Over the course of 1 week, AE has received more than 75 applications for the competition from all over the world. 85% comes from HK, 7% from China and the rest from Singapore/Taiwan/Thailand/Malaysia.
I am delighted to see the overwhelming responses. Specifically, I am indebted to Cassph (winner of last year's best audiophile award) who brought me a Japanese version of the Les Miserable recordings from Japan. Indeed, the Japanese version of the same recording is better than what I procured from HMV locally. The Japanese version has a lower noise floor overall.
Because the deadline for application is at Jan 31st, 2013, and I foresee the number of applicants will continue to increase. As a result, we have decided to cap the number of applicants to 120. It will be very taxing on myself who will visit at most 120 systems in Hong Kong/Taiwan/China/Singapore. I will start doing so beginning Feb 1st and hopefully finish by the end of February or 1st week of March. The winner will be announced no later than March 25th, 2013.
Philosophy/Criteria of the competition:
1. I have decided to use the local version of the recording for the purposes of easier access and standardisation.
2. Do not have a bias that mega pricey system will have an advantage over smaller system. It is all about striking a balance. I purposely choose a woman vocal track with orchestral backdrops so that conventional Hi Fi evaluation criteria such as imaging and soundstage will be incorporated. But a higher weighting (65% of the overall score) will be attached to the VOCAL session because this is the main focus. Applicants must pay UTMOST ATTENTION TO DICTION (ENUNCIATION) of each words in the lyrics. Even the weeping/whispering sound has to be reproduced with perspective alongside continuity into the subsequent lyrics. And the imaging of the "mouth/lips" must be reproduced with sheer realism as though Anne Hathaway is sitting in front of you in the same room. Please focus on the progression of energy on certain lyrical lines. For example, "shed your dreams into shame...shame... shame.........".
As far as the orchestral session is concerned, the arrangement of track 5 begins mostly with single chord on each musical instrument. As a result, the harmonic structure is not that complex at the beginning but separation of the instruments has to be easily identified. But the cello on the left hand side at the very beginning must be reproduced with tensile strength. Elasticity of the bow striking on the strings must be felt. At the crescendo of this song, the energy of the string session is fairly high. If the energy is too high, the string sessions will likely overshadow the vocalist. Please take note. Last but not least is the fact that in the last few seconds of the recording, around 4:25 to 4:36, the harmonic decay of the harp will last until 4:35. One's system must be able to resolve fine details down to this level.
At the end of the day, this is a song of hopeless and despair. The winning system has to be able to deliver the emotion. I am not referring to the smoothness of the mid range, not at all. I am referring more so to the resolution of the mid range as well as the control of micro energy. Anne Harthaway's voice does not has the power of professional opera singer. But that does not mean she is not able to deliver contrast in emotion. The delivery of "fragility" is very well performed by her. How your system is able to deliver the resolution of fragility will depend on a vector of parameters.
3. I hope all participants join the competition with open mind. Whether you posit yourself as a master or a junior does not matter to me, the whole idea is to have fun and to learn from a common track. If you are able to reproduce this track better than 119 other applications, it does not mean the winner's system can perform Mahler and other recordings well.
4. Remember AE does not say our playback on this track is the best. We never said so. But it will serve as a reference for this particular competition. All the winner needs is to reproduce this track as close as possible to what he/she listens at AE. If you think our yardstick is too low, please teach me how to be as good as you. Better still, if anyone can do better than AE, then we will learn from you.
For the record, AE WILL NOT USE ANY PREAMPLIFIER TO PLAY THIS SONG. This is to address the concern that our system's value is too high relative to other applicants. We intentionally handicap our system by removing a preamplifier in the system chain.
5. There are many requests to add track 13, 16 and 19 in the competition. If we cannot decide who is the final winner, then we will judge by an additional track of 19.
Based on the hint from Mr Z (on speaker) and Fat Gor (on Amp), I may have a small chance to win ... but it is a hard car to compete with 119 other guru.
Voy, I was busy these few days and just back to Hong Kong. I have not even got the soundtrack yet but probably I will get it tomorrow after work. I will see if there is any edge.
Maybe I have to see if PT got time so that I could listen to the reference source firstly. I believe we must all listen to this track in AE for making the comparison.
