昨天參與了第二節播放會，沒有多說話，只欣賞音樂，曲式種類有 classical, jazz , pop , rock , progressive jazz , 該柔情時柔情，該刺激時刺激，證明了不該播得好jazz 就播不好古典，播得好古典就墦不好 pop rock，一套全面嘅系統，係中性、平衡、有感染力，我相信沒有什麼曲目能夠挑選到神曲工作室！
The official debut of K160 was as exciting as meeting Robert in person after the 6th AE super high end audio show last Jul. I stayed through both sessions yesterday listening to a wide variety of music. K15EX preamp is no stranger to me but I have not experienced the super ground version pairing with K160.
Creativity is a projection of oneself. Don’t you agree? Robert is calm and resourceful, technically savvy and yet sensitive. The more I talked to Robert, the more I could comprehend the design philosophy of K160. Overcoming the shortcomings of its predecessor K70 consumed a decade of his time. And the groundbreaking results speak for itself! The music delivered by the K160/K15EX combo always creates expectation of what is going to come next from the violinist, cellist, soprano, baritone, rock singer, orchestra, pianist, jazz singer and whoever one can imagine.
I had a long chat with Robert during the intermission between the 2 sessions. I had a much better comprehension of the design consideration behind the presence of normal/high power mode switch. As a user of the Cessaro Firebird speaker with 101db sensitivity, I questioned the need to drive them by the High Power mode. If not, am I wasting the full capabilities of the K160. Due to the fact that the K160 operates in Class A, it generates a lot of heat. Under normal air-conditioned room, he recommends to use high power mode to achieve the ultimate control and driving power.
This manual switch, according to Robert, is also a feature for better impedance-coupling to any speakers.
The whole event was filled with enjoyment and candid sharing by Robert and Chris. Thumbs up!
今次能夠親身感受Robert Koda全套石機開聲，實在賞心樂事，這神曲工作室靚聲就不容置疑，而背後不同設計師的創意精神，實在令小弟深感佩服，我相信現在出嚟嘅效果實在得來不易。Wadax超級解碼播數碼比我聽過好多黑膠組合更模擬，而植師傅調效的黑膠系統更是萬能，小提琴高音明亮有勁、綿密又連貫，最尾播Beethoven F Romance by Milstein聽得我雞皮也起，Hotel california強勁節奏感，令人聞歌起舞，相信現場聽者都有同感，這樣真實而有感情的聲音劃上完美的句號。
Upon my first arrival to Divin Labs I
quickly realized PT had simply “knocked the ball out the park”.
True high end systems are rare – So rare in fact that over the past
twenty years or so I have always been anxious to return to my home
listening system swiftly. But this time Divin Labs got me!
It takes much more than the assembly of
a couple of world class components to reach this goal. It takes
tremendous effort, time and know how to mature a system into a
compelling listen. Chris was clearly up to the challenge and
succeeded. The system was – properly set up. And with K-160 in
command we (on Friday) found an abundance of music to present on
Saturday. In fact, much much more than time would allow us to play.
Both analog and digital formats were fully immersive and there was no
need to separate them into individual “sessions”.
I am truly grateful to PT and to all
those who came to listen. As PT commented, it was more like a “mini
concert” rather than a product launch. It was tremendous fun and a
memorable event made possible by a wonderful audience, a fantastic
host and a great sounding system!
It was a very different auditioning experience as it was the first time I listened to such a versatile and transparent mega system. K160 truly reveals the souls of different recordings. Be it chamber music, symphonies, rock and pop or even Japanese folk songs, the system always properly renders the right stage size, proper tones, dynamics, energy and contrast to make u feel like listening to live music. The background is extremely dark, permeates the finest details of different recordings to be reproduced.
In a word, this is really the best solid state amp I have ever listened to.
Thanks for organizing the event and the food was delicious! Also thanks Robert to coming over to Hong Kong all the way from Japan for the great introduction and explanation of the state of the art K160. His technical expertise definitely helped us to better understand the design philosophy of the K160.
