宁静，圆润， 模拟， 高密度 - SHUNYATA GUARDIAN电源处理器
:)[ 本帖最后由 bruceshen 于 2008-12-29 15:44 编辑 ] 老规矩， 先转两篇枪文， 6moon和positive feedback的。 6moon
Two snakes and a mongoose
Listening to my system connected to the Diamondbacks and Guardian reminded me of the excitement of my first high-end purchase. My recordings sounded better than I had ever heard them sound before. The music sounded controlled and full, with surprisingly realistic detail.
I wanted to start with a simple, mellow recording so I played the first CD of the Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship Starship Hits collection . This chronological box traces the Airplane from the psychedelic '60s to the tripped out '70s to the sellout '80s. I started with "Comin' Back To Me," a hippie-era song for voice, guitar, and flute. The recording has a bit of microphone hiss, but the guitars and flute sound very good considering this is almost a 40- year old recording. The first thing I noticed? The guitar had a greater physical presence in my listening room. I could hear more of the shape of the instrument as well as the notes being played. This wasn't just a factor of the quieter background. The midrange sounded more controlled. In particular, Marty Balin's voice sounded fuller than before, in spite of all the studio reverb in the vocal mix.
The voice was a more palpable presence in the room and sounded much more exciting. By removing distortions, the Diamondbacks/Guardian allowed my equipment to stop multi-tasking, to get back at the original job description of representing the music. It was as if my slightly dry system had just received a splash of spring water. This added moisture wasn't at the expense of tonal accuracy, however. The music sounded very natural. With the stock cables, my system could sound so dry that you would think its lips were chapped. The Diamondbacks/Guardian provided some needed lip balm.
All of this added presence and control did not cover up flaws in the recording. Still, my system never sounded 'finicky' with the Diamondbacks/Guardian. Systems that are too unforgiving of B-quality recordings are a pain in the ass. Who wants to be constantly reminded that most recordings made before 24-bit remastering were grossly inferior, even though many of those older performances still have a lot of mileage left? Living with a finicky system is like driving with a passenger who has to read every single billboard and street sign out loud. How can you enjoy the ride with so many over-emphasized details? With the Shunyata power distribution system, I was still aware of "flawed" recordings, but so much more of the music rather than just details was allowed to come through that it didn't present a problem. It was a sunny day with the top down.
Reverse osmosis audio filter
What do the passive Diamondbacks/Guardian keep out of my rig? Impurities! According to the movie Dr. Strangelove, all of those impurities that would "sap and impurify all our precious bodily fluids!" With this setup, the "drinking water" flowing from the electrical outlet tasted more like spring water than the usual heavily chlorinated and fluoridated city swill. To be more specific, it filtered out all of the new 'wireless' electronics that pump carcinogenic frequencies into the air (the Shunyata website points at the 900MHz to 5GHz band). Another movie, Things to Come, has a quote that sums it up for me, "Radios are everywhere. This modern world is full of voices. Stop this progress!"
Next I tried something more complex. "Caroline" from the same Hits collection, is a syrupy '70s love concoction with a surprising amount of subtlety for a multi-tracked recording of voices, guitars, drums, bass, and piano. The electric guitar had more muscle. The multi-tracked vocals and lead guitars were more pronounced and better defined, without sounding etched or fatiguing. Finally, my 'refined' system was starting to lighten up a little and groove. This really benefited the playback of drums. Cymbals sounded clear instead of suffering the less-defined sound I used to hear. 'Tish' instead of 'Kish'. The toms also hit more crisply, the kick drum was tight and localized more firmly in the soundstage.
Trying a slightly more recent recording, I cued up "Blue Train" from the Jimmy Page/Robert Plant CD, Walking into Clarksdale . Yes, people still listen to Blues rock! This song in particular has a decent dramatic sweep, from soft to loud. Jimmy Page gets to open up on guitars, the kids on bass and drums offer fine support, and Robert Plant is in his element. While Plant isn't singing quite as high as in his heyday, he has significantly greater control. Chalk one up for wisdom. And that's just what I could hear with the Diamondbacks/Guardian. Less impurities/noise = more of what the music actually sounds like. You get to hear more of what your system is capable of reproducing. My system has always been great at reproducing vocals, but now I could hear more of the singer's heart in the song, even if the song did remain the same.
