Having got my system nicely optimised for 5.3, and after living with 5.4 for a month or so, I noticed that the additional clarity and resolution could, on occasion, verge on the too ‘hot’.
The first and very obvious culprit was the Van Damme XKE. Reintroducing my trusty Mogami revealed more body and texture, but sibilance was occasionally creeping through.
Next was to remove the white Cisco 2960 and replace with my original blue/green 8TCL 2960. I thought the white should be better as a newer model, but to my ears it introduces a slightly mechanical quality which, coupled with v5.4, tipped the sound towards ‘too hifi’ at the expense of the music.
The last tweak was to replace the last cable between 2960 and streamer with a C-Stream rather than Bluejeans 6a
Interestingly, this set-up is how I’d configured my OC 500/300 system so everything was to hand. It has restored the system to my sonic preference - lively but natural.
When I first introduced a Cisco 2960 as my second switch I bought the original white multi-port version but never really got on with it. Then, a friend of mine, recommended the blue/green 8 port version. I thought this was much more natural and convincing but a bit on the dark side. I initially had BJC as the link cable to the second switch but also tried Chord C-stream. The C-stream definitely had a bit more life and energy than the BJC, which countered the darkness of the 2960 quite nicely. Then someone mentioned that they’d got really good results with Neet 1008 on a secondary switch. Trouble is I’d sold my original 1008 as it never worked as a final link from switch to streamer despite some saying that it beat Shunyata’s Sigma cable. It’s good but I promise you it doesn’t beat Sigma. Inserting a now re-purchased Neet 1008 in place of the Chord C-stream was another big jump dynamics, openness and clarity. The combination of BJC/2960/1008/EE8/Sigma/ND555 I find is simply awesome and the most natural combination I’ve heard to date with 3.13
Thanks for the tip GH. I’ve temporarily removed my EE8 switch and the sound is interesting. Maybe not quite as ‘etched’ as with the EE8 but there’s definitely something slightly more natural about the overall sound (less processed perhaps?). Possibly more balanced?
I have done this exercise before with previous FW iterations but it’s never sounded this good. I think 3:13 is impacting or maybe playing to the strengths of the Cisco rather than the EE8? I’m going to leave it a few days to see how things develop and then change back to see if I still agree.
These little tips, are for me, what this forum is all about.
Am trying this now. The reason I hadn’t before is that (like my old 555) I thought I needed aerials which I must have left in the box…in the attic. But not so!
Yes, the Uniti and New Classic boxes have internal antennae built into the heatsinks which are intended to give better performance than the external antennae on older products.
