Cables are the missing link! No cables no sound, it doesn't get any simpler than that. How much to spend on cables you're often asked? Do you see the problem with this question? To relate sound to money, a typical MBA (Master in Business Administration) mould of thought, they are barking up the wrong tree, absolutely.
They try to rationalise amp to speaker budget ratio. For all you know, some speakers are cheap to own but need a heck of an amp to drive. Big amp means big money. What say you? Whereas with cables, their sonic diversity is even more manifold, it's hard to concur the cable budget ratio thing. This is the problem, some don't listen, they just rationalise...... all day long.
I know some skimp on cables, a big allocation of budget to the equipment. Not any different than high-end turntable on a budget cartridge because the equipment is the main feature. They do more posting than listening, sad to say. What about cable management? Go figure.
Tuesday, March 31, 2020
Friday, March 27, 2020
Free time
Effective 18th March, "Movement Restriction Order" comes full enforced. We are asked to stay home and not to social. We are allowed to leave the house for only essential goods and services. This order is to cripple the spread and not to stress the medical resources at a given time. I look at it as a price to avoid Corona virus, it's a cheap price to pay. But some have other thoughts. The liability is his or her alone, I'm fine with that. Spreading the virus, that's utterly irresponsible. It might lead to fatality and the loss of the loved ones. This is ignorance.
Nothing is worse than psychological impacts during this difficult time, the feeling of our freedom is taken away despite no shortage of food, entertainment and sleep. The halted business activities have nevertheless caused a strain on the breadwinners. Young stubborn adults have little to worry about, they wanted to go down the streets. Perhaps, you don't get to meet friends, go to your favourite restaurants and live a normal life is depressing. This is a time for reflection, a time for family bonding, a time to be with yourself for a good cause.
I turned my freed time to writing because it makes me thinking. To think about where I can go with my audio. Free time is the mother of all problems, transforming a thought to action. Great ideas come from this way. Now, I've received a new inspiration, I never run out of funny ideas. Placed my order and expect it to arrive within a week. You know what they say, no pain, no gain. We shall see.
Of listening intelligence, Kees Bakels conducts Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra 2005 recording reveals to me that MPO's string section is pale comparably to top orchestras. I don't hear the silkiness and those of others. But MPO has much improved from 2005, 15 years later. I admired Kees Bakels's masterful conducting, his imposing an iron grip on the orchestra. None of the loose and hollow organization I get from younger conductors, the eventful flow and concise content spells the calibre of the conductor's. I learn new things with each listening.
I must confess my guilt of misjudging old recordings. I thought they're undetailed. But it turns out it's my past incapable of producing more detail than desired. A good system can churn out a vast quantity of details out from old recordings. I like AAD and ADD recording format for the analogue-ness, the continuity of sound even in digital format. Detail is not everything.
Many audiophiles love female voices, I found comfort in James Taylor, Don Williams, Elton John, Simon Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens and the likes. Their voices packed with emotions, it's their voices we listen, not songs. not sure if you agreed with me on this. Artists like Sting and Rod Stewart have a very recognizable voice, their die-hard fans follow them where ever they go. Very little surprises with their works, I mean their songs are rather similar in delivery. Expect no surprises.
Nothing is worse than psychological impacts during this difficult time, the feeling of our freedom is taken away despite no shortage of food, entertainment and sleep. The halted business activities have nevertheless caused a strain on the breadwinners. Young stubborn adults have little to worry about, they wanted to go down the streets. Perhaps, you don't get to meet friends, go to your favourite restaurants and live a normal life is depressing. This is a time for reflection, a time for family bonding, a time to be with yourself for a good cause.
I turned my freed time to writing because it makes me thinking. To think about where I can go with my audio. Free time is the mother of all problems, transforming a thought to action. Great ideas come from this way. Now, I've received a new inspiration, I never run out of funny ideas. Placed my order and expect it to arrive within a week. You know what they say, no pain, no gain. We shall see.
Of listening intelligence, Kees Bakels conducts Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra 2005 recording reveals to me that MPO's string section is pale comparably to top orchestras. I don't hear the silkiness and those of others. But MPO has much improved from 2005, 15 years later. I admired Kees Bakels's masterful conducting, his imposing an iron grip on the orchestra. None of the loose and hollow organization I get from younger conductors, the eventful flow and concise content spells the calibre of the conductor's. I learn new things with each listening.