This is the 2nd time I listened to the K160, the first time with the Zanden Preamp and this time with the matched K15ex. Needless to say, both time the K160 performed at the highest level however with totally different presentation. When paired with the Zanden pre, it was about richness, saturation, and color; this time paired with K15ex it was about transparency, control and delicacy. The only thing in common was that the K160 presented tremendous control over the humongous Gobel Divin speakers when paired with either.
I don’t know what else to add as most seniors had expressed their opinions eloquently. All I can say is that the demo two weeks ago still lingers in my mind from time to time. It is not the machine. It is the music via that system at Divin lab still singing in my head, especially the Hotel California and Beethoven F Romance and 美空雲雀。
I should have expressed my view right after the session. The impressing sound of full suite RK with K160 is still vividly in my mind. I owned a suite of RK with K70 which was the power amp staying with me for the longest period. At present I am still using RK K15EX Super Ground driving ARNE. I have been waiting for K160 for many years and I “chased” Robert every time I met him. Although having the same DNA, K160 is not an “improved” K70. K160 is not reproducing the record sound but to bring listener deep into the world of music. To appreciate K160, we only need to just sit down, listen and enjoy. I arrived early before the session and Robert played a cut of long horn (forgot the name of the instrument) for me. It was not a hi fi music but I was bought to a different world at once. Robert said he enjoyed this kind of music and he listened to it in his own house. You have to know what Robert is pursuing before you can under and appreciate what K160 can bring out. I hope I can have a K160 some time and become a full suite RK owner again. Before 2019 ends, I would give one vote to K160 as product of the year. The other vote is for Wadax Super DAC.
Comments
昨天參與了第二節播放會，沒有多說話，只欣賞音樂，曲式種類有 classical, jazz , pop , rock , progressive jazz , 該柔情時柔情，該刺激時刺激，證明了不該播得好jazz 就播不好古典，播得好古典就墦不好 pop rock，一套全面嘅系統，係中性、平衡、有感染力，我相信沒有什麼曲目能夠挑選到神曲工作室！
Creativity is a projection of oneself. Don’t you agree? Robert is calm and resourceful, technically savvy and yet sensitive. The more I talked to Robert, the more I could comprehend the design philosophy of K160. Overcoming the shortcomings of its predecessor K70 consumed a decade of his time. And the groundbreaking results speak for itself! The music delivered by the K160/K15EX combo always creates expectation of what is going to come next from the violinist, cellist, soprano, baritone, rock singer, orchestra, pianist, jazz singer and whoever one can imagine.
I had a long chat with Robert during the intermission between the 2 sessions. I had a much better comprehension of the design consideration behind the presence of normal/high power mode switch. As a user of the Cessaro Firebird speaker with 101db sensitivity, I questioned the need to drive them by the High Power mode. If not, am I wasting the full capabilities of the K160. Due to the fact that the K160 operates in Class A, it generates a lot of heat. Under normal air-conditioned room, he recommends to use high power mode to achieve the ultimate control and driving power.
This manual switch, according to Robert, is also a feature for better impedance-coupling to any speakers.
The whole event was filled with enjoyment and candid sharing by Robert and Chris. Thumbs up!
Marvel
我助手Sam的電話是6603-6912。我決定把全套音響賣了，再由頭計劃過。有興趣，請直接電他議價。
今次能夠親身感受Robert Koda全套石機開聲，實在賞心樂事，這神曲工作室靚聲就不容置疑，而背後不同設計師的創意精神，實在令小弟深感佩服，我相信現在出嚟嘅效果實在得來不易。Wadax超級解碼播數碼比我聽過好多黑膠組合更模擬，而植師傅調效的黑膠系統更是萬能，小提琴高音明亮有勁、綿密又連貫，最尾播Beethoven F Romance by Milstein聽得我雞皮也起，Hotel california強勁節奏感，令人聞歌起舞，相信現場聽者都有同感，這樣真實而有感情的聲音劃上完美的句號。
Upon my first arrival to Divin Labs I quickly realized PT had simply “knocked the ball out the park”. True high end systems are rare – So rare in fact that over the past twenty years or so I have always been anxious to return to my home listening system swiftly. But this time Divin Labs got me!