I wish to re-iterate the following points regarding the competition.
1. The issue is not about whether you like or dislike of what you experience at AE. You have all the freedom to dislike. There are objective criteria to be fullfilled and I shall show you the scorecard.
2. The result of the competition is judged by Track 5 of the locally available Les Miserable soundtrack, but not by other versions or recordings. Please be focus. You can say you play other type of recordings better than AE. Not a problem at all, and I shall always listen.
3. I purposely pick a recording with fairly good quality but not yet to the supremacy of conventional audiophile recording. The intention is to demonstrate even such average level recording can be reproduced at certain quality threshold. I repeat this is not a Mahler recording. This is just a plain vanila female vocal. Anne Hathaway is neither Callas nor Von Stade. The orchestra backdrops are not crazily complicated.
4. And AE will not use any Preamplifier to play this track as a reference.
I told you it is all about "diction"! And that is intriguing. I speculate even the "sound pressure" of the weeping sound is counted towards the overall score. All those "t" and "ted" such as "apart", "unwasted" and "went" etc... must be reproduced with clarity. If you read the reviews on Anne's performance on this song, many agree she has exuded tremendous emotion in every single English words. And that is very different from "polishing". Tremendous micro resolution is required to score high. It is not about smoothness of mid range or the high range. Probably many can get a passing score with the basic tonal balance right but if it is about "diction", maybe, I am only suggesting maybe, solid state may have some edge. On the other hand, the rawness of the sound can be edgy for solid state at certain volume threshold. This is especially tricky during the climax with the orchestra is mixed with the vocal.
PT has chosen a track that will make everyone not feeling so bad but I doubt who can score very high.
I think "coloration" may have no particular edge on this particular competition. Join the game with an open mind. The key is to enjoy the game. The end result may be very surprising, who knows? Horn users may end up reproducing the imaging of Anne Harthaway with a big mouth. At the same time, Mr.Zanden suggested the soundstage of the recording is quite wide. How can you strike a balance of great imaging with a wide and deep sound field?
All I would suggest that we should above all see the movie, before joining the competition. PT was deeply moved by the "Scene", not solely by Hathaway's vocal.
This movie is food for thought...
I bought the CD right after PT's recommendation. Without seeing the movie, the soundtrack was so-so and I must confessed that Hathaway's vocal wasn't as appealing as PT described. Until last Sunday morning, I finally attended the movie and I could begin t feel it. Listened to the CD again and so many pictures coming out. Still, I wasn't particularly drawn by track 5 but the whole disc has become much more enjoyable.
I would recommend PT to compile a memoir of this competition and describe what you feel from each system in words.
It is an incredibly daunting task to judge 120 systems. And I am in...
I just watched the movie last night, there is theme which is a boy sit at behind of the cart, interest to know who is the singer? does it include in soundtrack? I feel impressive on this rare boys vocal.
Hey, Hello Mr. DV! Longtime no see. Hows your system right now? Here we will have our Audio game against Jeff and Marvel AD + Tidal team. I can't imagine Tidal producing better human voice than DV, right?
The coloration ....ummmm.....I don't tink tidal and AD have no colour. Seem people like to use their eyes to see the sound.
You are funny. And I admire the attitude of a hardcore fans. But you got to bring out justifications. Have you actually ever listened to the latest Tidal Agoria? 300B amplifier does not necessarily has edge on vocal. I can only agree the average 300B amp out there sounds smooth with a warmer tonal balance most of the time in general. But it may not be resiliency enough to reproduce the imperfection skills of a non professional singer however with tremendous emotions during the performance.
I was honored to be the first participant to listen to the reference setup in AE showroom which will be temporary fixed for the purpose of this contest. I do not want not put in any description of what level of performance the system is and strongly suggest all contestants to go and listen prior to let PT to come to listen to your system. Jlam whatsapp me a few days ago to ask if I have confidence to win, I replied to say I think I can be above 50%, I still believe so after the audition today and tonight back in my place. Mine is hopefully not miles away from AE and have yet put in the Dalby ground wire, Thais ground wire and Argento Flow Center to my system...My wife was me today and also listened to my system, she encouraged me: don't give me !! That tells a lot!!
