This is one hell of a gorgeous system, the white coloured turntable, pre- and power amp plus the speakers.....
It’s been a long time since I have listened to another audiophile’s
system as I am usually pre-occupied with tuning my own in recent months due to
the complete change of work pattern as a result of the prolonged pandemic situation
here. The flip side of this change is I am able listen to my system whenever I
am free, this can’t be bad, right !.
Although I very seldom invite
people to listen to my system, some came for other reasons, like Master Yu who
does a lot of hi-fi repair work for AE, I too have some niggling problems due
to circumstances beyond my control and Master Yu visited me twice this year and
last time he came, I played some very demanding and loud music to him just to
show off my horn system. He was naturally impressed with the dynamic sound and
the other system he experienced such phenomenon was at Romanovym.
To me, it doesn’t really matter
whether other fellow audiophiles endorse or dislike your system, as long as it
pleases you and gives you pleasure, then this is the ultimate goal in the realm
of high end hi-fi. One can forever dreaming of the impossible dream of
achieving one of the best hi-fi rigs in the world but in the end, who cares,
except your own self who must have invested tons of money and time plus EFFORT
to bring your system to a very high standard. If you have spent a fortunate and
time (may be with great or little effort) and are still dissatisfied, you have my
condolences.
Back to last week, it’s been
many months since I last visited Marvel’s showroom, out of the blue, Marvel bro
suddenly invited me to listen to his latest set-up, I have occasionally
followed on AE’s forum what’s been going on.
When I arrived late Saturday afternoon, visually, I saw he had added
new components to the system since my last visit, most notably were Monica Preamp and Eric by
Engstrom plus the must have Arya Air Blade. As soon as I sat down, he
immediately played Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma from DECCA’s Turandot, I said to
myself, I had given up on tweaking my system using this track over 10 tens year
ago because I think the vocal recording was not good (his voice was brittle on
the crescendo passages). The soft passages and vocal in the beginning were
quite nice with a wide and deep soundstage, but the vocal sounded brittle when
Pavarotti sang loudly. I made my comments to Marvel and he swiftly switched to
another Durand Tosca arm and EMT 80th anniversary cartridge and Zanden 1200 signature phono for comparison (isn’t life perfect if you have two different
sets of everything) and it sounded much more musical and the brittle
vocal was less severe but still a tad hard to my ears. I must add when he played jazz music to me later on, the former combo sounded better.
He then spun my favourite Aron Neville’s Warm Your Heart
second track, I could hear the sound was very balanced and better than from my
previous visit, this either showed I am either a die-hard valve camp fan or the
sound was truly better, as contrary to popular belief, the Goebel speakers
perform better with valve amplification. We then proceeded listening to the
CDs I had brought and I was pleasantly surprised by the improvement in the
overall sound since my last visit in 2020. It would be unfair or arrogant of me
to make any negative comments as I think the overall system performed
admirably.
Usually I don’t do this but I asked Marvel to play Telarc
Time Warp (1990 presssing) very loud in order to test the speakers as well as
the acoustic characteristics/limits of the listening room. If you are being
mischievous and bring this CD to someone with low-powered Kondo amps and the
old Wilson’s Grand SLAMM and say nicely and innocently to the proud owner to
turn the volume to very high level to play this disc, I won’t be too surprised
the poor power amps will be damaged in less than 5 seconds in the beginning of
track one. But Marvel's system performed admirably, you could hear and see how
the sound move at the back of the listening room, the sound engulfed the rear
of the room and the system had very good handling of transient power, bass went
deep without any subs.
In summary, I naturally preferred the sound of my own very
powerful, yet refined Cessaro Beta with Zanden electronics because of its
tonality and macro & micro dynamic contrast (this is a classic example of
my listening ‘bias’), but I could enjoy Marvel system any time with its very pure and
linear sound and I am sure, by swapping with different power and interconnect cables, he
can change the tonality of his system which would fully satisfied my subjective
taste – classical instruments have very rich, colourful and dynamic sound especially
when you hear them performed in a suitably not-too-large concert hall. I also
made some suggestions which every audiophile would be loathed to
do, so it’s best to keep my mouth shut.
