Display Off!

Alpinist

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I set the display on both my Esoteric K-01X and ARC Ref 10 to turn off after a few seconds. I feel this improves the sound quality of both components. In low light situations the display is no longer a distraction. And the second I use the remote the display jumps to life to give me all the information I need. I consider this to be optimal.

Anyone else doing the same?

Best,
Ken
 
For me, display ALWAYS set to turn off automatically or off entirely. Whether it's psychological or not, I think it sounds better.
 
My ears aren't good enough to hear a difference. This calls for bat like hearing.


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For me, display ALWAYS set to turn off automatically or off entirely. Whether it's psychological or not, I think it sounds better.

psychological , my display is always on, and the sound is room filling with total emotion and peace. Or I can just put on some dark sunglasses and set back or just close my eyes. Either way it sounds the same to me.

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I think a lot of listeners need a pair of these to get that last detail of that song.

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Ha!

Actually my real reason for display off is so the next guy can enjoy a pristine piece of gear. :P
 
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I have done numerous tests with various gear, struggling to hear any differences at all with the displays on and off, and even with several TOTL headphones and headphone amps, I could never ever hear a difference. Even when using test CD's that have tracks of total silence.

The disc spinners (CD or SACD) included Wadia, Meridian, Carry, Linn, McIntosh, Sony ES and Pioneer Elite.

Headphones (which were my own) included AKG 701, Sennheiser HD800, HD650, HD600, Beyerdynamic T1, DT880, DT770 Pro, Grado GS1000e, SR325e, SR80e.

Amps (which her my own) included Headroom Cosmic w/ Base Station I, Max, Desktop Amp w/ Desktop Power Supply, Total BitHead.


Just my 2 cents.
 
I always have the display set to turn off after a few seconds. I like the simplicity but on some products it sounded better also, but that was 15-20 years ago. I think that the manufacturers are separating out the digital aspects of the display nowadays so it's not an sound issue.
 
I don't believe I could hear a difference for a few reasons. First off, my 50+ ears could not hear that minutia at this point. Also I do not believe my equipment is nearly the level of refinement to show those types of differences.

I like having the displays on because I think it looks better :).... although I usually leave the spinner off unless I am actually using it. I figure that is the only real mechanical device in my system (for the most part) and therefore I prefer to protect it.
 
Ken.......I have my Esoteric K-03 display set to turn off after 15 minutes. That is the least amount of time it can be set for. I can also dim the display to four different levels and totally off. I set it to medium brightness. The McIntosh C1000C/P and the MC2301 power amplifiers allow meter lights to be turned off and on via the remote control. I often turn the meter lighting off. The AMOLED display on the Aurender N10 can be dimmed or turned off. I usually leave it dimmed to about 50% on the display that shows artist and song title. I don't notice any difference in sound quality with any of the various settings.
 
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