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I checked this impression with an AIFF file ripped from the same CD, played through the Halide DAC HD—itself noted for being slightly on the timbrally rich side—and confirmed that the computer-audio rig offered a clearer sound on those left-hand notes. The first thing that came to mind was that some notes in the left hand were so timbrally complex that they seemed freighted with an excess of texture: the sound wasn't buzzy or fuzzy, but it skated right up to the border of same, and I found myself wishing for a little more fundamental and a little less overtone. Listening to the Waltz No.3 in a, Op.34 No.2, I was impressed by the Audio Notes' musicality—their ability to convey subtle variations in tempo and intensity and to play lines of notes with their momentum and flow intact. Now that my RotoVibe ticket had been punched, I moved on to solo-piano music, beginning with a favorite collection of Chopin Waltzes, Mazurkas, and other pieces, performed by Witold Malcuzynski (CD, EMI 5 68226 2). Was the Audio Note duo a bit richer in timbre, and more revealing of what little nuance could be gleaned from that standard-issue bloozey vocal? It seemed so—but the distinction didn't seem to be of much consequence. Those years had not been kind to the music—Trower was and is a fine guitarist, but the humorlessness of the lyrics, and of the late James Dewar's lead vocal, were a drag on my efforts to rekindle any long-dormant enthusiasm—and the sound of this recording was, through both CD players, bassless and small. My appetite for spacey electric guitar unsated, I followed up with the title track of Robin Trower's Bridge of Sighs (CD, Chrysalis/Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab UDCD 684), which I hadn't heard in years. I came back to this track for a later comparison, switching up the playing order to make certain the above conclusions hadn't been simply a matter of listener fatigue the Audio Notes endured as the more involving gear. Even the Audio Notes' spatial performance was superior—or, at least, more to my taste: Within that invitingly large soundfield, Dan Auerbach's lead vocal was solidly anchored at center stage, but set back just a bit from everything else—the latter distinction not quite as evident through the SCD-777.īut there was even more to the distinction: When played through the Audio Note CDT One/II and DAC 2.1x Signature, "Weight of Love" was simply more compelling, exerting a tighter grip on my attention. In a similar vein, the combination of CDT One/II and DAC 2.1x Signature produced greater-than-average levels of what Herb Reichert calls "flesh and blood." With "Weight of Love," from the Black Keys' Turn Blue (CD, Nonesuch 7559-795554), the sound of the Audio Notes was distinguished by much greater heft and substance, and a larger sense of scale, than that of my Sony player: The British two-boxer sounded, quite simply, meatier: The stiffly played acoustic guitar that kicks off this number's long, "Down by the River"–like introduction was more timbrally rich and real through the Audio Notes, and the drums—what a great sound Patrick Carney gets!—didn't have the same huge, reverberant, verge-of-chaos sound when I played this CD in the Sony. And yet, after I did most of my listening for this review, I went back and looked at what I'd written about the Audio Note CD-4.1x and noted the following: "When I listened to CDs on the Audio Note player, recorded voices and instruments came closer than usual to loading my room in the manner of live voices and instruments." At the time, the effect was probably compounded by my having used the Audio Note player with Audio Note speakers, the latter being known to me for that very quality. But a CD player? The connection isn't quite as obvious. It's easy to imagine how that admittedly ephemeral characteristic might be affected by the ways two loudspeakers interact with the listening room, or even with how an amplifier interacts with those speakers.