Rooster tales

Cock is nothing ever good, especially to Chinese. We all know what cocky means, nevertheless, cock eyes (jealousy), cock ear (tone-deaf), cock brain (stupidity), cock (bad); these adjectives convey negativity. Except death chicken (too good a deal to pass up), we all are sucker for good deals.

Good sound is not accidental, absolutely not. It will drop from the sky. You need work on it. Bingo is rare, is only wishful thinking. The essential KPI of your sound, without a doubt, is your set up skills. Better electronics and better speakers will up the sonic performance, they will not beat a difficult room.

Friends don't understand me, what's up with this guy and his tuning. It seems like forever. Evolution takes place in small steps. Well, I'm a poor audiophile. Tweaking is poor man's audioing. I can understand big boys splashing huge cash going straight to the top because they have no time and money to waste. Their time is better spent with something else, tweaking is unproductive for them. Besides, they "buy" the dealer/s' expertise and experience, setting a system in their home when buying a high end system. Other eager dealers who want make some sales will have to prove their merchandise worth in their system. Zero risks. Stay if it work. Home-trial at the average audiophile home only happens in a dream. We don't have that luxury of home-trial unless you're a close friend of a dealer or some kind.

So, what am I busy with? Resonance optimization; it doesn't cost much money. Trying anything I can lay my hands on, I work on the principal that different materials have different resonance modes and difference materials curb resonance better, starts with two materials. The combo might seem infinite; wood, marble, carbon fiber and metal so far have been my experimentation objects. Once you work on it, you get the hang of it. Never work on it, spare me the talk.

As the time of my blogging, I'm can't say I totally happy with my highs. No matter how I try, it still fall short of life likeness. Somehow, somewhere, it must have diminished along the link. My sights set at my PCOCC speaker multi-strand cables, blame my crave for PCOCC. Don't get me wrong, PCOCC has its merits, it's addictive midrange and tonal density is exemplary. Relative narrow bandwidth is the deal breaker, strictly for me. I think different geometry may have resulted different outcome but this is something I can't thump my chest to confirm. I'm a sucker for ultra wide bandwidth.

Given that my speakers are bi-wirable, my choice is rather straight forward. Factory terminated speaker cable with  bi-wiring option would fit my bill. Somehow, there aren't many choices out there. Incidentally, I bumped into Oehlbach Bi Tech 4. Of course, XXL would be ideal, I got caught in flagship sentiments. Knowing German, they don't mess around much. Constructed from 4 cables, a pair silver coated cables for the highs and a pair of thicker gauge copper cables for bass. It makes perrfect sense because different drivers require different cabling. Taking no chances, I had Bi Tech 4 checked for polarity before hooking up. Who can't afford to have his speakers blown up; now that my speakers are discontinued, they become even more precious. I have grown loving my speakers.

Bi Tech 4 works for me. Firstly, the highs receive the extension, improved spatial and separation while the bass gets the boost, punchy. Luscious mids is considerably diminished; many audiophiles are sworn by the audiophile liquid thingy. I want the skeletal voices, reject excessive warmth. Give me microdynamic, I'd happy to give up liquidity. Realism to me is as if broken drumsticks transient and sharp tonal contrast; you get what I mean.

Bi Tech 4 is a godsend to me. The luscious mids are euphonic; an add-on, not what I want. Next, I re-look into my system link, changing resonance parameters. All of a sudden, the bulb in my head lighted ...., I started swapping power cords and discovered a black swan; Reality Red Cord, the cheapest cord in my collection that gets the job; replacing the mighty ESP Reference Mk I. Red Cord is an unshielded 12 AWG Litz cable; an off the shelf product. Thanks to a review by a headphone fi from Hong Kong.

Prime for immediacy, high tonal contrast, lively and accuracy, people tell me that my sound inclination is not "mainstream" and many will not appreciate it. That's OK, I'm here to please me. A boring and euphonic presentation is definitely not for me. A Christmas prize if you will; with speaker cables and a power cord, I have removed a hurdle on Christmas day, shifting gear up in my dynamic department. Dynamic in my own definition, the ability to handle off-road conditions, to reproduce the sharp rise in music reproduction that gives music the richness. Albeit some rawness, I don't really mind for music doesn't wait. Smile is written on my face. I feel so blessed.

Wishing everyone a Happy New Year and a good year ahead.

My thought

Life is all about learning curve, you cannot be too smart all the times. We all get to be learned in due course. But before that, we zig zag, went astray, U turn and retract. That's a part of learning. A mentor could have saved you the wrong turns, but we were too arrogant at times. We choose to believe ourselves. We often think that dealers are always out to get your money, they have obvious vested interest. I'm not accusing all the dealers, no I'm not. It makes sense that you maintain a cold head and hold your horses before putting down your hard earned money. Better be late than to regret.

Audio folks have specific taste in music and that's explain many clans in audio community. Each clan champions either brand, sonic priority and topology. The gap is widen in the eyes of audio folks and thereof labelling. To certain extent, the diversity of audio creates excitement. Please agree to disagree, what more in audio. Don't have to be upset that people calling name, for you're worthy to be called. They couldn't hurt you.

Most systems are fine, the owner's set up skill, his understanding of acoustics and choice of equipment will determine if his system rise above the rest. Set up skill is critical to tone up or tone down the system. By that I mean to highlight the strength, obscure the flaws or both.

Mind you, we learn wrong things sometimes when we were novice. We tend to overhear other conversations and treat them like divine law. This is dangerous because you will draw wrong conclusion for the whole story is not laid on the table. I received my fair share of false teachings, listening to noises. Back then, we know little about tone. We know nothing about balance. It takes some time to learn the essential balance. Once grasping the true meaning of balance, you set to be audio intellect, perfecting the balance of your system.

I know majority audio folks are chasing the succulent tone. I have gone beyond tone, give me unconstrained dynamic after balance. Big boys are going for high SPL (sound pressure level). They pressurized the room to induce an in-room lifelike performance, the surrealism of "you're there" is rather intoxicating.

Thick flesh, thin husk, the best kind there is.

Going loud challenges a system ability to maintain composure and bottleneck-free. 收放自如 which loosely translated as start and stop instantly. It's a tall order. That's a fabulous system in my book, and piano can serve as a good test. Piano is a tough nut to crack though.

With piano, I pay close attention to dynamic, tone, sustain and the airiness. I listen to piano realism from the perspective of an audience sitting at third row as in a capacity of music lover. Audio folks have different interpretation on realism. Close miking allows more resolutions that beyond our hearing from a distance. So do the oral motions, inhale and exhale, that relates to fidelity. Audiophile thingy for the wrong reason. Instead, I would suggest to listen to the emotions of the delivery.

Piano is a fascinating instrument. It is too a complex instrument, what more with multiple keystroke. Every keystroke opens a dimension of time and space, brass like sax and trumpet take it to even to another level. Piano remains my reference to attest a system's resolving power. Chances your system can weather the storm if your system do piano well.

Thus, make perfect sense to have a man cave where anything goes. No wife veto, no interference, minimum lighting, no decoration hindrance but a realistic sound reproduction. Sound is the absolute merit, equipment is a tool getting you there. The rest is immaterial. Merry Christmas.