I finaly got a good buffer from china from a different seller this time, the faulty one I had I sold on ebay and it turn out the person who bought it, took it apart and it was a dry solder joint on the earth, so thats what was causing the feedback, he was very happy with it after that, I looked for something that wasn’t soldered but I couldn’t see anything so he did well there, anyway I had a chance to have a play around with my new yaqin buffer today, I have to be honest I am not as impressed as I initially was after playing with it for a while.
Initially I set it up in my lounge from my mp3 jukebox source to my acoustic energy ergo system (best quality highest bit rate, I still have all the CDs but ive given in to the admittedly better sound quality from CDs for the super convenience, looks and ease of searching etc), I initially thought it was great, and I was amazed by the difference it made by switching it on and off. I was so impress, I couldn’t wait to connect it up to my other mp3 jukebox source and nad c350 amp feeding my proacs tabelette ref 8 signatures.
I did connect it to my proac system and I did think it changed the sound but I wasn’t sure if it was an improvement or not so I kept switching back and fore using various tracks, but this time not switching it off but connecting a cable directly to the amp and taken the yaqin out of the equation. I would say the buffer does smooth things out a little and adds a little warmth but It may also lose a bit of the detail while its doing this, its really hard to tell which is ultimately better, I was expecting a lot more warmth in the midrange and a lot more of a dimensional sound, as I remember I had with a valve amp I had once. I found that the volume boast was not as big as I initially thought either, when doing the switch on/off of the yaqin, because when its compared to removing it, it does not have as much gain as you would think.
I even went back to the ergo system to try that with the cable swapping instead of the on/off of the buffer. This time the results were similar to the other system, I was not so impressed, it did change the sound, and perhaps the vocals were a little more natural, but was it really better and did it also lose a bit of the detail in the rest of the music by connecting it, Im still not sure. I might live with the buffer for a while to see if it improves with a bit of burn-in or if it grows on me, it is a change in sound but its definitely not night and day in my opinion and I’m still not 100% convinced. To be honest I would say it made the 'bigger improvement'? when used in the ergo system, but this may be down to the fact that the ergo speakers are a bit rougher sounding than the refined proacs, but again it did take some of the finer detail away even in this system.
I do also realise that the valves it come with are probably one of the cheapest valves available for mass production etc, and others have menioned changing the valves for better ones, do you think this would make a more significant difference. If anyone thinks it would be a big improvement, what valve would you recommend and where could I get them from.
Initially I set it up in my lounge from my mp3 jukebox source to my acoustic energy ergo system (best quality highest bit rate, I still have all the CDs but ive given in to the admittedly better sound quality from CDs for the super convenience, looks and ease of searching etc), I initially thought it was great, and I was amazed by the difference it made by switching it on and off. I was so impress, I couldn’t wait to connect it up to my other mp3 jukebox source and nad c350 amp feeding my proacs tabelette ref 8 signatures.
I did connect it to my proac system and I did think it changed the sound but I wasn’t sure if it was an improvement or not so I kept switching back and fore using various tracks, but this time not switching it off but connecting a cable directly to the amp and taken the yaqin out of the equation. I would say the buffer does smooth things out a little and adds a little warmth but It may also lose a bit of the detail while its doing this, its really hard to tell which is ultimately better, I was expecting a lot more warmth in the midrange and a lot more of a dimensional sound, as I remember I had with a valve amp I had once. I found that the volume boast was not as big as I initially thought either, when doing the switch on/off of the yaqin, because when its compared to removing it, it does not have as much gain as you would think.
I even went back to the ergo system to try that with the cable swapping instead of the on/off of the buffer. This time the results were similar to the other system, I was not so impressed, it did change the sound, and perhaps the vocals were a little more natural, but was it really better and did it also lose a bit of the detail in the rest of the music by connecting it, Im still not sure. I might live with the buffer for a while to see if it improves with a bit of burn-in or if it grows on me, it is a change in sound but its definitely not night and day in my opinion and I’m still not 100% convinced. To be honest I would say it made the 'bigger improvement'? when used in the ergo system, but this may be down to the fact that the ergo speakers are a bit rougher sounding than the refined proacs, but again it did take some of the finer detail away even in this system.
I do also realise that the valves it come with are probably one of the cheapest valves available for mass production etc, and others have menioned changing the valves for better ones, do you think this would make a more significant difference. If anyone thinks it would be a big improvement, what valve would you recommend and where could I get them from.
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