Power snakes

Christmas is near. Santa, Santa, how I wish I could get my desired tonal balance without breaking my bank. I am so close but not quite and sometimes I wish that I would not be so fuzzy on sound. A mind game? I hope not.

 

Power cord skepticism, those garden hose, ah.... I used to disregard power cord. Man, if you have not tasted decent power cords in your system, you do not know what you are missing!  I don't blame you. How would two meters of aftermarket power cords affect the sound since our current travels hundreds of kilometer from sub stations to our home? And since our in wall wires are standard, why does power cords matter? And why do ugly guys get pretty chicks, why? You need to break the norm to achieve betterment.

Go see a psychiatrist? Good for you that you can't hear the benefits of power cord and go live a peaceful life. You can walk away from here and keep your money in your pocket. Stereotype is a stumbling block, there are many answers to a question and when you don't get answer, you must let God to come in. Free your mind, open to ideas, listen and be convinced. Ostrich head in sand will do you no good. The problems with fi today is that they rely too much on reviews and measurements.

Power cord is the lifeline to a system, it has a far greater weight than interconnect and speaker cable, in my humble experience of course. This goes without saying high quality power supply has a very strong say on good sound, circuit design and component selections come later. Spending hours research on power cords, by looking at the geometry and metallurgy, gives clues of how their sonic characters. I would draw a conclusion that there are four schools of power cord.

The school of metallurgy purity 
Best represented by Furukawa, Japan and Neotech, Taiwan, focuses on the drawing of copper to achieve highest purity they know how. Prof Ohno invented PCOCC and Neotech refined it with UPOCC. PCOCC has become a trademark for Furutech and so is UPOCC for Neotech.

OCC, Ohno as of the inventor, Continuous Casting, not the crazy guys in Orange County Chopper. In short, these processes are to achieve not more than 10 parts per million oxygen impurities as opposed to OFC, 200 - 500 PPM. Mind you, Taiwan has the highest consumption of copper in the world, the birthplace of many reputable OEM brands. There are only handful of cable companies in the world that capable of drawing OCC wire.

The benefits of higher purity are a super smooth, high density sound and better resistance to oxidization. The downside is unable to draw a higher gauge wire, I think.

The school of Geometry
Typically Americans, with heavy emphasis on geometry, scientific research and measurements. These are trickle down technologies from NASA, telecommunication, military etc meeting their own set of unique requirements were then make available to audio. Noise rejection, phasing, speed, wide bandwidth, durability are their selling point drawing their customers. Oxygen Free Copper OFC is favored here, sometimes precious metal mixture for a specific character.

The downside is greatly system dependence.

The school of Neutrality
Mainly represented by Belden, Mogami, Canary, Supra, Sommer, Monster etc and lately from Switzerland like Swiss Cable, Vovox and Gotham. The later seem to burst into scene in a few years back thanks to the coverage from 6moons. They are largely colorless and honest, you get what's on the disc.

Their primary target market is pro sound, the volume is big. Volume does matters in almost every business. Neutrality is their goal but none of these cable sounds alike.

The downside is these cords are rather seclusive, some are not widely available.

The school of DIY cable
The sprouting of DIY cables in the wake of exorbitant cable prices, rose to offer greater run for the money. The move was started by Anti Cable, as the name implies. There are also many rebadging companies that use off the shelf cables as customized cable. Those cables that have strong association with specific speakers also fall into this category as well. Brands like Ocellia, Jorma Design, YBA, ASI and Audio Note came into my mind. Skogrand is on the higher end of DIY cable. Selling direct via web store, these groups of cable mostly run as home business. Personal touch is their strength, they personally talk and answer your questions. Certain chemistry will tend to form and many offer 30 days return if not satisfied.     

They are a miss and hit. OK to great performance, good value and poor resale value.

We are spoiled with a plethora of power cord choices. It is impossible to go through exhaustive testing of power cord. Borrowing power cord from friends to try it out in your system is the way to go. My first power cord sting took place after Wywires Blue power cords powered my DAC. And there was no turning back, my skepticism turned religion. So much so that the thought of power cord influences are greater than interconnect and speaker cable sinks its teeth in my head.

I am a semi audio hermit, I found great pleasure researching on the net. There and then, I decided to get Wywires Silver power cord that I posted sometime back, a step up from Blue. Wywires Silver representing the sweet spot of Wywires range of products, the Silver shares the same house sound but with a full sound. Like a Vampire with the first taste of blood, I was unstoppable. Nordost Vishnu was my second catch and lastly Reality Cable power cord. Their applications were rigorously tested in my system after swapping them with only one goal, to achieve the most preferred tonal balance. That includes the correct AC polarity that I have had my wall sockets wired in phase and out phase to cater for this purpose. Incorrect phase will cause the staging restricted in between the span of the speakers. To add to the complexity, some gear work better with out phase. No chances taken. Cable loom, you say? I do not buy the idea simply it imposes a strong sound character and serves no avenue for sound tuning.

