This is a review I struggled with for I feared I would not have the right audio vocabulary to convey the sound of the Aurieges’ to you. I wish I could tell you that my system had a wider or deeper soundstage with the Shindo, or that music seemed more transparent when the Shindo arrived. The true magic of the Aurieges is not even that it is more dynamic; although it is.
What I can tell you is that with the Aurieges, it is all about texture, harmonics, how the decay sounds, how the music blooms, and how much like real music it sounds and feels. It’s about experiencing the sounds and feelings of music in a way that transcends the electronic listening experience, especially the digital experience.
For example on Elvis’ version of “Fever” (from the CD, Elvis is Back), prior to the Shindo I could already hear the decay, the reverb, and how close he is to the mic. Yet, with the Aurieges, these nuances take on a lifelike quality. You can hear layers of decay. You can tell he’s in a small studio; it’s as if the Aurieges breathes life into it. I have no idea how an active line stage can do this or theoretically if it even should, but music is art and I think at Shindo Labs, like Audio Note and a few others, the reproduction of music is seen as more art than science.