My shit hole

It isn't every day you get to test high-end cable, what more a friend surprise you with a high-end cable at your door front, with a grin. Nobody home? The temptation proved too strong. A Chinese proverb says to get tigress cub, you must get close to her, no risk, no gain. High-end cable is really my uncharted waters, it's an expensive endeavour. Everyone in my group is singing "we..... are in this together", you go buy first when comes to doubtful purchases. They jump to encourage everything and anything with audio, less with other matters. @#$%&*+ What kind of friends are these?

Long story short, Argento FMR power cord from Denmark is today's highlight. A flagship product from the Scans, you know it will not be cheap. The thickness of the cord resembles Voodoo cables, already spells high price, comes with immaculate finishing. FMR makes my cord collection looks like junk, my expectation on FMR rose. Deep down, the happy ending would be it's a very good cord but it's not for me. I gladly return the cord back to the rightful owner and I get to keep my money. Nobody lose.

Stiff cords errr...., I don't have the luxury of space to accommodate them, that's a real big problem of small room. Me and my cord ritual, nor over bending, no anti-clock wise twisting, no stepping, assist resonance support, I'm good to go. Believe or not, these steps give better sound.

Corresponding to its thickness, FMR isn't that stiff, still, you can't make small roll. Thank god it's 2-meter length, a great allowance for flexibility. The shielding and resonance control account for the cord thickness I suppose. Both ends housed in aluminum can which is said to reduce EMI interference. When comes to sound, use the right tool; the hearing, the sight stops there as far as I concern. Let hear what FMR has installed.

Without delay, I hooked FMR to my preamp, if there is any changes, it will be apparent. And my pre consumes little current, generally believed as the guardian of tonal balance. Well, it wasn't an instant revelation, I wasn't impressed. The sound was veiled and muddy. Absolutely doesn't live up to the asking price, FMR needs time, more time. While no scavenge online review to avoid developing preferential bias, very scarce information on their website but the usual cable luring. USD6200 isn't inexpensive but there are many cost more, the value proposition begs to sing louder.

Gosh..., I was told FMR was left idle for two weeks though it is a broken in cord. The old saying “good things come to those who wait", it miraculously happened. Take 50 hours to discern a change in sound and another 50 more to stabilize. A confident sound, if you know what it means. Bold, composed, detail and quiet. Quite extraordinary, the addition of FMR in my system is a TKO, it is everything I ever wanted in my system. It complimented my system, bringing out the best of my system.

From blur to clear

Where to start? The fluidity of FMR glued me to my seat, it isn't like listening to stereo but a live music experience. A buzzing bee, hard to get pass the electro-signal carries that fuzziness. It is a brand new experience to me, and rare too. No single frequency spectrum was emphasised, except there is a slight hint of warmth in the lower midrange. Put in a perspective, the music is intact like from the same cloth through FMR. I must say it is most apparent on digital playback where the harsh digital artifact is in included in a package. So, in a way, FMR smooths thing a bit but still very much keep the detail intact.

FMR uses silver alloy as conductor is the only information available on their official website. The sound of alloy is unpredictable. Same with Echole cables with silver, gold and palladium alloy, Yter in a similar regard, as far as the metallurgy is a concern.

Because classical music is my sonic diet, I inclined to a balanced sound. FMR cleverly gets out of the music to conserve the steady flow of music. Yes, the slight warmth at the lower midrange does render a fuller sound. The energies extended all the way to the bottom, the mids is seductive, sweet but not overly so. Silky highs, the use of silver alloy did make a presence in the treble department, a tad more highs extension and a touch of lightness too, audibly. This cord combines the benefits of silver and copper, extended highs and weighty bottom, a Godsend for nonactive sub speakers.

Moving on to the pace, neither fast nor slow. An indication of balance, too fast suggests lightweight-ness, too slow indicates a drag. The owner told me his findings, partially contrastive description. My continued rolling of power cord confirmed that FMR amplifies the sonic character of the upper link.