Power cord is one hell of difficult topic to write. Some are good for front end, the other at the power amp. "Put your best cord at the front end" therefore cannot be established. A safer rule is placing your most detailed power cord at the front, I am subscribing the thought of "what is lost is forever lost" and nothing you do can recover the loss.

Contrary to many, I am particularly fond of solid core power cord. All my power cords are solid core design. A super clean bass is my upmost priority, follows by clear not lush mid band and extended highs. Trust me, you don't want dirty bass plaguing the rest of the frequency range. Dynamic, O yes, I could not have enough!

I will not bore you further with fluff, more power cords score cards to come next year. I am done for this year. Merry Christmas everybody.

Durian tales

A babe will make me stop from what I am doing, nothing more but drooling. Opposite attraction, I am straight, ok. What makes you stop from what you are doing, sit you down and listen? What float your boat might not float mine. I felt too many pay too much attention to the essential mids. Limited bandwidth is a thing of the past.

Of all, bass is the hardest to get it right. Today's high end is 成也唄士， 敗也唄士, lame bass has no place in high fidelity. Like it or not, bass is still the measure of greatness liken your car to your success. Me? Still driving a soon to be ten years old car, that's not something I am particularly proud of.

"Hey! Been there last night, X got really good vocal. You should go and listen".
"Sad thing no bass".

Great mids, nobody care anymore?

The above conversations shouldn't be unheard of. Probably you have said it hundreds time too. For all the wrong reasons, having great mids get you nowhere. I'm sorry for some that do not have a dedicated room for audio. I feel your pain, don't bite me. Your option is to move to suburb for a more spacious living or make more money or rent a sizable room for audio. You know what people say, there is a will and there is a way. When there is no way, go headphone. Please be warned, using headphone is also the start of gradual hearing loss for inresistible to the temptation of banging away. Your delicate eardrums are vulnerable to those constant beating.

Moving forward, when bass starts attracting your attention that is when you start counting the beat. Because beat is the metering, everything revolves around it. Beat is the sun, the earth is orbiting the sun not the other way around. This is how trained musicians listen, they listen to the beat when to come in and when not, you know what I am saying. Timing is big, inconsistent beat is a turn off, it throw music off, it throw you off as well. This, my friend, does not take educated ears to know.

Bass ranges from 0 - 250Hz. A quick run on bass, upper bass covers 150 - 250Hz, mid bass 80 - 150Hz and low bass 0 - 80Hz. Upper and mid bass are the architecture to Jazz which is predominantly drum. Weak upper bass get you effeminateness, your female vocals get the premature vocality, does not reflect truth. The upper bass gives male vocal the guttural characteristics, full and with body. I suggest you listen first to internet radio via your mobile, you will be amazed how natural the female vocals are.

Pipe organ, piano, bass viola, contra bassoon, bass tuba and tympani step into lower bass region, the foundation classical music. A linear bass down to 30Hz is desirable for most classical fans. Big boys with deep pocket stretch to 20Hz. That extra 10Hz will cost a bomb and when they do, it is not the same playing field where 1 + 1 = 2. Their 30Hz differs in quantity, quality and effortlessness than those lesser capable cousins made out to be.

In dollar sense, you can get decent highs and mids with a pair bookshelf speaker. Cheap bookshelf speakers get you a fun mirror reflection, fun but ain't real. Quality bookshelf speakers get you a passport photo with nothing below. Entry level floorstand speakers get you a portrait with ill-defined images by an amateur photographer. You need to spend quite a bit to have convincing images.

What is your bass preference? Little bass, puny bass, fat bass, smooth bass, hard bass, bulldozing bass, rumbling bass etc, I like my mid bass to be dry as vodka dry. Think fast, attack, tenacity and forward. How do you relate wetness to bass?

For illustration purpose, durian. Craved by the locals, durian is the king of local fruits. It is a matter of love and hate, white people would not dare to come close, neither black people. People in between love them. A good durian is 黃肉乾包, literally means yellow hue with dry texture. A premium durian experience is the fleshy durian pasted on your air way, pack with flavor, the aroma lingers for hours, slowly melts away when each swallow of saliva. Good durian gives fulfilling satisfactions, two seeds are all it takes. On the contrary, overnight durian is poor quality durian, soggy and slurry in nature. Taking these durian give an unfulfilling feeling, you are motivated to hunt good durians.

