April 16, 2009

  • Tara Labs ISM Onboard 0.8 Digital 75, Part 6

    30 years ago, the Bee Gees could not have been expected to go any higher than what they achieved with Saturday Night Fever.  Yet, their early 1979 album, Spirits Having Flown, contained the excellent #1 hits, "Too Much Heaven" and "Tragedy."  The former was book-ended by Chic's "Le Freak" and Rod Stewart's "Da Ya think I'm Sexy?"  The latter was book-ended by Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and the Doobie Brothers' "What A Fool Believes."  Man, these are infinitely better than anything today.  And yet, when I was in 2nd grade back in early 1979, these songs represented the good times parties, and we had no idea that the 80s would bring these free-flowing parties to an end.  We knew this music was good, but we didn't know that, looking back, it was actually great.

    I remember hearing "Too Much Heaven" before going to the Western Addition library.  In those days, walking the 5 blocks from home to the library seemed rather long.  It was hard to picture places outside of the local neighborhood, let alone outside of the city.

    In the 70s, I don't think the East Bay was overly excited about the Bee Gees.  I think they were more into R&B, soul, and funk.  But anyway, here is the Bay Fair BART free parking lot.  It's actually on the west side of the tracks, and you have to pass through a tunnel under the station, in order to walk to the entrance.  As this lot is much bigger than the one at San Leandro BART, it's often better to come to Bay Fair.

    We stuck the Tara Labs ISM Onboard 0.8 Digital 75 on the Mark Levinson No. 37.  Whoa.  Wow.  Wow oh wow.  I think the Cooked 0.8 Digital accurately describe the No. 37.  And that is a very, very good thing.  The 0.8 Digital truthfully reveals the No. 37's more distant perspective.  But within that perspective are depth, openness, and scale.  For many listeners, this will be a revelation.  Some people simply do not know that such depth exists on their CDs.

    Most of the time, CDs are like the mess and traffic jam above.  But with the space, resolution, cleanliness, and speed the 37/0.8 combo provides, you can really hear into the Bee Gees.  On one hand, it's a fresh perspective, kind of like going back to 1979.  But on the other, you sing along, and realize that none of today's performers (and I use that term loosely) can come close to matching the Bee Gees' vocal talent, stamina, range, and harmonies.

    Keeping the equipment the same, I do think other digital cables can provide more grip.  But they'll lose the 0.8 digital's exceptional see-through transparency, pristine presentation, and honest decoding of the fractals.  Other digital cables may provide more "obvious" imaging, but it's kind of like those mid-90s video games, when characters were blockish, with polygon figures.  The MIT 2C3D Digital has a more artificially smooth sound, but at the expense of liveliness, crystal clarity, and soundstage expansiveness.

    Regardless of equipment or music, the Tara Labs ISM Onboard 0.8 Digital 75 is exceptional, and in many ways, represents the state-of-the-art in 75-ohm digital transmission.