Playground for practical listening exercises

[Charlie1]

Thanks Oscar.

I will try to use less well known tracks next time.

Shame the brackets are not beneficial in my room. Very similar results to the Audiotech wall shelf several months ago. Don't think I ever shared those clips.

[lejonklou]

Haven't listened yet, but height above floor is very important. You simply can't make an accurate judgement unless the position is the same. You're changing two vital parameters at the same time.

[Charlie1]

Any idea what's more important, height or type of support? My hunch is that whilst I might be able to improve the brackets, through matching the height with stands, its not as important as the support itself. But like I said, just a hunch. Not sure I have the motivation to lower them.

[ThomasOK]

Thank you all for your contributions. Pleased with the positive feedback to the clips and overall setup.

Now the most interesting part. B is Gaio 2 and A is 2.4.

Have I botched the setup?

No, some have botched the listening.

I had trouble deciding when listening on my phone. But I am a Moscato guy. So I broke out some Red and relistened over my hi-fi. It is important on playback to compensate with an appropriately filled bottle and glass of wine. It took several listenings to get right. I usually don't shop for fruit, but that helped as well. Here in Detroit, we have a definition of fruit; stuff bought on a Saturday and thrown out by Friday.

I am excited to listen to a new Slipsik in my own system. With a real manly drink called beer.

Ron The Mon

Yes, I have botched the listening, it happens to me too. Listening to three clips at a time probably didn't help me. Went back and listened just to the Peter Gabriel and really used tune method and preferred A2 over B2. B2 is quite punchy and might also be a touch louder but A2 does let you hear the instruments playing together better.

[ThomasOK]

While I find the brackets interesting it appears to me to be more in tune on the stands. I also like the nice warm, cozy feeling you get with the fire crackling in the background of Hallelujah. ;-)

[lejonklou]

During the intro of the Peter Gabriel track it became even more clear to me this is a huge improvement. For those unsure, listen to the first 11 seconds of B2 first then A2. That is the exact definition of tune-dem. End of story.

Tune-Dem rules.

This is an interesting one! I initially had a preference for B in Oscar's clips, as the bass (which seemed a lot stronger than on A) seemed to connect with me. But then I also felt that A seemed more pitch accurate on the higher notes.

Following Ron's advice, I listened to B2 and then A2 and then I felt A was clearly better.

There's certainly nothing wrong with these clips, they sound good to me. But they're not quite representative of what I experience when I've demonstrated Gaio 2 versus Gaio 2.4 (which has rather been like a brutal killing of Gaio 2 every time), so there's definitely something interesting going on here.

You definitely have to check the phase of your mains, Oscar! Can you make two clips, one with the system just as it is and one where you unplug the Gaio 2.4 and plug it in again in the opposite (180 degrees) direction?

[lejonklou]

Any idea what's more important, height or type of support? My hunch is that whilst I might be able to improve the brackets, through matching the height with stands, its not as important as the support itself. But like I said, just a hunch. Not sure I have the motivation to lower them.

I say it depends on which is most detrimental. The height above floor on most well designed speakers appear to be just right with the stands they were designed with. I wall mounted Kans, Tukans and Katans and while their distance to the back wall varied with the room, the optimal height was always the exact same height as the original floor stand. Go figure!

[Charlie1]

I also like the nice warm, cozy feeling you get with the fire crackling in the background of Hallelujah. ;-)

I know its bad isn't it. Its actually a 7" single I bought new about 10 years ago, now worth about £35. It has got really bad over the years which I don't really understand cos its kept in a storage box. My LPs don't get crackly like this.

[Charlie1]

I say it depends on which is most detrimental. The height above floor on most well designed speakers appear to be just right with the stands they were designed with. I wall mounted Kans, Tukans and Katans and while their distance to the back wall varied with the room, the optimal height was always the exact same height as the original floor stand. Go figure!

Thanks. Maybe I will come back to the brackets and try them again at lower height but doubt it will be in the near future.

[kallesprätt]

Does someone have clips comparing Slipsik 6.1 to Slipsik 7.1? I would really like to hear that.

[OscarH]

Good morning,

Hereby two clips, recorded minutes apart, with the only difference being the Gaio 2.4 mains plug rotated 180 degrees from ‘normal’.

(Despite teasing Charlie1 I failed miserable in picking a song which I haven’t heard a million times...)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kvuz9bz7hfet ... oK0ua?dl=0


The fireflies are gone and you can begin to see that there’s method in the madness of facing those big windows!