The dry bass has many resemblances to premium durian, dry and somewhat "dense" texture. Not messy but weighty, solidly defined, consistent and with plenty of grunt. On the other hand, the overnight durian is unassuring, no feedback, poor tenacity and ill-defined. Incidentally, KF can't hide his excitement with his new found "dry bass", climax ever since. He is being blown away, somebody call fire squad. I can see the poor chef weeping tear-lessly for he is far left behind. KF triumphs again.

So KF is getting cute with his dry bass, but I learned a new terminology, "numb bass". When the bass gets big and low enough, they become omnipresent and collide against each others, creating an indescribable intervening numbness sensation. This requires a system that able to go down to 20Hz cleanly in a fairly big room, not those small subs with ridiculous claims going down to 20Hz. They do not cut it and there aren't many systems with such bass caliber, mine included. KF is seeing stars above his head with me now.

Now, speaker makers are out crafting its niche by their voicing to appeal to their consumers. The bass has a profound impact to the sound as long as it does not intrude into mids. When you relate wetness to bass, you are compromising speed, specificity and definition. One acid test, play Michael Jackson's Billie Jeans or The way you make me feel, see if they move you. Count the meter, you'll find what I found. Each stroke of bass should be clean and rhythmic, the timing must be spot on.  The bass dryness will creep into the bread and butter mids, as such, somewhat drier vocals. I do not mind that because the instruments deemed to sound more rightly that way. Listen to piano, listen to trumpet, listen to violin, listen to saxophone, listen listen listen. That's the best I can discern bass. Unless proven otherwise, work on your bass. The reward is there for you to claim.

Game enough?

No matter how many time you wash your car, your bucket of water still murky, only that the water gets less murkier than the one before. We, fi thirst for transparency. With each layer of haze removed, details prevail. I was all soak up with the spatial thing. The nuance decaying into the deeper soundfield thrills me, goosebumps. Little did I know, I have less tolerance with sonic haze. This is evidenced when listen to others.

What is life anyway? The routine eat, work and sleep? Long before the birth of toy, men busy make babies. Hobby induces nonsensical behavior. Give me my toy and I will stop harassing you. We have property bubbles but how come no audio bubbles? Audio prices rise way beyond our salary, this indeed is a sad story. Smell of troubles? Let tomorrow worry for itself. I could not spend lavishly as some could but I can tweak, I tweak like no tomorrow.

Resonance control is one area not to be neglected. It's role is bigger than we could have ever imagined. Speaker stand is a very good example and do not play down the importance of audio rack too. Good audio racks do not come cheap, you get what you pay. ET spider rack serves me well, it is versatile too. It allows me to mix and match with different hardness coefficient, rather than the supplied rubber footers. Moving forward, power cord resonance control is a game changer. Virtual Dynamic adds sands in their power cord line up, Accustic Arts with ferrite beads to curb vibrations, EFI and RFI, what more cotton fiber filling, cable jacket and cable sleeve. That's how garden hose power cords come about.

Long before that, all plugs sit on a support for the sake of minimising resonance. You know it too, in some cases, the sagging connections are not tight fit. These are eye sore to me, don't they to you? A steady connectivity is vital to any system. Taking a twist, I sit my power cords on PU foam (fruit packaging) and egg crates.

Egg crate is a cost effective resonance control. I see many hawkers place their chopping board on egg crates for cushioning, each chop receives less feedback. I am using plastic egg crate presently until I get some paper egg crates. You can savage these things from your kitchen. Unless you have amber space to afford the luxury of placing your rigs on the floor, that would be ideal. The best that I can come up with is partial resonance control on the power cords.

Now, the most intriguing things about power cord resonance control, it brings different results with where the resonance control at. This, I had been told. You will have to get your hands dirty and bend your back a bit. A tip, fine tune at both ends of power cord by moving the supports. If that not satisfactory, you may want to sag the power cord at certain point for tuning. Transparency and tonal balance are what you get at the end of the day, experience the off loading effect. Ideally, you might want your power cords to be less coiled/less stressed and leveled. This is easier said than done.

Holy cow! My eyes pop for my system responds to the slightest things I do, it speaks up. Slap me, somebody! Constant tuning sort of sharpen my listening skills. I do not believe the golden ear theory. Your listening abilities are as good as mine but knowing what to listen is another matter. With the resonance control in place, the upper bass muddiness has been offloading, phenomenal. The sound gets lighter and swifter.

Ruggiero Ricci playing Wieniawski under Dynamic label, wow! The bow actions and the nuances and subtleties are crazy. Dynamic label is known for transparency and clean recording, all hifi attributes you ever asked for are there. Ruggiero recorded this album at 65, for many couldn't ever hold a glass steady at that age. Remarkable hand-mind coordination at 65, I just hope that I won't be needing a walking stick then. The pesticide in our vegetation, the beta agonists in our livestock, the food chemical ... are taxing our bodies.

