Down time

Down time is a nightmare for the production, yield drops, the production is answerable, the poor maintenance guys bonus at stake, the boss is crying over the missed sales. Everybody's KPI score card is scratched. Nobody likes down time.

As a norm in life, you have good and bad days. My system down for two weeks for my grumpy CD transport, I did not know how I manage the down time. I spent hours, hours I mean, grasping our fellow fi experience and knowledge in the forums. A piece of advice, take the info at your discretion. If you taken in everything without due diligence, you could end up somewhere you hate to be. Mr Know-a-lot, me? No, I do not deceive to win an argument. That's inferior complex! People scrutiny everything Mr Know-a-lot say. I prefer to be Mr Know-a-lit.

The return of my CD transport put a smile on my face, life is back to normal. There are still some unresolved technical glitches. Ouch... In the absence of my CD transport. I got myself a disc demagnetizer. Story comes later. I am glad that I hold my horses before jumping into CAS. I have not listened to any DSD file as yet, so my experience is limited to those hi rez files. Red book has its limitation, I missed the plastic flavor!

Sidetracked, I quickly set up the CD transport and fire up. The sound was uninvolving, hardened and harmonic was choppy that when you live with your system long enough, you will immediately know it. Dynamic was awful, lethargic. Cranked up the volume, the system started to scream, "Don't rush me!" OK OK OK.

After an hour in play, things were beginning to gel. The sound mirrored my sonic memory and I am starting to exhale. The CD pick up is able to track better with an tired old cap being replaced and preventive servicing. 

Everyday provides a lesson to learn, I've learned one today. A system is tuned to a preset loudness, the sound will be distorted if cranked the volume out of its preset range. This event is liken to my wife got really angry when I came back home dinner an hour late. She became a woman unlike the one I got married to. She screamed at me, pinched me and grumbled the whole night. Ha ha ha.

So, play at the host listening volume when we make visit. We often make mistake asking the host plays at our preferred volume. Mind you, some of us play at insane loudness. That's would be not right. Respect the owner, your respect will be repaid.

OK, let me catch my breath first, until then....





 

Tathagata

Which album gives you the goosebumps every time listening to it? Some say Second birth reincarnation CD, it will give you the creep. It works your mind as if you are going through the phase to get out the circle of kharma. Many say you could not go to bed after listening to it. I disfavor this type of mind disturbing music. Little musical value.

Tathagata is a Sanskrit word, meaning one who has thus come/gone. While I do not proclaim my proficiency in Sanskrit, music has proven to be a universal language. This is an award winning CD, composed by the dean of Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Mr He Xuntian.

The line of world music or native music is rather blur, Mr He employed a lot of native music instruments in his works. There is also some sitar play here and there, an Indian influence that led me to Tibetan music.

Fans of sound effect, you will find some brilliant sound effects, vicious thunder, lightning and borderless sound field. No walls can hold up to this magnificent CD. The thunder strikes (CD in play) is as real as can be. Your neighbor will hate you every time you play this CD for the false alarm. I felt the urge to turn down the volume fearing the track might blow my speakers. The visceral thunder show no mercy. I can only imagine this CD play on mega system, this will definitely shake pants.

Guys, if you want to impress your guests, this is it. Tathagata can keep your Manger Test disc back  on your shelves. Beware, the whole thing will collapse if your amp aren't up to the task. Me, this is not my type. Furthermore, my system could not cut it.

Mc Chicken

Everybody has their favorite vocal albums. I was a vocal man before but I'm slowly gravitizing to classical music, unamplified music. The splendor and grace of classical music is magnifique, courtesy of improved resolving power of my system. In my opinion, unamplified music is your best reference to timbre accuracy.

A friend who gave up on audio, sold all his audio stuff claimed that he is freed from audio slavery. He now goes live concerts and says even mega systems could not come near to what he is listening. He is right but live events and audioing are two difficult things, liken apple and orange. We audio because we like to tweak, and along the path, we enjoy music, at our convenience, any time, any where, no ticket hassle. The keyword of audioing is involvement. When there is an involvement, you care, you are passionate. That's the difference.

Music genres demand different audio requirements. Pop, jazz and blues demand good kicks at the midbass and PRaT to groove, west coast sound will serve you best. Classical requires a linear tonal balance to sound right, east coast sound. Vocal, British midrange hard to beat, the Brits have an edge there.