Two friends of mine, Jeff and Mr Zanden USA were in the Les Vegas CES...both told me that many showrooms are using this CD as one of their reference...is it a savvy created as a 'by-product' of this contest? I have no idea...but certainly listening to the CD in AE showroom today really put me back to almost like watching the facial emotions of the actors/actresses of the movie....
Only myself have watched the movie and listened to yhe soundtrack CD. My wife has been helping me to conduct countless ab comparison not because she posesses a pair of golden ears, she is most impartial on the type of equipment being tested so she can just reveals what she hear instead of what ishewants to hear from that piece but not from the other one.
She came without a clue on what role Anne played in the movie and it only after the audition that we told her the singer has acted amny other movies she went to.
In AE, my wife can feel the facial expression of the singer and feellike she is standing in front of her acting...ie not just singing. The passion is so directly conveyed and touching!
Comments
Over the course of 1 week, AE has received more than 75 applications for the competition from all over the world. 85% comes from HK, 7% from China and the rest from Singapore/Taiwan/Thailand/Malaysia.
I am delighted to see the overwhelming responses. Specifically, I am indebted to Cassph (winner of last year's best audiophile award) who brought me a Japanese version of the Les Miserable recordings from Japan. Indeed, the Japanese version of the same recording is better than what I procured from HMV locally. The Japanese version has a lower noise floor overall.
Because the deadline for application is at Jan 31st, 2013, and I foresee the number of applicants will continue to increase. As a result, we have decided to cap the number of applicants to 120. It will be very taxing on myself who will visit at most 120 systems in Hong Kong/Taiwan/China/Singapore. I will start doing so beginning Feb 1st and hopefully finish by the end of February or 1st week of March. The winner will be announced no later than March 25th, 2013.
Philosophy/Criteria of the competition:
1. I have decided to use the local version of the recording for the purposes of easier access and standardisation.
2. Do not have a bias that mega pricey system will have an advantage over smaller system. It is all about striking a balance. I purposely choose a woman vocal track with orchestral backdrops so that conventional Hi Fi evaluation criteria such as imaging and soundstage will be incorporated. But a higher weighting (65% of the overall score) will be attached to the VOCAL session because this is the main focus. Applicants must pay UTMOST ATTENTION TO DICTION (ENUNCIATION) of each words in the lyrics. Even the weeping/whispering sound has to be reproduced with perspective alongside continuity into the subsequent lyrics. And the imaging of the "mouth/lips" must be reproduced with sheer realism as though Anne Hathaway is sitting in front of you in the same room. Please focus on the progression of energy on certain lyrical lines. For example, "shed your dreams into shame...shame... shame.........".
As far as the orchestral session is concerned, the arrangement of track 5 begins mostly with single chord on each musical instrument. As a result, the harmonic structure is not that complex at the beginning but separation of the instruments has to be easily identified. But the cello on the left hand side at the very beginning must be reproduced with tensile strength. Elasticity of the bow striking on the strings must be felt. At the crescendo of this song, the energy of the string session is fairly high. If the energy is too high, the string sessions will likely overshadow the vocalist. Please take note. Last but not least is the fact that in the last few seconds of the recording, around 4:25 to 4:36, the harmonic decay of the harp will last until 4:35. One's system must be able to resolve fine details down to this level.
At the end of the day, this is a song of hopeless and despair. The winning system has to be able to deliver the emotion. I am not referring to the smoothness of the mid range, not at all. I am referring more so to the resolution of the mid range as well as the control of micro energy. Anne Harthaway's voice does not has the power of professional opera singer. But that does not mean she is not able to deliver contrast in emotion. The delivery of "fragility" is very well performed by her. How your system is able to deliver the resolution of fragility will depend on a vector of parameters.
3. I hope all participants join the competition with open mind. Whether you posit yourself as a master or a junior does not matter to me, the whole idea is to have fun and to learn from a common track. If you are able to reproduce this track better than 119 other applications, it does not mean the winner's system can perform Mahler and other recordings well.
4. Remember AE does not say our playback on this track is the best. We never said so. But it will serve as a reference for this particular competition. All the winner needs is to reproduce this track as close as possible to what he/she listens at AE. If you think our yardstick is too low, please teach me how to be as good as you. Better still, if anyone can do better than AE, then we will learn from you.