I must confess my guilt of misjudging old recordings. I thought they're undetailed. But it turns out it's my past incapable of producing more detail than desired. A good system can churn out a vast quantity of details out from old recordings. I like AAD and ADD recording format for the analogue-ness, the continuity of sound even in digital format. Detail is not everything.
Many audiophiles love female voices, I found comfort in James Taylor, Don Williams, Elton John, Simon Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens and the likes. Their voices packed with emotions, it's their voices we listen, not songs. not sure if you agreed with me on this. Artists like Sting and Rod Stewart have a very recognizable voice, their die-hard fans follow them where ever they go. Very little surprises with their works, I mean their songs are rather similar in delivery. Expect no surprises.
Monday, March 23, 2020
A breath of fresh air
Lao Tzu says logic has its place in human affairs but it isn't everything There's a limit to what we can understand through rationality and reasoning. To transcend that limit, we need to engage our intuition fully. I believe there are many challenges ahead of time that science as of today couldn't answer. Science rationalizes everything while empirical studies based on perception, both meeting at the middle road? Not a chance.
Our aural system captures the sound in the form of energy. These steady stream of vibes or pulses have no meaning by themselves until they are given meaning by our brain. Our memory accumulates knowledge, senses, events and feelings since born. A steady stream of fresh knowledge constantly depositing into our memory, this process accomplishes in lightspeed. It's a lifelong process, the older one accumulated a bigger wealth of memory to help to facilitate better decision making. Older is wiser isn't entirely true. Active learning accelerates our knowledge bank growth. So, if one listens to an instrument unheard of, there isn't anything for him to fall upon to make a comparison. This fresh knowledge will be stored in our knowledge bank.
Soundwave is in the form of energy, lesser resistance promotes greater propagation. This is no rocket science. Too many objects in a room create poor aerodynamics, hence, the congestion. What some might not experience, for real, the details are buried in the course of acoustic chaos sees the finer harmonics walk pass your door. This is my real story. I kid you not, you got to try to experience it. It's a simple principle not easy to execute. Now, by raising the speakers, even the speaker stands from the ground by at least two inches, come experience the liberty of sound.
I didn't stop there, I went further to raise every object in my room up. Tight corners make this exercise difficult, I can tell you that. A backbreaking exercise nevertheless. Nothing is floored. I recollect my findings the event raising my power supplies from the floor probably a year ago. The sound opened up considerably. Not that my speakers were sitting on the floor, they were on lower spikes. Somehow that experience didn't hammer the idea through our head. If only I took a step further there and then, I'd have arrived at a breath of fresh air earlier.
Wow! Careful I must not allow my honeymoon phase runs over me. No sir. Well, let's me self-indulge a bit long while before I fall back on earth. For God sake, you don't strike gold every day. I very well knew that I have arrived at a higher plateau (of sound) and looking at a second peak. Last and not least, the challenges will always around, it's how we respond to them. Your choice.
Our aural system captures the sound in the form of energy. These steady stream of vibes or pulses have no meaning by themselves until they are given meaning by our brain. Our memory accumulates knowledge, senses, events and feelings since born. A steady stream of fresh knowledge constantly depositing into our memory, this process accomplishes in lightspeed. It's a lifelong process, the older one accumulated a bigger wealth of memory to help to facilitate better decision making. Older is wiser isn't entirely true. Active learning accelerates our knowledge bank growth. So, if one listens to an instrument unheard of, there isn't anything for him to fall upon to make a comparison. This fresh knowledge will be stored in our knowledge bank.
Soundwave is in the form of energy, lesser resistance promotes greater propagation. This is no rocket science. Too many objects in a room create poor aerodynamics, hence, the congestion. What some might not experience, for real, the details are buried in the course of acoustic chaos sees the finer harmonics walk pass your door. This is my real story. I kid you not, you got to try to experience it. It's a simple principle not easy to execute. Now, by raising the speakers, even the speaker stands from the ground by at least two inches, come experience the liberty of sound.
I didn't stop there, I went further to raise every object in my room up. Tight corners make this exercise difficult, I can tell you that. A backbreaking exercise nevertheless. Nothing is floored. I recollect my findings the event raising my power supplies from the floor probably a year ago. The sound opened up considerably. Not that my speakers were sitting on the floor, they were on lower spikes. Somehow that experience didn't hammer the idea through our head. If only I took a step further there and then, I'd have arrived at a breath of fresh air earlier.