This CD will reveal the shortcoming of ill balanced sounding system. Ruggiero's playing is fiery and explosive, working the strings like modern violinist. Great technical command, he is a violin tactician. He plays with Guaneri De Gesus, a violin known for its dark G tone, powerful perfectly complimenting his aggressive play. Now, every violinist has a playing signature, some are more distinct than the others. Ruggiero camps on Heifetz side, technical prowess and fast. Sounded a little cold, oppose to David Oistrakh or Itzhak Perlman, they fiddle the violin with tone color.

You have got to be careful with this CD, it will sound dry and agitated like not getting paid for his performance.  With the wrong power cord, I can't help feeling the violin virtuoso is rushing his performance to get off the stage for his beer.

The complexity of piano harmonic can not be duplicated, the intermittent sub harmonics of keyboard, hammer, strings, sound board and pedals, all in one harmonic. The microphone could not capture the abundance of information of piano, in close distance, the nuances of piano is overwhelming. This effect fades when distance comes into play. Hence, listening from 10 feet away will not be better than what is reproduced from the CD unless you have Elf hearing ability. One of the measures of a system is how much rightness of piano reproduction and the overtones preservation.

Richter plays Debussy is one of my treasured CDs. Richter first live recording on CD, how about that! Sviatoslav Richter was a difficult pianist, he was reported walking out of a performance for no valid reasons. But his piano artistry is truly amazing, he is right there with the greatest there is. Far out weight his difficult personality, but we all forgive him when the maestro started to play. The CD is under a Russian label? I was skeptical about the recording nevertheless. Boy! The recording turned out to be sssu....perb.

The reverberations were everywhere. The wooden floor, the wobbling mike, the ventilation, scary realism. The ringing of the strings is forever, tide after tide. You do not get any better imperfection than this and the imperfection renders realistic. With power cord resonance control on, nuances become tangible as if I was on stage with him.

In short, we can not kill resonance but we can control it. The reward is transparency. Transparency allows us to count head in choral works, greater tangibility and spatial separation. This underlies a balancing act, transparency/density trade off. Mom used to say, you can't have your cake and eat it too. So, pandai pandai lah sendiri. The resonance control will dilute the character of power cord. My DIY WE power cord sounded as if had shed off some fat. I am happy to hear the overtones wholeness, that's to me is gold. And isn't this fidelity we all strive to achieve? Try this and tell me if I am wrong.

BMC PureDAC follow up

The cruel AB test, definitely not in my place because I will have a hard time letting the winning component leave. O my wallet is thin enough already! Furthermore, the changing of component in my system is a big hassle, have to deal with the delicate isolation and space constraint isn't conducive for equipment changing. Thus, I jumped on the opportunity to see BMC PureDAC steps in to the ring with the mighty dCS Debussy in a Wilson Sasha based system in a friend's place.

Stereophile reports, "Inside is the latest version of dCS's software-updatable "Ring DAC." This is a five-bit design, operating at 2.822 or 3.07MHz and handling the audio data in a proprietary five-bit format at DSD's sample frequency. All incoming digital data are oversampled to this format before being converted to analog". http://www.stereophile.com/content/dcs-debussy-da-processor  This is neither a 1 bit nor multi-bit machine.

Proprietary software and chipset are great cool sentiment, however if the product is sold few, no economy of scale. Cool factor for a price, someone will have to burden the cost. This is basic costing.

On the other hand, PureDAC uses common chipset. The design team was working on perfecting the circuitry to optimize the chipset. No rocket science and marketing hyperbole. Just plain ol school good engineering. PureDAC throws in DSD 128, this is a welcoming feature since digital evolution is light speed. Anything over three digital years is deemed obsolete. Future proof is a plus point.

The name dCS weights a ton, considered by many an untouchable icon in digital playback. By any standard, this PK is completely insane especially in term of price. BMC is neither BMW nor BMC bike, new kids on the block. Debussy is going for RM40k while PureDAC is RM7k+ locally, that's a difference of six fold in price. Does PureDAC have the David's sling?  Let's get on to it .......

I give praise to this Sasha based system because it is one of the better Wilson systems. The owner tireless efforts to get the best of Sasha is admirable, he tries everything under the sun to make Sasha shine. His strive for good sound will one day makes him a guru. There is no cut to experience.

Typically, Wilsons with its revealing nature require skill to set them up right, definitely not a novice's speaker. Much like Messi and ex Barca coach Pep Guardiola, they learn and relearn from each other. Both of them bring out the best of each other. The virtues of Wilson that we all come to know are, realism, dynamic, soundstage and bass slam. They are considered the best value in high end for what they capable of but not the most finesse by the world standard. Their European cousins fare much better in finesse department.

