficult, but
the twice modded Shanling delivers. The last cut is the
one I most often hear at shows from
this CD. It’s strictly McBride and his bass. Again,
it will sound excellent on almost any
system. However, a few things will separate the good from
the great. Primarily, it boils
down to the illusion created by the sound system. Most
systems will just reproduce the
sound from the specific areas of the bass. Paradoxically,
it will be precise yet overall nebulous.
The spectacular system will recreate the grand scale of
the entire instrument with sound
coming from every inch of the strings and discernible
full decay. You sense the entire size
of the instrument – the body, neck and all –
not just the strings. Dynamics and detail are
recorded excellently, but, again, hearing the pluck of
the strings is different from feeling
the pluck of the strings and sensing the exactly how far
they are being stretched and
reverberating. On many systems, things will sound a
little too “fast” and “crisp” because
a lot of the decay, detail and nuances are being lost.
Let’s
try a different CD. First Impression Music makes
exceptional recordings. “Oh! That Cello”
is an XRCD that is definitely audiophile quality. Unlike
McBride’s CD though, I’m sure it can
be tough on some systems. The first cut is a good test
– Shenandoah. Dynamics are the key
here. You truly get a sense of why this recording was an
inspiration to many early American
travelers. When the Chinese gong is struck, you should
not only feel it in your gut, you
should feel as if the whole room is shaking from its
foundation. Pitch definition should be
excellent with no boominess. Without proper LF extension
and authority, the song will lack
much of the emotion truly possible.
While
we’re on percussions, the DSD SACD sampler that
comes with the Shanling has a
Robert Hohner percussion ensemble which is very
impressive. It was one of the better
sounding cuts prior to Steve modding the Shanling, but
now it is even more incredible.
Before, the drums were comparatively opaque sounding
lacking the realistic authority of
being struck. Also, the soundstage was confused and
fuzzy. Afterward, the authority and
dynamics are much more lifelike. The soundstage, in
particular, is exceptionally deep,
precise and layered. In fact, it’s so sophisticated
that you can discern even the smallest
of differences in depth and know exactly how the ensemble
was laid out.
More
examples are possible with audiophile recordings, but any
good system will expose
a degree of my observations above with audiophile
recordings. The hard part is
communicating how much farther in degree the custom
modded Shanling takes things.
Actually, the more significant differences are notable
with recordings thought not be
audiophile quality. In fact, recording quality is one of
the biggest scapegoats for poor
sounding systems. The reality is that few recordings are
truly horrible, unless you are
listening to a lot of pseudo top 40 stuff. True, some
recordings expose sibilance and other
deficiencies worst than others, but don’t blame the
messenger.
For
example, Eva Cassidy and Norah Jones CDs sometimes get
dinged for weak recording
quality. While not spectacular, I find them both quite
acceptable. They certainly are good
enough to communicate the emotion of the songs in a
fairly dynamic and detailed fashion.
They will only be irritating or fatiguing on systems with
sibilance issues. Both of their
voices have a different yet similarly ethereal quality,
and Norah Jones particularly floats
in a three dimensional space on the SACD version.
While
on the topic of Eva Cassidy, she is quite a marvel. No
one takes ownership of a
covered song like she does. “People Get Ready”
from the “Songbird” CD is one track I
always enjoy no matter how many times I hear it. The last
30 seconds of this song can
be an incredible treat. (Although the recording engineer
who faded out the last 5 seconds
should be shot.) Anyway, I play this cut loud. This cut
and the next cut – “Oh, I Had a
Golden Thread” -- truly test a system’s ability
to stay composed with both high pitched
female voices and dynamic material. I spend this kind of
money on audio equipment to
specifically have this reproduced without fail, so I can
truly enjoy the magnificence of
performers like Cassidy who are unfortunately dead and
gone.