Blumenhofer Acoustics? A less known German speaker maker. In general, small companies put more heart into their stuff, don't they? Not another sampler? The thing with most samplers, the moods swing like roller coaster. Pop the disc in and spin, wow, wow, wow! Blumenhofer Acoustics sampler is simply superb. I repeated the sampler three times on its maiden play, tapping foot, moving head. That's how good it is!

Selection of music scores aside, the vinyl tonality really caught my attention. Many companies, Tacet, Analogue Production etc tried ways and means to make red book format sound less digital, their approach succeeded in various degrees. Well, digital has come a long way, today digital sounded remarkably better, less jitter and more of polycarbonate flavor.

Labeled under STS Digital, vinyl direct anolog digital conversion to red book format via MW decoding. Sound cool! Indeed, the sonic fabric is knitted tightly, tons of organic feel to it. Total lack of digitis, no grain, silk like. Vinyl proprietary hiss is even audible. You want to know "presence", this is it.

Painstakingly select 14 scores from 4000 LPs, the selection is truly musically excellente. From pop, jazz, blues, folk, though this sampler did not give me the jerking feel hopping from one music genre to another. Its like ice blended latte, smooth, creamy and aromatic. Forget about audiophile approved tracks, these are real world songs with familiar tunes. Audiophile approved scores have that peculiar unapproachable-ness to them, they called acquired taste. No, this is your regular Mc Chicken.

Track list

1. Steady On                        Shawn Colvin
2. Last days at the lodge      Amos Lee
3. Saltarello                          Dead can Dance
4. Golden Brown                 The Strangles
5. Come to the river             Hans Theessink & Terry Evans
6. Blues Walk                      Lou Donaldson
7. So Strong                         Labi Siffre
8. II Blues                            Sam Lightnin Hopkins
9. House of rising sun         Cynder Petera
10. Come Di                          Paolo Conte
11. Kirya                               Ofrz Haza
12. Homeless                         Paul Simon
13. Wade in the water           Eva Cassidy
14. Money money                 The King Singers

Recording is really good, it has human properties. The brass excites, the double bass is resilient, the spatial is spooky, the tunes are groovy, what more will you ask for.

This sampler can be had from ebay, it is not cheap though. Mentioned above is Volume I, my Volume II is still unopened.

Wywries Interconnect - The right tools to do the job

Cables are difficult subject to write because they are very system dependent. Understanding cable is even more challenging. Metallurgy, geometry, wire gauge, shielding, skin effect, capacitance, inductance, resistance, insulator and now connector, silver plated, gold plated, rhodium plated etc, these are no donut. No cable consensus especially in audio community, my coffee, your tea. Using them right is liken to three stars Michelin ranked restaurant in the world of culinary, giving you the slight edge over the others. The host will find his guests not wanting to stop listening, not wanting to leave the premise. Sincerity never lies if you could pick up the body language. Who is acting, who is not, it is not difficult to tell. Having said that, only fi with similar sound preference will be mutually appreciative, in tune. And there are also fi do not know what they are talking about, you should seek help if you know what they say.

I used to puzzle with cable spending. Pricey cabling, cheapo system, a maid has a bigger say than the woman of house and cheapo cabling, pricey system, an expansive car running on  cheap tires. Which is more laughable? Everybody has their answer. Think before you draw your conclusion.

As we build our audio system from the ground up, sound tolerance is consistently narrowed as system building proceeds. Hence, you need to put in a "tight tolerance"  audio component to sound right. You just do not overdo drugs, it is an two edged sword. Thus, seeking the last piece of puzzle will mean price is of less concern, that's of course you are serious about your audio. Don't tell this to your stereotype engineering friends about power cables change sound, they will think you are crazy.

I faced this dilemma on my audio quest. My mind tells me that power cord does not have an influence to the sound but I was proven wrong time after time. My hearing rejects my thought. I hate this, spending on power cord is crucial to bring out the best in our systems. You need the right tools to do the job, slipping screw head is the last thing you need!

Anyway. this is about interconnect.

Home brewed DIY XLO

I did not start this cable merry go round, Wywires found me. It was a coincidental. The banker couldn't test this short interconnect and asked me if I am interested to give it a go. I was reluctant because my DIY XLO interconnect was serving me fine. That's my friends, a classic audio story. 

 

Wywires is one of the handful small cable companies that sell direct via internet. The man behind Wywires is Alex Sventitsky, who spent eight years of research and development on their cables before burst to the scene in recent years. Alex believes massive cables and the “overkill” approach don’t always equate to the ultimate music experience and big cables do fulfills a certain purpose, bigger, meaner, you know, I know.

