If there's any standard, consumer audio has none but not pro-sound. Pro-sound treats the equipment as an instrument, they all dressed up in a utilitarian black box. I kind of like them for never drawing attention to themselves. The fancy metalwork, the glossy aluminium, the blink-blink looks cold as ice to me. Anyway, I listen in the dark, theses aesthetics are glaring in my sight. On sound, the ball is at your court eventually unless you end there, doing nothing more. Relax fella, who needs policing! Your listening volume and room size are vital to your choice of equipment, you make your educated speaker selection from there on, then follow by the amp.
Let's not deny that you were as blind as a bat in your early years. Learning takes time, it's largely influenced by your peers since the beginning. Time will develop your own taste of sound. Only then, you enter the realm of voicing your system for a simple reason, you know exactly you want, you have your preferences. Boys to men, this marks the exciting time for an audiophile to part from his peers and find his own destiny. Absolutely pointless to argue the taste of sound, don't you think so? It's absolutely an elephant in the room to talk about the taste of sound. He likes what he likes, he cares less if you don't like it. After all, he lives with his system, not you but that doesn't stop you from talking about it.
Some of us look up to pro-sound. Pro-sound has known for maximum dynamic and a balanced sound, they try hard to never throw off the balance, tipping to either side. This is one area we ought to bend over backwards for you can't go wrong. You and I are the victims of bad recording, especially the Chinese ones. How often you feel the justice is served to listen to American, EU or even Taiwanese recordings. Man! I do. The comparison is as clear as daylight, I can't help thinking this is a cultural thing or at worst, substandard. The Chinese recordings sound unreal, deliberately cooked up but if you like the music of the artist, bite your nails until the Chinese recording companies up their game one day.
The recording is where fidelity begins. Silly me. I should have invested in good recordings since the early days, they appreciate in value. Rarity rockets prices. As you can see, using bad recordings for tuning can lead to ill sound despite it sounds good on that said recording. About audiophile recordings, they're for the sound enthusiasts, not music lover so much I feel bored listening to them. They serve as a test disc to exhibit what their system is capable of. The system calibre is the battlefield particularly the manufacturers in their efforts to outdo the competition. Unknowingly, they dissect the music. What they do, the repro lacks the necessary binding element to hold the notes together. I care very much about the music of the same cloth, natural, cohesive and balanced, texture is important.
We, audiophiles let crazy ideas to mess up our mind in our course of producing a better sound. Hence, we search on the internet to check if someone shares the same experience, we often end up with polarised opinions. End of the day, admit it we choose to believe what is aligned with our thoughts. We have predetermined our decision. Isn't that right? Nothing beats equipment loan, you get to listen to how the equipment sounds in your system, what you hear is what you get. As the competition heats up, we have some dealers oblige to home demo.
I can't explain my fetish for sound except that sound is fascinating, it has a personality. Putting the equipment together that sings well is a flair. A friend told me acoustics is a difficult subject, you don't know what you will get. Not really, you get the hang of it if you put some efforts in it. The other told me that by a mere millimetre adjustment, the sound changes dramatically. I'm flattered.
Never neglect the contribution of the cables, it goes as far as no cables, no sound. You can stack up some high-end equipment but with the wrong cable, the sound comes short. What's the missing puzzle? Your listening intelligence. It hurts to hear a cheaper system beats big boys. Depends on which side of the fence you're at, big boys believe in you get what you pay while cheap and cheerful hope for the messiah (a giant killer). I urge you to look beyond preamp output impedance, power amplifier input impedance and the speaker demeanour in system building. It's not that easy. Leave some room for human intervention. The magic(sound) will resonate in your heart, I trust that your first high fidelity experience lasts quite some time!
Coming from mainstream audio, I collect the benefits of simple circuitry, passive preamplification, high-efficiency speaker and a minimalist system, never turn back since. Makes me a minor in today's audio community. My sound plodding comes at a cost, a young mechanic learns his skills. You don't expect his work for free. In audio and as in life, you learn either what's work or not working. Direct, clear and transient attack, my synonym of the life of music, my brand of sound. My heart melts discerning micro-dynamic like the guitar plucking and hammering of the keyboards, I know what it's like thanks to years of going to live concert. I kind of expect something from the musicians or a twist of music, a good conductor stands out from mediocre conductors. I can now comprehend music critics better, you couldn't have learned if you listen to your stereo in your man cave. Live music has much more fidelity than our system. Essentially, life is about relearning what you already knew. Laws are frequently rewritten, theories are frequently re-established, nothing is static.
The matter of facts is bass reach and extension is my kryptonite. Big symphonic pieces will definitely make my system belly up, the speakers ill behave. In retrospect, sonic purity (of simple music) is more than makes up for my bass limitation. Furthermore, I don't have a room that's capable of 20Hz. To get 20Hz, I need 28.3 feet in length. Without good integration, reaching down 20Hz is merely a self-consolation. You got high drinking by yourself.
Perhaps today's sound is heavily weighted to details. I don't know about you, I'm done with 2 hours high-resolution listening session. My brain is exhausted processing a huge amount of information. To balance details, sonic density is a remarkable quality to crow about. The British sound, roll-off at the top, forward mid, dense tone and soft bass still get a lot of following or audiophiles shy talking about? Every audiophile plays that poker face once in a while, you never know who's on who's side.
My system suffers downtime since last month, it's a nightmare. Got lucky if my speakers didn't blow up, otherwise, everything is chicken feet. Boring without music. If everything is as planned, my system should be playing music by this posting. That doesn't stop me greeting you all Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Monday, December 23, 2019
Monday, December 2, 2019
The trinity of hardware
OK, OK, I confessed I'm an audiophile first, music lover later. I enjoy good sound, I enjoy good food, I enjoy travelling, who wouldn't? Silly me. I'd like to keep myself busy with tuning to keep my mind occupied, to not think about upgrading. Otherwise, my inquisitive mind roams freely and suck dry my wallet. The world today is consumerism driven, shopping is made easy through your fingertips, the package will be delivered in days. Look no further than the staggering sales of 11.11. When you committed a purchase, good or bad, you will find reasons to justify your decision. Look, no one is pointing a gun at your head to buy. You're bound to make bad purchases, lick your wound and bite the bullet.
My friend accused my tuning is a band-aid. On second thought, he is right. Only upon a good system, only then my passive tuning will work wonder. There will not be magic in a problematic system, especially a poorly matched system like underpowered, inappropriate matching or both. As of being a human, we will never go back after indulging greater quality.
I read the other day that a guy says every equipment has its worth, especially the high-end one. It worths every penny it asked for and it's our job to bring the best out from the equipment. A fair statement. As you increase your spending, you get better tonality. But the yield curve isn't always moving in tandem with the spending at a fixed ratio. It somewhat plateau after the point of optimum price-performance, the law of diminishing return kicks in. The additional dollar spending only brings about a fraction of yield. Sounds like a bad deal, doesn't it? But audiophiles are jumping into the bandwagon for the new sonic frontier that separates mediocrity. As of with anything and everything, audiophiles don't bode well with mediocrity.
Look easy on paper, the difficult question is how to determine the point of optimum price-performance? Your point of optimum price-performance is not necessarily identical to mine. The point is it is not measurable. Here we go again, there will be no end to this debate on what basis to use. Unless you have unlimited resources for audio, most of us don't, the optimum price-performance lives in the individual's head. I suggest instead of continuing to put your money in the equipment, spend some on room acoustics and power treatment instead, their influences are greater than what you think. Especially room acoustics, the harmonious marriage of sound and room shouldn't be undermined. You could further redefine the sound quality via speaker placement and cabling.
Perhaps, you may not get your fellow audiophiles to come over for a listen due to your unfancy equipment list. Some audiophiles look at the list to determine worthwhile the time to come over. Forget about them, they are a technocrat. Most technocrats don't listen, they're only interested in the technologies. How about 10watt TM-85 SET amp? Not seen many, this ought to attract them. A well-tuned moderately priced system in a well-treated room will give the big boys a wake-up call less loudness capability and extreme bandwidth. It shines in refinement and articulation. But if the fame and glamour that you after, go spend big. Your fellow audiophiles will not confront you face to face even it falls short of delivery but talks behind your back Those behind your back comments come harsh and merciless, don't audiophiles always have something to say? Suffice to explains some audiophiles keep their systems off the radar of the general audiophiles to avoid attention.
Audio is a discipline too big to be mastered by anyone. Succumbing to many branches of speciality, you get nicknames like Power King, Cable Master, Guru, Sifu, Rabbi, Teacher, Princes of all sorts and in geographical too. All suggested that the individual is respected and has an in-depth knowledge among the general audiophiles. We all pursue the sound that we like. We will please ourselves by imposing individualism, in the right context of mind. From there, we build a system to attain the sound that we desired. It all begins with the speaker selection. Choose a speaker that produces a sound you like, throw out the thought of aftermarket value, the alluring good deals, psychological brand affection or wanted to be accepted. You end up dumping your purchase faster than you know. Buy the best speaker you can afford, stick with them. Our desired sound pretty much tells us the type of speaker to go with. This follows by the choice of amplification. I'm inclined to finesse than brutal power. I'll stay below 100wpc or maybe below 50wpc. The bigger amp produces a coarser sound if the quality of the first watt matters to you? As a new full-range speaker convert, I'm sold by its veil-less-ness, texture, coherency, transient response, sonic gradient and effortlessness. These features outweigh low-frequency extension in my book. Sounds real to my ears. I'm embarking a new sonic frontier. It isn't easy, I know. My thought is any system should and must do the small music well. This has led me to pack up my multi-driver speakers, storing them where I can find the least obstructive place in my house to avoid the wrath of the lady in the house.
The third aspect is the interlinking cables. If there's a fair price mechanism where you can put your finger on it and say this exotic cable is a fairly priced, the cable industry has none. Price is relatively dependent on the individual's pocket. The irony is there's always a better cable around and might not sing well in your system. Getting the right cables is like finding a good tailor to alter your shirt, the shirt sits at where it should. Speaker, amplifier and cable form the trinity of hardware. A matched combo will pay dividends in sound and blows the ill-matched combo out of the water. The rest is add on. Wasted years, the bad news is you never know what you've missed if you don't go find out.
Passion is like a car without brakes, you bound to get over the top and crash at some points of time. You're supposed to crash! When it does, all doesn't go to waste, every event offers a lesson that will own a place in your memory. God knows how many repeated errors I've committed no matter how well thoughtfully I approach from the beginning! In many cases, rework, rework, rework. There simply isn't any way to avoid mistakes because new knowledge keeps pop up.
My friend accused my tuning is a band-aid. On second thought, he is right. Only upon a good system, only then my passive tuning will work wonder. There will not be magic in a problematic system, especially a poorly matched system like underpowered, inappropriate matching or both. As of being a human, we will never go back after indulging greater quality.
I read the other day that a guy says every equipment has its worth, especially the high-end one. It worths every penny it asked for and it's our job to bring the best out from the equipment. A fair statement. As you increase your spending, you get better tonality. But the yield curve isn't always moving in tandem with the spending at a fixed ratio. It somewhat plateau after the point of optimum price-performance, the law of diminishing return kicks in. The additional dollar spending only brings about a fraction of yield. Sounds like a bad deal, doesn't it? But audiophiles are jumping into the bandwagon for the new sonic frontier that separates mediocrity. As of with anything and everything, audiophiles don't bode well with mediocrity.
Look easy on paper, the difficult question is how to determine the point of optimum price-performance? Your point of optimum price-performance is not necessarily identical to mine. The point is it is not measurable. Here we go again, there will be no end to this debate on what basis to use. Unless you have unlimited resources for audio, most of us don't, the optimum price-performance lives in the individual's head. I suggest instead of continuing to put your money in the equipment, spend some on room acoustics and power treatment instead, their influences are greater than what you think. Especially room acoustics, the harmonious marriage of sound and room shouldn't be undermined. You could further redefine the sound quality via speaker placement and cabling.
Perhaps, you may not get your fellow audiophiles to come over for a listen due to your unfancy equipment list. Some audiophiles look at the list to determine worthwhile the time to come over. Forget about them, they are a technocrat. Most technocrats don't listen, they're only interested in the technologies. How about 10watt TM-85 SET amp? Not seen many, this ought to attract them. A well-tuned moderately priced system in a well-treated room will give the big boys a wake-up call less loudness capability and extreme bandwidth. It shines in refinement and articulation. But if the fame and glamour that you after, go spend big. Your fellow audiophiles will not confront you face to face even it falls short of delivery but talks behind your back Those behind your back comments come harsh and merciless, don't audiophiles always have something to say? Suffice to explains some audiophiles keep their systems off the radar of the general audiophiles to avoid attention.
Audio is a discipline too big to be mastered by anyone. Succumbing to many branches of speciality, you get nicknames like Power King, Cable Master, Guru, Sifu, Rabbi, Teacher, Princes of all sorts and in geographical too. All suggested that the individual is respected and has an in-depth knowledge among the general audiophiles. We all pursue the sound that we like. We will please ourselves by imposing individualism, in the right context of mind. From there, we build a system to attain the sound that we desired. It all begins with the speaker selection. Choose a speaker that produces a sound you like, throw out the thought of aftermarket value, the alluring good deals, psychological brand affection or wanted to be accepted. You end up dumping your purchase faster than you know. Buy the best speaker you can afford, stick with them. Our desired sound pretty much tells us the type of speaker to go with. This follows by the choice of amplification. I'm inclined to finesse than brutal power. I'll stay below 100wpc or maybe below 50wpc. The bigger amp produces a coarser sound if the quality of the first watt matters to you? As a new full-range speaker convert, I'm sold by its veil-less-ness, texture, coherency, transient response, sonic gradient and effortlessness. These features outweigh low-frequency extension in my book. Sounds real to my ears. I'm embarking a new sonic frontier. It isn't easy, I know. My thought is any system should and must do the small music well. This has led me to pack up my multi-driver speakers, storing them where I can find the least obstructive place in my house to avoid the wrath of the lady in the house.
The third aspect is the interlinking cables. If there's a fair price mechanism where you can put your finger on it and say this exotic cable is a fairly priced, the cable industry has none. Price is relatively dependent on the individual's pocket. The irony is there's always a better cable around and might not sing well in your system. Getting the right cables is like finding a good tailor to alter your shirt, the shirt sits at where it should. Speaker, amplifier and cable form the trinity of hardware. A matched combo will pay dividends in sound and blows the ill-matched combo out of the water. The rest is add on. Wasted years, the bad news is you never know what you've missed if you don't go find out.
Passion is like a car without brakes, you bound to get over the top and crash at some points of time. You're supposed to crash! When it does, all doesn't go to waste, every event offers a lesson that will own a place in your memory. God knows how many repeated errors I've committed no matter how well thoughtfully I approach from the beginning! In many cases, rework, rework, rework. There simply isn't any way to avoid mistakes because new knowledge keeps pop up.