We began listening to Debussy, drives the amp direct. O gosh! The system sounded punctured like a tired old man running up the stairs. Blame Wilson Sashas for gain demanding, a lazy buffalo needs whipping to work. Nevertheless, the observations were based on 2 volts output albeit lacking in gain.

Tonality
In term of timbre honesty, Debussy is perceived to be more accurate. And accuracy always comes in the expense of musicality. Right out from the box, PureDAC is musical, has a noticeable bloom exhibiting romanticism. This tube like romanticism does vocal palpable, warm, organic and soft leading edges. No long hours listening fatigue. The succulent and liquidity qualities are the hallmarks of great vocal reproduction, free of digitis. Most dacs these days manage jitters far better, I have no complaint here. The blooming renders 3D images, projecting some meat to the bone. Debussy in contrast is leaner, colder and a tad quicker comparatively. 

Due to the forward midrange, PureDAC could easily misinterpreted as less detailed. Far from edgy, the highs has a rounded quality but I would not think the highs are rolled off. I could hear all there is to be heard only the extension is slightly short lived compares with Debussy. Debussy is more extended, the decay hangs around slightly longer, presenting a more airy and spacious soundscape. Having said that, in absolute linearity, Debussy highs still sound rosy, delicate, sweetened compares with say EMM Labs, a stone cold accurate DAC.

Debussy's leaner bass demeanor has the quick and bounciness that I prefer. Both dives equally deep. PureDAC has a fuller bass. 

Soundstage
The illusion of soundstage is room size dependent. In the battle of soundstage, Debussy wins, hand down. It manages to depict a wider and deeper soundstage, thanks to Debussy more extended highs. Both equally competent doing the spooky spatial thing with Stonehenge like images, capable of withstanding the storm. Credits to the amp for the iron fist control. Again, the spatial thing is what Debussy known for did not disappoint.

Transparency
Utilizing digital volume control, PureDAC steps all over Debussy albeit lacks of gain. We listened to softies. BMC's Digital Intelligent Gain Management is superior to yesteryear digital volume. Debussy has a hazy presentation in comparison. This did not surprise me. I had a good read about its voltage volume control and this listening reconfirmed my findings. The more traveling distance of signal will prone to more signal loss and sonic degradation.

There is no way you can cheat the battle of signal loss. I am a staunch subscriber of minimalist audio - less component and tuned via cables and tweaking. That's of course if you wanted a specific sonic signature of a particular brand, pre and power is the way to go.

Dynamic
A tie, probably PureDAC has an edge in dynamic but not as quick as Debussy. A worthy note, PureDAC sits on Debussy, while Debussy was rested on Nordost Sort Kones. We all know how isolation can do, right. It is not surprise to see that Debussy is more exciting but they were not compare on a fair ground.

Conclusion
A durian falls from the tree, the fruit is ripe according to the planter but it is the work of gravity for the scientist. Who is right? In a span of two months, I have heard two sub RM8k new dacs come close to dCS in performance. PureDAC is one of them. Competitors are catching up. To my ears, entry level dCS's might is narrowed and certainly not six fold the price would suggest.

Both Debussy and PureDAC are not able to drive direct to the amp but PureDAC gives a good run for the money taking into account that PureDAC was just taken out fresh out from the box. We all love underdog, don't we?

PureDAC is the most tube like solid state dac I have ever heard. Given some break in time and a right power cord, PureDAC will pop eyes!!!

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.

Guangzhou AV Show 2013

Audio show is an avenue for us to listen something that we have no chance of listening, said a smart ass and I could not agree with him more. No difference than luxury car shows, that's makes me smart ass No. 2. So, we had our sight on Guangzhou AV show this time and had been planning this trip for more than 6 months, taking advantage of cheap AirAsia fares. For the sake of ease of coordination, we limit the members. Small group, least waiting.

Guangzhou AV Show has split into two shows at two different venues and time this year. There will be another bigger one in the coming December promises more exhibits, a mixture of high, mid and low end from local and import.

Thanks to a good plan, we hopped on the subway and got there smoothly. Entrance cost RMB50 per head, a well printed brochure and a commemorative CD. The show occupied two floors, twenty eight big rooms, my guess is thirty feet width, fifty feet long, eighteen feet height. Phew...., all big rooms. The room is bigger than my house!

Crowds were not coming as yet, we were the early bird. 

