This is the first time ever I could fully comprehend and differentiate the strength of pianist’s finger on the keyboard. It goes beyond general touching and differentiation from left hand to right hand. It reveals much more elasticity of the wooden hammer with energy determines by each finger. 我從前已經看到手指，但分不到不同指力，真係好很勁！
Chris gave me a quiz to see if I can tell which turntable was playing when I arrived at AE Sheung Wan with both Da Vinci and Monaco spinning. I listened carefully but it's not difficult to tell because the whole presentation of the chamber music was extremely stable. The violinist and pianist were playing in great harmony with very natural interlocking dialogues. The music told beautiful stories. The music flow was super linear with affirmative pauses and starts. The background was very dark revealing most delicate details and all kind of micro-motions effortlessly.
Since the speed was extremely stable, the whole musical landscape is supremely integrated with high density images. The Karajan's Faust 45rpm LP was stunning to the max! Bass energy was unprecedentedly punchy and fast with ghostly details. I had never experienced such bass in any systems before, none any closer. It's the first time I experienced such transparent and realistic aspects of vinyl recordings. Comparatively speaking, other turntables may superimpose their character onto the music. Though I can't tell which one is better, as sweeteners are sometimes welcome, it's no doubt this turntable belongs to the grand master level on time precision and pitch accuracy.
Spent a good afternoon yesterday with PT and Roman at SW showroom listening to the new baby in the house I’ve learnt a lot as it’s not common to be able to hear two vinyl set-ups side by side, namely Monaco 2.0/ Thales statement arm/ Da Vinci cartridge/ Zanden 1200s; Da Vinci EQ turntable/ Thales Statement arm/ Fuuga/ Rober Koda Takumi MC1.
We had a lot of fun playing the same record on 2 tables back and forth, I found the Monaco 2.0 setup:
1, Extremely accurate pitch and very focus imaging. Sounds more like digital with analog character (in a good way), the EQ setup sounds a bit loose and out of focus in comparison 2, very fast 3, less colored than most vinyl setups
Conclusion: both are world-class tables, like Ferrari vs Bentley, can you choose one over the other? Better to have both
P.S. during the listening, PT played around time delay setup on the subs and we found 0.02s delay on both input/output stage to be the optimal, the bass opened up with excellent extension and energy, the improvement was not insignificant at all. Subs are a lot of fun guys.
The precision of this analog turntable drives me to explore his maximum potential. As a result, I decided to use Thales Exquisite Silver cartridge alongside WELLFLOAT reference board for it.
I need to share my experience in AE Sheung Wan! 我聆賞了由Monaco 2.0播放Mozart Violin Sonata (Arthur Grumiaux)、Les Miserable (London Cast) 和 Faust (Karajan Live in Paris 45 rpm)。
原來「速度」主導了重播節奏的準確度與能量釋放的幅度。黑膠唱片的groove裡只有amplitude 的資訊，但不包括frequency information。Frequency information 是靠摩打33 1/3的轉速帶動出來。所以速度不準，pitch （音高）也跟隨不準。
Monaco的速度是measured at the platter，並不是measured at motor，因為belt有loading，which is a function of mass。沒有一間廠家摩打的speed measurement是有考慮belt的loading。Platter愈重，belt的loading愈大，速度失真也愈大。
Les Miserable (London Cast) 和 Faust (Karajan Live in Paris 45 rpm) 的示範，更為我明白速度的重要性。前者主要以人聲互動為主，男主音和其他角色唱功能量十足，有序非常！主唱與和唱形象立體，一唱一和，主次有序，能明顯感受當中的互動。如速度不正確，聲音會失去能量導致平面化，主唱與和唱也失去了互動性。
I did a tutorial session yesterday. The purpose is to educate new evaluation criteria from music perspective. Speed is always at the back seat. Mass, where the eyes can see, primarily dictates the aesthetic and the commanding price. A bigger/heavier platter represents higher cost, easier to convince. Precision of speed can’t be seen. Can your ears really tell? The truth is our ears can tell easily. The difficulty is always how to wear down old mentality. And this is what I would like to pursue. There will always be subjective preference on tonal balance. But there can’t be subjective preference on speed. Why don’t we start screwing up tonal balance to our favour after the precision of speed is warranted?
I can already vision and comprehend the extreme vinyl playback zone. The choice of Thales exquisite silver with statement arm is strategic on Monaco 2.0 because they are extremely precise mechanically. I need to use step-up transformer for this cartridge to give me enough gain, and then the choice of phono stage is destined to be the ultimate reference by JMF Audio: PH7.3, MM input, with curve selection capability. JMF is about musicality precision.