So what more can I say, this is a very fine system which I am
confident will impress or even shock the majority of audiophiles out there.
However, if one is a true audiophile, then I would actively explore ways or
means to make minor changes to the room acoustics and see if these can maximise the
synergy of Gaebel/Engstrom. Well done Marvel bro, I am longing for your next invitation and hope I don’t need to wait for a year as life is short !
AudioNec EVO2 speakers surprised the public so much by her energy and resolution relative to its physical size at the Hong Kong high end Audio show last week. The Ferrari red EVO2 is now at AE central for permanent demonstration.
A customer bought a pair of EVO on spot driven by Riviera Lab Levante Integrated amplifier. They are great match as evidenced by Silvio of Riviera Lab mating this amplifier with AudioNec in France awhile ago.
I had a rare chance to
rearrange my cabling from scratch after they were returned from the High End Audio Show last week. The following instruments elevate overall performance substantially :
1. Troy signature NG for ground noise filtration.
2. Wellfloat Delta Flat Top underneath the
vibration damping feet of JMF Audio PCD302 AC filter.
Whilst (1) is expectedly a proven step in ground noise
mitigation, (2) and (3) really caught me by surprise. The 35th
Anniversary edition of JMF Audio PCD302 has much lower mechanical vibrations than previous version as evidenced by chassis rigidity. It also changes from a 4-feet design to a 3-feet one. By availing 3 flat-top WELLFLOAT underneath them, there
is an audible increase in energy dispersion. Original geometry of the 3-feet design matters.
In the past I applied 4 x Arya ReVopods randomly under the chassis. This was an imperfect execution. I had done several ABA comparisons by swapping Flat top with Revopods under the chassis of 302. The physical
exercise was demanding but the result was rewardingly conclusive!
The diameter of the feet under Goebel Marquis is 10cm
wide, and exceeds Wellfloat Delta Flat-Top. For safety reason, I put Flat-Top underneath the cabinet. This was sub-optimal
because they do not coincide with
the CG (Center of Gravity) of the Marquis.
To compare, I could sit comfortably the Marquis atop the newly launched WELLFLOAT Delta Extreme. They were newly launched in Aug 21, designed by former Chief Creative Officer of Nissan Motor, Mr Shiro Nakamura.
The orchestration of “Pines of Rome” by Respighi conducted by Reiner stunned me by higher energy level penetrating my body.
The brass contents of first movement are rich encompassing percussion instruments such as
triangle, clarinet, and timpani in order to create a joyful morning. My mind could easily picture children playing in
a garden full of pine trees. The
bursting of energy from one instrumental group to another is flamboyant. They sparkled everywhere in front of me! WELLFLOAT Extreme unleashes energy of Goebel Marquis to the fullest extent.
Mozart K331 piano sonata by Pires is one of my reference recordings. The vividness
of playback is phenomenal. The energy of each key
strokes, especially those bass key strokes ‘dive” into the floor and ‘rebound” instantly reflecting the spontaneity and dexterity of a young pianist. The attacks have clear power trajectories. The presence of the 7-feet Steinway
alongside radiance of emotion by Pires is live like. She sweated me in the hair buds!
The discreet charm of the Kangai S power cord for the Tripoint Troy NG has landed to my studio last week. It brings much solid contour resolution to the musical images and spatial cue from front to back.
Without comparison, the stock cable has already done a very good job in draining the ground noise. To many, the ground wires are not on the signal path, the power cable connecting the ground box is even more remote in terms of contributing to the final outcome.
Let's not speculate, ears won't lie, they can tell if there is a huge impact by using a more powerful cable in this position. Many came last week, all are Tripoint authenticated owners, and have unanimous views.
The cable, as it is named, is like a sandust of diamonds tossed into the sky by the magical hand of Lee Dalby. Its new form factor doesn’t inherit any of the previous design which strongly suggests it is a revolutionary creation than an evolutionary one. To recap a few key design goals and technologies adopted:
- It adopts hybrid Litz wire design to optimise the efficiency of conduction at any frequency
- Goal is on speed and musical correctness and scale. Jundo/Ode Grande use a 70/30 mixture of mono crystal silver and copper while Stjarna, replacing both, uses a 60/40 mix in order to capture more lower bass textures and energy.