Monday, October 28, 2019
A vicious cycle
Oh dear! A lot was going on in the few past weeks, a lot. It didn't happen without a reason, a compulsion of a philharmonic concert. I've grown melancholy with my sound each passing minute. I realised that I shoot myself in the foot, I've had committed an uncharismatic "vocal trap" after a vocal stint for a couple of weeks. My sound had veered toward a warmer, denser and juicer side of sound.
Voices evoke emotions, it's the most fascinating instrument which produces incredibly complex harmonics. It's a sound we are so familiar with since birth unless of course, the unfortunate hearing impairment. Voices are an implicit emotion catalyst! Boy, I got to tell you guys, a late evening vocal is a perfect relaxation to wind down a long day. A guy nailed it in a forum, he said that there are two camps of sound, modern and vintage sound. Like water and oil, both will not mix. If one is going towards vocal extreme, the accompanying instrument will be subdued while vocal will sound a little lean and two dimensional at the other end. This is a deadlock of audio, you can have a cake and eat it too.
The young aspiring audiophiles wanted more, wider bandwidth and some bells and whistles to trend set their taste. Online reviews sell the ideas, it's a learning process that they'll soon be sure of what they want. Can't blame them, they are well exposed and well-read, they're technology-driven, what more the stuff they are listening to is quite different from the tired audiophile uncles. People call me uncle these days I can't remember since when. The lines on the face, the white hairs, ummm, the teeth still around, the chicken are not spared as yet. This uncle still got bite. Pretty soon I'm going to enjoy the privilege as a senior citizen. No more queue, the seat for senior citizen at half price. Music is constant, it is perceived differently by different people. But when the dust settles, classical music will prevail.
Long story short, I break my back working my sound. This exercise is so intense that it took me weeks which is rather unusual. Just when I thought I could sign off, something come up and reject my sloppy work. So, it's not uncommon you will find a system not sounding better than before when come at the wrong time. Work In Progress. To get 90% is not that tough but the following 5% is steep, you stumble just like playing the snake ladder game if out of luck. Tuning sometimes is a lucky strike. A vicious cycle tail chasing, it will exhaust even iron will. Stop and come back to work in the next few days after you clear your mind. I must congratulate you when your assessment is constant for most of the time.
Without further ado, I rolled up my sleeves, brought along my measurement tape and spirit level with me just any handy guy does. These are the basic tools to calibrate a system. A good in-room airflow dynamic is essential to good sound. A major part of my acoustic work is based on this. My upper mids shouty-ness, hollowness and a somewhat deflated bass, these discernible weaknesses on my table. No more qing-cha does it, not taking thing lightly, all lined up to near perfection leaving no stone unturned. The main agenda, to get the "right frame of sound". This tops the to-do list if you don't want to beat around the bush. Speaker placement, a skill audiophiles must master. It's not a few lessons could not help, keep working on it if that few lessons don't work out. Burn more calories, you find the best placement eventually by trying out a few placements to pin down your preferred presentation. Never a boring job doing the thing you, you enjoy every single minute of it. In my case, I've not only the main speakers to contend with but super tweeters too. Super tweeters are hypersensitive to placement! I usually ended my speaker placement with a few light tap on the side of the speaker for adjustment.
All not wasted, work rewards, you'll learn new things. Crunch time, pop in a vocal, not any vocal you like but the one with a dead centre imaging and hope the perfect storm never comes. Alamak! Sway slightly to one side? Going back and forth with speaker placement and level spirit. Once done, mark the placement and introduce isolation footers. Try different footers. Once finalised, goback to speaker placement again to sign off. never let others go near. To be honest, I wasn't prepared a well-proportioned sound, a sound that redefines sound. Nothing is "out of place", everything is so knitted together like an expensive English fabric. Nothing out to grab you. Dead honest. To my surprise, I discern some nuances arranged slightly different in the sound-field and the expansiveness of the sound. The imaging is spot on, less fat with distinctive delineation. Besides, the spatial imaging, the see-through overwhelms me with the instrument colour and texture is preserved. Excuse me for jumping forward, precise speaker placement is last on the list after you've sorted out cables. Cables are for the desired colour and texture.
The room can mess up the sound more than you know. Time to add some tonewood to smoothen the sound a bit. I could tell a happy and a not so happy sound listening to one. I'm talking about compression that impedes expressiveness. Go sort out the standing waves and turbulences, the key to acoustic wonderland. The hard work is worth it. Imsymmerical room is a room acoustics nightmare, it's almost impossible to get an equal balance of both channel, the best possible situation is to minimise its deficiency. I don't care much for DSP room correction, not another go of signal pollution. Thank God, I don't have to face this obstacle. My main obstacle is my room size, how I wish to have a bigger room. This is a problem I will never ever able to resolve unless I build my room from the ground up.
A glass of victory champagne please, I drink to that not before I find fault somewhere else, again. It's my clinical assessment and pushing boundaries attitude, never say satisfied. "I think I should place my speakers there, it looks nice in the room." "This cable is good because the reviews say so." "Oh! Snake oil!" Get out of here. Empirical findings rule, your fellow audiophiles will not lie, they just don't you the truth!
Voices evoke emotions, it's the most fascinating instrument which produces incredibly complex harmonics. It's a sound we are so familiar with since birth unless of course, the unfortunate hearing impairment. Voices are an implicit emotion catalyst! Boy, I got to tell you guys, a late evening vocal is a perfect relaxation to wind down a long day. A guy nailed it in a forum, he said that there are two camps of sound, modern and vintage sound. Like water and oil, both will not mix. If one is going towards vocal extreme, the accompanying instrument will be subdued while vocal will sound a little lean and two dimensional at the other end. This is a deadlock of audio, you can have a cake and eat it too.
The young aspiring audiophiles wanted more, wider bandwidth and some bells and whistles to trend set their taste. Online reviews sell the ideas, it's a learning process that they'll soon be sure of what they want. Can't blame them, they are well exposed and well-read, they're technology-driven, what more the stuff they are listening to is quite different from the tired audiophile uncles. People call me uncle these days I can't remember since when. The lines on the face, the white hairs, ummm, the teeth still around, the chicken are not spared as yet. This uncle still got bite. Pretty soon I'm going to enjoy the privilege as a senior citizen. No more queue, the seat for senior citizen at half price. Music is constant, it is perceived differently by different people. But when the dust settles, classical music will prevail.
Long story short, I break my back working my sound. This exercise is so intense that it took me weeks which is rather unusual. Just when I thought I could sign off, something come up and reject my sloppy work. So, it's not uncommon you will find a system not sounding better than before when come at the wrong time. Work In Progress. To get 90% is not that tough but the following 5% is steep, you stumble just like playing the snake ladder game if out of luck. Tuning sometimes is a lucky strike. A vicious cycle tail chasing, it will exhaust even iron will. Stop and come back to work in the next few days after you clear your mind. I must congratulate you when your assessment is constant for most of the time.
Without further ado, I rolled up my sleeves, brought along my measurement tape and spirit level with me just any handy guy does. These are the basic tools to calibrate a system. A good in-room airflow dynamic is essential to good sound. A major part of my acoustic work is based on this. My upper mids shouty-ness, hollowness and a somewhat deflated bass, these discernible weaknesses on my table. No more qing-cha does it, not taking thing lightly, all lined up to near perfection leaving no stone unturned. The main agenda, to get the "right frame of sound". This tops the to-do list if you don't want to beat around the bush. Speaker placement, a skill audiophiles must master. It's not a few lessons could not help, keep working on it if that few lessons don't work out. Burn more calories, you find the best placement eventually by trying out a few placements to pin down your preferred presentation. Never a boring job doing the thing you, you enjoy every single minute of it. In my case, I've not only the main speakers to contend with but super tweeters too. Super tweeters are hypersensitive to placement! I usually ended my speaker placement with a few light tap on the side of the speaker for adjustment.
All not wasted, work rewards, you'll learn new things. Crunch time, pop in a vocal, not any vocal you like but the one with a dead centre imaging and hope the perfect storm never comes. Alamak! Sway slightly to one side? Going back and forth with speaker placement and level spirit. Once done, mark the placement and introduce isolation footers. Try different footers. Once finalised, goback to speaker placement again to sign off. never let others go near. To be honest, I wasn't prepared a well-proportioned sound, a sound that redefines sound. Nothing is "out of place", everything is so knitted together like an expensive English fabric. Nothing out to grab you. Dead honest. To my surprise, I discern some nuances arranged slightly different in the sound-field and the expansiveness of the sound. The imaging is spot on, less fat with distinctive delineation. Besides, the spatial imaging, the see-through overwhelms me with the instrument colour and texture is preserved. Excuse me for jumping forward, precise speaker placement is last on the list after you've sorted out cables. Cables are for the desired colour and texture.
The room can mess up the sound more than you know. Time to add some tonewood to smoothen the sound a bit. I could tell a happy and a not so happy sound listening to one. I'm talking about compression that impedes expressiveness. Go sort out the standing waves and turbulences, the key to acoustic wonderland. The hard work is worth it. Imsymmerical room is a room acoustics nightmare, it's almost impossible to get an equal balance of both channel, the best possible situation is to minimise its deficiency. I don't care much for DSP room correction, not another go of signal pollution. Thank God, I don't have to face this obstacle. My main obstacle is my room size, how I wish to have a bigger room. This is a problem I will never ever able to resolve unless I build my room from the ground up.
A glass of victory champagne please, I drink to that not before I find fault somewhere else, again. It's my clinical assessment and pushing boundaries attitude, never say satisfied. "I think I should place my speakers there, it looks nice in the room." "This cable is good because the reviews say so." "Oh! Snake oil!" Get out of here. Empirical findings rule, your fellow audiophiles will not lie, they just don't you the truth!
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Check and balance
My audio karma sees my convert to full-range speaker is sort of going back to fundamental of repro sound: the perfect phase and point source. You must audition to comprehend the quality of full-range speaker despite some full-range speakers show relative flat frequency response but not really the case in listening. The possibly worst-case scenario is nasal at mids and shouty at the lower treble range. At the risk of looking stupid, I will not at the top of my lungs neutrality or linearity. What does flat frequency response mean to you if it doesn't introduce aura, it's merely a meaningless soundwave. On the contrary, I seek emotions in sound, sound that draws you into music that keep you listening. I think it's not out of this world that, you're struggling with some fine systems, the sound somewhat doesn't tickle your senses, furthermore it sounds no wrong. A sad story, a disappointment nevertheless. Fidelity without musicality, devoids of the richness and depth of sound, perfectly measured, your brand of sound? How measurement read hollowness? I like to know. An engineer's perspective of sound, DSP sound correction is a joke to me, I'm sorry. Does anyone know piano tuning is done electronically? Probably Artificial Intelligence will one day.
In the meantime, loudness altogether is a different animal. Loudness gives rise to sensory stimulation, not necessary good sound. The sound of the rock concert is about loudness and dynamic, it's about attitude, it's about social grievances and discontentment. Rock music is an avenue to release displeasure. The crash of cymbals and the kick drum heighten the drama.
As we grow in age, our taste in music changes. We inclined to an intimate vocal and classical music as we grow old, so does our sonic perspectives, we even prefer the mild flavour. Sonic purity cream rises to the top. As opposed, a wannabe wanted super tweeter to launch the highs to the moon and subwoofer to power pile to the deepest abyss, all in the expense of phase coherency. He then crashes you with a heavy truck of sound pressure while he stands aside with a cheeky smile to see you tap out since no normal systems can play that loud. His peer give a round of applause.
Those days were far behind me now, I banked on my Belle's strength, the design strength of full-range speaker; phase coherency, immediacy and directness. These qualities are in the wheelhouse of full-range speaker. No constant crossing over to different driver membranes that sing to a different tune and smearing of the passive components on the crossover. And if these don't turn you on, there are no reasons for you to consider full-range speaker whatmore with a restricted frequency range for your disposal.
We are lucky to be able to enjoy live classical music for a little money albeit second class performers. How many musicians made it to the philharmonic orchestra? It takes about 80 musicians to give you a symphonic piece, to balance the book, no orchestras in the world could survive without the sponsorship! Anyway, you don't like classical means you don't like classical, enough said.
It has been quite a while now since my last classical concert, I'm really looking forward to my coming classical concert this month, my soul food. The sound, what can I say? So pure and right, some flashes of the electric-like audible buzz of the violins not even captured in the recording. My collection of classical, never one present me this. What say you?
Upgrading is like candy, highly irresistible even to the senior audiophiles. The better components and conductor brings about a new playing field though the circuit is more or less the same. Sure, they will improve sound quality. From 4K to 8K flat-screen TV is a natural progression, but the reverse is a struggle, so many things are missing. This is where your listening ability is gauged, knowingly or not knowingly. Without mercy, you will be labelled if your listening ability or your system falls short of expectation. In point of fact, upgrading is a big part of audioing, your main source of knowledge and experience. My take is the sound of any audio products carries a certain standard unless it is a matching issue. With equipment out of the way, your room could mess up the sound more than you ever know. Mind you, the sound opens up by simply rearranging the furniture and fixing, not something equipment upgrade could do. A pandora box, of course, a good sound requires more than moving your furniture and fixing.
One plus one is two, really? To excel in any passion, you must be crazy, being usual is out of the question.
In the meantime, loudness altogether is a different animal. Loudness gives rise to sensory stimulation, not necessary good sound. The sound of the rock concert is about loudness and dynamic, it's about attitude, it's about social grievances and discontentment. Rock music is an avenue to release displeasure. The crash of cymbals and the kick drum heighten the drama.
As we grow in age, our taste in music changes. We inclined to an intimate vocal and classical music as we grow old, so does our sonic perspectives, we even prefer the mild flavour. Sonic purity cream rises to the top. As opposed, a wannabe wanted super tweeter to launch the highs to the moon and subwoofer to power pile to the deepest abyss, all in the expense of phase coherency. He then crashes you with a heavy truck of sound pressure while he stands aside with a cheeky smile to see you tap out since no normal systems can play that loud. His peer give a round of applause.
Those days were far behind me now, I banked on my Belle's strength, the design strength of full-range speaker; phase coherency, immediacy and directness. These qualities are in the wheelhouse of full-range speaker. No constant crossing over to different driver membranes that sing to a different tune and smearing of the passive components on the crossover. And if these don't turn you on, there are no reasons for you to consider full-range speaker whatmore with a restricted frequency range for your disposal.
We are lucky to be able to enjoy live classical music for a little money albeit second class performers. How many musicians made it to the philharmonic orchestra? It takes about 80 musicians to give you a symphonic piece, to balance the book, no orchestras in the world could survive without the sponsorship! Anyway, you don't like classical means you don't like classical, enough said.
It has been quite a while now since my last classical concert, I'm really looking forward to my coming classical concert this month, my soul food. The sound, what can I say? So pure and right, some flashes of the electric-like audible buzz of the violins not even captured in the recording. My collection of classical, never one present me this. What say you?
