What I wasn’t expecting was just how much of that focus, body and articulation comes from the Auva feet. Much as I prefer the looks of Reiki’s standard, lower feet, the Auvas’ musical impact was as hard to credit as it was to ignore. At a saving of £350, opting for the standard feet makes no sense at all. With the Auvas doing their thing, the body, diction and presence of voices was far more impressive, engaging and communicative. I’d be intrigued to know what the Stack feet might bring to the standard units, but sadly, they’re not interchangeable.
Having established the clear superiority of the X Series switch and power supply, the final step was to substitute the three-port SuperSwitch X for the SOtM multi-port switch. Once again, whilst the resulting improvement wasn’t as strikingly obvious as the step up to the X Series switch and power supply, it was still more than worthwhile. Playing ‘Strike The Viol’ (From Christina Pluhar and L’Arpeggiata – Music For A While – a locally stored ALAC 88.2/24 file) the performance took on a more relaxed, less forced quality, singers having more time to shape their vocals, voices being more natural, the distinctions between different singers more obvious. There was an almost palpable, cold, tense atmosphere to the opening of Shostakovich’s Fifth Symphony (Petrenko, RLPO – ALAC 24/44). The throbbing strings that introduce the second theme have a propulsive, easy momentum and flow that draws the listener on. The immediacy and intimacy of Shawn Colvin’s live performance of ‘The facts About Jimmy’ belie its ‘lowly’ 16/44 resolution. This natural, convincing sense of presence and performance is what installing the three-port switch (or eliminating the SOtM) brings to the system’s presentation. Less immediately obvious maybe, but long-term, its impact on listenability is potentially just as significant as the benefits of the X Series itself.
The superiority of Reiki’s X Series components over the standard versions comes as something of a shock – not least because, prior to their arrival, the stock SuperSwitch Pro had proved superior to everything else I’ve had in-house. I wasn’t surprised that the X Series switch and PSU bettered the performance of the earlier, lighter version, but to have it vanquished in such dismissive fashion was definitely unexpected. It underlines just how fragile digital signal transfer is, while the Auva feet came as a timely reminder as to just how sensitive digital circuitry is to mechanical interference. The three-port option is also a timely arrival, ably illustrating the benefits of a simpler network topology and fewer boxes. Although in theory you could mix and match X series units with standard ones, using a SuperSwitch X with an iFi or stock Pro PSU, I’m not sure why anybody would. After all, you’ve come this far (and I suspect any saving, relative to the total cost of the related system, would be paltry). But for those that insist, I’m sure Reiki will work out a special-order price…