Audio Note + Avantgarde Uno Nano combo is not unfamiliar to me. This combo sounded musical enough without the aggression of the lower treble that would boots me out of the room. I have a little concern if the combo sounded a little metallic, I guess I was wrong. What do you know, horns tend to be metallic, aggressive and raw. They played soft music, no chance to attest their bass performance. Anyhow, this system certainly not for the bass freak who is looking the ultimate punch to fill his ego up.

My O my, Primare or Arcam + KEF LS50 combo rocks, I can't remember which is which. The sound was room filling beyond my imagination. Even at high volume, KEF LS50s maintained their composure though weakening output from 70Hz below. The dealer was smart to play materials to avoid weaknesses. It was a daunting task for 5'5" driver to cover full range and I was taken in by LS50 expansive soundstage. KEF sound has morphed from dark and sunny. It was a commendable system nevertheless, you got to hear to believe. Dollar per dollar, KEF LS50 gives a run for the money.

PMC Fact 12 was premiere in the show. Driven hard via German AVM Ovation MA8 power house, 1000W into 4 ohm. My initial impression "Wow, these new Fact 12s got balls". My past experience with transmission line speakers is slow bass but I heard none of that with PMC. There must be something PMC do right here. The size of the speaker fits perfectly in many Asian homes. You guys know PMC sound signature, neutral, business like and linear. Neither thick or thin, they certainly do not add or subtract the sound. Though they may not grab your attention instantly, they grow on you.

Naim + Naim Ovator S800, quick, agile and exciting. Ovator S800 is bigger than the image suggest. That's my note in my head though the sound is not my cup of tea. Something is missing for me, the sound was not well marinated.

Seen on the pix is Constellation flagship Hercules, capable of 1100W at 8 ohm. If you are aware, Constellation Audio designers are of Mark Levinson and John Curl, impressive credential nevertheless. We wondered around to hear what they are capable of but they were not meant to be heard after all. Technical breakdown, they found DC leak somewhere and clipped the fuse both Hercules and Performance. Bad show.

MBL in full assault. The sound has a level of effortless that makes them unique. The highs nevertheless, in a league of its own. This thing sounded open, real open. Credits go to their boxless coloration. Classical on them is simply awesome as they reproduce the spatial thing like no other. White, mmmm is not a good choice of color, I prefer the signature black and gold.

This system is one of group member most anxious to hear, Boulder 2150 + Wilson Alexia. I have listened to many power house through Wilson to come to conclude Wilson is a sonic chameleon, a very revealing transducer. You get what you feed. Wilson employed silk dome tweeters that set new Wilson apart from the old. Hence, the highs is more bodied, civilized, polite and rounded as compares with Focal inverted tweeter. Perhaps, Focal tweeters sounded a tad livelier. I was a little disappointed with the combo, the low bass could have more weight.

What's a piece of engineering marvel! Super neat circuitry. The milled aluminum enclosure spells High End. Brushed aluminum has now become the color of High End.

They say beauty lies in the eye of a beholder, I sure hope that they guy came up this does not suffer from vision impairment. Jadis Olympias do look ugly to me. French, along with the Japanese are horn loving nation. SET amps are the preferred amplification. Driven by Jadis electronics, the vocal has the exquisite sweetness that Jadis comes to known for. When comes to horn, nasality, shoutiness and coherence are definite deal breaker. Manage it, you will have an awesome speaker. Playing Olympias within their mean, they will reward you handsomely.

T+A electronic from Germany on static display. T+A is the larger audio company in Germany, and knowing German, they are technical inclined.

This is one of speaker I eager to listen, Cabasse La Sphere active speaker. Cabasse produces musical instrument before they move into speaker making. The father of coherent point source, four way speakers with twenty two inch bass driver. La Shere is capable of going down to 20Hz flat. It is a piece of technical wonder, full range point source in sphere enclosure. Sphere enclosure offers no standing waves. Cabasse wanted La Sphere to behave like a microphone emanating all frequencies from a single point. They sounded tight, forward, immediate, omni directional bass, work for you? A giant eye, these are definitely eye catcher.

This Tidal T 1, four tower speakers via Tidal electronics. German again, yoooo! These smell expensive, indeed they do. Auntie also knows which to hear! Come on guys, impress me with big music. Now, here's a thing. They play soft material at low volume, none of that able to make the featured system shine. We returned again at 5pm hoping to catch some big actions, they were closing and asked us to come back the next day. What's a waste of time!

Dynaudio Evidence Platinums are in the house, the new flagship of Dynaudio. Here's the thing, I could not quite figure out how Dynaudio could squeeze out serious bass from the twin slim towers? No angry spreading necks looking like the Confidence series, Evidence Platiniums look better contoured. They resemble the Dyanudio signature sound, dense, punchy, weighty and rock steady images. I like what I'm hearing. However, the aesthetic of the speakers did not commensurate with the price. I was expecting more intimating physic. Sometimes, look alone can impress before they sing.