Upgrading is like candy, highly irresistible even to the senior audiophiles. The better components and conductor brings about a new playing field though the circuit is more or less the same. Sure, they will improve sound quality. From 4K to 8K flat-screen TV is a natural progression, but the reverse is a struggle, so many things are missing. This is where your listening ability is gauged, knowingly or not knowingly. Without mercy, you will be labelled if your listening ability or your system falls short of expectation. In point of fact, upgrading is a big part of audioing, your main source of knowledge and experience. My take is the sound of any audio products carries a certain standard unless it is a matching issue. With equipment out of the way, your room could mess up the sound more than you ever know. Mind you, the sound opens up by simply rearranging the furniture and fixing, not something equipment upgrade could do. A pandora box, of course, a good sound requires more than moving your furniture and fixing.
One plus one is two, really? To excel in any passion, you must be crazy, being usual is out of the question.
Monday, August 26, 2019
Kingmaker
We are gifted with six senses, sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch and extrasensory perception. Not every man has an equal sense of reception. Me, terrible in smell and extrasensory perception, the spirit, you know. It does occur to me that we have different takes, each of us hears different things with the very same performance, don't we? Not to mention some are sensitive and less sensitive to a certain frequency bandwidth. Well, guess what is constant? The timbre of the said performance remains unchanged. Do we or do we not give leeway to our preference? In audio, some take sound in their our hands a little too far, I wouldn't do that, simply because timbre truthness is the kingmaker.
What's timbre truthness? In my definition, the sound that distinguishes the true colours of a musical instrument. Fidelity has always linked to engineering, the improvements of passive components have brought about greater fidelity, lower colouration and less loss. Compare with vintage gears, the modern gears are light-years of musical insights. Snubbing sentimentalism, romance, artificial warmth that not supposed to be there, the detail is precious and it costs money. I say to you, this is only the technological aspect of audio, there's more, not something the engineers completely understood. Phycoascoustics, flow dynamic, EMI, RFI perhaps?
To satisfy those audiophiles who crave for "fake musicality", a warmish sound. Infusing distortion is a piece of cake as opposed to the reverse. Even the rack manufacturers claim racking is one of the audio components, they easily cost the price of an entry system! What say you?
The detail is one thing, articulation is another. Articulation is the single element that makes timbre truthness shines. High-end equipment churns out more inner details than mid-fi counterparts, the devil is in the detail. You may have detail but not articulation, but an articulate sound will always sound detailed. Articulation is a high-end property that eluded many audiophiles so to speak. A quick acid test, how long is your piano sustain last? Suffering tonal softening? Ambience retrieval?
As much as I possibly can, I want maximum articulation. Your room acoustic dictates your articulation, right next to the phase and time coherence! Ill-treated, your room messes up articulation, particularly standing waves. This has been my playing field for quite some time now, I'm dealing with micro tuning. Within the room boundaries, you confront the mighty acoustic turbulences, the invincible foe. Bass traps and absorptive materials are not my preferred tuning option. Out of frying pan into the fire, they distort the sound, the bass, in particular, is castrated. They suck the life of bass. So, free your mind, think outside the box, think outside the oscilloscope or whatever man-made scopes there are. The truth is out there, seek and you shall find.
I was asked to help make a system sounds good the other weekend. An audiophile who tagged along jumped to conclusions, the speakers should be bi-wired. A typical audiophile, quick to judge. The first thing comes into the mind is to upgrade, how clever. Do your homework.
Let examine the sound of the system, it was a good thing that the system didn't suffer insufficient power issue. Yes, the sound was a mess with poor definition. No, bi-wiring is not the solution, absolutely not. Bi-wiring will pay with interest upon an already good system, not before! Firstly, we are not living in a perfect world when even the best system is not problem-free. We mustn't expect we could have everything is readily available for our disposal, we live with what we have. Desperate times desperate measures. Within the parameters thereof, the time and stage are set for you to show off your real capability to make a system sing. Your skill is put to the test. Resorting to hasten upgrade is sweeping the issue under the carpet.
Life isn't fair, some make money shaking legs without having to sweat, some earn minimum wage, what can you do about it? Live with it! You save up your money in hope that someday you can afford it. What is there to shout about if everything is at your disposal? Any audiophiles, Tom Dick and Harry could do it. Ill advice will always be a piece of ill advice. Likewise, some listen but couldn't tune and rarely, those who tune don't know listening. I will add, a hypocrite couldn't tune and listen, all they know is inciting and boasting half baked story. You take a hypocrite seriously, the days of misfortune will one day fall on you.
Within minutes of working, speaker placement, adjusting the tweaks, the owner signed off my job sheet. The improved sound silenced the critic, not a single cent is spent. The sound was not only opened up, so does the articulation. Whatever upgrade in future, the result will pay interest.
Perhaps my employment of tonewood would attract criticisms. Tonewood is like tube-rolling but they work for me despite colourations, nice colourations. I've invested quite a bit in tonewood, no less than 5 species. Natural materials introduce natural sound. Like cotton shirt to our skin, cotton may not be the best material but you feel the coolness wearing it as opposed to wrinkle-free polyester. I have got one tonewood in my arsenal that would congeal the sparse imaging across the soundstage to pin-on-board imaging. Magically on voices, yeah! It's unbelievable though it's contradicting what I've said earlier. Also, I enhance reverberations with tonewood. Think room filled piano nuances, not manner where I walk in my house I'm happy with my piano repro, unashamedly.
Now, on the personal ground, how far you go in your audio mileage depends on how far you push your system, how eager you want to betterment. Your attitude dictates your behaviour. It strikes me that we need to unlearn what you have learned to make way for relearning. We, many times, thought that we have learned enough and we ceased there, the real revelation is often sitting right at one corner waiting to be discovered. It's like lost and found. Aren't we inclined to restrict our search at one specific area where we think we might have left the lost item? Little do we know, our preoccupied mind restricted our search area, we kept searching within the parameters but unable to see things under our nose. Doesn't this sound a little too familiar? We see from a macro perspective and neglect the micro perspective. Does the devil is in the detail ring to you?
I risk angering audiophiles that most of the acclaimed systems sounded "acoustically dead"? The sound is slow and boring for my taste of classical music. The true intent of the music is tampered, that's the last thing you want to arrive at. Does it occur to you why many systems sounded awful with pop music? How many systems you heard could do pop music justice? Not many, huh? Why is our system picky about music repro? Missing is the whippiness, what more, the bass is slow and woolly. Poor jump factor.
Airiness is a major component in sound. Sound is an energy in the way the soundwave propagates, it is not wrong to say the greater sound is derived by moving more air. In my view, a less airy sound is a sick system. All musical instruments move air, name me one which is not? The strings move air, the woodwind moves air, the percussion moves air and et cetera. Live recordings are airy, the crowd rocking the concert. Airiness brings about a righteous sound and ambience. And if your system doesn't exhibit this quality even with mediocre Blue Note jazz, you know something is not right. Our domestic sound repro should exhibit more airiness than what it is because our room generates some share of reverb. So, you now be careful with overly use of absorptive materials in your room.
To bring the sound to the next level, you need to have a well in-room guided airflow. Standing wave is not a guided airflow. Bass trap is not a guided airflow. Let the air works for you instead of fighting against it. Give it a thought, I will not elaborate further.
Let examine, vocal repro as per my observation, the love of the audiophiles here. It is a sad thing. The key to an amazing vocal repro is easy, a forward mids, an added warmth at the midrange and softened highs especially at the lower highs. A little box colouration would help to enhance the emotional department. Take a closer listen, there's nothing in the bass but a compromised articulation. To avoid bass intrusion into the mids, you either get a pair of bookshelf speakers or well-designed floorstanding speakers. I look more than that, the chestiness quality, the recording should have picked up this quality but not the repro. I'm a strong proponent of a simple system. The more boxes only mean the longer signal path and hence the greater signal loss. Sure you have more transformers to boost the signal but what is there to boost if the signal is lost? Any of you perceive articulation in low bass of the subwoofer?
On the contrary, the box colouration smears the timbre, throw off timing. Take for an instance, the plucking of a guitar. The zing is softened due to the rounded highs, the tone got thicken due to the warmness and smearing, the texture is distorted and the decay is shortlived. Worst of the lot, bass articulation, there's hardly any but a woolly bass with nothing in it. Look no further than double bass and cello, they don't sound vibrant. Whatmore, the snare drums don't sound like what they should. Thus, a reviewer must not be influenced by the music played, he should focus on sound quality even if he doesn't like the music played.
Resolution is precious, you couldn't create it. Take for an example, a UHD TV against a full HD TV, you could only do so much on full HD TV with a better power cord, a better HDMI cable and probably a power bank! An audio system with high-resolution will always sound lean for they sounded clean. They sound real, they are revealing and they don't sound sweet. My approach is to add a little tube flavour or resonance to add a tad colouration to it, it works. I'm talking about a smidgen amount of colouration, not a whole lot.
High-end audio is all about fidelity, nothing else but everything about fidelity. However, the market offers high-end pleasing sound system into the mix. They deploy tubes and transformers to add flavours to the sound. Well, if we take pro sound as a no-nonsense reference, these are not true sound. So, we must accept some degree of colourations to the sound. That's what the consumers want. Make something the consumers want or ship out. What I have observed and concluded, the majority of audiophiles prefer a sound with a twist. The tube guys, I mean the equipment with power tubes, took it to the extreme end of the spectrum. Tube noise is acceptable. Me? I'm a small tube guy.
My brand of the system is highly dynamic, fast, detailed, airy, energetic, uncompressed and produces a lively ambience. In short, a system that can swing effortlessly. Quiet as a mouse background? Pitch black backdrop? They are not my concern, I don't mind a little noise. Music isn't all about succulent voices, you will get bored soon enough. I want correct timbre. I listen to pop, jazz, soul and classical music, depending on the listening moods of the time. Thus, the mentioned sonic traits are pretty much universal.
There are two camps of audiophiles, a master and a slave. A master himself takes charge of the sound while a slave as the noun implied, a slave to audio equipment. The latter buy, buy, buy, they buy their way to sonic utopia. You can see that the latter is well to do people who can afford better things in life. The former is more of a poor man audiophile. When I throw this question to the fellow audiophiles which you want to be, something like wealth and wisdom, all of them wanted to be the fat wallet guy or the wealth guy. Smile. Life is so much simpler then but not all guys are born wealthy or inherited a family fortune or struck a lottery. I got nothing against them.
What's timbre truthness? In my definition, the sound that distinguishes the true colours of a musical instrument. Fidelity has always linked to engineering, the improvements of passive components have brought about greater fidelity, lower colouration and less loss. Compare with vintage gears, the modern gears are light-years of musical insights. Snubbing sentimentalism, romance, artificial warmth that not supposed to be there, the detail is precious and it costs money. I say to you, this is only the technological aspect of audio, there's more, not something the engineers completely understood. Phycoascoustics, flow dynamic, EMI, RFI perhaps?
To satisfy those audiophiles who crave for "fake musicality", a warmish sound. Infusing distortion is a piece of cake as opposed to the reverse. Even the rack manufacturers claim racking is one of the audio components, they easily cost the price of an entry system! What say you?
The detail is one thing, articulation is another. Articulation is the single element that makes timbre truthness shines. High-end equipment churns out more inner details than mid-fi counterparts, the devil is in the detail. You may have detail but not articulation, but an articulate sound will always sound detailed. Articulation is a high-end property that eluded many audiophiles so to speak. A quick acid test, how long is your piano sustain last? Suffering tonal softening? Ambience retrieval?
As much as I possibly can, I want maximum articulation. Your room acoustic dictates your articulation, right next to the phase and time coherence! Ill-treated, your room messes up articulation, particularly standing waves. This has been my playing field for quite some time now, I'm dealing with micro tuning. Within the room boundaries, you confront the mighty acoustic turbulences, the invincible foe. Bass traps and absorptive materials are not my preferred tuning option. Out of frying pan into the fire, they distort the sound, the bass, in particular, is castrated. They suck the life of bass. So, free your mind, think outside the box, think outside the oscilloscope or whatever man-made scopes there are. The truth is out there, seek and you shall find.
I was asked to help make a system sounds good the other weekend. An audiophile who tagged along jumped to conclusions, the speakers should be bi-wired. A typical audiophile, quick to judge. The first thing comes into the mind is to upgrade, how clever. Do your homework.
Let examine the sound of the system, it was a good thing that the system didn't suffer insufficient power issue. Yes, the sound was a mess with poor definition. No, bi-wiring is not the solution, absolutely not. Bi-wiring will pay with interest upon an already good system, not before! Firstly, we are not living in a perfect world when even the best system is not problem-free. We mustn't expect we could have everything is readily available for our disposal, we live with what we have. Desperate times desperate measures. Within the parameters thereof, the time and stage are set for you to show off your real capability to make a system sing. Your skill is put to the test. Resorting to hasten upgrade is sweeping the issue under the carpet.
Life isn't fair, some make money shaking legs without having to sweat, some earn minimum wage, what can you do about it? Live with it! You save up your money in hope that someday you can afford it. What is there to shout about if everything is at your disposal? Any audiophiles, Tom Dick and Harry could do it. Ill advice will always be a piece of ill advice. Likewise, some listen but couldn't tune and rarely, those who tune don't know listening. I will add, a hypocrite couldn't tune and listen, all they know is inciting and boasting half baked story. You take a hypocrite seriously, the days of misfortune will one day fall on you.
Within minutes of working, speaker placement, adjusting the tweaks, the owner signed off my job sheet. The improved sound silenced the critic, not a single cent is spent. The sound was not only opened up, so does the articulation. Whatever upgrade in future, the result will pay interest.
Perhaps my employment of tonewood would attract criticisms. Tonewood is like tube-rolling but they work for me despite colourations, nice colourations. I've invested quite a bit in tonewood, no less than 5 species. Natural materials introduce natural sound. Like cotton shirt to our skin, cotton may not be the best material but you feel the coolness wearing it as opposed to wrinkle-free polyester. I have got one tonewood in my arsenal that would congeal the sparse imaging across the soundstage to pin-on-board imaging. Magically on voices, yeah! It's unbelievable though it's contradicting what I've said earlier. Also, I enhance reverberations with tonewood. Think room filled piano nuances, not manner where I walk in my house I'm happy with my piano repro, unashamedly.
Now, on the personal ground, how far you go in your audio mileage depends on how far you push your system, how eager you want to betterment. Your attitude dictates your behaviour. It strikes me that we need to unlearn what you have learned to make way for relearning. We, many times, thought that we have learned enough and we ceased there, the real revelation is often sitting right at one corner waiting to be discovered. It's like lost and found. Aren't we inclined to restrict our search at one specific area where we think we might have left the lost item? Little do we know, our preoccupied mind restricted our search area, we kept searching within the parameters but unable to see things under our nose. Doesn't this sound a little too familiar? We see from a macro perspective and neglect the micro perspective. Does the devil is in the detail ring to you?
I risk angering audiophiles that most of the acclaimed systems sounded "acoustically dead"? The sound is slow and boring for my taste of classical music. The true intent of the music is tampered, that's the last thing you want to arrive at. Does it occur to you why many systems sounded awful with pop music? How many systems you heard could do pop music justice? Not many, huh? Why is our system picky about music repro? Missing is the whippiness, what more, the bass is slow and woolly. Poor jump factor.
