Putting aside the cable debate (not wanted by me) Could the problem be a slight impedance mismatch or me spending a couple of years listening to a sound that exaggerated HF? If its the latter I have to say I enjoyed it!
Jerry
Hifi: IPL transmission line floorstanding speakers, Squeezebox Touch, Denafrips Ares 11 DAC, DCB1 Pre-amplifier, Croft Series 7 power amp.
Custom Hifi cables HA10SE headphone amplifier and Hifiman HE-400 headphones.
AV system: LG 55B7, Denon AVR -x2300w receiver, Quad 12L (front) 11c Centre and 11L rear . Velodyne DD15 subwoofer.
The silver solder was selected at a time when I just wanted to make the best cable I could, out of the best materials I could afford.
I didn't have any other reason than I had read repeatedly that silver solder was the best. I made the first set using 60/40 and KLE gold plated Bullet plugs. I then found the Silver plated Copper Harmony KLE plugs and decided to try them. As the plug was silver plated, I decided to use silver solder and try and make that joint an extension of the pin, by using a similar solder material. I don't think thats quite possible but I didn't know that at the time.
The result was a cable that sounded less heavy and delivered more air and space to the performance. Better nuances and micro/macro detail. Again this is a subjective opinion.
I tried the KLE's with 60/40 solder on another pair and didn't feel they were as good, although I am open to that being psychological.
I then tried Pure Silver RCA plugs and the air and space improved again.
Each time I added a bit more silver in that are, I found the improvements were obvious but when I removed the copper cable and replaced it with Silver, I lost the all the things I enjoyed about it an yes, I freely admit that where HF is concerned, Silver is usually the way to go but you can have the best of both if you fid the right plug and cable combo.
I have now tried my cable with almost every plug on the market, thanks to the special requests of many customers. The cables sounded different with most of them.
I still prefer the KLE Absolute Harmony and the KLE Copper Harmony and Silver solder combination to any other plug and solder combination I have tried. From a subjective sound perspective.
All I can tell you is that I used a Goldpoint Passive Preamp for a couple of months. It was pimped out with Zfoil resistors, silver wire etc.
I just couldn't have lived with it on a full time basis. It could be that the combination of Passive Pre and Power is complimenting each other and the DCB1 isn't. As for an impedance Mismatch, only the sound of one amplifier wasn't improved by the DCB1, that was Rextons Sondex.
I just cant see it being a mismatch with the croft. I have tried a very similar amplifier and had no issues.
Could just be that you prefer the original combination.
It’s silver LOADED solder. Silver solder is something quite different. At 2~4% silver content it’s very unlikely that it makes any perceived difference to sound quality however it does wet the joint better and flows better making for a better joint especially if you don’t have ninja soldering skills.
Listening in a Foo free Zone...
Only a Sith deals in absolutes.