The refurbished Pioneer M-22 I bought arrived today with the morning mail. It is a heavy amp at 48.5 lbs. Its gorgeous!
I setup the Vidar and M-22 on the floor in front of my rack so it would be easy to swap cables and let both amps warm up for 30 minutes. The M-22 dwarfs the Vidar. I started with the Vidar. I set the volume to my normal listening level. Then I went to YouTube, played an 80 Hz tone, and noted the dB level from my listening position. I played a few songs from my "Test" playlist in Roon. Then I switched all the cables over to the M-22 and volume matched using the same 80 Hz tone. I then played those same few songs from my "Test" playlist.
The difference was palpable. I couldn’t believe how much better the M-22 sounded to me. I double checked the volume matching just to make sure that wasn’t the reason for the difference. I am having a hard time isolating the differences because everything about the music sounds better. The music is much more full sounding without losing any detail or clarity. The bass is full and strong yet is controlled and clear. There is no muddiness in the bass. The mids are incredible. The highs are clean and strong without any harshness or brightness nor any roll off. For the overall sound, the word "lush" comes to mind. Maybe a bit "wet" as Marvey defines it. But all the while sounding natural. Don’t get me wrong. The Vidar amp sounds great. But it pales in comparison...at least so far.
I immediately thought that I must be experiencing "expectation bias". What else could explain the significant difference I was hearing?
I decided to setup a comparison session for my wife. She is a guitar player and is very musical. But, she has never paid any attention to audio equipment and thinks I am a little bit crazy buying all the audio equipment I have. I explained that I wanted her to listen to a couple of songs with each amp, not knowing which amp was used, and then tell me which she like better. She said I was wasting my time as she thought she would not be able to tell the amps apart.
I had her listen to two songs: "Gold" by Jonathan Stewart and "I.G.Y." by Donald Fagen. The first song is one she requested and the second is one I think exposes strengths and weaknesses audio systems. I flipped a coin and Vidar got to goes first. She listened to both songs and commented that they sounded great. I then switched to the M-22, volume matched, and had her listen again. About 30 seconds into "Gold" she had me stop the music. She said the second amp sounded far better than the first. I continued the two songs. After they finished, she said she was surprised at how much better the second amp sounded and was even more surprised that she could actually tell the difference. She likened the difference to hearing music live versus on the radio. She told me to keep the second amp, whichever one it was. Funny, she never asked which amp was which.
I have a lot more listening to do. But, if initial impressions are any indication, I will probably have a Vidar for sale soon!
