Get ready to be shocked: I was. I expected a benefit from bi-wiring: I wasn’t ready for the scale and impact of the change. Adding the second run of cable opened out the performance. Patti’s voice became more focussed, solid, credible and human, with a major improvement in her phrasing. That sense of space between notes extended to the piano, where again, flow, phrasing pace and note weight all improved. Increased separation and a greater sense of vocal and instrumental identity pulled the guitar forward in the mix, creating a more natural balance to the performance. Crisper dynamics and a blacker background delivered greater transparency, heard in the focus of and space between voice and instruments. The playground sounds at the end of the track became clearer but also more distant, as the space opened up behind the performers, while the three children’s voices that sing the final lines were not just far more clearly located, they were distinct and identifiable.
This isn’t just a step forward in terms of separation and dynamic range. It has a direct impact on the natural, expressive range in the performance, the emotional and communicative quality of the song. It sounds markedly more convincing: much more like real people and real instruments. Okay, so I chose the track to reveal the differences – and it certainly does, in pretty emphatic fashion. Other music might not make the improvements as obvious – but they’ll still be there and subliminally or not, you’ll still reap the musical benefits. The advantage of going from single to bi-wired connection is significant: sufficiently so that if you aren’t already using bi-wired cables and that change isn’t included in your purchase/upgrade budget, it should be a future priority. Just make sure that you run identical cabling top and bottom, to maximise musical coherence.
Step 2 – adding a second HQA and the shift to vertical bi-amping…
No big discussion here about the rights and wrongs of vertical as opposed to horizontal bi-amping, or the mixing and matching of amplifiers and cables. You can read about that here https://gy8.eu/blog/think-piece/the-shape-of-things-to-come/. Suffice to say, the assumption in this case is that you are going to do it right – which means identical stereo amps (in the absence of four identical mono-blocs), vertically disposed (one amp driving the top and bottom of one speaker) and with identical cabling for each leg of each channel. Step out on the righteous path and you’ll be rewarded with eternal (or at least, long-term) musical joy…
Listening to the Neodio HQA amps running in bi-amped mode with the OBX-RW4, it’s easy to forget that this is (at least in today’s high-end terms) a relatively modest system. It builds firmly on the sonic and musical benefits of the bi-wired set up, but moves the system onto a whole new level when it comes to musical communication and the ability to engage the listener. There is occasional discussion of ‘the willing suspension of disbelief”, a phrase that refers to the transportative capabilities of theatre. I’m sure that it’s rare indeed for anybody to sit in front of their system and forget where they are. But what the bi-amped set up does is allow you to forget that the system is there, between you and the performance.