For the record, AE WILL NOT USE ANY PREAMPLIFIER TO PLAY THIS SONG. This is to address the concern that our system's value is too high relative to other applicants. We intentionally handicap our system by removing a preamplifier in the system chain.
5. There are many requests to add track 13, 16 and 19 in the competition. If we cannot decide who is the final winner, then we will judge by an additional track of 19.
6. PHASE OF THE RECORDING IS POSTIVE
Piano Tuner
Voy, I was busy these few days and just back to Hong Kong. I have not even got the soundtrack yet but probably I will get it tomorrow after work. I will see if there is any edge.
Maybe I have to see if PT got time so that I could listen to the reference source firstly. I believe we must all listen to this track in AE for making the comparison.
1. The issue is not about whether you like or dislike of what you experience at AE. You have all the freedom to dislike. There are objective criteria to be fullfilled and I shall show you the scorecard.
2. The result of the competition is judged by Track 5 of the locally available Les Miserable soundtrack, but not by other versions or recordings. Please be focus. You can say you play other type of recordings better than AE. Not a problem at all, and I shall always listen.
3. I purposely pick a recording with fairly good quality but not yet to the supremacy of conventional audiophile recording. The intention is to demonstrate even such average level recording can be reproduced at certain quality threshold. I repeat this is not a Mahler recording. This is just a plain vanila female vocal. Anne Hathaway is neither Callas nor Von Stade. The orchestra backdrops are not crazily complicated.
4. And AE will not use any Preamplifier to play this track as a reference.
I told you it is all about "diction"! And that is intriguing. I speculate even the "sound pressure" of the weeping sound is counted towards the overall score. All those "t" and "ted" such as "apart", "unwasted" and "went" etc... must be reproduced with clarity. If you read the reviews on Anne's performance on this song, many agree she has exuded tremendous emotion in every single English words. And that is very different from "polishing". Tremendous micro resolution is required to score high. It is not about smoothness of mid range or the high range. Probably many can get a passing score with the basic tonal balance right but if it is about "diction", maybe, I am only suggesting maybe, solid state may have some edge. On the other hand, the rawness of the sound can be edgy for solid state at certain volume threshold. This is especially tricky during the climax with the orchestra is mixed with the vocal.
PT has chosen a track that will make everyone not feeling so bad but I doubt who can score very high.
I think "coloration" may have no particular edge on this particular competition. Join the game with an open mind. The key is to enjoy the game. The end result may be very surprising, who knows? Horn users may end up reproducing the imaging of Anne Harthaway with a big mouth. At the same time, Mr.Zanden suggested the soundstage of the recording is quite wide. How can you strike a balance of great imaging with a wide and deep sound field?
This movie is food for thought...
I bought the CD right after PT's recommendation. Without seeing the movie, the soundtrack was so-so and I must confessed that Hathaway's vocal wasn't as appealing as PT described. Until last Sunday morning, I finally attended the movie and I could begin t feel it. Listened to the CD again and so many pictures coming out. Still, I wasn't particularly drawn by track 5 but the whole disc has become much more enjoyable.
I would recommend PT to compile a memoir of this competition and describe what you feel from each system in words.
It is an incredibly daunting task to judge 120 systems. And I am in...
Des
The coloration ....ummmm.....I don't tink tidal and AD have no colour. Seem people like to use their eyes to see the sound.
You are funny. And I admire the attitude of a hardcore fans. But you got to bring out justifications. Have you actually ever listened to the latest Tidal Agoria? 300B amplifier does not necessarily has edge on vocal. I can only agree the average 300B amp out there sounds smooth with a warmer tonal balance most of the time in general. But it may not be resiliency enough to reproduce the imperfection skills of a non professional singer however with tremendous emotions during the performance.
What did your wife exactly say? Do you mean she went to AE with you and listened to "I dreamed a dream"?
I am curious to learn a woman's point of view.
She came without a clue on what role Anne played in the movie and it only after the audition that we told her the singer has acted amny other movies she went to.
In AE, my wife can feel the facial expression of the singer and feellike she is standing in front of her acting...ie not just singing. The passion is so directly conveyed and touching!
Marvel