Hey RJR.
Quote:Can the CSP3 actually improve upon the sound of a recording/music?
Can it actually add weight to the music?
Overall, will there be a noticeable improvement or just an incremental difference?
Yes, yes and yes. Potential complications come in when you are starting with a very revealing system/room. And then there is the fact that everything depends on everything else…tubes, source, cables etc. If any one part is lacking, it will bring the whole system to that level. Or if the speakers or room are bright or dark, we avoid changes that accentuate those things.
I was pulling all I could from the MKIII system, and I found the CSP3 with a good power cord, good interconnects and feet really exciting. It changed the sound, but I really liked how it did it, and my system was super revealing relatively speaking.
Then I had Beeswax caps put in the CSP3, and in the meantime got a MKIV, which is more revealing than the MKIII, particularly in micro detail and with the Reconstructive Feedback on. And since I love complex detail, things got complicated for a while because the CSP3 with stock tubes was masking fine detail I had come to expect from the MKIV.
The MKIV (with the very revealing Tranquility DAC, how I had it cabled and tubed, and with its beeswax caps) was improved by the CSP3 with more adjustable weight, dynamics and body, and was nicely open and detailed, but the pre was capping the the micro detail and in turn, the tonal realism...enough to hurt for me. It's everywhere, but shows up a lot in ambient information, airy aspects of instruments and voices, cymbal shimmer, attack and decay, etc. and I did not want to sacrifice any of it. So I started playing around with cables, feet and tubes.
Starting with cables, the best combination for micro detail that I could come up with, the CSP3 was still a mixed bag for me too. Still the complaint was mainly reduced micro detail. But after everything was fully burned in, and finding the right tubes, I got to where there is no discernible loss and several areas of gain, so I definitely prefer the CSP3 in.
That said, the way I have it set up, and with both the MKIV and CSP having jupiter caps, their signatures are similar. Also the MKIV has more complex detail, solid tone, and dynamics than the MKIII, things the CSP does well. So what the CSP offers it is a bit less dramatic with the MKIV, but I still find it quite an asset here. It offers potential for adjusting the dynamics, weight, and body, but the coolest thing about the CSP3 to me is the OTL factor which is hard to explain. It gives a spacious clarity and tonal density at the same time, but the density has no sense of muddiness, the opposite in fact, the OTL clarification across the spectrum. So the density in just a more pronounced expression of tone. Here, these bring another level of lucidity and realism to the presentation.
I got a really good taste of this with more-or-less the stock CSP3 caps and tubes with the MKIII system, really nice…. The MKIV system, having grown more refined and complex tonally, needed more work. Also the difference (both with jupiter caps) with and without pre is less dramatic, but I just A-B'd again, and I am really glad to have the CSP3 in there.