My audio budget this year is yet recorded the highest ever, o... blame me. I'm not going to bore you with tuning and soundstage expanding techniques, this is more for the ears than to the eyes. Like a wise man says, an audio system is for the ears only. So, what is the story now? Argento FMR cord could be the missing puzzle of my system. I have dug myself a shit hole and jumped into it, heavy-hearted to return the cord. FMR is an abbreviation of Flow Master Reference, it seems me and the manufacturer do agree upon something, the flow thing. They used to tell me that the speaker is the weakest link but I would disagree now, cables are. If you couldn't discern the sound of different cables, good for you, you have one less avenue to spend your money on. For now, I'm thinking how to get myself out of this shit hole.

Which is your pick?

KLAV is over. There will be much to talk about, which room sounded good, which room sounded not so good, which chick looks hot and et cetera. KLAV nevertheless creates a buzz in the local audio community or otherwise another dull and boring year. Isn't great to come to the show to check out things, talk to the dealers and catch up with your fellow audiophiles rather than munching online reviews and audio mags? Be kind and reasonable with your words, in all fairness, given the show condition, what do you expect? Harsh comments go without saying, all the signs of a stuck-up person, everything isn't good enough. Do some research before you make a fool of yourselves.

Rarely, the local audiophiles talk about visiting Bangkok AV show, Vietnam AV show, Indonesia AV show or the Philippines AV show. Size does matter, Hong Kong and Taipei audio shows are the top tier show in Asia Pacific rim. A good show will only get better. What do they have in common, a vibrant market, the Chinese population and strong spending power. Mainly, just about anything the Chinese set their eyes on, the prices are set to go crazy, regionally and globally. After all, China's economy is the one of the few that is growing while the rest catches a cold. Show me the money is the ultimate act of power. No money, no talk, forgive my bluntness.

This year KLIAV traffic is good, it should put a smile on the organizer's face. Ability to draw more new comers to this hobby promises a healthier future growth as the old goats will exit at some points of time, the next generation is off to continue the charge. From my view, the demographic of the show goers provides the first hint of the industry, no hard statistics but from my observation. While Tokyo AV show only attracts about 10,000 attendants given the nation's population of 127 million, the ratio doesn't look promising. Most of them are elder and rich, made their money in the 80s right when the Japanese economy was booming. Meanwhile, Akhibara stores remained the younger consumers preferred shopping. The KLIAV organizer should up their game, I don't mind they up charge the entrance fee in return of commemorative SACD, invite some reputable gurus or recording engineer for talk or free system tuning, why not? We begin to see some familiar exhibitors missing in the exhibition, the organizer needs to make more noise and have more girls at the show.

High-end products, new debuts, useful tweaks are the candy to the audiophiles. Experience helps, don't rush, engage eagle eyes. A wise audiophile must be able to find something to enhance or compliment his system. High prices are the main complaint, well this is the timeless complaint, anytime, anywhere. Live with it. Make your own judgment, to buy or not to buy. Every link in the chain has to make a living, no point bitching about it. Alternatively, you can buy from factory direct without after sales service. Too expensive? They are not meant for you, crazy prices are driven by the consumers, mainly. Prices will come down when the buying stops. Don't behave like a baby crying over spilled milk.

The audio industry has never been so polarized as of today, high-end audio, head-fi and home theatre the divide holds true. The mid-end is pronounced pre-mature dead, mid-end audiophiles buying new is lessen, many old goats are flocking to pre-owned markets. And the fact is this group remains the most vocal. High-end wannabes are here too. The half cooked sifus are here. The real McCoys are here too. To some, mid-end products aren't good enough, they want flagship products even though it is past model. Undeniably, high fidelity is fast becoming a costly past time.