Airiness is a major component in sound. Sound is an energy in the way the soundwave propagates, it is not wrong to say the greater sound is derived by moving more air. In my view, a less airy sound is a sick system. All musical instruments move air, name me one which is not? The strings move air, the woodwind moves air, the percussion moves air and et cetera. Live recordings are airy, the crowd rocking the concert. Airiness brings about a righteous sound and ambience. And if your system doesn't exhibit this quality even with mediocre Blue Note jazz, you know something is not right. Our domestic sound repro should exhibit more airiness than what it is because our room generates some share of reverb. So, you now be careful with overly use of absorptive materials in your room.
To bring the sound to the next level, you need to have a well in-room guided airflow. Standing wave is not a guided airflow. Bass trap is not a guided airflow. Let the air works for you instead of fighting against it. Give it a thought, I will not elaborate further.
Let examine, vocal repro as per my observation, the love of the audiophiles here. It is a sad thing. The key to an amazing vocal repro is easy, a forward mids, an added warmth at the midrange and softened highs especially at the lower highs. A little box colouration would help to enhance the emotional department. Take a closer listen, there's nothing in the bass but a compromised articulation. To avoid bass intrusion into the mids, you either get a pair of bookshelf speakers or well-designed floorstanding speakers. I look more than that, the chestiness quality, the recording should have picked up this quality but not the repro. I'm a strong proponent of a simple system. The more boxes only mean the longer signal path and hence the greater signal loss. Sure you have more transformers to boost the signal but what is there to boost if the signal is lost? Any of you perceive articulation in low bass of the subwoofer?
On the contrary, the box colouration smears the timbre, throw off timing. Take for an instance, the plucking of a guitar. The zing is softened due to the rounded highs, the tone got thicken due to the warmness and smearing, the texture is distorted and the decay is shortlived. Worst of the lot, bass articulation, there's hardly any but a woolly bass with nothing in it. Look no further than double bass and cello, they don't sound vibrant. Whatmore, the snare drums don't sound like what they should. Thus, a reviewer must not be influenced by the music played, he should focus on sound quality even if he doesn't like the music played.
Resolution is precious, you couldn't create it. Take for an example, a UHD TV against a full HD TV, you could only do so much on full HD TV with a better power cord, a better HDMI cable and probably a power bank! An audio system with high-resolution will always sound lean for they sounded clean. They sound real, they are revealing and they don't sound sweet. My approach is to add a little tube flavour or resonance to add a tad colouration to it, it works. I'm talking about a smidgen amount of colouration, not a whole lot.
High-end audio is all about fidelity, nothing else but everything about fidelity. However, the market offers high-end pleasing sound system into the mix. They deploy tubes and transformers to add flavours to the sound. Well, if we take pro sound as a no-nonsense reference, these are not true sound. So, we must accept some degree of colourations to the sound. That's what the consumers want. Make something the consumers want or ship out. What I have observed and concluded, the majority of audiophiles prefer a sound with a twist. The tube guys, I mean the equipment with power tubes, took it to the extreme end of the spectrum. Tube noise is acceptable. Me? I'm a small tube guy.
My brand of the system is highly dynamic, fast, detailed, airy, energetic, uncompressed and produces a lively ambience. In short, a system that can swing effortlessly. Quiet as a mouse background? Pitch black backdrop? They are not my concern, I don't mind a little noise. Music isn't all about succulent voices, you will get bored soon enough. I want correct timbre. I listen to pop, jazz, soul and classical music, depending on the listening moods of the time. Thus, the mentioned sonic traits are pretty much universal.
There are two camps of audiophiles, a master and a slave. A master himself takes charge of the sound while a slave as the noun implied, a slave to audio equipment. The latter buy, buy, buy, they buy their way to sonic utopia. You can see that the latter is well to do people who can afford better things in life. The former is more of a poor man audiophile. When I throw this question to the fellow audiophiles which you want to be, something like wealth and wisdom, all of them wanted to be the fat wallet guy or the wealth guy. Smile. Life is so much simpler then but not all guys are born wealthy or inherited a family fortune or struck a lottery. I got nothing against them.
Monday, July 22, 2019
Presumptions
Life is short. One must live life fuller. By that, we must not live beyond my means. Going places, enjoy food, enjoy good music, quality time with friends and family, most importantly maintain a healthy lifestyle. You stand to lose everything, your quality of life will go down the drain if you lost your health.
I enjoy truthful sound just as much as I enjoy durian, the king of fruit, many may not like it over the hard to describe the smell, an acquired taste. What do you know? Many foreigners are increasingly loving the taste of it, they drive the prices up which is a sad thing. For the durian gluttons, they wouldn't want others. "Take my money and go!". Musang King is the world's best durian Malaysia has to offer, Black Thorn is challenging the top spot. Perhaps the Thais will dispute that with their breeds. Sound is like too, there are too many sound profiles that declaring the clear winner is close to impossible. Make thing worst, our taste in sound changes over time. One thing is certain though, you simply cannot settle for less after you have gotten betterment. Up is the only way. If you choose not to hop on the upgrade bandwagon and keep money in your pocket, time will work its magic, it fades your sonic memory. As long as you still listen to music, you will have little resistance to good sound. Good sound is addictive. Be mindful, audio passion is not to be understood by non-audiophiles, just as men don't get it with handbags and gems.
Audioing is a lonely journey, absolutely. It's down to you and your sound, your fulfilment of personal actualization. Achieving your high goal gives a sensational feeling. In the pursuit of good sound, I try as much as I can to reason how and why the tweak works the way it works. Look, Einstein's Theory of General Relativity took nearly ten decades to be verified. No, I don't know everything. What I'm trying to say is time will reveal things.
To avoid subjectivity trap, I avoid voices. Voices will tend to veer you off course to your preference, for instance, some prefer younger voices while others prefer more mature voices. We will come to a dilemma of which is right, a hotbed for a heated debate that ends without a conclusion but one party feeling sour. Audiophiles are combative, while some parties are happily fanning the fire, they are the bad apple of audiophiles. Stay far away from these audiophiles because they will not build you up.
Instead, the violin and the piano are my preferred reference. There are certain qualities I look for in these reproductions. Hard to describe but you go listen to the real thing, you know what I mean. Once these are reproduced well, voices will fall into place. A sound in the rawest form, not overly smooth to remove the essential spikes. The rawness or the toothing could be in the form of tone and dynamic or both. A reverberant sound and rich timbre are the holy grail alongside with compression-free, though brassy, harsh and ear-piercing it will always sound pristine. It is paramount for me a system to distinguish the colour of the musical instrument.
If you think the description of sound is a little complicated, think of it as a picture. Good sound moves emotion so does a picture with a story. You feel connected or resonated looking at one. Of course, subjectivity and past experiences evoke our emotional response. While you may owe the best photography equipment, it doesn't make you a good photographer. A good shoot requires a lot of preparations and shooting techniques, National Geographic photographers might have to wait for days to get the right shot, mind you. Likewise, a Chinese has a proverb that says three minutes on stage, three years in preparation. To shine, you need to do your homework, you must offer something extraordinary especially in sound, audiophiles are not the easiest people to impress. If you buy high-end equipment to post, put on the facebook to attract fanboys and don't have the promised sound, don't bother about receiving guests.
Among others, a nervous sound is not fine. This is especially true with volatile speaker impedance, you can have many things going wrong. Power is always a good thing. Tell you what, I once had a fella told me that a magical sound takes place when the amp is on the brink of running out of juice, I raised my eyebrows and disbelief.
Good sound has that expressiveness, the fulfilment of the musical intent and fluidity. I'm working my system toward an in-room free-flowing sound for years, my belief that it serves the music well. My sound may not exhibit the high-end bells and whistles but instinctively (for me), it ticks all the right boxes. That's my take. I worked hard to get to this quality. I'm especially happy with my piano reproduction. I know, I know, most audiophiles presume neutral sound is the holy grail. What is neutral sound? Let's face it, miking has a big influence on the sound, right where the distortion begins. By itself, every recording studio has its sound, so does the work of mixing engineers. Not convinced? Only a few attended the recording session, they're the few who can tell what it was like then. How do we the outsider gauge neutrality? We just can't. We have got nothing to fall upon to make an assessment but assumptions, assumptions based on our acumen of sound. How close to right we get is a question mark.
When an upgrade didn't deliver the result, it can only mean that you have made the wrong upgrade at the wrong place. You just miss the target. Quite truly, we unlock the value of our system with system synergy, careful setup, power management and room acoustics. You have only you to blame. Take it to heart, don't take that the manufacturers know everything, they are not the player. In most cases, users know better. Once you make a purchase, you're on your own, buddy. The best education you could have received is by visiting your fellow audiophiles' system and learn from your visitation. Ask questions, you got everything to gain. Pick up and start from there. Personally, I build my walls against outsiders because I'm a private person. To my delight, this blog doesn't attract a lot of interests which is a good thing. I feel free to speak my mind.
I can't help feeling audiophiles making far too many presumptions based on logic, engineering, past experiences or whatnot. It's easy to be consumed by intellectual presumptions, we presume speaker placement, we presume cable sounding, we presume system matching, we presume resonance, in short, we presume everything under the sun. An outright sin of commission. Let me illustrate, isolation devices are not merely isolation, they introduce colour. Bearing isolation brings a different sound, wooden spike brings a different sound, Sorbothane brings a different sound, copper cone brings a different sound, crystal cone brings a different sound and so on, the big question is how do you handle this? I make a point that I don't use one type of isolation throughout all the equipment. Doing that you will introduce a strong sound character. I like to mix things up, just how to produce a harmonious marriage with different isolations is an art. When a sound is more than a sound, it captures the essence of music. Just like the luthiers in the 18th century, each make carries a different sound. Let your ears work, not your mouth. Making unjust comments make you an audio fool. We don't need another hero. Your instinct will tell if the sound is right.
No shit, I'm a sick audiophile. The years have not slowed me down. I thirst for sonic improvements and every improvement makes me happy for a week or two, I start exploring the next month. Don't ask me where I got my energy, I don't know. My mind is focused on improving sound quality and enjoy the labour of love.
I enjoy truthful sound just as much as I enjoy durian, the king of fruit, many may not like it over the hard to describe the smell, an acquired taste. What do you know? Many foreigners are increasingly loving the taste of it, they drive the prices up which is a sad thing. For the durian gluttons, they wouldn't want others. "Take my money and go!". Musang King is the world's best durian Malaysia has to offer, Black Thorn is challenging the top spot. Perhaps the Thais will dispute that with their breeds. Sound is like too, there are too many sound profiles that declaring the clear winner is close to impossible. Make thing worst, our taste in sound changes over time. One thing is certain though, you simply cannot settle for less after you have gotten betterment. Up is the only way. If you choose not to hop on the upgrade bandwagon and keep money in your pocket, time will work its magic, it fades your sonic memory. As long as you still listen to music, you will have little resistance to good sound. Good sound is addictive. Be mindful, audio passion is not to be understood by non-audiophiles, just as men don't get it with handbags and gems.
Audioing is a lonely journey, absolutely. It's down to you and your sound, your fulfilment of personal actualization. Achieving your high goal gives a sensational feeling. In the pursuit of good sound, I try as much as I can to reason how and why the tweak works the way it works. Look, Einstein's Theory of General Relativity took nearly ten decades to be verified. No, I don't know everything. What I'm trying to say is time will reveal things.
To avoid subjectivity trap, I avoid voices. Voices will tend to veer you off course to your preference, for instance, some prefer younger voices while others prefer more mature voices. We will come to a dilemma of which is right, a hotbed for a heated debate that ends without a conclusion but one party feeling sour. Audiophiles are combative, while some parties are happily fanning the fire, they are the bad apple of audiophiles. Stay far away from these audiophiles because they will not build you up.
Instead, the violin and the piano are my preferred reference. There are certain qualities I look for in these reproductions. Hard to describe but you go listen to the real thing, you know what I mean. Once these are reproduced well, voices will fall into place. A sound in the rawest form, not overly smooth to remove the essential spikes. The rawness or the toothing could be in the form of tone and dynamic or both. A reverberant sound and rich timbre are the holy grail alongside with compression-free, though brassy, harsh and ear-piercing it will always sound pristine. It is paramount for me a system to distinguish the colour of the musical instrument.
If you think the description of sound is a little complicated, think of it as a picture. Good sound moves emotion so does a picture with a story. You feel connected or resonated looking at one. Of course, subjectivity and past experiences evoke our emotional response. While you may owe the best photography equipment, it doesn't make you a good photographer. A good shoot requires a lot of preparations and shooting techniques, National Geographic photographers might have to wait for days to get the right shot, mind you. Likewise, a Chinese has a proverb that says three minutes on stage, three years in preparation. To shine, you need to do your homework, you must offer something extraordinary especially in sound, audiophiles are not the easiest people to impress. If you buy high-end equipment to post, put on the facebook to attract fanboys and don't have the promised sound, don't bother about receiving guests.
Among others, a nervous sound is not fine. This is especially true with volatile speaker impedance, you can have many things going wrong. Power is always a good thing. Tell you what, I once had a fella told me that a magical sound takes place when the amp is on the brink of running out of juice, I raised my eyebrows and disbelief.
Good sound has that expressiveness, the fulfilment of the musical intent and fluidity. I'm working my system toward an in-room free-flowing sound for years, my belief that it serves the music well. My sound may not exhibit the high-end bells and whistles but instinctively (for me), it ticks all the right boxes. That's my take. I worked hard to get to this quality. I'm especially happy with my piano reproduction. I know, I know, most audiophiles presume neutral sound is the holy grail. What is neutral sound? Let's face it, miking has a big influence on the sound, right where the distortion begins. By itself, every recording studio has its sound, so does the work of mixing engineers. Not convinced? Only a few attended the recording session, they're the few who can tell what it was like then. How do we the outsider gauge neutrality? We just can't. We have got nothing to fall upon to make an assessment but assumptions, assumptions based on our acumen of sound. How close to right we get is a question mark.
When an upgrade didn't deliver the result, it can only mean that you have made the wrong upgrade at the wrong place. You just miss the target. Quite truly, we unlock the value of our system with system synergy, careful setup, power management and room acoustics. You have only you to blame. Take it to heart, don't take that the manufacturers know everything, they are not the player. In most cases, users know better. Once you make a purchase, you're on your own, buddy. The best education you could have received is by visiting your fellow audiophiles' system and learn from your visitation. Ask questions, you got everything to gain. Pick up and start from there. Personally, I build my walls against outsiders because I'm a private person. To my delight, this blog doesn't attract a lot of interests which is a good thing. I feel free to speak my mind.
I can't help feeling audiophiles making far too many presumptions based on logic, engineering, past experiences or whatnot. It's easy to be consumed by intellectual presumptions, we presume speaker placement, we presume cable sounding, we presume system matching, we presume resonance, in short, we presume everything under the sun. An outright sin of commission. Let me illustrate, isolation devices are not merely isolation, they introduce colour. Bearing isolation brings a different sound, wooden spike brings a different sound, Sorbothane brings a different sound, copper cone brings a different sound, crystal cone brings a different sound and so on, the big question is how do you handle this? I make a point that I don't use one type of isolation throughout all the equipment. Doing that you will introduce a strong sound character. I like to mix things up, just how to produce a harmonious marriage with different isolations is an art. When a sound is more than a sound, it captures the essence of music. Just like the luthiers in the 18th century, each make carries a different sound. Let your ears work, not your mouth. Making unjust comments make you an audio fool. We don't need another hero. Your instinct will tell if the sound is right.