It takes much more than the assembly of a couple of world class components to reach this goal. It takes tremendous effort, time and know how to mature a system into a compelling listen. Chris was clearly up to the challenge and succeeded. The system was – properly set up. And with K-160 in command we (on Friday) found an abundance of music to present on Saturday. In fact, much much more than time would allow us to play. Both analog and digital formats were fully immersive and there was no need to separate them into individual “sessions”.
I am truly grateful to PT and to all those who came to listen. As PT commented, it was more like a “mini concert” rather than a product launch. It was tremendous fun and a memorable event made possible by a wonderful audience, a fantastic host and a great sounding system!
Thank you!
的確這盛宴是遠遠超越了一個產品發表會，這根本就是一個無國界，無分時代及無分制式的音樂會！
不同類型的音樂，從古至今，各種各樣的演奏，包羅萬有，我跟Marvel 兄一樣，聽完兩個環節，大約三個半小時，非常滿足，我最欣賞是David Bowie session 及美空雲雀session,絕對不是熱門hifi demo 曲目，但卻令我聽得血脈沸騰及呯然心動
我在想去到這地步，Pt會否考慮用bi amp , 4 x K160 去推神曲？我很期待這組合有朝一日出現
多謝PT盡量沒有重覆兩節曲目，希望AE能夠多辦這類型high end 音樂會， 便是一眾音響迷之福了。
In a word, this is really the best solid state amp I have ever listened to.
由於小弟今次太高興，費鬼事用英文寫！
一直以來我都相信音響是回放由咪高峰錄下的聲音，所以終極嘅音響器材應該是把我們帶返去咪高峰錄音的瞬間，而不是觀眾席或指揮席。
由有聲到好聲，再到還原，此路非常難行。大陪分人只到好聲便停下來，原因是器材能力不足，設計者理念錯誤，結果導致整套音響器材沒有”透明度”。咪高峰錄下聲音，同時也錄被製造失真，所以透明度不足和人耳對失真的靈敏的情況下，只有音響器材和錄音時的失真被強調出來，而能力不足者只能美化失真的聲音。
而K160則是不同的故事，器材設計好，設計者理念正確，器材失真非常低，帶來異常豐富的細節。細節不但營造出X，Y，Z軸的Dynamic，並帶來終極的透明度！而這終極的透明度，將咪高峰錄下的聲音和失真完整還原，以美空雲雀為例，K160重現出環境、觀眾、歌手和空氣流動的聲音，同時也嘲笑着因錄音師同常人一樣想法，認為人聲動態低，並提高電平錄取人聲，從而形成大音量下人聲失真。
K160終於能帶給我一直在尋找的感覺。我告訴Chris這只是起點，還原的起點，電子技術將來會進步，天才設計師會橫空出世，這是一場無盡的旅途，因此以今日而言，神曲工作室應該是大部份人的終點了。
其實小弟心裏有太多想法想分享，奈何心情太激動未能寫下。希望有日能與大家會面，再作分享。
Thanks for organizing the event and the food was delicious! Also thanks Robert to coming over to Hong Kong all the way from Japan for the great introduction and explanation of the state of the art K160. His technical expertise definitely helped us to better understand the design philosophy of the K160.
This is the 2nd time I listened to the K160, the first time with the Zanden Preamp and this time with the matched K15ex. Needless to say, both time the K160 performed at the highest level however with totally different presentation. When paired with the Zanden pre, it was about richness, saturation, and color; this time paired with K15ex it was about transparency, control and delicacy. The only thing in common was that the K160 presented tremendous control over the humongous Gobel Divin speakers when paired with either.
Extremely convincing session!