AshKI’ve been doing the hi-fi reviewer’s shuffle all night long. Walk up to the system, fiddle with something, sit down and listen, go back up and make some changes, back to the listening position, listen, back up, back down etc. etc.
Some components are easier to review than others but certain accessories are tough. Power cables, audio cables and power conditioners can be the worst because what they do can be subtle, sometimes vanishingly so. I’ve got a Furman PL-PLUS C E power conditioner in the system at the moment and it’s driving me crazy, not because there’s anything wrong with it but because I’ve somehow got to judge what it’s doing to each of the individual components as well as listening for its influence on the sound of the system as a whole.
To complicate matters, it won’t work with my aftermarket power cords, so I’ve also got to compare it to the system with standard cords and then with the fancy stuff, which again means more trips up and down, plugging in various cords until I get tied in a knot or eventually wear my way right through the already beaten up carpet.
The sad thing is that I actually enjoy the whole convoluted process. It’s tough being an audiophile with a gear fetish (no not that kind of fetish!).