Eventus Audio on silence display.

Guess what, Soulution + Eventus. I did not get to listen to this. Shot! A favourite of a group member but I missed it. Shame on me!

French Jean-Marie Reynaud, JMRs lining up. Tweeter eye, who copies who?

Modwright + JMR, an American and French marriage.

Newcomer Italiano Impeto? Look ordinary, sound ordinary too.

ATC SCM300ASLT anyone? ATC physic looks like a refrigerator, punching out a lot of air. If only the highs could be a bit more.....detail a bit more exciting...... Nope, I'm not sold, sorry guys.

KR Audio, king of SET?

Danish Avance's flagship Super Century, don't they look like Gryphon Atlantis. They sounded airy, warm, detailed and dynamic, a sound resembling the Nordic. They have more sparkling highs than the Dyn.

Another Italiano in the house, the flagship Rosso Fiorentino Florentina. These things sounded neutral, fast, dynamic and with plenty of bass, without the heaviness of note that we all get accustomed to Italian gears.

Rosso Fiorentino Florentina's younger siblings, unplugged

Nagra + Wilson Benesch A.C.T seems cheap among the exhibits. Nagra 845 based power amps, pump out 50 solid watt. The magic of SET, the masculine of 845, the finesse of Wilson Benesch, what do you get?

The better sound comes from Darzeel + Wilson Benesch Cardinal was playing at the other corner. It struck me that the sound was heavenly. It led me to think Darzeel and Wilson Benesch combo is a match made in heaven. It has the rightness to the sound. My jaw was on the floor. Dude, it was that good. Bass-phile, can't find home here.

Meridian all digital assault. Forgive me, I am not impressive.

This combo requires no introduction, McIntosh + Focal

We heard them in KLIAVS 2013 but Focal Grand Utopia EMs were showcased there. McIntosh was a good match. This system has the potential to rock the house with gut wrenching bass. Grand Utopia moves serious amount of air.

JBLs looked intimated.

Sexy red Tannoy Kingdom Royal, snug at one corner.

No, these things belong to the museum. As we were browsing, a pair of Tannoy sneaked and roared from behind by these vintages. They gave me the knee jerk. The bass was huge that got our attention. We quickly find a seat, behave and eat our humble pie, listening for more. They entertained a request, a Chinese asked for Teresa Teng. O! Not that! I nearly fell off the chair. Play big music, man. Even the white man went back stage.

He he he! I will be testing these cables from Switzerland after return home.

Conclusion :

In a sea of audio products and expensive exhibition cost, the dealers must capitalize the event to cast an impression in the head of the show goers. Mediocre effort, better not exhibit at all. Not only it jeopardize the brands they carry but wasting resources.

Big system demonstrates big music to show what they are capable of, instead they play simple music that absolutely does not make sense. If only vocal, there are plenty of choice and do not cost astronomical prices. This is my major grumble. For the price they are asking, I wanted to hear tonality, dynamic, transient and low level resolution. These things cost money. That's what I can generalize things over here. Who need a system listening solely to vocal?

None of the systems sound shitty. All system manage varying degree of accomplishment in tonality, soundstage, dynamic, low level detail, coherence, build quality and bandwidth. I bet your preference differs from mine, so, if you are serious, go to your nearest dealer for an audition. Don't be sorry purchasing without auditioning first or just reading review. I do understand that some dealers are miles away, if you buy based on review, your passion is as big as a nut. Be a sheep dog instead of a sheep.

Will I return next year for the show, probably not.

Need Based Audio

Yo yo yo, what's up, what's up! Just came back from Guangzhou Audio Visual Show, China.

Met the men, Leo Fung and 葉振棠 (Johnny Ip). Leo Fung as always dressed in black with all comb over with a ponytail, a  signature he keeps for donkey years. The man is an important figure in audio and recording industries, his famous "black room" attracted many audio pilgrims. Johnny made his name singing Canton pop in the 70s - 80s when the Canton soap drama was at all time high. At 70 years old, his vocal is still very good. He sang without any accompanies in the show, he maintained a masterful composure. No breathing complication. Little that I know, he has just release an album.

Thought of writing tweaks, but then again better not. "Shen Gong" (the black art), the effect is only appreciated by some and considered a work in the mind of the other some. To the latter, it is a state of psychology, feel good having them around. Different school of thought, eh. No invitation to open debate. Look, there are all kind of birds, only few can sing.