In
short, if you like female vocals, this Shanling will
deliver. I tried Jennifer Warnes, Holly
Cole, Ani Difranco, Alison Krauss, Sinead O’Conner
Patricia Barber, Diana Krall, Janis Ian,
Carry Newcomer, and more including SACD and redbook
versions without fail. No sibilance
and all had that ethereal 3D quality with greater ambient
information too. For example,
Sinead O’Conner’s cover of “All
Apologies” on the “Universal Mother” CD is
spectacular.
The Shanling not only does her voice justice, it also
gives you the echo and subtle spatial
cues to feel exactly the time room she was in and
transports you there, similar to the
infamous Cowboy Junkies “Trinity Session”. Some
CDPs may miss a lot of this info and
short change you on the experience.
Not to
be sexist, I also tested male vocals, which were equally
inspiring. Matthew Ryan’s
“Concussion” is quite an interesting CD whose
simple recording may not work well on all
systems. The key to enjoying his work is following his
somewhat haunting, snapshot
lyrical style. It’s also intriguing to hear him mix
the sound of a cello, tambourine, pedal
steel, bass and electric guitar, ambient organ, harmonica
and different drums and cymbals
all in the same song. He also pulls off integrating
Lucinda Williams vocals with his raspy
and ornery voice in a separate song. Anyway, before the
mod, his voice had a level of
sibilance and was somewhat flat. Afterward, no sibilance
and a much more fulfilling,
hearty and coherent presentation. I was frankly also
surprised how much more detail
was revealed. Close your lips and then quickly part them.
That subtle sound is now clearly
heard where it wasn’t previously.
Greg
Brown is one of my favorite male vocalists, although he
can be little tough to
reproduce, especially at higher SPLs. I’ve heard it
sound atrocious on quite expensive
associated gear where the CDP sabotaged everything. It
wasn’t terrible before on the
Shanling, but now it is close to a night and day
difference. In fact, all the improvements
I’m describing are honestly not subtle. No question
anyone could hear them easily – even
non-audiophiles.
I hate
hyperbole in reviews and I’m sure this is starting
to sound just like such, so I guess
I should wrap this up. Hopefully, the review was helpful
and may give someone comfort
who was debating whether to have similar work performed
by Steve Nugent. In short, the
greatest differences were the tremendous jump in
authority/dynamics, extension at both
extremes, removal of sibilance and clarified
soundstaging. The combination of which can
best be described as just “magic”.
I
should end by pointing out one last feature. The Shanling
has 2 sets of outputs – tube
and solid state. Both were modded by Steve and my
impressions of the differences are as
follows: Overall, I think I slightly prefer the SS
outputs. In almost every area, they seem
just a tad better with even more authority. Both
outputs stay totally composed even with
difficult material and high SPLs, but the SS gets the nod
if I had to give one. The tube
outputs probably have a deeper soundstage versus the SS
outputs, which are a little bit
more forward. I do think the tube outputs may add
that 3rd dimension a hair better in
the midrange and the layering of the soundstage may be
more sophisticated and precise.
Either way, it’s exceptional and nice to have this
option.
Mechanically,
I also want to point out that Steve’s mods
can’t fix the unreadability of some
CDs. Again, this requires shipment to Japan and a 3 month
estimated turnaround. Newer
models may not have this problem. The quirky and slow
drive mechanism is also something
I decided to just live with, but should be a factor to
consider.
Also,
in case you are wondering, in hindsight, I should have
just bought a stock Shanling
and shipped it to Steve to get modded. The Level 1+
Underwood mods can all be
superceded by Steve’s work and would have saved me
money. Any other questions, feel
free to email.
Other
primary recordings used: LA Four – Going Home, Jorma
Kaukonen – Blue Country
Heart (DSD SACD), Willie Nelson – Stardust (SACD),
FIM SACD Audiophile Reference, and
various Keb Mo, Jesse Cook, Victor Wooten, Marcus Miller,
classical pieces.
Jason
M.
April 2004
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