Eh.. you can use the SPDIF but the 640 has a decent DAC chip so avoiding SPDIF seems the optimal way. Your answer lies in the source Padawan.
The true Force is within a Squeezebox Touch coupled to a good DAC and feeding it high res material like 24 bit 96 kHz FLAC ...
The true Force is within a Squeezebox Touch coupled to a good DAC and feeding it high res material like 24 bit 96 kHz FLAC ...
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Sorry about the attitude. I sometimes forget that with engineering you have to be concise and thorough.
I'm a huge skeptic of there being an audible difference in caps. The best test equipment says cap distortions are way smaller than everything else. I use cheap polypropylenes and don't give it another thought.
But what I've been told is that it's where a cap is actively rolling off a frequency response, like in a tone control circuit, that it will show it's distortion characteristics the most. The trick is to make sure all other variables are accounted for. A slight change in the actual value of the cap could cause a 1/2 dB gain change, which would convince some people that one cap sounds better than the other, even though they don't consciously sense a level change.
Thanks SY! I've used Paradigm S40, S20, Pioneer Quartet 70 12" 3-way (1980s), currently using a DIY speakers I made a months ago. It's based on a Tony Gee design "eVe" using ScansSpeak 8" 2.5-way: 21W/8555, 8545, 98000 drivers. The XO is series fed with all Mundorf Supremes. The frequency is +- 1.5dB from 200Hz-15kHz, 89dB/W. They sound amazing - transparent, clear, detailed, I am bi-amping the MT cab with the Odyssey Stratos, and W cab with the EP2500. I later added ports. Here are a few pics...
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It is an interesting phenomenon where people talk about how perfect their systems are, yet they are dissatisfied with what they have. Many of these impressive characters of sound are "traps".
As an aside, concerning coupling capacitors:
Folks, I don't intend to hi-jack or even less start an alternative war ..... But every so often one encounters side-issues stated with an almost paternalistic attitude of "gee everybody knows that", to the extent that one cannot avoid at least a 're-direct' for the benefit of newbies with an honest desire to learn.
After which - and with due respect:
Can we just realise that the quality of capacitors used as coupling capacitors (unless they smell) could be of little consequence in audio? Please - a coupling capacitor is not acting in any capacitive way unless it also functions as part of a filter. It is simply a d.c. block. It does not (at least should not) charge or discharge over the audio region, thus any qualities of reactance, di-electric absorption, promotional banter or whatever a cap does is moot in audio. I cannot disagree with impressions gained by 'supporters'; I was not there. But those must look elsewhere for any real coupling cap. differences noticed than at the capacitor proper, or start explaining why in this case 3+5 is no longer = 7,99999999999999.
Apology for this; just for the record. Back to topic.
Folks, I don't intend to hi-jack or even less start an alternative war ..... But every so often one encounters side-issues stated with an almost paternalistic attitude of "gee everybody knows that", to the extent that one cannot avoid at least a 're-direct' for the benefit of newbies with an honest desire to learn.
After which - and with due respect:
Can we just realise that the quality of capacitors used as coupling capacitors (unless they smell) could be of little consequence in audio? Please - a coupling capacitor is not acting in any capacitive way unless it also functions as part of a filter. It is simply a d.c. block. It does not (at least should not) charge or discharge over the audio region, thus any qualities of reactance, di-electric absorption, promotional banter or whatever a cap does is moot in audio. I cannot disagree with impressions gained by 'supporters'; I was not there. But those must look elsewhere for any real coupling cap. differences noticed than at the capacitor proper, or start explaining why in this case 3+5 is no longer = 7,99999999999999.
Apology for this; just for the record. Back to topic.
Cap distortion can actually break a system sound wise. But overall performance is determined by many factors, not cap alone. If cap can be removed without introducing another evil, then I urge everyone to remove it.
Many single ended design sound very good with cap output. First reason is that the cap is just part of the whole design. Second, it seems caps like voltage across them. We have seen people use battery to bias caps when there's no voltage across them, such as in a crossover.
Try adding a cap at the output of your zero output offset amps, the distortion sound wise is unacceptable. Polypropylene? I have many, good quality MKP but I avoid using them even for high pass filter for my mid and tweeter in a 3-way speaker.
I also cannot prove or say that series caps sound better, but it happens many times that series caps seems to sound better.
88, I'd be looking at the speakers first- poking a mike around for off-axis response measurements. Likewise, a good impedance measurement could spot unintended resonances in the drivers. A lot of cartridges for phono have a broad upper midrange suckout, so if you voice the speakers to accommodate that, they'll sound too forward on CD or other sources with flat frequency response.
BTW, they are quite beautiful!
BTW, they are quite beautiful!
Speakers are almost always the weakest link. When one link is "off", people will usually adjust the other links to make up for the weakness. This solution will work only for certain kind of situations. On some other situations it won't work and that is where the dissatisfaction comes from.
Worse, this approach of troubleshooting only moves problems from one place to another, from places to places, and removes the chance from ever being "there".
So you want a lush midrange and holographic soundstage. Long time ago I was so amazed with tube based cd player that makes the vocal floating 2 meters above the floor. Now I will laugh for such soundstage. The real thing is actually sound better than too much of anything.
This is how it work: if proper response should be X dB, and X+3 dB may give "better than real" sound for instrument A, but you have to accept that it will sound terrible with instrument B.
This is just an input for you so in the future you will understand the situation if you are looking for the "holly grail". Indeed, speaker is important, but if you don't know about it, you should not add any notch to your speaker. You really like soundstage, many do, that's why series crossovers have its charm, so does second order distortions, which is a distortion.
OK, so you are the thread starter and you now tell playing CD's is definitely where the problem is. So you rule out any other part in the chain and you seem sure of that. To avoid any more confusion please have the title changed as it leads to people talking pages about the virtues of coupling caps, B+ of Aikido, that your speakers are the problem etc. It is more efficient to rule out what is not the problem en then focus on the problem and narrow it down otherwise this thread will be the equivalent of a ladies tea party. After 6 pages now the discerning info that it is sounding bad only with CD's (I already guesstimated that)....Please start with the problem description in the first post, it saves time and energy for all.
"Why are only CD's sounding awful in my system?", "how to mod my Cambridge 640 CDP as it sounds mediocre?", "Why does my Arcam DrDoc sound mediocre?" or the like. There is a mod in this thread who can do that probably change the thread title if you ask it gently. The intention of the thread has nothing to do with Aikido.
Problem description: you have a nice sounding chain and only when you play CD's you are not satisfied. So your CDP and/or DAC are the sources of the troubles. How to solve that ?
a. by adding tubed gear to fight the problem with added gain/EQ/distortion ?
b. by checking the fine working and sounding speakers ?
c. by upping B+ of an added Aikido accompanied by tube rolling and changing coupling caps ?
d. by checking the bad sounding sources as the chain sounds fine with the other sources ?
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! Do we have a language and/or cultural difference here ? Tried to google translate one of the local sayings and the equivalent turns out to be "to pussyfoot around the hot potato"...
Good luck with the holographic sound of the Aikido. Bye !
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It is the start of a beautiful day here and thanks for this fine saying henryve. A good reminder for us with a technical twist where to look when things are not OK.
Niet krabben waar het niet jeukt.... nicht kratzen wo es nicht juckt....
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