Okay, so here comes the next part of the review after a lot of procrastination! Having done the core listening to assess the setup as it would exist in my living room, I moved towards alternates. Though the system I was checking sounded quite alright to me, I decided to check more components, to see how much improvement I could get by how much of investment.
Round 4: Sonic Frontier SFS-80 vs Red Rose Music Model 2
The first change we made was to replace the Sonic Frontier SFS-80 with Red Rose Music Model 2. Now the Red Rose is a much better known component than the Sonic Frontier, and costs as such too (
more than three times the Sonic Frontier). Now the chain was:
HP Elitebook > Nuforce Icon HDP > Red Rose Music Model 2 > Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne. Another change that was made (
I dont know what difference it might have made, but I just like to mention it here), the cable between the amp and the speaker was changed from Canare to Some 6N OFC solid core cable. Canare is no slouch by itself, but I have a feeling the additional purity of copper in this cable, plus this cable being solid core may be a factor. Also, the sheathing in the two cables was of different type. Whatever that may be responsible for.
As usual, I started with Diana Krall and moved down the tracks in the same sequence. The difference if perception was not immediately perceivable. Same silky smooth presentation, same wide expansive sound-stage, similarly extended highs. The difference however became immediately apparent the moment I pushed up the volume. If you remember, during second round I had experienced that the speakers were unable to go loud without losing composure and we thought it was the speakers. Hell no, it was the amp!
Apparently, the Sonic Frontier (an 80wpc amp) was unable to supply enough current to the speakers as it needed at those volume levels. On the other hand, the Red Rose Music just controlled the speakers effortlessly, and the speakers performed beautifully. Both my test tracks for testing low-end extensions (Touch and Go, and Hotel California) came out with flying colors. Next I played Thriller by Michael Jackson (
Okay, selection of this track warrants a separate paragraph of its own. Later!). This track is my test-by-fire for sound-stage test. And oh my, Jesus! Did the setup blow my mind!! For the first time in my life I heard that door opening with such remarkable realism, as if I was really there, it seemed to be just 3-4 feet away from me. For the first time in my life I heard Michael walking across the 40-feetish wide stage with his footsteps placed so accurately on the stage. I was amused, astounded, spellbound, numb all at the same time. I was listening to less than INR 1M of components and I just couldnt believe such high quality music reproduction was possible to achieve under that amount.
With this change of amp, the system had just become a lot more involving. Now the sound was very-very close to being present live at the recording venue.
[Coming up next, the same setup with the Benchmark DAC 
]
I feel sorry for having wasted 4 posts in the beginning. I thought I would just go on writing so reserved the space. Too bad, it didnt work that way, and now I cant edit those posts.