No shit, I'm a sick audiophile. The years have not slowed me down. I thirst for sonic improvements and every improvement makes me happy for a week or two, I start exploring the next month. Don't ask me where I got my energy, I don't know. My mind is focused on improving sound quality and enjoy the labour of love.
Monday, June 24, 2019
Breathing space
Why would I bother to replace my trusty Pioneer to a pair of DIY speakers? Look, Pioneer is a big corporation, given its global presence products, the products that bear their name must have well researched, that's what I want to believe. On a personal account, I have got a mission that is to test my system building capability. "Am I for real?" Yes, a reluctant yes. Though I doubted myself at times, my gut feeling tells me to follow my heart or die with an unanswered question. A dream sound or financial risk, there's no other option. Readers who visit here know that I'm more than pleased with how things turn out. Hallelujah!
Every change offers learning opportunities. The first lesson reestablishes the need for breathing space. I couldn't stress enough to allow the speakers space to breath even if it means you need to downsize. There's a delicate balance, too little breathing space will choke the sound, too much will rob the vigour of the sound. My preloved, Pioneer is roughly 20% more box than Belle comparatively. It has two 7 inch bass driver while Belle only one 8 inch widebander driver. The less box freed up space to render the airiness and ambience at the expense of bass. It's a difficult decision. On the bright side, the sound enjoys unprecedented liberty which brings me to the second lesson; given the volume is a constant, the correlation of bass volume to your room size. There is an amount of bass volume and low bass you room has installed. I wouldn't use volume for bass compensation, you will not get a balanced sound. You either got the bass right but it becomes way too loud or too bass heavy where it muffles the mids. Best to leave the volume as a constant instead of as a variable. Many stubborn and greedy audiophiles think they could handle a bigger speaker/bass than their small room can take. They are trying to defy the law of physics. I wish them luck.
Be mindful of the volume, multiple drivers speakers need some juice to produce a glorious bass, but a small room isn't accommodating. Either way, you're at the losing end, the bass overstayed because there isn't enough room for dissipation or lacks bass to load the room leaving you wanting more bass. Thirdly, low-efficiency speakers are a natural detail eater. Complex crossovers eat details for breakfast. Details to high-efficiency speakers are like a duck to water, low-level details can be heard at low volume. You can say I'm biased. I encourage you to go find out yourself. But then again, widebander speakers are not without problems, they inherited a different set of problems. Tell me which speaker designs are problem-free?
Ideally, we want sound to correspond positively with the effort we put in. That's the sign of a good system just like the star of Bethlehem, the wise audiophiles know. If the reverse is true, the dark cloud on your forehead, it's time to consider changing your speakers or getting a contractor to enlarge the room. If not, a super duper room treatment can do so little. A DSP room correction for a quick fix? I have my doubts. Brace for impact, the sound will fall apart, it will not be pretty.
On the contrary, a system that leverages the size room will produce an amazing sound. By the way, have you listened to speakers sing in free space? The stark contrast is, the sound enjoys a bodied presentation in a room. The sound of Philharmonic hall, as free as can be, pure and extended, no sonic pocket. I opined that simpler music is more capable of depicting timbre, a busy sound is best to evaluate the system's resolving power and macro dynamics.
Well, being an audiophile myself, I know I sometimes got stubborn and intolerant to different opinions, my bad. This sickness is common among serious audiophiles, I'm not immune to that. Our stance is shaped by our past experiences and exposures. It goes without saying the quality experiences just like quality education, you see a gentleman in a person. I can't see myself compromising over the opposing principles. Water and oil will not mix, it will never mix.
Sound can mean differently to people. A cult group gathers the like-minded audiophiles. They feel good hanging around the like-minded people. You will see less division. If the number is large, it will be deemed as a standard, true to the spirit of democracy even it is wrong. Only true sound can stand the test of time and well received. My motivation is not about the money but self-actualization. Audiophiles buy expensive equipment to satisfy self-esteem. It's one of many men's playgrounds, you stand up for what you believe and you don't have to bother with what others say. Who needs policing here, I'm the boss. I'm not taking shit from anyone.
Jesus advises you to build your house on a rock. He got a point. Building a system upon a good bass is essential, good things will follow. In a real situation, we all have to deal with direct and reflected sound. Unless you listen in an anechoic chamber, the higher end system will reign supreme because there's only direct sound. In reality, we have to contend with reflected sound. Reflected sound ruins the sound, I'd take a portion of the equipment budget for the room treatment. This is what makes me different from the majority of audiophiles, the room is my playground. It can go as simple as rearranging the furniture in your listening room, for the better or worst, it depends on the skills of the individual. This is the know-how, unfortunately, it doesn't get the commensurated reward. Those who have been there will know what I'm talking about. Your sound very much lies on the magnitude you manage the reflected sound. If you haven't given thought about it, perhaps you stop blaming your equipment and work on your reflected sound. I could guarantee you a handsome reward awaits you at the end of the tunnel.
Every change offers learning opportunities. The first lesson reestablishes the need for breathing space. I couldn't stress enough to allow the speakers space to breath even if it means you need to downsize. There's a delicate balance, too little breathing space will choke the sound, too much will rob the vigour of the sound. My preloved, Pioneer is roughly 20% more box than Belle comparatively. It has two 7 inch bass driver while Belle only one 8 inch widebander driver. The less box freed up space to render the airiness and ambience at the expense of bass. It's a difficult decision. On the bright side, the sound enjoys unprecedented liberty which brings me to the second lesson; given the volume is a constant, the correlation of bass volume to your room size. There is an amount of bass volume and low bass you room has installed. I wouldn't use volume for bass compensation, you will not get a balanced sound. You either got the bass right but it becomes way too loud or too bass heavy where it muffles the mids. Best to leave the volume as a constant instead of as a variable. Many stubborn and greedy audiophiles think they could handle a bigger speaker/bass than their small room can take. They are trying to defy the law of physics. I wish them luck.
Be mindful of the volume, multiple drivers speakers need some juice to produce a glorious bass, but a small room isn't accommodating. Either way, you're at the losing end, the bass overstayed because there isn't enough room for dissipation or lacks bass to load the room leaving you wanting more bass. Thirdly, low-efficiency speakers are a natural detail eater. Complex crossovers eat details for breakfast. Details to high-efficiency speakers are like a duck to water, low-level details can be heard at low volume. You can say I'm biased. I encourage you to go find out yourself. But then again, widebander speakers are not without problems, they inherited a different set of problems. Tell me which speaker designs are problem-free?
Ideally, we want sound to correspond positively with the effort we put in. That's the sign of a good system just like the star of Bethlehem, the wise audiophiles know. If the reverse is true, the dark cloud on your forehead, it's time to consider changing your speakers or getting a contractor to enlarge the room. If not, a super duper room treatment can do so little. A DSP room correction for a quick fix? I have my doubts. Brace for impact, the sound will fall apart, it will not be pretty.
On the contrary, a system that leverages the size room will produce an amazing sound. By the way, have you listened to speakers sing in free space? The stark contrast is, the sound enjoys a bodied presentation in a room. The sound of Philharmonic hall, as free as can be, pure and extended, no sonic pocket. I opined that simpler music is more capable of depicting timbre, a busy sound is best to evaluate the system's resolving power and macro dynamics.
Well, being an audiophile myself, I know I sometimes got stubborn and intolerant to different opinions, my bad. This sickness is common among serious audiophiles, I'm not immune to that. Our stance is shaped by our past experiences and exposures. It goes without saying the quality experiences just like quality education, you see a gentleman in a person. I can't see myself compromising over the opposing principles. Water and oil will not mix, it will never mix.
Sound can mean differently to people. A cult group gathers the like-minded audiophiles. They feel good hanging around the like-minded people. You will see less division. If the number is large, it will be deemed as a standard, true to the spirit of democracy even it is wrong. Only true sound can stand the test of time and well received. My motivation is not about the money but self-actualization. Audiophiles buy expensive equipment to satisfy self-esteem. It's one of many men's playgrounds, you stand up for what you believe and you don't have to bother with what others say. Who needs policing here, I'm the boss. I'm not taking shit from anyone.
Jesus advises you to build your house on a rock. He got a point. Building a system upon a good bass is essential, good things will follow. In a real situation, we all have to deal with direct and reflected sound. Unless you listen in an anechoic chamber, the higher end system will reign supreme because there's only direct sound. In reality, we have to contend with reflected sound. Reflected sound ruins the sound, I'd take a portion of the equipment budget for the room treatment. This is what makes me different from the majority of audiophiles, the room is my playground. It can go as simple as rearranging the furniture in your listening room, for the better or worst, it depends on the skills of the individual. This is the know-how, unfortunately, it doesn't get the commensurated reward. Those who have been there will know what I'm talking about. Your sound very much lies on the magnitude you manage the reflected sound. If you haven't given thought about it, perhaps you stop blaming your equipment and work on your reflected sound. I could guarantee you a handsome reward awaits you at the end of the tunnel.
Monday, May 27, 2019
You never try, you never know
Time will do it's part, it breaks in equipment. Doesn't time always do? Most audiophiles knew the goodness of breaking in, it diminishes sonic hardness and nervousness. But I'm still not completely satisfied. The toothiness was still audible at large, I knew that. Personally, I like some degree of toothiness at the leading edge, it injects life and presence into the music. Just like chili, not only it adds a dimension to the taste, it accentuates the ingredient. Match made in heaven, like lamb and mint goes well together, chicken and soy sauce, black coffee and cheesecake. Yum.
Overly toothy is the straw that breaks the camel's back. There's always a threshold for everything. Eve Cassidy's Field of Gold is an acid test, she is incredible attacking the high notes. Well. it didn't take long playing the track to send shivers down my spine. It warns me about magic volume, it could not be any truer in my system. She told me to tone it down or she screams. Thus, dampening on the phase plugs seems to be the obvious option in the interim, this unfinished work was still at the back of my head until I find a viable solution. Inevitably, transparency and note wholeness took a hit. I somehow feel that the overtones were short lived than supposedly.
Alas, time can only do so much. The toothiness was still there, albeit at a more acceptable level. Unrest, I was not about to call a quit on fine-tuning, not yet. Precisely, my zero tolerance to sonic imperfection drives me nut, I don't even remember when I was like that. So much into sound and my impatience didn't help at all. When it seems like I wasn't making any headway, it's good to quit doing what you're doing, sit back and take a close look at my system. That was exactly what I do. My light bulb suddenly lightened, I spotted one opening; the isolation feet. To being with, it was a long shot. In the first place, my rigs were well isolated, my Paduak isolation feet were more than enough to handle the job. They did a marvellous job on my past system. Well, I guessed wrong. It turned out Paduak accentuates a wrong sound on Belle. How dreadful!
Albert Einstein once quotes "In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." A closed mind doesn't help learning. Some overthink. They think that if they do this, they will arrive at certain thing. One plus one is two, that's usually not the case when you come to unfamiliar water. You never know what you're going to get if you don't try, you never know.
Once you make a gigantic step forward, you then make small steps for finer adjustments to arrive at a sound you're contended with. These small steps are vital. The sweet thing is my African pitch black Gabon Ebony saved me from embarrassment. Before long, I have got a grin on my face. My oh my. It puts me where I wanted to be. You seldom hit the nail on the head in audio, I do this time. African wood is definitely the icing on the cake, it takes out the right amount of toothiness.
Soon, the missing air bothers me. Nothing an interconnect swapping couldn't fix, this one I'm sure because I had been playing around them. Keep trying, the rewards await for those who cross the finishing line. With that last nail in the coffin, I announced that the critical path of my system is accomplished. How ironic that I have to throw out my expensive cables out from my system.
You see, I'm not hiding my ambitious goal to attain best sound. I'm being honest. It's immaterial whether or not I achieve best sound. What it does is it sets my attitude. You come with a carefree attitude, you get an average result. That how things were and how things are.
Overly toothy is the straw that breaks the camel's back. There's always a threshold for everything. Eve Cassidy's Field of Gold is an acid test, she is incredible attacking the high notes. Well. it didn't take long playing the track to send shivers down my spine. It warns me about magic volume, it could not be any truer in my system. She told me to tone it down or she screams. Thus, dampening on the phase plugs seems to be the obvious option in the interim, this unfinished work was still at the back of my head until I find a viable solution. Inevitably, transparency and note wholeness took a hit. I somehow feel that the overtones were short lived than supposedly.
Alas, time can only do so much. The toothiness was still there, albeit at a more acceptable level. Unrest, I was not about to call a quit on fine-tuning, not yet. Precisely, my zero tolerance to sonic imperfection drives me nut, I don't even remember when I was like that. So much into sound and my impatience didn't help at all. When it seems like I wasn't making any headway, it's good to quit doing what you're doing, sit back and take a close look at my system. That was exactly what I do. My light bulb suddenly lightened, I spotted one opening; the isolation feet. To being with, it was a long shot. In the first place, my rigs were well isolated, my Paduak isolation feet were more than enough to handle the job. They did a marvellous job on my past system. Well, I guessed wrong. It turned out Paduak accentuates a wrong sound on Belle. How dreadful!
Albert Einstein once quotes "In theory, theory and practice are the same. In practice, they are not." A closed mind doesn't help learning. Some overthink. They think that if they do this, they will arrive at certain thing. One plus one is two, that's usually not the case when you come to unfamiliar water. You never know what you're going to get if you don't try, you never know.
Once you make a gigantic step forward, you then make small steps for finer adjustments to arrive at a sound you're contended with. These small steps are vital. The sweet thing is my African pitch black Gabon Ebony saved me from embarrassment. Before long, I have got a grin on my face. My oh my. It puts me where I wanted to be. You seldom hit the nail on the head in audio, I do this time. African wood is definitely the icing on the cake, it takes out the right amount of toothiness.
Soon, the missing air bothers me. Nothing an interconnect swapping couldn't fix, this one I'm sure because I had been playing around them. Keep trying, the rewards await for those who cross the finishing line. With that last nail in the coffin, I announced that the critical path of my system is accomplished. How ironic that I have to throw out my expensive cables out from my system.
You see, I'm not hiding my ambitious goal to attain best sound. I'm being honest. It's immaterial whether or not I achieve best sound. What it does is it sets my attitude. You come with a carefree attitude, you get an average result. That how things were and how things are.
Monday, April 29, 2019
A new chapter
As you may already know, my blog isn't about rave equipment reviews. Nope, it's my little cyberspace to talk audio here. There're plenty of reviews to read, or is it not? Old wine in a new bottle and with a twist of the story, mostly. High-end audio is a man's fantasy. Like sports cars, they attract eyeballs, a few can afford.