S-s-siren s-song
"Song to the Siren" from Robert Plant's solo CD, Dreamland , is a very gorgeous and intense song from an equally intense album (although I won't listen to his cover of "Hey Joe" because it irritates me and scares my daughter). It's a loud mix with some microphone and tape hiss that gives a slight razor edge to the vocals, and makes everything else sound a little thin and bright.
Assuming this was a result of the recording quality, I played one of my favorite CDs of Leonard Slatkin conducting the Orchestre National de France in the music of Dukas . This is a 20-bit recording that can sound a little dry, not inappropriate for French classical music. "La Peri" opens with a brilliant fanfare for horns which proved that the Diamondbacks/Guardian were not to blame - no brightness or overetching of detail. So the razor-edged vocals on the previous CD were just part of the mix. The horns on the Dukas CD had plenty of bite, yet also a new fullness to the tones they didn't produce before. Without the Diamondbacks/Guardian, the horns just did not sound as robust and true. This CD also includes the "Symphony in C", which is fun music that will have you jumping around like Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. if you're not careful!!
After the 20-bit recording, my inner audiophile judge started screaming for something even more "Hi-Fi," so I found a recording we could both enjoy. Stravinsky's Rite of Spring was the first classical CD I ever purchased. The recent recording by Valery Gergiev with the Kirov Orchestra is a very growly, snarly affair with wonderful rhythmic thrust, although not quite as danceable as Dutoit's version with the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. This recording of the Rite was made with Jaap de Jong's vacuum tube equipment (that's what it says in the liner notes) which makes everything sound well-rounded and sparkly on top. The Diamondbacks/ Guardian allowed Stravinsky's orchestrations to sound gorgeous and terrifying at once, the percussion defined and refined without sounding confined. I never knew my system could handle percussion this well. I think the Who said it best: "Meaty, Beaty, Big and Bouncy!"
Two snakes, no mongoose
Next I tried the Diamondbacks plugged directly into the wall. I relegated the Guardian to PC/lightbulb duty in the meantime. Would the risk of listening without the Guardian prove to be more exciting and provide a more natural feel? Sounds like an excuse not to wear a condom.
With the Guardian removed, I listened to the two Jefferson Starship/Airplane/Whatever tracks again. My audiophile ego immediately became pensive and then flew into a fiery rage! Without the Guardian in the mix, the different instruments and voices weren't as clearly defined. The bass wasn't shaped as nicely and sounded flatter. Sibilants were slightly overdone, everything sounded a little brighter and less controlled. While the Diamondbacks alone offered a slightly bigger soundstage over the added Guardian, the compromise was the sound of "impurities" flying out of my speakers. While these differences were noticeable, they were also subtle. There may be systems that could benefit from the rawer, Guardian-less approach. Judging from what I heard, the compromise is less control over the music, less of that palpable presence.
The Diamondbacks alone, and compared to my stock cables, offered more pronounced clarity and added detail, with a larger soundstage and slightly better imaging. When I played the CD of Andrew Manze and Richard Egarr performing the violin sonatas of Pandolfi , I could hear the bow against the strings of the violin as well as the sustain and decay of each harpsichord note. I wasn't just hearing sounds floating in space, but the actual instruments making music. I've had the pleasure of hearing Andrew Manze and Richard Egarr perform live and can attest to the excitement of hearing these spatial cues again. Before the Diamondbacks, I didn't know my system could transform this recording to sound so realistic.
With the Diamondbacks (no Guardian), I listened to Joanne Shenandoah singing "Eagle Cries" from her eponymous CD . Sibilants sounded a tad overdone. Granted, Shenandoah does over-enunciate her "s-" here and there (could this be a fault of the HDCD encoding, since my CD player can't decode it?), but there were other cues that the sound was becoming slightly hyped. The woodblocks on the drums sounded a little thin, like tinker toys instead of a good solid clop! The bass was warm and inviting, but the whole picture of bass and treble wasn't quite as seamless and coherent. Some of the sharper high frequency sounds remained less clearly defined. However, the decays on voice, bass guitar and drums did trail off very nicely. For systems a little too polite and refined and in need of a little more encouragement to let go of the notes, the Diamondbacks might be just the ticket to add some excitement.