- FEP insulation on silver conductors while paper and cotton are used to prevent resonance on the copper conductors.
I received the first power cable a few months ago and have used it extensively on the preamp and from wall socket to Pranawire Cloud 9 to supply the power for the entire system. These are hot positions demanding the Top Team to be there and certainly Stjarna deserves a place in this category. Only until recently I received the 2nd power cable that allowed me to use them on the monoblock power amp. I don’t buy in the myth talk about a HKD100K+ priced power cable only designed for use in low consumption positions. Instead, a Best of the Best cable should deliver excessive energy with uncompromising finesse, speed, textures and quietness.
Stjarna scores higher compared to Jundo/Ode Grande on the bass foundation it delivers with much better delicacy and immediacy. Yet, the truthful DNA of Dalby family is still there to give the temporal and melodic coherence from top to end. Regardless of whether I am listening to euphonic classical music or beat heavy rock, Stjarna maintains an excellent consistency on the overarching balance in every hifi attributes that I can recall. Simply put, I haven’t got a slight thought about swapping it back with other members of my Top Team.
Yoshihiro Kondo (近藤嘉宏）is a renowned pianist, who once commented: “When the FL66 by Acoustic Grove System (AGS) is installed underneath the piano, the power of the bass radiate brilliantly with a subtle sense of richness. That is good, isn’t it?…The finesse of the treble notes are delivered together with bass clarity and volume. The essence of the music instrument is revealed.” Another famous classical guitarist, Kaori Muraji, （村治佳織）said, “What a big difference FL-1 made to the sound. I am really amazed right at the first note. With AGS, the sound becomes crisp, and I can follow easily what I want to play.”
What else can be more compellingly convincing than comments made by these concert performers?
FL66 is a room tuning tool I had lately installed at AE Central. It resolves head-on collisons/reflections between bass standing waves and the floor. Such acoustic problem cannot be tackled by conventional room acoustic products. According to the research of SRA, 70% of mechanical vibrations comes from the floor. In the past, I tested several carpets to tame floor reflections without satisfactory results: either the bass speed is improved at the expense of overly damped midrange; or treble frequency beams faster than the rest of the spectrum. AGS FL-1 is an uncompromising solution with patented technology in diffusing bass standing waves. It is constructed by an array of natural wood pillar in a square frame of 66cm in width.
The design goal of Divin Marquis is to achieve zero phase distortion. With AGS FL-1, the Marquis delivers music in a holistic manner because of better synchronisation amongst tweeter, midrange and bass drivers. In particular, bass is no longer deterred by the standing waves reflected by the floor! Musical energy is rhythmically penetrating into my body in a constant manner transcending goosebumps all over.
Goebel 岳飛 subwoofer 駕到AE Central。Oliver研發兩年多的超低，用上了只有255 gram的18” long throw 大口勁單元(一般18”單元重600g~800g)，物料包括paper fibre，再加上碳纖維強化振膜，linear excursion total 40mm 。(The cream of the crop in subwoofers with 12” or 15” driver usually has excursions beyond 18 mm, with some drivers capable of more than 24.5 mm of excursion in each direction。) 岳飛的linear excursions 高達40mm or 1.6” for a 18” long throw bass driver是非常之高的標準。”Linear” excursions 的量度是指membrane前後活動亳無機械失真的總距離；即是説超過40mm，就開始有失真。）
音箱是極度重料製作：It is a composition of wood fiber material with a high percentage of melanin resin, pressed under high pressure and heat. The result is a material with extremely high e-module (bending stiffness stronger than aluminium), ideal for loudspeaker enclosure. It is also resistant against high humidity in Asia. In order to achieve an absolute dead quiet enclosure, thickness of wall is up to 75mm, alongside a trapezius shape with a heavily braced internal structure.
