Know anything about the BSG Technologies QOL?


Hi there, I just saw a local dealer advertising this on craigslist, They wont tell you anything about it except it works, it half sounds like snake oil and half sounds like it could be something.

They claim it is all analog and retrieves inner detail and has the "WOW FACTOR".

My guess after talking to the guy is is might be disgned around smoothing out microphone curves maybe? or sending out a ton of above 20KHZ info to do some pshycho acoustic/room type thing?

I'm just tripped out they wont tell you anything except, well set it up, if you like it awesome if not dont buy it.

I am genuinely intrigued to see if its truly real and if anyone has expreience. It would be nice to save a long drive to hear something or have something to look forward to on the drive.
128x128systembuilder
Hello, Mdconnelly. If you are at or near Charlotte, you can audition this Qol at Liquid Hi-Fi. Ron Huffington has one ready for demo right now on his reference rig seen in the link below. This link also provides his contact information.

http://liquidhifi.com/

I have heard this unit and my impressions are very favorable. When I was auditioning it, I was thinking to myself that this is the biggest advance in coming closer to the reproduction of a live performance that I have ever ran across. There are many things to consider with how much this unit can offer to your rig and I'll provide more information on what I know about the Qol as time permits.

Please note: Do not be surprised if you order one in the next couple of weeks and they are not available for immediate shipping. Demand has been more than what was anticipated.

Have a good evening.
Argh, I do not know why the link to his website will not work. You can try just typing in liquidhifi.com

If that doesn't work for you, here is his phone number.

Phone (704)953-6034
So I was lucky enough to play around with a QOL in my system and here are my subjective impressions:

The build quality looks very good - along the lines of, say, Pass. It's designed to be flexible - e.g. if you have an integrated amp, you could put this between all your sources and the pre, but I believe the best way to use it is inbetween the pre and the amps, which is what I did.

As mentioned in reviews, there is a bypass button which you can toggle via remote but with the QOL enaged the perceived volume is louder so it's hard to A/B without the usual volume bias.

Listening impressions: I'm going to approach this from the standpoint of what my (amateur audio engineer) brain tells me is being changed by the QOL. First of all, the bass is pretty much unchanged. If I remember correctly, it only affects 125hz upwards. Everything above that frequency is louder - which changes the overall tonal balance to some degree. I found this mostly for the better in my system - at least at low to moderate volumes. I have plenty of bass, so more mids and highs (at least the degree to which it's augmented) seems good. It feels like it makes copies of all the information and mixes it back in with the original signal resulting in a presence/volume boost. Almost akin to 'double tracking' vocals and instruments (common recording practice to make a more palpable image) however in this case its doing it to the entire mix, not just an instrument. That means the ambience (or plain old reverb) is getting a boost as well.

The main effect to my ears is a more 'wetter' presentation. It adds 'space', as if the image was being projected in multiple directions instead of one. I suspect this is what people refer to as 'more like live music'. It IS engaging - no doubt about it, but it does come at a price: not all recordings suit this effect. For example, one of my test tracks is a Carpenters tune (yes, I do admit to listening to the Carpenters) where Karen's voice has plenty of reverb. With the QOL her voice is swimming in it and suffers from some intelligibility loss. It may still appeal to some folks - not like it sounds bad in any way, but imo it changes the character of the mix. Some track that had reverb did sound good - a Patricia Barber tune that has finger snapping sounded excellent and Patricia's voice, which already has gobs of reverb still sounded good. It varies. Classical music sounded good, as did jazz and rock (although I would still say this depends on the material). What I did find that some busy songs with instrument solos resulted in the solos being more buried in the mix (as if the engineer added reverb to it) where I prefer the more dry presentation.

Keep in ming that my Wilson speakers are very 'dry' sounding, especially in the upper frequencies. The QOL was never edgey and sounded quite smooth, despite the highs being more pronounced. I don't think I'd like this device in a very 'live' room.

The bypass switch is mandatory imo - and I think also in the manufacturer's. They warn that when playing vinyl, if an LP is noisy one may want to disengage QOL because it will emphasize the surface noise. While I haven't tried vinyl yet, I believe this to be true because with QOL engaged I can hear tube rush from my preamp at my listening position (where normally I cannot). It's truly being 'loudened' (and of course the frequencies for tube rush is midrange).

Ultimately I found that more and more I preferred my system with the unit in bypass mode.
My suggestion about A/B comparisons is that you should use recordings that you know extremely well. In the What's Best Forum there was a lot of talk about whether the bypass mode really took the unit out of the equation. My experience with about 70% of the recordings I used was that the changes were profound. There were a few recordings where not much happened, but there was no recording where the sound got worse. If you read the blogs, there is a lot of skepticism, but if your system has been the same for a long time, the addition of the Qol unit will make an instant (good or bad) impression on you. I think that a lot of criticism has to do with whether the results are accurate" or just euphonic (a little like all the discussion of "tube" sound). My take on this is that live instruments have a certain amount of randomness (chorus effect due to minor phase delays, even when instruments play together). When the music goes through a microphone, recorder, and finally your loudspeakers, everything becomes phase coherent. The Qol "restores" the effect of the original phase shifting. Whether this is the same as the original is the sticking point. Does that really matter, if the reproduced sound regains the character of the original , live sound. Isn't this the same thing as why many people prefer the "sound" of LP's. A good LP with its RIAA curve (which mimics the decaying acoustics of many concert halls, which usually do not project much above 15kHz) seems to be more musical. After all, recorded sound is merely an "impression," not a totally accurate rendering of a live event (I am referring to live classical or jazz recordings, made with all the musicians in the same room at the same time, not pop, which is never "live.")