Returning to the sound of my stock power cables, my system had less bass, a murkier midrange, muted highs, a smaller soundstage, and generally behaved like a wallflower. The Diamondbacks gave my system a gentle nudge out onto the dance floor. Reconnecting the Guardian to the Diamondbacks made this excitement more palpable yet, better balanced. The sibilants weren't overemphasized, the midrange sounded more natural. One could hear the shape of the instruments, with the technical aspects fading in importance to the music being played . . . right there . . . in my listening room . . . lucky bastard!
Fiddling around
Playing Her Infinite Variety: Celtic Women in Music and Song clarified the trailing note experience presented by just the Diamondbacks. Liz Carroll is a fantastic traditional fiddler from Chicago who has released two albums as one third of a trio called Trian. "The air tune/the cliff dwellers/cutting the waves" has a slow build to a wild reel for fiddle, guitar, and accordion. While the sound of decaying notes on the guitars sounded more realistic, the decaying notes of the accordion didn't trail properly and sounded recessed. When I resumed the same track with the Guardian in place, the accordion didn't blend into the sounds of fiddle and guitar; it became as vital and important to the song as the other two instruments.
S-s-summing up
So here's my recommendation. If you're interested in the Shunyata Research power cables and can swing the extra cost of the Guardian, you've gotta try it in your system. The Diamondbacks and Guardian together retail for $750, less than half the price of the forthcoming Hydra. The Diamondback/Guardian combination really made my amplifier and CD player come on strong to offer better definition, improved rhythmic control, weightier bass. The music and voices shone through more realistically, and the excitement factor went up a notch.
If you still need some arm twisting to try the Diamondbacks/Guardian in your system, here's the clincher: Even though she raised an eyebrow at these additional toys, my wife immediately noticed the enhancements they made to the music. She was won over by the more exciting sound. To be more concise: Girls dig it! Not only do you get to enjoy the greater realism in the details, but you can invite someone to share the excitement with you!
Is this caused by the buss array, allowing CDP and amp to sip from the same power, like one Daiquiri with two straws? Did the MOV manage to move out of the way enough to let more musical presence pass through? Perhaps the power conditioner dispensed mineral water instead of distilled? No? Then I'll bet it's that green LED!
How much does the newbie have to spend to improve over stock cords? It was no contest comparing the Diamondbacks to my generic cables and that mystery cable. As soon as I can make the arrangements, the stock cables must go. While I have no idea what a Halcro amp sounds like (maybe I need to get out more often?), I can understand why the Halcro manufacturer would include Shunyata cables with their amps. The Diamondbacks allow your existing components to deliver more performance. For a relatively paltry $175 per 6' cable, the improvements will make you wonder why you didn't upgrade your stock cords sooner.
By the way, I did try the Guardian with generic Beldens. While it offered an improvement, the combination of Diamondbacks with the Guardian was too big a forward step to pass up! Besides, listening to the Guardian with stock cables is like going to work on a weekend; surely you can think of something better to do. Plus, the Guardian offers four additional outlets and can be tucked neatly behind your equipment, thus limiting the number of exposed cables (and comments from your lady friends).
We did have one electrical storm during my time with the Guardian. No strikes to the power lines, but it was the first time I didn't unplug my audio components from the wall. Personally, I consider this to be a major first step. The Guardian not only sounded better but expanded my psychological comfort zone as well. How much is that alone worth to you?