[V.A.MKD]

I also like the nice warm, cozy feeling you get with the fire crackling in the background of Hallelujah. ;-)

This is right right answer what is better system and set-up ;-)

[beck]

I will start describing what I hear OscarH regarding your latest (turning the plug) clips:

The first clip makes my ears relax like when listening to a crackling fire in the fireplace. When the band sets in with drums and all I like the beat and it feels natural with the voice. When listening carefully you can actually hear the sound stand out in the room a different way than in the second clip.

The second clip to me sounds a bit more like the 2.0 clip from your first set: a bit interesting because it sounds different but also with the beat being a little muddled when the band sets in. A bit hollow sounding too. Not as convincing listening to the tune (a bit unnatural distance between notes).

I prefer the first clip (A).

[OscarH]

Thanks Oscar.

I will try to use less well known tracks next time.

Shame the brackets are not beneficial in my room..

Listened again using a different (in my view better) pair of earphones. I still prefer the stands.

If this is your dedicated listening room I suppose you wouldn’t want to compromise, however you likely have your reasons to want to seek out bracket solutions.

The brackets do, visually, remind me of the kitchen setup in my childhood home with a pair of small wall mounted Castle speakers. Makes me a bit nostalgic.

Further still, on a somewhat related note, my/our main system will always comprise floorstanders as my wife refuses to let stands into the living room and the room is unsuited to wall mounting. So there can be many things to factor in...

[Charlie1]

+1 for A - making more sense to me and I can relax more, as beck described above.

[V.A.MKD]

Good morning,

Hereby two clips, recorded minutes apart, with the only difference being the Gaio 2.4 mains plug rotated 180 degrees from ‘normal’.

(Despite teasing Charlie1 I failed miserable in picking a song which I haven’t heard a million times...)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kvuz9bz7hfet ... oK0ua?dl=0


The fireflies are gone and you can begin to see that there’s method in the madness of facing those big windows!

For me better is B.

Music is more in tune, more quiet and loud, more micro and macro dynamics, more emotions, as most probably musicians want to express in this song ... I catch myself foot-taping ...

A is more flat, like flat line, no up down, no emotions ...

[beck]

A is more flat, like flat line, no up down, no emotions ...

Yes, it does seem that way at first listening but I think we are being fooled by something else. I actually hear it as a more forceful sound in the room with A when listening more than once.

But this is what makes these clips interesting. Let us see what others think about them.....

[Tendaberry]

Does someone have clips comparing Slipsik 6.1 to Slipsik 7.1? I would really like to hear that.

This is a brutal comparison, just go for the 7.1 update!

[tokenbrit]

A is more flat, like flat line, no up down, no emotions ...

Yes, it does seem that way at first listening but I think we are being fooled by something else. I actually hear it as a more forceful sound in the room with A when listening more than once.

But this is what makes these clips interesting. Let us see what others think about them.....

I had to skip forward to about 42s in - comparing from there I think A is better but I'm not entirely convinced... there seems to be 'less sound' in B so it appears clearer; there's more to A but it gets in the way of itself a little.
Overall I prefer A.

[OscarH]

I had to skip forward to about 42s in

Yeah, sorry the intro was I little bit longer than I first realized.

42 seconds is a handy shortcut for others wanting to hear the band come in.

[beck]

I think we are all staring at what makes your clips OscarH a bit tricky: the windows! :-)

[Defender]

thank you for the shortcut I hear the high heads when the band starts playing much more delicate and the rest of the song more emotional with B (so you have to choose just the opposite of what I am saying) ... since I was wrong all the last times its probably A
😃
what brand are those loudspeakers? ... found it in the me and my system section

[tokenbrit]

Glass behind the speakers would tend to reduce the effective bass, wouldn't it? There seems to be some decent bass in the clips, which makes me wonder if it's the integration of the sub... maybe it needs just a tweak to gel completely with the Gaio 2.4 upgrade (correct phase on the Gaio, of course ;)

[Spannko]

Good morning,

Hereby two clips, recorded minutes apart, with the only difference being the Gaio 2.4 mains plug rotated 180 degrees from ‘normal’.

(Despite teasing Charlie1 I failed miserable in picking a song which I haven’t heard a million times...)

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/kvuz9bz7hfet ... oK0ua?dl=0


The fireflies are gone and you can begin to see that there’s method in the madness of facing those big windows!

I think they’re both the same one!

[beck]

Glass behind the speakers would tend to reduce the effective bass, wouldn't it? There seems to be some decent bass in the clips, which makes me wonder if it's the integration of the sub... maybe it needs just a tweak to gel completely with the Gaio 2.4 upgrade (correct phase on the Gaio, of course ;)

Oh yes, a sub in the mix makes it all a bit more complicated. I think you are right tokenbrit.