Wow! Careful I must not allow my honeymoon phase runs over me. No sir. Well, let's me self-indulge a bit long while before I fall back on earth. For God sake, you don't strike gold every day. I very well knew that I have arrived at a higher plateau (of sound) and looking at a second peak. Last and not least, the challenges will always around, it's how we respond to them. Your choice.
Monday, March 16, 2020
The tortoise and the hare
You've completed your system building, you have got sound coming out from your system. Congratulations. You're on cloud nine, sure you do. Excitements run through your head. After some visiting around when the dust settles, you will begin nick picked. "My system isn't that hot after all, there's still room for improvement. What do you do then?
Most audiophiles especially the wannabe believe in spending big to resolve problems. To some extent, it works. Unheard of sonic attributes, the highs that touch the sky, bass that meets Neptune, spooky transparency, racing dynamic and so on are on the want list. These grab attention, nothing wrong. Give me an impeccable midrange, I'm happy. Against all odds, my goal is to attain good sound on a low budget, mellifluous and real. It's an uphill task I know.
Knowing what to listen goes a long way, makes you a better audiophile. For that reason, I hearken to the timbre, harmonics and nuances of natural musical instrument, discarding EQ element of the electrical musical instruments. One less variable, one step closer to the truth. At length, a Taylor or Martin or Gibson, you may have your liking, it's fruitless to talk about tonal colour liking. Come on, he likes what he likes regardless what, can we agree on this? Audiophiles get to choose what to assemble their system. Tone density, tone contrast, detail, soundstage, transparency, scale, imaging, liveliness, noise floor to a certain extent, we can discuss objectively. The unquantifiable subjects are the root problem of discussion, it opens to debate and interpretation.
The day my music interest dies, that's the day I'll quit listening. In the end, applied science and listening impression never have anything in common. Linearity sounds rightful in every right, Fletcher-Munson research shows that our listening is not linear, our perceived loudness changes at a different frequency have denied linearity entirely. Going against the principle, how one promotes science in listening? Can you see where this's going? A dead end. Oh maybe perhaps the mastering engineers have added the F-M elements into the recording and we don't need another round of F-M?
Next, everything man-made is a compromise, audio is included. Starting from your first piece of equipment, the sound gradually skews its sound with the following equipment. It reflects how he understands sound, his interpretation of sound. Perfection never exists. Castles in the sky, this is strictly for the dreamer. All of us set a budget for audio, we demand an optimal performance within the given budget. By all means, leveraging on the cornerstone equipment will pay a handsome dividend, normally the amp. True to the source, wooo... sounds divine. Question, anyone knows the truth in the recording? You, he, them, who? When even the recording companies or the artists or the producers wanted to sound in a certain way in the mix, hence, unless you're one of them, no one will know what's really on it. So, the whole thing about neutrality is fanciful and unrealistic. At most, we can say it's perceived to be more uncoloured than the others. But in many cases, a good listener can tell if it's good sound by how little wrong the sound is. A violin sounds like one, a piano sounds like one, so on and so forth, that's good enough. I do know some systems could not produce snare drums convincingly. We are all familiar with how these instruments sound, aren't we? Indeed, the sound is deemed right if it falls within the tolerance of our sonic memory, more or less. "You know only crap if you listened to crap." For someone who has not listened to an instrument, it's impossible for him to wrong the sound for he didn't have any basis to. Likewise, audiophiles who are underexposed, no audiophiles will take them seriously. I can't help stressing that listening is an experience, never a classroom study, words are inadequate to describe sound. Who is who's saying what to whom. A neutral view is hard to come by. Given that the designers voiced their products through their perspectives. If that still doesn't convince you, we galvanise different listening perceptions from the very same music. How many of you buy equipment or cables based on the glowing review and found it isn't what you think it is?
I can't help a big expectation from big theories, wise talks, I expect nothing less than his system to sound good. A letdown when the perceived tone quality falls short. Not a great feeling. I learn from people who are brighter or achieved higher than me, never the other way around. Who has a higher perspective? A small system that does many things right or a big system that commits elementary mistakes. The tale of a tortoise and the hare, it's about who gets to the finishing line.
Facebook users hail to the SOTA system unreservedly, concurring the electronics or sound? I stick to my guns, never to like Facebook's system postings not unless I have listened to them. I should have known that the fact Facebook rewards the poster's likes accordingly, so-called digital marketing. Pictures or even Youtube clips don't tell the sound. As with raving reviews, your words against mine. Have you wondered why on earth no negative reviews? Someone bound to suffer losses nobody gains, that's why. Reviews these days have become an advertisement in disguise. I remember the days when I'm more influenced by the visiting strangers at the store, all ears than the dealer, they have nothing to gain.
