Danhifi
Established Member
Years ago I bought a Monitor Audio A100 with a pair of Wharfedale 9.1’s. I enjoyed the system, however I wanted more and invested in a Rotel A14 and CD 14 and a pair of B&W CM1 S2’s. I also enjoyed this system and began buying many expensive preferred mastered cd’s. My “friend” who had a much more expensive system suggested I could use more bass, so I traded up to the CM8 S2’s. I certainly got more bass, but it felt overwhelming at times in my apartment. I have young ones and eventually moved the CM8 S2’s to a safe place and moved my amp, CD player and Wharfedales to the top of a IKEA unit out of reach of the kids. In addition I subscribed to Apple Music and I have my iPad connected via the camera kit to the USB input on my amp. I am listening to more music then I ever have. I did some very scaled down A/B comparison of my mastered cd’s to Apple Music’s version and found in all cases the Apple Music version was “better”.
Tonight I thought I would bring out the B&W’s and compare them to the Wharfedales and see how they would sound with Apple Music. My first assumption was that they of course would have more lower frequency response (they did). My second assumption was that they would absolutely crush the Wharfedale’s in overall sound quality (they didn’t). In fact in some cases I preferred the 9.1’s. There was only one case where the B&W’s sounded “better” was with Dexter Gordon’s “I Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry”, from his album GO. The saxophone was much fuller sounding. However albums like Sade’s “Lovers Deluxe”, The Benny Green Trio’s “Green”, Denis Solee “Sinatra on Sax” and an amazing new album from Bill Frisell “Valentine” and many other albums did not sound “better”,yes sometimes fuller and of course more obvious lower frequencies, but over all I did not find myself thinking that the B&W’s were “better” in terms of sound quality, which I guess include transparency, depth, detail and all those other audiophile terms.
What I have found with the Apple Music Wharfedale (I forgot to mention that they were stored under my kids bed for sometime and outside under a bench wrapped in plastic garbage bags in severe heat and they survived) combination is that I am really a music lover and not a component lover or chaser of supposedly superior mastered albums “cough SH”. For those who know mastering will know those initials.
Can I really think that a pair of 99 British Pound speakers are comparable to a pair of 2000 British Pound floor speakers? In my ears there was not much difference!
Just my thoughts and opinions. That being said I still want a “better” pair of bookshelves speakers as they are easier to move around and who knows may sound better then my current offerings. My arms and legs are sore from lugging the CM8’s around!
Dan
Tonight I thought I would bring out the B&W’s and compare them to the Wharfedales and see how they would sound with Apple Music. My first assumption was that they of course would have more lower frequency response (they did). My second assumption was that they would absolutely crush the Wharfedale’s in overall sound quality (they didn’t). In fact in some cases I preferred the 9.1’s. There was only one case where the B&W’s sounded “better” was with Dexter Gordon’s “I Guess I’ll Hang My Tears Out To Dry”, from his album GO. The saxophone was much fuller sounding. However albums like Sade’s “Lovers Deluxe”, The Benny Green Trio’s “Green”, Denis Solee “Sinatra on Sax” and an amazing new album from Bill Frisell “Valentine” and many other albums did not sound “better”,yes sometimes fuller and of course more obvious lower frequencies, but over all I did not find myself thinking that the B&W’s were “better” in terms of sound quality, which I guess include transparency, depth, detail and all those other audiophile terms.
What I have found with the Apple Music Wharfedale (I forgot to mention that they were stored under my kids bed for sometime and outside under a bench wrapped in plastic garbage bags in severe heat and they survived) combination is that I am really a music lover and not a component lover or chaser of supposedly superior mastered albums “cough SH”. For those who know mastering will know those initials.
Can I really think that a pair of 99 British Pound speakers are comparable to a pair of 2000 British Pound floor speakers? In my ears there was not much difference!
Just my thoughts and opinions. That being said I still want a “better” pair of bookshelves speakers as they are easier to move around and who knows may sound better then my current offerings. My arms and legs are sore from lugging the CM8’s around!
Dan