This is the next cuisine. Then, I shall arrange a blind test and the rest is fun.
Thales exquisite only yields 0.25mv. I choose 64db gain at Robert Koda MC One instead of 72db because the latter overloads many recordings. However for symphony recordings, 64db is not enough. That drives me to ramp up subwoofer volume to 11.5db (max is 12db). I don’t like scarcity of leeways from control perspective. I could change to 72db gain on Takumi phono. If I do this, I need to reset all subwoofer parameters every time I listen to other recordings. If not, it overloads the subwoofer to yield distorted sound. That is why I need to use step up transformer to give me more gain in the first place. This is the Divin Lab approach. I couldn’t return without step-up transformer.
Comments
這個setup聽了兩天，覺得幼細度未能達到我的要求。原來只因Dartzeel前級的RCA Input 有一個好小的switch （+6db，-6db，0db）預設了+6db! 我立即改回0db，然後再聽，細緻度立即顯現，鋼琴家不同的指力盡顯眼前。然後今午Michael和Roman一同來到AE SW交流，渡過了非常精彩的下午。
I’ve learnt a lot as it’s not common to be able to hear two vinyl set-ups side by side, namely Monaco 2.0/ Thales statement arm/ Da Vinci cartridge/ Zanden 1200s; Da Vinci EQ turntable/ Thales Statement arm/ Fuuga/ Rober Koda Takumi MC1.
We had a lot of fun playing the same record on 2 tables back and forth, I found the Monaco 2.0 setup:
1, Extremely accurate pitch and very focus imaging. Sounds more like digital with analog character (in a good way), the EQ setup sounds a bit loose and out of focus in comparison
2, very fast
3, less colored than most vinyl setups
Conclusion: both are world-class tables, like Ferrari vs Bentley, can you choose one over the other? Better to have both
P.S. during the listening, PT played around time delay setup on the subs and we found 0.02s delay on both input/output stage to be the optimal, the bass opened up with excellent extension and energy, the improvement was not insignificant at all. Subs are a lot of fun guys.
耳界大開
I need to share my experience in AE Sheung Wan! 我聆賞了由Monaco 2.0播放Mozart Violin Sonata (Arthur Grumiaux)、Les Miserable (London Cast) 和 Faust (Karajan Live in Paris 45 rpm)。
我先告知總結，敬請不要以眼代耳 - Monaco 2.0是我聽過最利害的黑膠盤，因為無論播放任何音樂，Monaco都能播放出真實的基音與泛音關係。以Arthur Grumiaux 拉小提琴為例，Monaco 釋放鋼琴的音符結構是..illi.. 。基音有力量，泛音不會拉長（泛音過長，播放鋼琴的音符結構便變成 ...ll...，但這樣經常被扭曲成悦耳兼有音樂感），而且非常弱小的能量也十分集中地還原。
原來「速度」主導了重播節奏的準確度與能量釋放的幅度。黑膠唱片的groove裡只有amplitude 的資訊，但不包括frequency information。Frequency information 是靠摩打33 1/3的轉速帶動出來。所以速度不準，pitch （音高）也跟隨不準。
Monaco的速度是measured at the platter，並不是measured at motor，因為belt有loading，which is a function of mass。沒有一間廠家摩打的speed measurement是有考慮belt的loading。Platter愈重，belt的loading愈大，速度失真也愈大。
另外，PT示範了調校「 超低音 input sensitivity」的心德 — 過高會令低音單元過載，空間感壓縮，但過低則沒有attack 和能量。以Mozart violin sonata 的伴奏鋼琴為例，subwoofer input sensitivity校低後，全頻能量減弱，彈奏時手指的打擊能量變得軟而無力。
問題在於你怎樣知道鋼琴家指力夠不夠？
Les Miserable (London Cast) 和 Faust (Karajan Live in Paris 45 rpm) 的示範，更為我明白速度的重要性。前者主要以人聲互動為主，男主音和其他角色唱功能量十足，有序非常！主唱與和唱形象立體，一唱一和，主次有序，能明顯感受當中的互動。如速度不正確，聲音會失去能量導致平面化，主唱與和唱也失去了互動性。
Faust的爆炸場面更令我非常震驚 (Robert Koda MC1 phono 72db gain)，Monaco 播放的樂團工整有序，音色準確，高潮迭起也能準確拿捏，從而展示出Karajan君臨天下的氣場。這些全部都建基於正確的轉速，pitch正確，音色才會正確，音樂才可正確表達，我們才能感受演奏者的情緒！
我一直認為粘連是黑膠的特色，而Monaco則用時代科技告訴我那是舊時代的產物，黑膠也是表達音樂真善美的體驗。