Criticism is never pleasant, it's absolutely necessary. All praises raise doubts, audiophiles are difficult to please. Quick to be defensive. Who wants to burse bubbles? We are equally guilty of good conduct. White lies still lie. We have mastered the politicians' skills in avoiding an answer or not a direct answer. You feel fishy? Humbly, I could pick up the slightest clue from an utterance or the tone of utterance provided that I know where he comes from. In any situation, we must first ready to admit defeats to move on to a greater thing, otherwise, going nowhere. A patient will not take his medicines if he thinks he's healthy.
It seems I'm forever work in progress? Can you believe this guy? Look, the combo of cables, resonance and tweaking is infinite, have you tried enough to claim the best for you? I don't change equipment nor cables once settled for the sake of upgrading, what I'm doing now is reconfiguring, reconfiguring and reconfiguring. I keep finding the best combo of things in my system. Reconfiguring keeps opening a window of new possibilities, new ideas and new approaches to the sound.
Without further ado, I gave my system a run through my music to see that my mind isn't playing tricks on me. As I had mentioned before, I pay attention to music, not sound effects. My music test at large is basically non-audiophile CDs, a few pieces of classical, jazz and vocals. What I wanted to know is does my configuration produces more presence, less ambiguity. If the violin playback produces more insights into the play, the longer decays of the distinctive piano notes and last but not least the unmasked voices. Closer to music but nothing to suggest spectacular. A simple goal, not a chance an easy task. A trouble-free pilgrimage, I have had my share of black swans.
Making mistakes is part and parcel of learning. Mistakes tell us what not to commit again. I'm no saint, I make mistakes. It happened in the past and it will repeat in the future. Never rush, get enough rest, fresh ears are essential to bouncing back from where I fall. Press on....
What follows now is reaffirmation. To reaffirm what's real. Now, will you excuse me?
Most audiophiles especially the wannabe believe in spending big to resolve problems. To some extent, it works. Unheard of sonic attributes, the highs that touch the sky, bass that meets Neptune, spooky transparency, racing dynamic and so on are on the want list. These grab attention, nothing wrong. Give me an impeccable midrange, I'm happy. Against all odds, my goal is to attain good sound on a low budget, mellifluous and real. It's an uphill task I know.
Knowing what to listen goes a long way, makes you a better audiophile. For that reason, I hearken to the timbre, harmonics and nuances of natural musical instrument, discarding EQ element of the electrical musical instruments. One less variable, one step closer to the truth. At length, a Taylor or Martin or Gibson, you may have your liking, it's fruitless to talk about tonal colour liking. Come on, he likes what he likes regardless what, can we agree on this? Audiophiles get to choose what to assemble their system. Tone density, tone contrast, detail, soundstage, transparency, scale, imaging, liveliness, noise floor to a certain extent, we can discuss objectively. The unquantifiable subjects are the root problem of discussion, it opens to debate and interpretation.
The day my music interest dies, that's the day I'll quit listening. In the end, applied science and listening impression never have anything in common. Linearity sounds rightful in every right, Fletcher-Munson research shows that our listening is not linear, our perceived loudness changes at a different frequency have denied linearity entirely. Going against the principle, how one promotes science in listening? Can you see where this's going? A dead end. Oh maybe perhaps the mastering engineers have added the F-M elements into the recording and we don't need another round of F-M?