Wywires relies on word of mouth marketing, not splashing cash on advertisement. The entry level interconnect, four feet handmade Blue series. No fancy packaging, Wywires spends money where they matter most, the cable. Ouch! MSRP of USD469, that's not cheap.

Blue is flexible, a blessing for space constraint, you may bend the cable a bit. They are light and do not seem to have anything under the sleeve. I can feel that there are two wires braided under the sleeve. Wywires claims that they are using high purity copper, proprietary geometry and tweak them. Wywires started a demo program at AudioCircle, considered the most fanatical audio forum in Jun 2010, the demo had garnered an overwhelming positive response that starts the company rolling.

Connecting my BMC PureDac to power amp, there was a noticeable improvements. Strong edge delineation, closer to music realism and airiness. Blue as if like punching color of Kodak film. This alone almost makes me pull out my credit card. Isn't this ghostly Nordost effect what most fi dreaming of? Well, I like vividness and Blue works for me. Can't speak for others, some might prefer softer Agfa picturesque. Is this improvements or changes? Definitely improvement for me, it kind of gives me the presence of musicians, asserting image individuality in my room.

Realism means directness, spontaneous and organic to me. Sound vague? Alright, alright, alright, the real thing. Veil-less unless you are enjoying an event in a smoky pub, dynamic and organic in audio jargon.

Dirty current is the number one culprit, cabling, audio components, room acoustics and resonance attribute veiling to a system. The task of clearing the air is a daunting one. Blue did an incredible job removing the veil and restored the blackness to the sonic backdrop. Air as the better insulator is an open secret, minimizes skin effect. Skin effect aka capacitance is the sonic memory retained on the insulator normally non organic PVC, PE and TFE or PTFE thermoplastic and later reintroduce back to the system. Say no to tizzy and blurring of images. Sharing similar design, my DIY XLO is also a shield-less, two copper cores braiding design. They have been in my system for three to four years now, never sounding aggressive. I was rather surprised that DIY XLO shares a lot of sonic similarity minus the low register grunt. Their openness was remarkable but the blackness and the pollutants as in part per million is higher, not quite the same league as Blue.

Tone is something you do not mess around with. I employed unamplified music to test tone. Pure copper has a natural tone. Exotic alloy has different tones. All cables have characters, I am happy that Blue leaves little sonic print. Less is more here. A real world tone as it is, not a pre EQ tone to meet individual preferences. If the CD sounded shrill, let it shrills, amen.

Bass is a hate and love thing and bass impresses. How much is adequate, no definite answer. The late Franco Serblin, ex founder of Sonus Faber once quoted "The search for perfect bass is futile, because if you want more you miss it and when you have it, it disturbs you". I found wisdom in his quote. We all crazy for bass like vampire thirst for blood.

Bass is DIY XLO achilles' heel. While Blue does not inherit the typical American ponderous and ferocious slam and weight, no sir, but Blue camps on somewhat the exquisite European side. Blue made up their lack of bass weight with definition, tenacity and agile. Picture this, fish ball versus meat ball. Big nasty Kodo drums will be in favor of pro American while double bass and smaller drums will be in favor of pro European.

If bass is the spine to the music, dynamic is the nervous system. Dynamic is a component of music that excites, hands down. Clean dynamic is constantly on top of my wish list. Being an advocate of dynamic, lethargic sounding makes me sleepy. I constantly am looking ways and means to improve dynamic. There is no such thing as over dynamic, silly. Blue is noticeably more motivated than DIY XLO, more decisive and authoritative. Perhaps Nordost is nose ahead of Blue, sadly Nordost is out of my range.

Organic is a very fuzzy word. Fi relate organic to analog, in my humble view, organic presents a harmonious quality. Imaging industrial activities in a green lung, that's not harmony. In short, no protruding frequency ranges, in turn linearity from top to bottom. Blue consistently makes me feel the sound organic.

Conclusion :

I was pleasantly surprised to find out later that TAD is using Wywires cabling in many participating shows. At least, TAD guys are in agreement with me. My S1EXs share similar TAD DNA. Given Wywires is new kids on the block. TAD could have used other more established cables. Neutrality sums up Wywires cables that proves to be very a friendly cable and should not impose peculiar sound in any system. Airiness, snappiness, colorless, tenacity and agility are the notable characters. Blue made DIY XLO take early retirement. Hey! This is only their entry model. I can't imagine the damage Wywires top model could bring. That's for fi with fat wallet.