Little Rascal

Ha ha, turns gold

Ever wonder sometimes everything you touch turns gold? I wouldn't mind. A string of bad luck, tell me about it. Don't they come lining up? Really shui, choi, choi choi! People do funny things to get rid of bad luck, floral bath, prayer and hitting little people. You do whatever work for you. Staying optimistic is the way of life, the load will seem lighter. Personally, I am no boot licker, I am who I am, staying politically correct but will not be cheating myself and going along with the crowds.

Art without engineering is dreaming, 

engineering without art is calculating. 

- Steven Roberts

"Naturalism is boring". Even vast majority of high end audio are not free of colorations, they carry a sound of their own. They claim themselves natural sounding. I can only assume it is difficult to sell the concept of "soundless-ness".

Doesn't she looks natural? A prick focuses on arm and body ratio to figure if she is fat.

Attractive sound and natural sound is the crossroads ahead of us, just like voting for right or left wing in politics. It does get to your nerve sometimes. This is a thorny issue, where friend turns enemy if not tactful. Emotional Quotient is the art of being a human being. I have seen many high IQ, low EQ people, personally, I maintain a distance from them. They are a pain in the arse.

I want, I want

Everyone embark on different journey on a different ride in a different vehicle. You are doing OK if you could soak up the bumpy ride. And you couldn't, do something about it. The source, phono stage, preamp and speaker are IMO are the tonal gatekeeper, they impose significant impact on the sound. Messing up there, you are foolishly screwing yourself over. In my case, preamp is the kingmaker in my minimalist system. I have had my fair share of acquaintance with IC based preamp, LDR preamp, Autoformer preamp, plain Jane volume potentiometer, M7 clone and now, active preamp, all that doesn't make me an expert, I am still learning. Everyday presents a new learning opportunity. It too, tells me that it is hard to sell a USD30k passive preamp in which circuit could be easily be duplicated? To the potential customers, it is perceived as poor value.

Albert Einstein once quoted "Make things as simple as possible but not simpler." Steve Jobs says "If you define the problem correctly, you almost have the solution" is equally brilliant. "Many topologies under the sky, it is about you living with its shortcomings". I couldn't believe I said that!

Admittedly, I have a soft spot for passive preamp, for its simplicity, for its honesty. Purely on my experience, passive preamp does the least editing to the sound. Short signal path, no caps and resistors in the signal path, executions and bla bla bla remained to be the holy audio citations. It doesn't take a scientist to figure that out. Still, as simple as it is, there are many things the constructor didn't let the cat out of the bag. Simple but not too simple. Conventional passive preamp inherits a glaring inadequacy; impedance matching. Poorly matched impedance will even make your dog doss off. In any case, you will never get much help (gain) from passive preamp which will rules power hungry speakers out. Thus, if the impedance issue is resolved, this will throw opportunity wide open.

Little rascal

Merriam-Webster defines rascal as a person and especially a young person who causes trouble or does things that annoy people. We need shake up in life, sometimes. Little Rascal, couldn't more appropriate name for this unassuming passive preamp.

Little rascal

Hot on the wheel Little Rascal fills the void left by the departure of Kronos Sparta in the same week.

Misty 

The impression is ruthlessly revealing, Little Rascal didn't hide anything. Recording compression, noise filtering and ambiance retrieval go under the microscope. I am now auditing the recording! A sense of nuances (not veil) filling up the space. Shot, there's a thin mist I didn't know exist from my resident preamp. Little Rascal is as quiet as a mouse, no hiss or noise hearing tweeters up close. A sign of well executed grounding job, nothing stands in between the music and me.

A recording marvel, a rare sampler I could live with

Got this "The Absolute Sound Reference" Vol no. 2 of Munich High End Show sampler from a friend, enormous energy downpour when cranked from 12 (0dB) to 2 o'clock, showtime! The stage is set, headroom is bigger than usual. This headroom effect is diminishing corresponding to the height of ceiling. This is altogether another acoustic topic. From beautiful timbre of acoustic instruments, voices, percussion and cinematic effects, the gain of the recording was consistently through out, the sound is with authority. This is one rare sampler I could live with. The sound has no non sense directness, a trait innately associated with live music. Some may distaste blatant presentation, but it sounds music to me.

I cherish Little Rascal's musical correctness and the way it evokes my emotional response, like never before. It loaded down emotions. Couldn't it be immediacy, dynamic, transparency or dared honesty? In complete bewilderment, I couldn't figure out. When the sound meets ear, my heart overflows with joy, the emotion floodgates are opened! An abstract feeling nevertheless, I can't say it will do the same to you. Yes, you can say I am bias. Little Rascal makes music music. In this sense, Little Rascal is my audio redeemer.

Albeit no tubes in the circuit, Little Rascal doesn't sound all that solid state. The lushness tips the tonal balance over slightly to the warm side, smoothing some digital hardness. It was a joy listening to Barbra Streisand's Duets by Priarity Records 2002, the lovely ballads. No falsetto, no vibrato, no deliberate vocal showmanship either, the delivery is smooth, so effortlessly emotional and almost poetic and not to mention her angelical voice to boot. Her Broadway influence is evidenced, going from crescendo to fortissimo, p to ff taking off is like a brisk. She is incredible. Distinguishing vocalist specificity is as easy as 1, 2, 3. On "Tell him" a duet with Celine Dion, Barbra crossfires with Celine is exemplary.

Bell like highs and pastel edge delineation, I'm not complaining. Never have I gathered any sharp delineation in live music. Razor sharp edge delineation brings about listening fatigue. In saying so, Little Rascal is detail enough to excite. I am not missing anything. Moving downstairs, the bass hits the basement, more extended than my resident preamp, by half a mile. Dave Brubeck Quartet's Time Out SACD mastered by Bernie Grundman came in just in time for the task. This SACD is the best Time Out digital recording (read a-comparison-of-eleven-versions-of-dave-brubecks-time-out). Some even suspect my bass drivers were not wired up, Little Rascal will make their heads turn. Take Five drum strokes is a stellar benchmark for percussion. Each drum stroke exhibits different tone, color, texture and overtones. Shared by a Master, drum stroke proximity test is a testament of honesty. The variations of drum stroke changes mood, this is electric! He he, mo lao fung (no leaked air)!

Feeling great look down on top 

Viva, viva, viva ....! Raising my arms in the air, I am doing my victory lap already. Tears start rolling down my old cheeks. Little Rascal renders up front images, bold, lifelike, rock steady, big soundstage and a third row presentation. A no-brainer, it puts me back on the right path to sonic heaven. This means less bumpy ride ahead, my finishing line is in sight. A sweet consolation for the 25 years culmination of DIY, the constructor is retiring on a high note. Much gratitude to my fellow unsung hero, I couldn't thank him enough!