Psychologically, the consumers equate low prices with low quality, a preconception that the marketers have long cast in our mind. To them, a penny paid is a penny made, "Too good to be true" is almost non-existence, prices will self-adjusted. Even though the wages haven't risen in tandem with the cost of living, there are still a lot of people getting lucrative deals and fat paychecks. These people spend on things that genuinely reflects their social ranking, good for them. They drive the industry forward. Why are some of us bitching since both don't share common value? It is their money and we have no business telling people how and where they spend it. Get off their back, will you? Seizing the opportunity, Munich High-End show, a trade show anyway, charged 15% up in 2017 on top of the already expensive floor space, and yet, the floor space is still fully taken up. It also sprouts some mini shows too around the vicinity due to limited and expensive floor space. Munich High-End show has established itself the mother of all high-end show in the world.

Face the truth, mid-end players are the aspiring high-end audio audiophiles. Vinyl continues to grow, we are seeing Elac, Teac and Bryston jumping into turntable foray. Thoren too has re-entered the forsaken market. The return of the Japanese giants, Technics, new brands pop into the scene. Even the traditionally mid-end audio player like Monitor Audio and Paradigm Audio are trying their luck with their flagship speakers; Monitor Platinum PL500II (USD29k) and Paradigm Concept 4F (USD40k). While the Far East not sitting there and doing nothing, Sony announced that they will start pressing LP, the supply follows where the demand goes, the law never go wrong! The statistics show music in digital format, hi-res download, suffer a minor setback in worldwide sales. Though I believe digital is still the future for many reasons, convenience and cost but we all audiophile have been taken for a ride for more than three decades. The resurgence of LP as the preferred choice for playback tells the failing of digital playback, the industry has made little progress. Anyway, the turntable is a much more complicated setup, requiring skills and knowledge to attain optimum potential, not to mention the cost too. Mid end turntables? You will be left with neither here or there. Even a USD8k sounded pale by a large margin with USD15k cartridge, I'm only just talking about the cartridge. The bigger issue is total isolation from resonance, stopping the resonance from coming into the turntable. That's why a piece of carbon composite board can introduce a big difference. I'm no stranger to carbon composite, it is like a drug and a poison at the same time. Knowing where to use is critical. Albeit backward, I am perfectly happy with my CD playback. To me, I wish to keep it simple, one cd player, one pre amp, power amp and speakers. Shorter signal path, lesser cable, less loss.

Audio knowledge is deep and wide as like the medical studies with so many sub-fields specialty. No one can master everything in audio. Every audiophile has his audio inclination too. Some with turntables, some with digital, some with amplification, some with speakers and some with cables and hence with the outrageous nicks. I confess that I'm a speaker nut. For their distinctive characters, it has a personality. Here's the deal, some manufacturers go the extra distance, they bend the tonal balance to create "newness" and give a cool technological name to attract sales. Compressor is turbo, turbo is compressor, a cut from the same cloth but the marketer creates the differentiation. A minor change is claimed total crossover redesign with the use of exotic passive components, internal wiring and binding posts to raise prices. The consumers feel good about differentiation I supposed. Audiophiles generally fall for something unheard of, newness, differentiation. But as time wears, you will find that you screwed yourself. Notably, the very reason you fell for it will be the very reason you ditch it too at the end of the day. In this case, the frequent concert goers will quick to recognize tonal rightness.

Hmmmm...., what can I say about Yamaha NS5000. Surely, they will not go down well with those accustomed honeyed euphonious tone, too brutally honest for their liking. To the face fi, Yamaha branding is mostly associated with AV systems that dilute its brand legacy. A similar fate to Sony that once tries to enter the lucrative high-end audio. To the eye fi and WAF, the glossy utilitarian box is not inspiring, reminiscent of money coffin. So, who does Yamaha builds NS5000 for? The dealer will have to position it rightly.

Dynamic and resolution stand out, this is where the money. But Malaysian audiophiles, in general, are the cautious spender, greatly influenced by reviews. Sigh! If only they know the state of the reviewer's system and their personal preference. For their asking price, Yamaha NS5000s are a steal for me.