Next, everything man-made is a compromise, audio is included. Starting from your first piece of equipment, the sound gradually skews its sound with the following equipment. It reflects how he understands sound, his interpretation of sound. Perfection never exists. Castles in the sky, this is strictly for the dreamer. All of us set a budget for audio, we demand an optimal performance within the given budget. By all means, leveraging on the cornerstone equipment will pay a handsome dividend, normally the amp. True to the source, wooo... sounds divine. Question, anyone knows the truth in the recording? You, he, them, who? When even the recording companies or the artists or the producers wanted to sound in a certain way in the mix, hence, unless you're one of them, no one will know what's really on it. So, the whole thing about neutrality is fanciful and unrealistic. At most, we can say it's perceived to be more uncoloured than the others. But in many cases, a good listener can tell if it's good sound by how little wrong the sound is. A violin sounds like one, a piano sounds like one, so on and so forth, that's good enough. I do know some systems could not produce snare drums convincingly. We are all familiar with how these instruments sound, aren't we? Indeed, the sound is deemed right if it falls within the tolerance of our sonic memory, more or less. "You know only crap if you listened to crap." For someone who has not listened to an instrument, it's impossible for him to wrong the sound for he didn't have any basis to. Likewise, audiophiles who are underexposed, no audiophiles will take them seriously. I can't help stressing that listening is an experience, never a classroom study, words are inadequate to describe sound. Who is who's saying what to whom. A neutral view is hard to come by. Given that the designers voiced their products through their perspectives. If that still doesn't convince you, we galvanise different listening perceptions from the very same music. How many of you buy equipment or cables based on the glowing review and found it isn't what you think it is?
I can't help a big expectation from big theories, wise talks, I expect nothing less than his system to sound good. A letdown when the perceived tone quality falls short. Not a great feeling. I learn from people who are brighter or achieved higher than me, never the other way around. Who has a higher perspective? A small system that does many things right or a big system that commits elementary mistakes. The tale of a tortoise and the hare, it's about who gets to the finishing line.
Facebook users hail to the SOTA system unreservedly, concurring the electronics or sound? I stick to my guns, never to like Facebook's system postings not unless I have listened to them. I should have known that the fact Facebook rewards the poster's likes accordingly, so-called digital marketing. Pictures or even Youtube clips don't tell the sound. As with raving reviews, your words against mine. Have you wondered why on earth no negative reviews? Someone bound to suffer losses nobody gains, that's why. Reviews these days have become an advertisement in disguise. I remember the days when I'm more influenced by the visiting strangers at the store, all ears than the dealer, they have nothing to gain.
Criticism is never pleasant, it's absolutely necessary. All praises raise doubts, audiophiles are difficult to please. Quick to be defensive. Who wants to burse bubbles? We are equally guilty of good conduct. White lies still lie. We have mastered the politicians' skills in avoiding an answer or not a direct answer. You feel fishy? Humbly, I could pick up the slightest clue from an utterance or the tone of utterance provided that I know where he comes from. In any situation, we must first ready to admit defeats to move on to a greater thing, otherwise, going nowhere. A patient will not take his medicines if he thinks he's healthy.
It seems I'm forever work in progress? Can you believe this guy? Look, the combo of cables, resonance and tweaking is infinite, have you tried enough to claim the best for you? I don't change equipment nor cables once settled for the sake of upgrading, what I'm doing now is reconfiguring, reconfiguring and reconfiguring. I keep finding the best combo of things in my system. Reconfiguring keeps opening a window of new possibilities, new ideas and new approaches to the sound.
I have got a really good run of results recently by reconfiguring the system. Beyond my wildest dream, I'm pleasantly surprised by the opening of the sonic floodgate, the renewed enthusiasm, greater liberty, reduced resistance and the resolving power that was unprecedented. I played the difficult Nenad Vasilic's Bassroom album, track no 6, Burning, what was that sound? I have no clues what so ever until I watched the video. Guess the sound, I usually can tell what's the playing instrument. This? I can't. My system honestly couldn't resolve these crazy harmonics and nuances, not until now. Pinch me! Yes, I feel the pain. I'm not fantasizing. Holy Mackerel! The energies of the double bass in the form of the tickling vibes are felt through my seat, I never experienced my room is being pressurized to this level. The double bass jumped out of my speakers! All courtesy from my work to the improved airflow dynamism.
Without further ado, I gave my system a run through my music to see that my mind isn't playing tricks on me. As I had mentioned before, I pay attention to music, not sound effects. My music test at large is basically non-audiophile CDs, a few pieces of classical, jazz and vocals. What I wanted to know is does my configuration produces more presence, less ambiguity. If the violin playback produces more insights into the play, the longer decays of the distinctive piano notes and last but not least the unmasked voices. Closer to music but nothing to suggest spectacular. A simple goal, not a chance an easy task. A trouble-free pilgrimage, I have had my share of black swans.
Making mistakes is part and parcel of learning. Mistakes tell us what not to commit again. I'm no saint, I make mistakes. It happened in the past and it will repeat in the future. Never rush, get enough rest, fresh ears are essential to bouncing back from where I fall. Press on....
What follows now is reaffirmation. To reaffirm what's real. Now, will you excuse me?
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