High End Audio these days for their astronomical prices are not solely sound quality but the pride of ownership. High End audio prices today are unimaginable back 20 years ago! You can do a lot of things with the money then. Is High End shrinking? Is High End dying? Are High End companies going for the kill? And since they don't sell many, it makes sense to jack up the price to make up for the earning. There are two sides of the story, both are unsubstantiated. Arguably, high price is the great divide, you are either High End or commoner, eh? One thing for sure is that owing a kiss ass mega system certainly grants higher self esteem than owing a luxury car. There is a perceived effort from the owner to make the system sounds good, while as luxury cars, you do not.

Buying a high end audio is a launching pad to audio stardom. Instant talk of the town, the audio community is gladly inducting a new member into the hall of fame. An  exclusive club. Chill dude, segregation happens in every aspect of our life.  Even the banks have premier banking and what not, catering fat pocket customers. Good private schools too require the parents to be in high social ranking! Exclusive clubs,  exclusive restaurants, exclusive this and exclusive that, you name it. In the world of consumerism, who care? The rich don't understand the poor, the poor don't understand the rich. And value is not in the rich men's vocabulary. Rarity, history, technologies, branding, being the best are neither in the poor men's vocabulary too. Substandard stuff, mai liao si gan, don't waste time. It has become our catchy phrase.

Coincidentally, a brand with impressive built, rocket science technologies, glowing reviews and industrial credibility bears a high price tag, I was having high expectation on a component but utterly let down by their lacklustre  performance. This is half million Ringgit piece of component. Guys, if you wanted to buy High End, audition is a must. Look! This system is setup by the dealer. Trusting online reviews? It is better off trusting your hearing.

Ironically, the mid price audio is also raising prices to keep up their game.  The combination of these factors promotes DIY audio, catering the needs of the unprivileged fi like me. Value is a big thing, I would think twice buying a high end component even if it is a pre owned component. A high end component in a budget system? You get the graze in people's eyes, mockery follows. What's a waste of time explaining the justification?

Need based audio, which is how I look at things. Buy what is necessary. Of all components, you don't mess with CD player and speaker. The former is too technical and too many parts to handle, even some High End companies don't get their hands dirty making CD player. Japanese are good with delicate parts. Many High End companies utilise Japanese transport, mod and re-badge it. Chinese and Korean are starting to their presence felt. I found truth in one Ang Mor saying. He says "MBA trains people to make the number looks good. They shut down factories, they retrench people, they outsource, they rent building, they subcontract, they buy technologies, they acquire competitors, they only keep their design teams for the sake of keeping the number looks good. It will only looks good in short term! Little do they do, they are slowly killing themselves in the long term." How do you innovate without manufacturing facilities? The higher management level, the least they know about operation and products. How do they drive the company? I called them Number Intelligence, good at crushing the numbers but poor at generating revenue.

Speaker building requires skills and testing facilities. It is more of an art than science. Even with the latest software and testing facilities, the Chinese can launch a satellite to the orbit but can't deliver in audio. It is a skill they have not mastered. The Japanese developed the Beryllium drivers in 1977, employed in Yamaha NS1000. Yamaha NS1000 is the most well known speaker from the East ever making its way into pro sound. Twenty years later, we see the wide use of Beryllium tweeter.  However, Japanese giant, Pioneer Corporation seeks help from the Ang Mor (the Whites) to develop their flagship. These capabilities, even the Japanese  do not have it. What left on the table now, DAC and amplifier, unless you demand the state of the art amplification with rocket science technologies, ultra wide bandwidth, huge current delivery unfazed of 1 ohm devil speaker impedance, unlimited dynamic, speeding bullet transient etc etc, these require serious technologies.

Now, unless you are brand conscious and resale value conscious, you have my blessings to go High End. It is your money anyway. But now, Customized Audio is slowing picking up pace especially in the States, UK, EU, and many other countries. CA is strictly for those who know what he exactly wants and in for a long haul (the jaded fi). No more buy and trade audio components merry-go-round. The designer will determine either current feedback, voltage feedback or no feedback amps to mate with the speakers. I have heard a RM60k+ branded power amp (no name to be disclosed) was blown away by a local customized amp. The performance disparity was great, the branded amp sounded mediocre after direct comparison. Everyone who has listened to the system, got really impressed. The real beauty of it is the price is one sixth of the branded amp.

System synergy accounts for a big share of ill sound. The amp and speaker relationship is largely mystical. The only way to find out if there is a cordial relationship is to test it out. Dealers these days, gladly loan amp to test but their faces quickly turned sour if the sale was not realized. Let's us not to be deceived. If good resale value is a concern, go other investment instruments but audio. Audio is never a good investment tool and of course you do gong (got lucky) sometimes. Believe me, the odds are against you. Insufficient fund for audio purchase, save up. Don't fall for short term consolation, you stand to lose at both ends.