UPA-2 Help

[Golden Ear]

I have been using UPA-2 for a while and found it has a strong high that over power the mid and bass. The sound seems weak in bass causing it to sound thin. I am using USP-1 "full range" with XDA-2 as DAC and B&W 685. When I use the amp on the Marantz SR4023 with "main in" the sound was full bodied and 3D soundstage using same USP-1/XDA-2 combo and speaker. Does anybody experience this with their UPA series?

[rob80b]

This may or may not be the solution but if you find your volume control is limited to the first quarter of the USP-1 I’d start with lowering the gain, if you have not done so already, of the UPA-2 (potentiometer is on the back), which has an input sensitivity of 32db which in combination with some sources and the USP-1 may give too much system gain producing distortion in the upper frequencies which may be perceived as “a strong high that over power the mid and bass”.
You’ll find mention of this in other treads, some of us are using in line attenuators either at the source input or amp input with the USP-1, in your case the UPA-2’s potentiometer somewhat achieves the same result.

emotivalounge.proboards.com/thread/26639

emotivalounge.proboards.com/post/545914/thread

[rob80b]

Sorry, looks like you may have already tried this.

emotivalounge.proboards.com/post/546083/thread

Jul 13, 2013 9:48:05 GMT -5 Golden Ear said:

Jul 13, 2013 9:05:44 GMT -5 garbulky said:

I wanted to throw in that I used to believe attenuators was the right way to increase the volume range. But I've found they impart a sonic signature of their own - a sort of low-mid bass bump and very slight treble roll off which is in its own way pleasing for music. Really pleasing to my ears actually - a sort of "analog" whatever-that-means sound that I wasn't able to get.
But having experimented with a passive pre-amp which is what the control freak is more or less, I would definitely reccomend the control freak instead of attenuators.

I have noticed that as well. The sharp treble were soft and recessed and pronounced mid. It sounds like laid back. I thought attenuator will just reduce the output but also affect the sound quality. The attenuator is made of resistor and same thing with control freak made of resistance and changes it value once the wiper move.