岳飛超低音內置2,500 watt class D功放，damping factor達1,000，總重量350磅。控制由專用Apps在手機或tablet上操作。
Comments
我用的是 Tidal. 讓我試試 Quboz 作一比較。
機械性震動所產生的噪音，地噪，電噪和房間駐波全部都會影響重播質素。前三者可以用適當的器材去解決。最後一環是最具挑戰性，因為不同房間的形狀和物理性各有不同，那裡有駐波，反射波，共震必須要小心找出，再運用合適的工具去管理妥善。
AE上環在上述數點已經做到極緻，這樣才可發揮各種器材和線材的表現從而把我和音樂更加拉近一步。
未來AE中環我會循這方向繼續努力！
算是合格。 聽了上環系統重播Cleopatra後，我相信歌者略帶絕望的感情和強勁背景音樂的對比可以更加清晰地表現出來。
How high is your high fidelity system ?
It’s been a long time since I have listened to another audiophile’s system as I am usually pre-occupied with tuning my own in recent months due to the complete change of work pattern as a result of the prolonged pandemic situation here. The flip side of this change is I am able listen to my system whenever I am free, this can’t be bad, right !.
Although I very seldom invite people to listen to my system, some came for other reasons, like Master Yu who does a lot of hi-fi repair work for AE, I too have some niggling problems due to circumstances beyond my control and Master Yu visited me twice this year and last time he came, I played some very demanding and loud music to him just to show off my horn system. He was naturally impressed with the dynamic sound and the other system he experienced such phenomenon was at Romanovym.
To me, it doesn’t really matter whether other fellow audiophiles endorse or dislike your system, as long as it pleases you and gives you pleasure, then this is the ultimate goal in the realm of high end hi-fi. One can forever dreaming of the impossible dream of achieving one of the best hi-fi rigs in the world but in the end, who cares, except your own self who must have invested tons of money and time plus EFFORT to bring your system to a very high standard. If you have spent a fortunate and time (may be with great or little effort) and are still dissatisfied, you have my condolences.
Back to last week, it’s been many months since I last visited Marvel’s showroom, out of the blue, Marvel bro suddenly invited me to listen to his latest set-up, I have occasionally followed on AE’s forum what’s been going on.
When I arrived late Saturday afternoon, visually, I saw he had added new components to the system since my last visit, most notably were Monica Preamp and Eric by Engstrom plus the must have Arya Air Blade. As soon as I sat down, he immediately played Pavarotti’s Nessun Dorma from DECCA’s Turandot, I said to myself, I had given up on tweaking my system using this track over 10 tens year ago because I think the vocal recording was not good (his voice was brittle on the crescendo passages). The soft passages and vocal in the beginning were quite nice with a wide and deep soundstage, but the vocal sounded brittle when Pavarotti sang loudly. I made my comments to Marvel and he swiftly switched to another Durand Tosca arm and EMT 80th anniversary cartridge and Zanden 1200 signature phono for comparison (isn’t life perfect if you have two different sets of everything) and it sounded much more musical and the brittle vocal was less severe but still a tad hard to my ears. I must add when he played jazz music to me later on, the former combo sounded better.
He then spun my favourite Aron Neville’s Warm Your Heart second track, I could hear the sound was very balanced and better than from my previous visit, this either showed I am either a die-hard valve camp fan or the sound was truly better, as contrary to popular belief, the Goebel speakers perform better with valve amplification. We then proceeded listening to the CDs I had brought and I was pleasantly surprised by the improvement in the overall sound since my last visit in 2020. It would be unfair or arrogant of me to make any negative comments as I think the overall system performed admirably.
Usually I don’t do this but I asked Marvel to play Telarc Time Warp (1990 presssing) very loud in order to test the speakers as well as the acoustic characteristics/limits of the listening room. If you are being mischievous and bring this CD to someone with low-powered Kondo amps and the old Wilson’s Grand SLAMM and say nicely and innocently to the proud owner to turn the volume to very high level to play this disc, I won’t be too surprised the poor power amps will be damaged in less than 5 seconds in the beginning of track one. But Marvel's system performed admirably, you could hear and see how the sound move at the back of the listening room, the sound engulfed the rear of the room and the system had very good handling of transient power, bass went deep without any subs.
In summary, I naturally preferred the sound of my own very powerful, yet refined Cessaro Beta with Zanden electronics because of its tonality and macro & micro dynamic contrast (this is a classic example of my listening ‘bias’), but I could enjoy Marvel system any time with its very pure and linear sound and I am sure, by swapping with different power and interconnect cables, he can change the tonality of his system which would fully satisfied my subjective taste – classical instruments have very rich, colourful and dynamic sound especially when you hear them performed in a suitably not-too-large concert hall. I also made some suggestions which every audiophile would be loathed to do, so it’s best to keep my mouth shut.
