The banker tale I

A king is a man regarded as the finest or corkiest in their interest. What have we created here? The banker has self-proclaimed himself a Cost Performance King, ready to take on the world.

Nothing below the knee

Our dear banker is having his first sweet taste of success, so much improvement in such a short span of time - three months intensive audio upgrade. Plenty of passion and money to fund this hobby. Three months ago, his highs was like a surgeon scalpel, sending a cold shiver down to your spine, a kind of hypothermia that he misperceives as transparency. A vocal that he thinks comparable to the best that was not able to reproduce the masculine of Muddy Waters's vocal. A bass that he thinks good that he does not know its deficiency until he was humbled by a better system.

After all, his system was shouty, the highs constantly yearning for attention, the sound could not decouple from the speaker and weightless. The bass was weak as a kitten. Hardly anything below 60Hz. Forget about playing orchestral works. We can't defy the law of physics, can we? Let me know if you hear bookshelf speakers that able to reproduce low bass akin to floorstanders.

 

We hold our laughter. Although the banker claimed that he listened to many systems but he could not hide his inexperience in audio and music knowledge. An urban proverb says "One has not even seen a big snake pee", he has not seen the world yet.

There were times you just brush aside comments from an inexperienced listener. They get excited about the changes in sound. Inadequate knowledge of harmonic texture leads to an inaccurate sound description. Brass has the steely sound to it, woodwind has the airy sound to it and strings has the resonating sound to it. These are tone! There is no better way than to listen to the real things. A music lover is a better listener, can we all agree to that?

Maastricht Salon Orchestra Serenata is a great album, not because of the singing birds but the artistic and poetic play. Beautifully recorded for it reveals the delicate rubbing of bow and strings, the sound conveys emotion. Far from etched, the masterful Andre Rieu violin play reverberates the scent of rosin. Sweet and romantic. Given the glorious golden tonal hue, my guess is a Strad. He he!I got it right. Self-trained my half deaf hearing. Some learned guys could identify the player by the play, that itself is nothing short of amazing!!! I have heard Maastricht Salon Orchestra Serenata in another system but his violin is more aggressive and not as romantic and melodious.

While the romance of violin afloat, the brass and piano should never mask it. The directness of brass shines through like a beam of light. No infighting between the brass, the piano and the double bass. The double bass faithfully laid down the foundation, knowing that the violin is the limelight of the play. I could listen to this CD repeatedly.

Never before I have this deep appreciation for this CD until recently. Guess that I might have done something right? Somebody, smack me!

Sorry, the banker only ripped the first track. That's the problem with young audiophiles. Rip, rip, rip and not knowingly some music ought to listen to as an album. You just don't jump into chorus without intro, don't you? Wisdom needs time and experience to garner. I despise those audiophiles willingly spending big money on hardware but reluctant to spend on music. In time, they will give up hifi because without music as a base is like a man without a soul.

And so, the banker is determined to prove many wrong. He splashed out on one unit Marantz CD94 Mk II, one unit Behringer Ultramatch Pro SRC2496, one unit Sonic Frontier Jitterbug and a pair of Telefunken ECC83 since the last I wrote about him. The banker bought AC Ryan and later dumped it, come on, you call that a source?

However, the most meaningful upgrade he ever made was to install air conditioning in his living room, the wisest decision. The comfort of listening is not to be ignored because we have other senses too. I have had an experience listening to a system in a room that was not air conditioned, ambiance temperature was 32 Celsius plus the heat from the tube amp, 20 minutes into the listening, I was all soaked up in sweat. Can't wait to get some fresh air leaving the room. The room was not well ventilated, stuffy and let alone the system produces a decent amount of heat. I did not enjoy the listening.


to be continued..............