The state of tranquillity of mind is when you're at ease with your sound. Only sound and sound alone, the gold standard that stands the test of time. My views might be offbeat and unconventional, maybe even boring to some, it's perfectly OK if you don't concur with me. You don't need to, I can respect that. We all come from different audio backgrounds and if you don't like what you read, leave in peace.
Forever looking for ways and means to improve the sound, this is absolutely the audiophiliac thing, isn't it? Welcome to the sick club, you get a lifelong membership without the usual subscription fee. Non-audiophiles think audiophiles are nuts. To audiophiles, it's a whole lot of fun. How to get closer to the music? This thought runs in my mind, leaves me high and dry. I desire my sound to sounds close to music. It's not the tone. What is it?
A question we must ask ourselves, what sound do you want? Sonic effects or music? Hallelujah! My question is answered early this year in Taiwan, full range speaker. A spur to the road less travelled, fingers crossed. To my ears, full range speakers make music. For power and scale, bigger multi-driver speakers do better, moving more air and composed. Full range speakers carry a connotation of "less is more". Bass is not their strong suit. The speaker approach has always been high-efficiency against low efficiency.
Get the right speaker size for the room and save yourself troubles. Never pick a fight you can't win. Given a small room, full range speakers fit my bill perfectly. Small rooms choke bass, leaving little room for bass to stretch legs. Since most music falls in 55Hz to 5kHz region, in my opinion, it makes perfect sense to strive for a flawless 55Hz to 5kHz. I know it's conservative, a good midrange is the grand prize. I'm talking about immaculate coherency and homogeneity. What does a flat frequency response tell you? Nothing.
By assigning the task to only one driver, it kills three birds with one stone, a point source behaviour, eliminating the need for crossover and absolute phase coherency. No crossover, no phase shift, no time delay, no ambiguity. So, I was in a dilemma, realising a dream or enduring the financial stress. You all know what comes next, I gave in to sound.
For sure, a DIY project is not for the faint-hearted. I must admit the uneasy feeling of never know what you will get. Furthermore, no resale value and possibly a failed project adds insult to the injury. The problem with crossover, they are made out of capacitor, resistor and inductor, they eat details for breakfast and pukes sonic veil. Exotic components are not the perfect solution, I smell a rat. On the other side, full range speakers aren't without problems, they carry a peculiar sound, don't they always do? Far for neutral, the peakiness is glaring if you're coming from multi-driver speakers. That's a symptom when you overstressed your employees, they got grumpy. A field coil full range driver costs a bomb, besides, good sound from full range speakers come down box design, this is the tricky part. Speaker box design is the less understood subject. No bulletproof box design but empirical evidence. A weak bass is not good.
Aesthetically, I hate my speakers a sight for sore eyes, two tones veneer, a feature black wood at the front panel, hickory at the side, an expression of my taste. Given the job order confirmed near Chinese New Year, my speakers arrived at my door front at the end of March. I shall name my new speakers after the lovely veneer lady. Thanks, Belle.
Belle comprises of a pair of super tweeters and main towers. Ribbon super tweeter is my choice for their wide dispersion. Not dynamic super tweeters, the beaming, the pistonic character will attract attention. The point is, super tweeter is to aid space and ambience, nothing more. Due to ageing, there's a good chance that we couldn't hear things above 12kHz when we hit 50. Consequently, by moving the phase issue way up above my audible range, it will not be an issue.
The real battle begins when getting Belle to sing. Never take on a system set up lightly, it's not something you do every day. At the lower end of high efficiency at 93db/W/m sensitivity, I called YBA 1 Alpha for duty, a sweet 85wpc amp that sounds anything but a solid state amp. It took 2 weeks of going back and forth on speaker positioning my room allows. It's a tiring exercise and frequent sonic memory retrievals. I settled on a speaker positioning that best accommodates my parameters.
A sound of the milk and the honey? I'm afraid not. I'd described Belle a shrew citing her annoying peakiness. Sound wise, say hello to a no-frills sound and brutally honest. No Kathoey, a transsexual in Thai, I'm not fine with that. For the sake of timbre uprightness, I swapped in the warmer interconnects and power cords to get the balance right. Even though she posts no standing waves in my room, it's a deal breaker for what she sounds. Rolled up my sleeves, I worked on her peakiness. Mind you, there are no perfect speakers money can buy. For all I know, Belle is the first of her kind ever made here.
Before long, her lively demeanour grabs my attention. Gets up and goes, there's a sense of readiness to sing and supercharging the music. Instruments are the beneficiary, receiving the dire immediacy. I have little patience waiting, the drags kill the music. Lazy sounding puts me to sleep.
In no time, I heard details I never realized existed, a lot of them. Details without articulation are not going to impress any audiophile. Fuzzy notes have no place in high fidelity. I could visualise the virtuoso's actions on the strings. The clarity and radiance of the piano notes lingering in the air and filling the space up. The rapid exchanges of guitar notes, the dark tones of the cello, the icy metallic of the trumpet, it's unlike listening to boxes! The second prize, the sharp staccato of the snare drum is vivid. In my book, the drums and the piano get my vote for the most difficult instruments to reproduce.
Music minus dynamics is zombie. Lifelike dynamic vitalises the music. Even on voices, the vocal dynamic range requires dynamic for the delivery. In this aspect, full range speakers take dynamic like a duck to water, exceeding any multi-driver speakers I heard. The lightness of paper cones and the speaker efficiency work their magic on me, paper cones sounds natural. They seize musical fireworks and rapid exchanges.
Horns have a synonym for relaxed sound. The effortlessness gives gracefulness to the sound, the music still packed with punches despite the sound streaming out from the boxes, not those blows to the stomach. There aren't any. This quality is distinctive, the sound is uncompressed.
Transparency doesn't come at the expense of tone density. Don't fall for the fallacy. A darker sonic backdrop enhances transparency. You don't have to look further than Diana Krall's Live in Paris, her voice and the piano notes are vivid, the recording conveys the venue. Classical symphony recordings are a good example, they depict the locality of the symphony sections during the passages. Belle is a window to transparency, she makes me hold my breath to not mask the subtleties.
Belle is my second stint at crossoverless speaker. A total loss for the first one. I can't stand sonic veil. Take two to tango, a passive preamp and crossoverless speakers, my secret combo. Both do little to tamper the signals. Prepare for tone variations, hue and gradient, they underscore the richness of sound. I was spooked by the midrange presence and vocal pitch modulations. Without reservations, vocal is an easy pie for Belle.
I know, I know, the soundstage is relative to the room size. Comparably, Belle throws a wider soundstage. Lateral soundstage brings separation, not quite the SET three-dimensional magic. Belle hits me right in the feels. With my solid-state amplification, Belle manages a two-point five dimensional presentation. To be honest, Belle produces the best soundstage ever heard in my room. The room, apart from isolating the noise from both internal and external, I'm leveraging on it for room gain. Let's not be fooled, bass is never a strong feat for any full range speaker. I got Belle down to mid 40Hz. By today's standard, it's really nothing to shout about.
Now, the downsides. Mainly the harshness, the peakiness. Secondly, she is incapable of the orchestral splendour, pop and rock. She goes into a panic mode with a string of busy and noisy passages, things get gummy. Housed in a TQWT, the bass is smooth and tuneful, not much in her tank to do the heavy beating. She starts coughing. Forget about midbass punch, nope, I'm not getting any. Bass and full range speakers are not the best of friends. Without super tweeter, the restricted bandwidth will be obvious. Lastly, a restricted playback volume. That is my least worry because Belle plays loud enough in my room.
I'm well aware that audiophiles are preconditioned to new sound after a new introduction into a system. Moreover, the ecstasy clouds our sonic assessment. That's why it's so difficult to write this. On music genres, I say Belle 100:0 on vocal and chamber music, 30:70 chances on pop, 60:40 on jazz, 10:100 on rock music. 20:100 on big symphony works.
I don't wish to paint a rosy picture, the stock Belle isn't going to float many's boats. To arrive at this performance, there are three caveats involving some changes to the speaker fundamental, a carefully aligned super tweeter, phase plug and port tuning. For me, Belle has broken new ground, ushering a new chapter to my audio journey. All the above measures taken see a big step up in sound. She's going in line with my "high impact, low cost" aspiration. True in this regard, less is more, quality over quantity. I'm satisfied. I'm not missing my pre-loved. It will be my end speaker but my friends are not convinced.
The state of tranquillity of mind is when you're at ease with your sound. Only sound and sound alone, the gold standard that stands the test of time. My views might be offbeat and unconventional, maybe even boring to some, it's perfectly OK if you don't concur with me. You don't need to, I can respect that. We all come from different audio backgrounds and if you don't like what you read, leave in peace.
Forever looking for ways and means to improve the sound, this is absolutely the audiophiliac thing, isn't it? Welcome to the sick club, you get a lifelong membership without the usual subscription fee. Non-audiophiles think audiophiles are nuts. To audiophiles, it's a whole lot of fun. How to get closer to the music? This thought runs in my mind, leaves me high and dry. I desire my sound to sounds close to music. It's not the tone. What is it?
A question we must ask ourselves, what sound do you want? Sonic effects or music? Hallelujah! My question is answered early this year in Taiwan, full range speaker. A spur to the road less travelled, fingers crossed. To my ears, full range speakers make music. For power and scale, bigger multi-driver speakers do better, moving more air and composed. Full range speakers carry a connotation of "less is more". Bass is not their strong suit. The speaker approach has always been high-efficiency against low efficiency.
Get the right speaker size for the room and save yourself troubles. Never pick a fight you can't win. Given a small room, full range speakers fit my bill perfectly. Small rooms choke bass, leaving little room for bass to stretch legs. Since most music falls in 55Hz to 5kHz region, in my opinion, it makes perfect sense to strive for a flawless 55Hz to 5kHz. I know it's conservative, a good midrange is the grand prize. I'm talking about immaculate coherency and homogeneity. What does a flat frequency response tell you? Nothing.
By assigning the task to only one driver, it kills three birds with one stone, a point source behaviour, eliminating the need for crossover and absolute phase coherency. No crossover, no phase shift, no time delay, no ambiguity. So, I was in a dilemma, realising a dream or enduring the financial stress. You all know what comes next, I gave in to sound.
Aesthetically, I hate my speakers a sight for sore eyes, two tones veneer, a feature black wood at the front panel, hickory at the side, an expression of my taste. Given the job order confirmed near Chinese New Year, my speakers arrived at my door front at the end of March. I shall name my new speakers after the lovely veneer lady. Thanks, Belle.
Belle comprises of a pair of super tweeters and main towers. Ribbon super tweeter is my choice for their wide dispersion. Not dynamic super tweeters, the beaming, the pistonic character will attract attention. The point is, super tweeter is to aid space and ambience, nothing more. Due to ageing, there's a good chance that we couldn't hear things above 12kHz when we hit 50. Consequently, by moving the phase issue way up above my audible range, it will not be an issue.
The real battle begins when getting Belle to sing. Never take on a system set up lightly, it's not something you do every day. At the lower end of high efficiency at 93db/W/m sensitivity, I called YBA 1 Alpha for duty, a sweet 85wpc amp that sounds anything but a solid state amp. It took 2 weeks of going back and forth on speaker positioning my room allows. It's a tiring exercise and frequent sonic memory retrievals. I settled on a speaker positioning that best accommodates my parameters.
A sound of the milk and the honey? I'm afraid not. I'd described Belle a shrew citing her annoying peakiness. Sound wise, say hello to a no-frills sound and brutally honest. No Kathoey, a transsexual in Thai, I'm not fine with that. For the sake of timbre uprightness, I swapped in the warmer interconnects and power cords to get the balance right. Even though she posts no standing waves in my room, it's a deal breaker for what she sounds. Rolled up my sleeves, I worked on her peakiness. Mind you, there are no perfect speakers money can buy. For all I know, Belle is the first of her kind ever made here.
Before long, her lively demeanour grabs my attention. Gets up and goes, there's a sense of readiness to sing and supercharging the music. Instruments are the beneficiary, receiving the dire immediacy. I have little patience waiting, the drags kill the music. Lazy sounding puts me to sleep.
In no time, I heard details I never realized existed, a lot of them. Details without articulation are not going to impress any audiophile. Fuzzy notes have no place in high fidelity. I could visualise the virtuoso's actions on the strings. The clarity and radiance of the piano notes lingering in the air and filling the space up. The rapid exchanges of guitar notes, the dark tones of the cello, the icy metallic of the trumpet, it's unlike listening to boxes! The second prize, the sharp staccato of the snare drum is vivid. In my book, the drums and the piano get my vote for the most difficult instruments to reproduce.
Music minus dynamics is zombie. Lifelike dynamic vitalises the music. Even on voices, the vocal dynamic range requires dynamic for the delivery. In this aspect, full range speakers take dynamic like a duck to water, exceeding any multi-driver speakers I heard. The lightness of paper cones and the speaker efficiency work their magic on me, paper cones sounds natural. They seize musical fireworks and rapid exchanges.
Horns have a synonym for relaxed sound. The effortlessness gives gracefulness to the sound, the music still packed with punches despite the sound streaming out from the boxes, not those blows to the stomach. There aren't any. This quality is distinctive, the sound is uncompressed.
Belle is my second stint at crossoverless speaker. A total loss for the first one. I can't stand sonic veil. Take two to tango, a passive preamp and crossoverless speakers, my secret combo. Both do little to tamper the signals. Prepare for tone variations, hue and gradient, they underscore the richness of sound. I was spooked by the midrange presence and vocal pitch modulations. Without reservations, vocal is an easy pie for Belle.
I know, I know, the soundstage is relative to the room size. Comparably, Belle throws a wider soundstage. Lateral soundstage brings separation, not quite the SET three-dimensional magic. Belle hits me right in the feels. With my solid-state amplification, Belle manages a two-point five dimensional presentation. To be honest, Belle produces the best soundstage ever heard in my room. The room, apart from isolating the noise from both internal and external, I'm leveraging on it for room gain. Let's not be fooled, bass is never a strong feat for any full range speaker. I got Belle down to mid 40Hz. By today's standard, it's really nothing to shout about.
Now, the downsides. Mainly the harshness, the peakiness. Secondly, she is incapable of the orchestral splendour, pop and rock. She goes into a panic mode with a string of busy and noisy passages, things get gummy. Housed in a TQWT, the bass is smooth and tuneful, not much in her tank to do the heavy beating. She starts coughing. Forget about midbass punch, nope, I'm not getting any. Bass and full range speakers are not the best of friends. Without super tweeter, the restricted bandwidth will be obvious. Lastly, a restricted playback volume. That is my least worry because Belle plays loud enough in my room.
I'm well aware that audiophiles are preconditioned to new sound after a new introduction into a system. Moreover, the ecstasy clouds our sonic assessment. That's why it's so difficult to write this. On music genres, I say Belle 100:0 on vocal and chamber music, 30:70 chances on pop, 60:40 on jazz, 10:100 on rock music. 20:100 on big symphony works.