So what more can I say, this is a very fine system which I am confident will impress or even shock the majority of audiophiles out there. However, if one is a true audiophile, then I would actively explore ways or means to make minor changes to the room acoustics and see if these can maximise the synergy of Gaebel/Engstrom. Well done Marvel bro, I am longing for your next invitation and hope I don’t need to wait for a year as life is short !
I had a rare chance to rearrange my cabling from scratch after they were returned from the High End Audio Show last week. The following instruments elevate overall performance substantially :
1. Troy signature NG for ground noise filtration.
2. Wellfloat Delta Flat Top underneath the vibration damping feet of JMF Audio PCD302 AC filter.
3. Wellfloat Delta Extreme underneath Goebel Divin Marquis speaker.
Whilst (1) is expectedly a proven step in ground noise mitigation, (2) and (3) really caught me by surprise. The 35th Anniversary edition of JMF Audio PCD302 has much lower mechanical vibrations than previous version as evidenced by chassis rigidity. It also changes from a 4-feet design to a 3-feet one. By availing 3 flat-top WELLFLOAT underneath them, there is an audible increase in energy dispersion. Original geometry of the 3-feet design matters.
In the past I applied 4 x Arya ReVopods randomly under the chassis. This was an imperfect execution. I had done several ABA comparisons by swapping Flat top with Revopods under the chassis of 302. The physical exercise was demanding but the result was rewardingly conclusive!
The diameter of the feet under Goebel Marquis is 10cm wide, and exceeds Wellfloat Delta Flat-Top. For safety reason, I put Flat-Top underneath the cabinet. This was sub-optimal because they do not coincide with the CG (Center of Gravity) of the Marquis.
To compare, I could sit comfortably the Marquis atop the newly launched WELLFLOAT Delta Extreme. They were newly launched in Aug 21, designed by former Chief Creative Officer of Nissan Motor, Mr Shiro Nakamura.
The orchestration of “Pines of Rome” by Respighi conducted by Reiner stunned me by higher energy level penetrating my body. The brass contents of first movement are rich encompassing percussion instruments such as triangle, clarinet, and timpani in order to create a joyful morning. My mind could easily picture children playing in a garden full of pine trees. The bursting of energy from one instrumental group to another is flamboyant. They sparkled everywhere in front of me! WELLFLOAT Extreme unleashes energy of Goebel Marquis to the fullest extent.
Mozart K331 piano sonata by Pires is one of my reference recordings. The vividness of playback is phenomenal. The energy of each key strokes, especially those bass key strokes ‘dive” into the floor and ‘rebound” instantly reflecting the spontaneity and dexterity of a young pianist. The attacks have clear power trajectories. The presence of the 7-feet Steinway alongside radiance of emotion by Pires is live like. She sweated me in the hair buds!
Without comparison, the stock cable has already done a very good job in draining the ground noise. To many, the ground wires are not on the signal path, the power cable connecting the ground box is even more remote in terms of contributing to the final outcome.
Let's not speculate, ears won't lie, they can tell if there is a huge impact by using a more powerful cable in this position. Many came last week, all are Tripoint authenticated owners, and have unanimous views.
Stjarna - A Star
The cable, as it is named, is like a sandust of diamonds tossed into the sky by the magical hand of Lee Dalby. Its new form factor doesn’t inherit any of the previous design which strongly suggests it is a revolutionary creation than an evolutionary one. To recap a few key design goals and technologies adopted:
I received the first power cable a few months ago and have used it extensively on the preamp and from wall socket to Pranawire Cloud 9 to supply the power for the entire system. These are hot positions demanding the Top Team to be there and certainly Stjarna deserves a place in this category. Only until recently I received the 2nd power cable that allowed me to use them on the monoblock power amp. I don’t buy in the myth talk about a HKD100K+ priced power cable only designed for use in low consumption positions. Instead, a Best of the Best cable should deliver excessive energy with uncompromising finesse, speed, textures and quietness.
