Miles Davis “Kind of Blue” was already in the CDP and that’s as good a test disk any eh? Well now…. I had read a lot about these little parcels of rubbery goodness but I wasn’t expecting this straight away. Everything was improved. Everything. Bass was more extended and more defined. Treble cleaner and more integrated. Details shone through. Tiny details, micro-dynamics really, were so clear it was like being in the room
Listening to Etta James “At Last” there even more soundstage and imagery. The strings soared as expected, her voice clear but reticent (I never noticed the reticence before). But hold on? What was that thus? Somebody walking it the room above me? Maybe. Stop. Play again. Thud in the exact same place. It wasn’t a badly delivered piece of percussion because there no real rhythm to it.. there it was again… and again. Then I copped. Etta was using an unscreened mic and it was a pop (breath thud!) on words that began mostly with a ‘p’ or ‘s’. Listened again. Yep. This was a level of detail that was almost intrusive.
James Vincent McMorrow’s “Early in the Morning” is a self recorded album. Played, produced and recorded by JV himself in a house in West Cork. Not a recopied for the greatest standard of recording and an interesting test of an incisive detailed system. On some tracks I could definitely hear a hum or buzz from one of JVs amps. That’s ok… it was right that I should hear it. It was there in the room when he pressed the ‘record’ button.
To his credit James Vincent McMorrow produced a very fine album in that rural setting and he spent time putting unobtrusive sounds in unexpected places with great effect. I could hear them before but now they’re presented vividly on a par with the melody and open chords.
I’ve spent the morning listening to a range of CDs and every CD, without exception, has sounded better. An early and relatively rough recording of Ella Fitzgerald’s “Mr Paganini” was still rough but far more engaging and listenable. Enjoyable in fact.
I’ve been a fan of isolation ever since I stuck halved squash balls under a power amp. There was a clear improvement for very little investment. I’ve since gone from the squash balls to Pulsar Points and Cereballs. All brought improvements, usually in line with cost. None delivered improvements like the Black Ravioli did. Not even close. At £20 a square they’re not obviously cheap but then I would have to spend thousands, if not tens of thousands, to get this level of improvement over what I had yesterday morning. Given that our systems are a serious investment I’m inclined to try and get the last drop of quality from it before considering and upgrade. Racks, isolation platforms and various ‘feet’ seem worth trying before looking at CD players in the €5+ range.
I should say I’ve been happy with my system for the last while, particularly with CD playback but I’m always aware that’s there more in there. Not to the point of frustration… just aware of it. The Black Ravioli gives me the impression that I may well have now eked the last from this setup (this is a good thing!).
I also have to report that although I tried the Black Ravioli under the turntable the improvements were slight. Frankly I think the TT is acting up a bit at the pointy end but CD playback is such that I’m happy to go that route for a while before worrying too much about the TT. I might try a few of the old reliable reference albums just to hear what’s missing etc.
I'm not going to get into the history or design of the Black Ravioli but the link below gives much of that
http://www.innerearmag.com/reviews/acce ... ioli.shtml
* I had asked Gary in KronosAV to bring 10 Black Ravioli pads with him for me and indeed he did. As I had no sterling with me I intended to pay by credit card but it seems due to technical difficulties in the hotel they didn’t have a card reader. “No problem” he says, “ring me Monday or Tuesday and we’ll sort it out”. Very decent of them to do that, I was some guy off the internet that he had just met and he let me walk away with £200 worth of isolation on the promise that I’d ring him sometime early next week. Fair play lads.