I don't wish to paint a rosy picture, the stock Belle isn't going to float many's boats. To arrive at this performance, there are three caveats involving some changes to the speaker fundamental, a carefully aligned super tweeter, phase plug and port tuning. For me, Belle has broken new ground, ushering a new chapter to my audio journey. All the above measures taken see a big step up in sound. She's going in line with my "high impact, low cost" aspiration. True in this regard, less is more, quality over quantity. I'm satisfied. I'm not missing my pre-loved. It will be my end speaker but my friends are not convinced.
Wednesday, March 27, 2019
Seize your moment
Just when audiophiles care very much about the brand and where their equipment is made, this stigma is cast in stone in the back of Asian audiophile mindset. Western audiophiles are more receptive in this regard, they get directly to the sound to see the true worth. Come on, talents are everywhere. I can't stress enough on the value proposition. Everything has a price, there's a point where a willing seller and willing buyer meets. Unless you're under a desperate situation, like a kidney transplant, something like that. You're left with no choice!
Things are taking a twist in Asia, audio is more than audio. Face is a part of audio when a status symbol is a concern. Don't have a million in the bank, I'm sorry, my thinking probably is different until I make my first bucket of gold. Sigh! It's still nowhere in sight.
Audio has not been and will not be a viable investment tool, that's final. As with all things, there're some exceptions. Look around, there are better investment opportunities out there you can take a plunge into and make a quick buck, highly liquid in case you decide to dispose of your investments. High risk, high gain, if that's your risk appetite. There's no Rolex in audio. Want a Rolex? Go buy a Rolex, buy the sport models because they hold value well. In spite of all that, I can't help echoing "Seize your moment of musical pleasure while your ears still serving you faithfully", your hearing progressively deteriorates over time. What's gone is forever gone. I don't know about you, I love having sound in the background.
The issue of skyrocketing prices of audio equipment is pretty much covered by Stereophile. It's overhead driven, the survival of an enterprise depends on profitability. The market shrunk, the decline in sales, the bottom line is in red. Overhead is uncovered, the company will eventually go bust. Second-hand market booms but it'll be shortlived because the spending on new equipment stops, so will the second-hand equipment supply. The rising living cost is real, it chips away the audio budget, high fidelity slowly becomes a luxurious hobby. For the riches are getting richer, they're not affected in any way. You see, it's better for the manufacturers to move up their product line to upmarket where the market is.
"Buy why what pleases you" is a common phenomenon in audio consumerism, further fueled by a plethora of different sounding products. The danger lies in the pairing. You buy a source because it syncs to your belief, so are the amp and the speaker, kaboom! You thin you score a system, a consequential mismatch awaits. Everybody hears differently. Given the performance is constant, comes individual audibility, then what? Do we do compensation on our listening deficiency by having a hand in our sound? Food for thought.
The question remains which do you serve first, music or your interest? Are you over tangling your sound to resort to a cult of your own? The fact remained to be seen, most audiophiles fall into the sensual camp of sound, camping in pleasing sound camp. Going forward, they all come with the predetermined sound in their head. Naturally, they go to the stores to find something that matches their wants. A change of mind flashes if you played the right track, a track that he is emotionally attached to. The longer he stays in the store, the more likely he will be preconditioned into something different from what he initially wants. In this case, he's serving own interest than music. It does enough to change his course of mind over time, if he doesn't buy, the seed is planted in the mind at the least. He will bring that experience back into his dream, he will come back. An experienced dealer will quickly read his body language.
Never in my mind, branding itself is an imposing factor. The dealers have a less convincing task to sell mainstream equipment. They sell by themselves. The manufacturers know it. Then comes the order commitment. They will look out for the next dealer if the existing dealer didn't achieve what it's expected of. Much like a luxurious watch, branding rides above all things. When a tagline says a watch is the only men's jewellery, that my friends, is a powerful marketing propaganda. Women have tons of things to accessorise themselves, men don't. Since it's the only men's jewellery, the thought of spending a little more for your watch is perfectly acceptable.
With little regard to tonal accuracy and no cross-reference what so ever, you bank on the pedigree of the manufacturer. However, you still remained unlearned about tonal accuracy. Hyper detail, wide frequency bandwidth and ability to play loud without compression, these are a wishlist of audiophiles. What's missing? Don't disregard the recording engineer's hand in the sonic editorial. Regrettably, organic, transparency, articulation, transient and openness are not in their sonic checklist. These in my opinion ride above the former traits. If these are not important to you, I must congratulate you because you are free of audio agony. Live your life happy. You don't spend crazy money on audio to live miserably as an audiophile. As a genuine audiophile, we live and sleep thinking of ways and means to improve our sound, not to mention pawning our family trip for audio. Women, housewives, in particular, they're happy because their man stays home at night. Sounds like me! Going forward, I couldn't stress enough the emphasis of "well-proportionated", once the balance is achieved, everything falls into place. Even a novice can tell.
As with a good orchestra, the key lies in the balance too. If "well-proportionated" is taken care of, you have your tonal accuracy work cuts half. I say this because of your room acoustics and even as some consider setup skill is inconsequential, these are the last straw that breaks the camel's back. It isn't an isolated case where a world-class system is ruined by poor set up skill. If someone comes up to tell me that he has more than 50 years of high-end equipment under his belt, fuyoh. Dear friends, how's your sound, you need to convince me of the sound your system produces, not your expensive toys.
Knowing what to listen is important. A respectable audio guru has already coined it as listening intelligence. I couldn't agree more. To clear things up, I'm not in audio business. I sell nothing in audio. I hold back making an enthusiastic recommendation, I'd not like you to be liable for my words. And you decide to listen to others' opinion, the risk is all yours. Don't blame them for a wrong purchasing decision, blame yourself instead. Adios.
Things are taking a twist in Asia, audio is more than audio. Face is a part of audio when a status symbol is a concern. Don't have a million in the bank, I'm sorry, my thinking probably is different until I make my first bucket of gold. Sigh! It's still nowhere in sight.
Audio has not been and will not be a viable investment tool, that's final. As with all things, there're some exceptions. Look around, there are better investment opportunities out there you can take a plunge into and make a quick buck, highly liquid in case you decide to dispose of your investments. High risk, high gain, if that's your risk appetite. There's no Rolex in audio. Want a Rolex? Go buy a Rolex, buy the sport models because they hold value well. In spite of all that, I can't help echoing "Seize your moment of musical pleasure while your ears still serving you faithfully", your hearing progressively deteriorates over time. What's gone is forever gone. I don't know about you, I love having sound in the background.
The issue of skyrocketing prices of audio equipment is pretty much covered by Stereophile. It's overhead driven, the survival of an enterprise depends on profitability. The market shrunk, the decline in sales, the bottom line is in red. Overhead is uncovered, the company will eventually go bust. Second-hand market booms but it'll be shortlived because the spending on new equipment stops, so will the second-hand equipment supply. The rising living cost is real, it chips away the audio budget, high fidelity slowly becomes a luxurious hobby. For the riches are getting richer, they're not affected in any way. You see, it's better for the manufacturers to move up their product line to upmarket where the market is.
"Buy why what pleases you" is a common phenomenon in audio consumerism, further fueled by a plethora of different sounding products. The danger lies in the pairing. You buy a source because it syncs to your belief, so are the amp and the speaker, kaboom! You thin you score a system, a consequential mismatch awaits. Everybody hears differently. Given the performance is constant, comes individual audibility, then what? Do we do compensation on our listening deficiency by having a hand in our sound? Food for thought.
The question remains which do you serve first, music or your interest? Are you over tangling your sound to resort to a cult of your own? The fact remained to be seen, most audiophiles fall into the sensual camp of sound, camping in pleasing sound camp. Going forward, they all come with the predetermined sound in their head. Naturally, they go to the stores to find something that matches their wants. A change of mind flashes if you played the right track, a track that he is emotionally attached to. The longer he stays in the store, the more likely he will be preconditioned into something different from what he initially wants. In this case, he's serving own interest than music. It does enough to change his course of mind over time, if he doesn't buy, the seed is planted in the mind at the least. He will bring that experience back into his dream, he will come back. An experienced dealer will quickly read his body language.
Never in my mind, branding itself is an imposing factor. The dealers have a less convincing task to sell mainstream equipment. They sell by themselves. The manufacturers know it. Then comes the order commitment. They will look out for the next dealer if the existing dealer didn't achieve what it's expected of. Much like a luxurious watch, branding rides above all things. When a tagline says a watch is the only men's jewellery, that my friends, is a powerful marketing propaganda. Women have tons of things to accessorise themselves, men don't. Since it's the only men's jewellery, the thought of spending a little more for your watch is perfectly acceptable.
With little regard to tonal accuracy and no cross-reference what so ever, you bank on the pedigree of the manufacturer. However, you still remained unlearned about tonal accuracy. Hyper detail, wide frequency bandwidth and ability to play loud without compression, these are a wishlist of audiophiles. What's missing? Don't disregard the recording engineer's hand in the sonic editorial. Regrettably, organic, transparency, articulation, transient and openness are not in their sonic checklist. These in my opinion ride above the former traits. If these are not important to you, I must congratulate you because you are free of audio agony. Live your life happy. You don't spend crazy money on audio to live miserably as an audiophile. As a genuine audiophile, we live and sleep thinking of ways and means to improve our sound, not to mention pawning our family trip for audio. Women, housewives, in particular, they're happy because their man stays home at night. Sounds like me! Going forward, I couldn't stress enough the emphasis of "well-proportionated", once the balance is achieved, everything falls into place. Even a novice can tell.
As with a good orchestra, the key lies in the balance too. If "well-proportionated" is taken care of, you have your tonal accuracy work cuts half. I say this because of your room acoustics and even as some consider setup skill is inconsequential, these are the last straw that breaks the camel's back. It isn't an isolated case where a world-class system is ruined by poor set up skill. If someone comes up to tell me that he has more than 50 years of high-end equipment under his belt, fuyoh. Dear friends, how's your sound, you need to convince me of the sound your system produces, not your expensive toys.
Knowing what to listen is important. A respectable audio guru has already coined it as listening intelligence. I couldn't agree more. To clear things up, I'm not in audio business. I sell nothing in audio. I hold back making an enthusiastic recommendation, I'd not like you to be liable for my words. And you decide to listen to others' opinion, the risk is all yours. Don't blame them for a wrong purchasing decision, blame yourself instead. Adios.
Wednesday, February 6, 2019
Judge and be judged
Judge and be judged, that's how audio has been and will be. Not good to be judgemental. Let's face it, your system will never be good enough for some "anointed", they'll always have something to nitpick. Don't blame me for the negativity, audio hobby is subject to envious, competitiveness, rivalry and deceit in a mix. Unfortunately, these elements are beyond your control, you are better off managing the damage. On the flip side of the coin, the good audiophiles tell you where you should improve upon. Let go of your ego and learn, you stand to gain.
Let's not beat around the bush, we all have our sonic preference. We prefer the sound to a certain way because it pleases us. We can't explain why it pleases us. Let's end with you like how you like it, no further elaboration. I like to think of audiophile a painter, his inclination to depict a person's maturity; younger, true to the age or mature with tonal balance; either excessive lower treble, just right or excessive upper bass. Likewise, some adjectives used in the review inevitably give an insight into the sound, like exciting, natural or relaxed, you just got to learn to read in between the lines. When a review didn't mention a certain audio aspect, you know he's avoiding talking about it. I had criticised in the past that some systems were too coloured for its own good. In the name of subjectivity, it works well with one's particular music library. Stay within the context of playable music, don't fare well on other music. That's why tolerance is needed, it's ok to whisk a bit of sonic flavour but not too much.
Whose standard to use? Why use your standard? The question largely remains a hot potato. Friend turns enemy, this is not something new. Sound itself is abstract, you can argue till the cows come home, you still come to no conclusion. I'm intrigued, some haven't developed soft skills in 20-30 years of working life, unrefined. Brush up your PR skills. It's alright that we will never ever come to terms on sound, that's to be expected. I don't think you need to shout to get attention like a crying baby. People with shared valued/interest stay together. You can see why there are so many organisations, clubs, interest groups around. Outsiders, stay out.
Going with the majority, uphold the principle of democracy will never work sometimes. Things are not as simple as what it seems. Big boys tend to dominate in a group, they will always have things going their way. Democracy is a fallacy. That has not taken into that some have secretly formed a pact, an alliance to intimidate the other party. Prepare to pay the price for your naivety.
As such, there are a small group of audiophiles staying low key and isolated from the general audiophiles. Not opening door is denying yourself a learning opportunity, you never know where your sound stands. Then again, you got hungry audiophiles who'll pounce at the first opportunity, says a high-end system that no one has in the country. Exclusivity is premium, be the first to listen add up to your credential. I've got more than twenty-five years of experience, I got no advice for you. But I'd suggest that you do your best of your ability to ensure your system sounds decent before you open door. The higher priced the system, the greater the expectation, the peers take no prisoners. Ultimately, to extend your invitation to others is your prerogative, you're the gatekeeper.
Natural timbre, you can't go very wrong if you use it as a guide. If you want your system bulletproof, posied to resist the test of time and taking on all comers, I know of no better tool. Yeah, some might argue that the recorded sound isn't the same as the real sound. There're variables but don't let these variables stop you. To resolve a problem, you break the problem down by simplification and making assumptions rather confronting the mountains of variables head on. Tackle the key issue, then the secondary issue. Thus, unless the recording studio is doing too much of its own addictives, it should be alright.
Natural timbre, this I can never explain my obsession, you know, the sound of traditional musical instruments (without power). The sound is made through friction, plucking (strings), blowing (woodwind) and hitting (percussion), sounding so pure, so righteous. Just as my friend couldn't figure out why he can't take harmonica, he gets goosebumps in a bad way. I know many were sworn by voices. I reserve my comment, perhaps voices leave too much room for our imagination. Leaving a question what's what.
Sound alone doesn't mean anything unless a composition that introduces tonal modulation. Melody is the language of music. If you could understand the language of music, you understand the underlying story better. I'm not ashamed to confess that I'm still learning this. Listening to a piece of composition, you kind of expecting something, you're expecting how the music should be played or the piece to be phrased. Look no further, the arrangement of pop songs serves up a decorative element. You will find as with the arrangement, too busy, out of place or too many voids even though there's no right or wrong, better or average. It just doesn't click.
Not any indifferent than a picture. To the trained eyes, some pictures tell a story, emotions, dynamics, speed and et cetera. They derive more information. Well, nobody is born educated. Reading the programme notes or song notes could definitely quicken the learning process, or to put you in a frame of reference, the least. With a little imagination or a story cooking in your head, you could dig the emotions out from the composition more aptly. Masterclasses on youtube help.
My recent addiction; dynamics. Dynamics makes me kneeled. Not that my system is not dynamic, just that I heard better. High sensitivity rated speaker is not an absolute indicator of dynamism. The motor, the lightness of the driver membrane and the diameter of the driver are, more importantly, the amp. As you got more detail, there's a fine line that separates things. Bigger tweeter goes lower but not higher, a bigger bass driver will be a tad slower, thus, the designers have to work within their limitations. Particularly with multi-driver designs, they don't sound dynamic enough for me. I still feel the drag. Ultra dynamics realises the quality of lifelike if it means anything to you even though we're talking on the matter of milliseconds. Once you've tasted the finer things, hard to go back.