Stjarna scores higher compared to Jundo/Ode Grande on the bass foundation it delivers with much better delicacy and immediacy. Yet, the truthful DNA of Dalby family is still there to give the temporal and melodic coherence from top to end. Regardless of whether I am listening to euphonic classical music or beat heavy rock, Stjarna maintains an excellent consistency on the overarching balance in every hifi attributes that I can recall. Simply put, I haven’t got a slight thought about swapping it back with other members of my Top Team.
K公子的毅力凝聚AE中環
上週六在沒有預約下到了中環AE探班，幸好K公子正在獨賞音樂。我心想究竟他管理的系統比數月前進步了多少？
跟據他的分享，器材方面沒有變動，反而卻在房間聲効（room acoustic ）上用了少許心神。其實他太謙虛，因為我今次明顯聽到房間的整體能量平衡度、聲音通透感、及能量穿透力等，均更上一層樓。房間能夠承載更大的音壓，動態沒有壓縮，令播放任何音樂更加傳神真實！這必然是經過不斷的反覆聆聽驗證後，再作出無數調教系統各個涵數所得出的成果。
他作了一個比較地線的示範：Ikigai Audio的Kangai S 及 Skogrand 的 Beethoven，測試位置是一個排蘇。這是一個非常有趣的比較，因為它是一個4N實芯銀的導體 ，內裡沒有任何電子零件，完全沒有接缐，連蘇頭也不存在（插電源缐的位置是在實芯銀導體上挖出三個孔），所以沒有任何接觸點，因此各器材的導電流失率（electricity conductivity loss ）達到最低。
他做了三個比較：
1. 冇地缐
2. Kangai S
3. Beethoven
在電排蘇這間接的位置，能有可聞性的分別並不容易，因為它既不是在音樂訊號傳送的軌跡上，也不是一個有源設備。此位置就算冇接地線，聲音已經是非常悦耳動聽，但接了Kangai S/Beethoven後，整個音畫有一種可觸摸得到之感，演奏者的表情呈現眼前，情感投入明顯昇華到另一層次。沒有接上地線，音畫消失，音樂感頓時變得平淡如水。
以小一段小提琴奏鳴曲作為比較 ，我的初步印象是：Kangai S令我聽感上有較更流暢之感；Beethoven卻帶出更強中低的能量感，可謂各有千秋，應該是同級的極品地線。不過最令我驚喜是Beethoven地線，比起同廠同級的電源線/訊號缐/喇叭線平宜許多！
K公子管理的系統進步神速，我十分期望Goebel的岳飛超低音的來臨。
By Huber Fung
2022年6月3日
Yoshihiro Kondo (近藤嘉宏）is a renowned pianist, who once commented: “When the FL66 by Acoustic Grove System (AGS) is installed underneath the piano, the power of the bass radiate brilliantly with a subtle sense of richness. That is good, isn’t it?…The finesse of the treble notes are delivered together with bass clarity and volume. The essence of the music instrument is revealed.” Another famous classical guitarist, Kaori Muraji, （村治佳織）said, “What a big difference FL-1 made to the sound. I am really amazed right at the first note. With AGS, the sound becomes crisp, and I can follow easily what I want to play.”
What else can be more compellingly convincing than comments made by these concert performers?
FL66 is a room tuning tool I had lately installed at AE Central. It resolves head-on collisons/reflections between bass standing waves and the floor. Such acoustic problem cannot be tackled by conventional room acoustic products. According to the research of SRA, 70% of mechanical vibrations comes from the floor. In the past, I tested several carpets to tame floor reflections without satisfactory results: either the bass speed is improved at the expense of overly damped midrange; or treble frequency beams faster than the rest of the spectrum. AGS FL-1 is an uncompromising solution with patented technology in diffusing bass standing waves. It is constructed by an array of natural wood pillar in a square frame of 66cm in width.
The design goal of Divin Marquis is to achieve zero phase distortion. With AGS FL-1, the Marquis delivers music in a holistic manner because of better synchronisation amongst tweeter, midrange and bass drivers. In particular, bass is no longer deterred by the standing waves reflected by the floor! Musical energy is rhythmically penetrating into my body in a constant manner transcending goosebumps all over.
Come for an experience!