[ 本帖最后由 bruceshen 于 2008-12-29 15:43 编辑 ] CN，牛哥，啥时候你听感统一到一篇帖子。:funk: :funk: Positive Feedback
Guardian AC power distributor
as reviewed by Graham Abbott
If you have cables the size of a baby's forearm sluicing the juice to your components, you probably take the quality of incoming AC pretty seriously. In fact, I'd be surprised if an audiophile so equipped (or even those with 'normal' sized high quality cables) wasn't plugging into some kind of good quality power product. The market has really blossomed as we audiophiles are blessed with nothing if not a wide selection of power conditioners, regenerators, and stabilizers, as well as many passive filtering multi-duplex models (even the much-maligned generic 'power bar' has decidedly upmarket family members now). I've heard many types and all of them changed the sound of each system they were ahead of, sometimes a little and sometimes a lot. Usually the changes were for the good, but occasionally the music seemed to round off and err on the side of an all-pervasive smoothness - meaning a resultant lack of dynamics and sense of excitement. This however was the exception rather than the rule and today I am a dedicated user and full of enough of hubris to suggest that everyone should have one.
My current is the e-TP80 from Furutech (Robert H. Levi reviewed it in Issue 23) and at $475 it's a pretty good value, especially when you factor in the very nice power cable Furutech tosses in for the price. The unit is beautifully finished and sports eight high quality outlets (two for preamps, two for power amps, and four filtered outlets strictly for digital gear) and a coating of EMI absorbing outer space goo called GC-303, which is applied to the bottom plate of the unit to absorb all the internally generated nasties. Furutech employs the 'Alpha Process', which besides sounding vaguely L. Ron Hubbardish, treats all metal parts to a cryogenic freezing before a patented round of 'Ring Demagnetization' (stop snickering). Furutech claims both of these improve electrical conductivity and subsequent power and signal transfer. To the right of the outlets are two LEDs: a green one for power and red one indicating proper polarity, along with a pushbutton for verification—of which I've pushed from time to time to no visible or audible effect. This is a mystery perpetrated by a manual that ignores it completely.
Shunyata Research has been winning glowing reviews with their Hydra line of products, and judging by the press on their website, some pretty substantial clients. The Guardian line, the subject of this review, is Shunyata's attempt to bring Hydra- like performance to a new lower price point. Outlets are all 'Shunyata spec' Hubbels, internal wiring is all 'massive gauge CDA101 copper' with both a 'Venom Filter' network and 'Trident Defence System' borrowed from the more expensive Hydra line (I direct your attention to the website for a more detailed explanation of the two technologies). The unit looks more 'pro gear' than stylish and is constructed using heavy gauge metal that, according to Shunyata, will 'withstand the weight of an SUV'. This sounds cool, but is not altogether necessary. I really liked that the outlets are mounted facing up, making for easy and solid connections. Finally, the Guardian requires a twenty-amp cable connection from the wall and, just like the proverbial batteries (and unlike the Furutech), it's not included.
Should any skeptics out there ever cry bullshit over the ability to hear how some components have a certain sound or change the sound of a system in a certain way, then I will immediately challenge them to listen to these two items. The e-TP80 is warm and cozy and instruments are full of body and tone. Bass is less about the transient snap of the string and more about the luxuriant woody reverberation of the body. Brass has lots of golden glow, though not a lot of air. Cymbals are all about shimmer and decay trails that last and last. The Furutech is a lushness filter, adding a beautiful aura of richness to everything that passes through.
The Shunyata Guardian is not lush. When I first plugged it in I thought it made music sound threadbare and slightly '80s digital,' but it didn't take long for it to convince me otherwise. The Guardian makes the noise floor melt away and what sounds like thinness is actually a razor sharp outline of instruments with tons of dynamic pop and top-end extension. The transparency of the Shunyata's is really amazing; there just isn't any background haze at all. I listened to John Mclaughlin's Extrapolation (Polydor Super 2310 018), and it never sounded clearer and cleaner; the steel strings on Mclaughlin's guitar sounded just right with great transient attack and a tight ringing tone. The Guardian was able to magnify the detail and structure of what was never the warmest of analogue recordings without causing it to sound bright or hard.