Ambience, yet another essential aspect for a good listening experience. In the state of equipment-less, your brain doesn't fight your preception. Largely, you need to work your room. Particularly in a 6 walls room, this aspect will be telling. I've done some work in this area, I can say it works for me. Do this simple test, listen to the sound sitting just behind the back wall and compare with 3 feet away from your back wall. The former sounds muted, the latter is airier. Manage the air flow in your room, the better the airflow, the more open the sound. The sound will reward you in a special way. Cheer.
Let's not beat around the bush, we all have our sonic preference. We prefer the sound to a certain way because it pleases us. We can't explain why it pleases us. Let's end with you like how you like it, no further elaboration. I like to think of audiophile a painter, his inclination to depict a person's maturity; younger, true to the age or mature with tonal balance; either excessive lower treble, just right or excessive upper bass. Likewise, some adjectives used in the review inevitably give an insight into the sound, like exciting, natural or relaxed, you just got to learn to read in between the lines. When a review didn't mention a certain audio aspect, you know he's avoiding talking about it. I had criticised in the past that some systems were too coloured for its own good. In the name of subjectivity, it works well with one's particular music library. Stay within the context of playable music, don't fare well on other music. That's why tolerance is needed, it's ok to whisk a bit of sonic flavour but not too much.
Whose standard to use? Why use your standard? The question largely remains a hot potato. Friend turns enemy, this is not something new. Sound itself is abstract, you can argue till the cows come home, you still come to no conclusion. I'm intrigued, some haven't developed soft skills in 20-30 years of working life, unrefined. Brush up your PR skills. It's alright that we will never ever come to terms on sound, that's to be expected. I don't think you need to shout to get attention like a crying baby. People with shared valued/interest stay together. You can see why there are so many organisations, clubs, interest groups around. Outsiders, stay out.
Going with the majority, uphold the principle of democracy will never work sometimes. Things are not as simple as what it seems. Big boys tend to dominate in a group, they will always have things going their way. Democracy is a fallacy. That has not taken into that some have secretly formed a pact, an alliance to intimidate the other party. Prepare to pay the price for your naivety.
As such, there are a small group of audiophiles staying low key and isolated from the general audiophiles. Not opening door is denying yourself a learning opportunity, you never know where your sound stands. Then again, you got hungry audiophiles who'll pounce at the first opportunity, says a high-end system that no one has in the country. Exclusivity is premium, be the first to listen add up to your credential. I've got more than twenty-five years of experience, I got no advice for you. But I'd suggest that you do your best of your ability to ensure your system sounds decent before you open door. The higher priced the system, the greater the expectation, the peers take no prisoners. Ultimately, to extend your invitation to others is your prerogative, you're the gatekeeper.
Natural timbre, you can't go very wrong if you use it as a guide. If you want your system bulletproof, posied to resist the test of time and taking on all comers, I know of no better tool. Yeah, some might argue that the recorded sound isn't the same as the real sound. There're variables but don't let these variables stop you. To resolve a problem, you break the problem down by simplification and making assumptions rather confronting the mountains of variables head on. Tackle the key issue, then the secondary issue. Thus, unless the recording studio is doing too much of its own addictives, it should be alright.
Natural timbre, this I can never explain my obsession, you know, the sound of traditional musical instruments (without power). The sound is made through friction, plucking (strings), blowing (woodwind) and hitting (percussion), sounding so pure, so righteous. Just as my friend couldn't figure out why he can't take harmonica, he gets goosebumps in a bad way. I know many were sworn by voices. I reserve my comment, perhaps voices leave too much room for our imagination. Leaving a question what's what.
Sound alone doesn't mean anything unless a composition that introduces tonal modulation. Melody is the language of music. If you could understand the language of music, you understand the underlying story better. I'm not ashamed to confess that I'm still learning this. Listening to a piece of composition, you kind of expecting something, you're expecting how the music should be played or the piece to be phrased. Look no further, the arrangement of pop songs serves up a decorative element. You will find as with the arrangement, too busy, out of place or too many voids even though there's no right or wrong, better or average. It just doesn't click.
My recent addiction; dynamics. Dynamics makes me kneeled. Not that my system is not dynamic, just that I heard better. High sensitivity rated speaker is not an absolute indicator of dynamism. The motor, the lightness of the driver membrane and the diameter of the driver are, more importantly, the amp. As you got more detail, there's a fine line that separates things. Bigger tweeter goes lower but not higher, a bigger bass driver will be a tad slower, thus, the designers have to work within their limitations. Particularly with multi-driver designs, they don't sound dynamic enough for me. I still feel the drag. Ultra dynamics realises the quality of lifelike if it means anything to you even though we're talking on the matter of milliseconds. Once you've tasted the finer things, hard to go back.
Ambience, yet another essential aspect for a good listening experience. In the state of equipment-less, your brain doesn't fight your preception. Largely, you need to work your room. Particularly in a 6 walls room, this aspect will be telling. I've done some work in this area, I can say it works for me. Do this simple test, listen to the sound sitting just behind the back wall and compare with 3 feet away from your back wall. The former sounds muted, the latter is airier. Manage the air flow in your room, the better the airflow, the more open the sound. The sound will reward you in a special way. Cheer.
Monday, February 4, 2019
All in the head
"To derive good sound is not about the thing you do right but the wrong thing you don't do." says a wise guy. I wish I would have comprehended it earlier, I'd have saved some monies then. Making wrong turns will incur a financial loss, who doesn't make mistakes? Likewise, all systems are not built the same. If you could exercise more receptiveness, you'll appreciate the beauty of each individual system despite different audio approach.
I have had a good 100 minutes of listening yesterday evening. Absolutely mesmerizing, the music moves me so much that I let my hair down and turn off my analytical intuition. Free my mind, relax and allow the music takes me. These days I don't listen for more than 120 minutes. Your brain wears out and wanders beyond 120 minutes listening time span. Spontaneously, you reach out to your phone and begin browsing, the music will then resort to background noise. Music is everything about emotion, noise is a pollutant. You only attentive to the chorus, the rest is noise to fill the emptiness.
Two CDs were on my playtime, "When Roland met Burt" and "I Have Got A Song For You".
What do I have here? While this is not an audiophile approved album, all tracks on this album were recorded live with a full orchestra backing. Do you know the boost the music receives? Buckle your seat belt, I'm in for a treat. The recording is good, the music even better. A good mix of slow and upbeat numbers, recognisable tunes, you just can't beat that. The way the tracks were arranged in sequence, the album producer wanted to take you for an emotional roller coaster ride. Now the difference between an album and a compilation is the continuity, the storytelling. Anyway, typical audiophiles are habitually jumping track to track. It's a dream for any vocalists to perform with an orchestra, an honour, a recognition, you don't see newcomers perform with an orchestra. They have yet to earn the privilege. The drama heightens, the grandiose shone, the music is on steroid. Roland took the upbeat numbers like a duck to the water, my heartbeat chased after the tempo. Undeniably, my reaction is the most telling.
"This Little Red Book" is my most memorable track. I was electrified by the punches coming from my speakers, drove adrenaline rush to my heart. I think a full Naim system will sing admirably. I can't help wanting more composure to end the closing. Satisfied. Albeit the orchestra is scaled down, that didn't deter my listening pleasure. Moving on to a sentimental number, "The House Is Empty Now" wrenches soul, I felt the lyrics. Roland takes the slow numbers equally well, he conveys the emotions. His rendition reaches me deeply, speaks to me, isn't this the primary reason we audio?
Thereafter, I took thing slow with "I Have Got A Song For You" by our homegrown EB Duet. A vocalist and a guitarist, you dare not try this if you have a less than perfect vocal. No place to hide. Let me tell you, Eve Wong can sing, full stop. There was on occasion my wife and I went to see them live at Sunway Velocity in their CD promotion tour. Pity, the PA sound system was not very good. Fresh from the memory, I was glad to learn that their second album comprises original materials following up their debut album "The Beginning", a cover version of the classics. I got both CDs in my collection. This particular album, even the first one, doesn't pose any particular challenging audio attributes given their smooth jazzy and souly in nature. The locally produced recording is good, not great, I'm not troubled by it. More importantly, their music moves me.
I believe my best audio is ahead of me, I really do. My quest for "closer to music" motivates me to explore possibilities, relentlessly. Getting close to the real thing sends me ineffable shivers. The harmonics, the nuances, the microdynamics, the sustain, most of all the directness of unamplified music, all in a single package. Only in live, you get a glimpse of true timbre, our system could only hope to replicate a dose of it, there's much more information out there.
Take a moment to examine, aren't we listen to direct and reflected sound too simultaneously? While some press insistence on measurements, they're completely missing the point. What counts is what you receive at the end. The case of "The same system sounded different in different rooms" is a genuine phenomenon, how could you turn a blind eye on this? Are you so naive to not think room tuning overrides measurements?
Oh blame me, I'm hypercritical of room tuning. No good room acoustics, no good sound, as simple as that. Mostly, audiophiles don't know where to begin with room tuning. Move something around and listen, there isn't any textbook to guide you. Be mindful, loudness is not an entity in high fidelity. You want to go loud, you look for a system with big drivers and high power handling speakers, finesse and harmonics are eluded.
Specs are all in the head if they know what they really mean in audio. Sound without a soul, you'll be overwhelmed with a ton of details coming out from their system. Perhaps they're proud with their microdetails and cleanliness, what's missing is a string that weaves the sound up, the flow is missing. Does this indicate in sine wave or oscilloscope or whatever measuring tools? Come on, you're smarter than them. Perhaps they don't know how to listen. It's resounding clear that room acoustics is powerful enough to turn the tide, can you turn a blind eye on room tuning? A big mistake to confront the ignorant, walk away quietly. Some have become very sick. If you want controversies to lighten your boring life, their group chat will not disappoint. Instead, they will keep you really busy and "entertained". Before long, someone will walk out feeling like a fool. The negativity creates bad air, do little to build a good system. Me? No, thank you. Trump is talking about building a wall, my wall is high enough to fend off nonsense. Life is too short to be wasted on social media, Mark Manson knows it too.
I have had a good 100 minutes of listening yesterday evening. Absolutely mesmerizing, the music moves me so much that I let my hair down and turn off my analytical intuition. Free my mind, relax and allow the music takes me. These days I don't listen for more than 120 minutes. Your brain wears out and wanders beyond 120 minutes listening time span. Spontaneously, you reach out to your phone and begin browsing, the music will then resort to background noise. Music is everything about emotion, noise is a pollutant. You only attentive to the chorus, the rest is noise to fill the emptiness.
Two CDs were on my playtime, "When Roland met Burt" and "I Have Got A Song For You".
"When Roland met Burt" by Roland Keating is a great album, he sings Burt's work. Without a question, Burt is a great songwriter and have produced many household hits like "Walk on By", "The Look of Love", "What the World Needs Now Is Love", "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself", "This Guy's in Love with You", "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", "Close to You", "Arthur Theme" and "That's What Friends Are For". Absolutely timeless.
What do I have here? While this is not an audiophile approved album, all tracks on this album were recorded live with a full orchestra backing. Do you know the boost the music receives? Buckle your seat belt, I'm in for a treat. The recording is good, the music even better. A good mix of slow and upbeat numbers, recognisable tunes, you just can't beat that. The way the tracks were arranged in sequence, the album producer wanted to take you for an emotional roller coaster ride. Now the difference between an album and a compilation is the continuity, the storytelling. Anyway, typical audiophiles are habitually jumping track to track. It's a dream for any vocalists to perform with an orchestra, an honour, a recognition, you don't see newcomers perform with an orchestra. They have yet to earn the privilege. The drama heightens, the grandiose shone, the music is on steroid. Roland took the upbeat numbers like a duck to the water, my heartbeat chased after the tempo. Undeniably, my reaction is the most telling.
"This Little Red Book" is my most memorable track. I was electrified by the punches coming from my speakers, drove adrenaline rush to my heart. I think a full Naim system will sing admirably. I can't help wanting more composure to end the closing. Satisfied. Albeit the orchestra is scaled down, that didn't deter my listening pleasure. Moving on to a sentimental number, "The House Is Empty Now" wrenches soul, I felt the lyrics. Roland takes the slow numbers equally well, he conveys the emotions. His rendition reaches me deeply, speaks to me, isn't this the primary reason we audio?
Thereafter, I took thing slow with "I Have Got A Song For You" by our homegrown EB Duet. A vocalist and a guitarist, you dare not try this if you have a less than perfect vocal. No place to hide. Let me tell you, Eve Wong can sing, full stop. There was on occasion my wife and I went to see them live at Sunway Velocity in their CD promotion tour. Pity, the PA sound system was not very good. Fresh from the memory, I was glad to learn that their second album comprises original materials following up their debut album "The Beginning", a cover version of the classics. I got both CDs in my collection. This particular album, even the first one, doesn't pose any particular challenging audio attributes given their smooth jazzy and souly in nature. The locally produced recording is good, not great, I'm not troubled by it. More importantly, their music moves me.
I believe my best audio is ahead of me, I really do. My quest for "closer to music" motivates me to explore possibilities, relentlessly. Getting close to the real thing sends me ineffable shivers. The harmonics, the nuances, the microdynamics, the sustain, most of all the directness of unamplified music, all in a single package. Only in live, you get a glimpse of true timbre, our system could only hope to replicate a dose of it, there's much more information out there.
Take a moment to examine, aren't we listen to direct and reflected sound too simultaneously? While some press insistence on measurements, they're completely missing the point. What counts is what you receive at the end. The case of "The same system sounded different in different rooms" is a genuine phenomenon, how could you turn a blind eye on this? Are you so naive to not think room tuning overrides measurements?
Oh blame me, I'm hypercritical of room tuning. No good room acoustics, no good sound, as simple as that. Mostly, audiophiles don't know where to begin with room tuning. Move something around and listen, there isn't any textbook to guide you. Be mindful, loudness is not an entity in high fidelity. You want to go loud, you look for a system with big drivers and high power handling speakers, finesse and harmonics are eluded.
Specs are all in the head if they know what they really mean in audio. Sound without a soul, you'll be overwhelmed with a ton of details coming out from their system. Perhaps they're proud with their microdetails and cleanliness, what's missing is a string that weaves the sound up, the flow is missing. Does this indicate in sine wave or oscilloscope or whatever measuring tools? Come on, you're smarter than them. Perhaps they don't know how to listen. It's resounding clear that room acoustics is powerful enough to turn the tide, can you turn a blind eye on room tuning? A big mistake to confront the ignorant, walk away quietly. Some have become very sick. If you want controversies to lighten your boring life, their group chat will not disappoint. Instead, they will keep you really busy and "entertained". Before long, someone will walk out feeling like a fool. The negativity creates bad air, do little to build a good system. Me? No, thank you. Trump is talking about building a wall, my wall is high enough to fend off nonsense. Life is too short to be wasted on social media, Mark Manson knows it too.
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