Because of the Shunyata's 'infinite void-black' background - the almost preternatural silence between the notes—small details come pouring through to the listener. Whether it was fingers sliding on guitar strings or Glenn Gould humming his way through the Goldberg Variations, it all combined to create the feeling of being closer to the event and an all around more immediate and vital sound. A sound that more readily mapped the sonic signature of each recording, and in doing so, made the differences between recordings more readily apparent. A great instance of this differentiation can be found in how the Guardian s allowed the acoustic signature of a particular recording venue to sound through, with all the ambient clues available in realizing the space around the performers. For example Kahil El'Zabar's Ritual Trio CD Live at the River East Art Center (Delmark DE-566) is a very (a) live recording with the crowd literally buzzing around me. The performers are described in individual space and the instruments and all their overtones sing through the mix. The bass in the opening track fairly thunders, and the plucked and bowed strings are beautifully presented and distinct with wonderful transients and micro-tonal detail. On the same recording, the Furutech, with its much warmer sound and more greyish backdrop, tends to emphasize the instruments' body at the expense of detail. The crowd is reduced to a polite background murmur. On recording after recording, the Furutech tended to impose its warm sonic signature on recordings, making them sound similar—a pleasant rather than strictly accurate sound.
Both conditioners allowed images a wide and deep soundstage to play in (the Furutech's stage seemed a little deeper in comparison), yet the Shunyata's clarity described images in greater detail no matter where they appeared. As I said earlier, the Shunyata cuts image outlines with a razor and no matter how complicated the music becomes, they stay separated in space. Orchestral recordings really highlight the Shunyata's strength here in how when the entire brass section comes online the individual instruments stay clear of one another with their timbres distinct. Each individual image/instrument and the sound/timbre are more of a piece, more tightly wound together and coherent, and this imbues instruments with a very distinct physical and more 'real' presence. The Furutech has a clear midrange, but tends to muddle lower frequencies together. The softer top tended to take the bite out of violins and brass and make them sound similar.
Non-audiophiles will freak out when I say this, but just like any other component, a power product has to be listened to and evaluated within the context of an entire system. The Guardian really allowed my components to take on distinct personalities because of the crystalline clarity and deep black backgrounds that locked into place once it was plugged in. The gains in top-end extension, and across the board detail retrieval, were nothing short of spectacular. Overall the Guardian made my music seem much more real, with a tangible sense of immediacy or 'you are thereness'. Does this make the Furutech bad? The short answer is no. The Furutech is a good product and is perhaps at home in a more tonally thin system where it's extra timbral girth would be welcome. In my tube-based system, the e-TP80 is just too much of a good thing. I've used the Furutech to power my Sony flatscreen, and it did great things to the colour (deepened) and clarity of the picture; maybe its perfect spot is in a home theatre setup, powering a multi-channel solid-state rig that could use a little lushness.
Shunyata has indeed placed a lot of value in the SUV defying box of the Guardian. It's an ear-opener of the first order and a steal at the price, just make sure that what you plug into it can stand the scrutiny of the crystal clear musical world it makes a reality. Graham Abbott
Guardian
Retail: $449, $595, and $749 depending on the number of outlets (2, 4, and 6). 只转E文不翻译,打PP. :P 这玩意哪里有二手？大概多少银子？ 原帖由 viper16 于 2008-12-29 15:51 发表 http://bbs.headphoneclub.com/images/common/back.gif
这玩意哪里有二手？大概多少银子？
用在dac1和音源上是绝配，guardian 2二手低于2K人民币， 我刚问玩Ayre的anfield收的, 基本全新，还有保卡。
爽吧:lol
[ 本帖最后由 bruceshen 于 2008-12-29 15:54 编辑 ] 全新3000-4000左右 布版最近“小”动作很多啊:P 现在dac1用上它放引进版的如macy gray, riahna等R&B居然好听极了， 我老婆特别说今天要好好听听:lol 原帖由 pieryu 于 2008-12-29 15:57 发表 http://bbs.headphoneclub.com/images/common/back.gif
布版最近“小”动作很多啊:P
好东西可遇不可求， 所以我下手很快:lol 这个东西从hi-fi素质上来说不及ar1p， 但用对地方， 那绝对是非常好的。比如用于隔离数码部分。 再多些时间对比下，看你最近搞这些小玩意心痒了。。。你这个有没有试过接到AR1P后面用？还有这两个家伙和P100搭配用效果是正面的还是会有副作用？辛苦B版再研究研究吧，有结论了XD们一起搞，可以省点学费了;P 请问哪里能搞到？
页:
[1]
2
