In my previous life as an engineer, I had always hated all the calibration works and so much so that it eventually drove me away from the profession altogether. Listening to Troy last night at PT's place reminded me of this humdrum routine. Human brain is an amazing creation - where reality falls short of our expectation, it can activate a process to fill in the gaps to make life somewhat more bearable - we called that fantasy.
Raymond's reference to "unamplified music" has fired me up and I can't resist listening to the Troy to bring the concept into context. Over the years of audio adventure, I have consoled myself that where a system falls short of re-creating live recordings, my brain can fool me into a pseudo-nirvanna stage. Try it out for yourself and if you work hard enough, you can fool yourself to an imperfect setting sometime. By nature I listen for emotion in the music but more often time my attention has been drawn towards the drivers against my will. These are tell tale signs that the rational mind are rejecting the sound bits and the fantasy process starts falling apart. There is a limit to how far our brain can calibrate sound reproduction to recreate the feeling of live music.
I have always approached systems with an open mind and regardless of camps - if it clicks, it is good! Last night experience is a revelation. There is no question at all about the quality of DV + Cessaro Alpha One - the mid is super revealing. If I am super picky, the bass texture at PT was falling slightly behind the top end. Listening to arias by Erna Spoorenberg is so much pleasure. She sails through difficult passages with so much ease that it is a sin if you are being distracted. But it was immediately noticeable that my calibration process kicks in the moment the Troy was detached. It is this extra effort which I need to expense that is annoying me. Troy manage to throw out "music" as natural as it can be. Unfortunately PT doesn't have any big orchestral piece to show for it last night but I am sure the impact could launch a thousand ships.
Unamplified music as Ray was referring to is simply this unmatched naturalism. The brain will no longer need to tear away the artificiality to project the impact of real music as opposed to disectable soundscape. If one is to put this into a taste bud context - Troy removes the MSG in processed food. Technically how it works is still an enigma to me and I am sure this gadget does more than mocking up the ground noise. It sucks away fuzziness in all conceivable and expressable forms (timbre, position, size, leading edge & trailing tail) to let us re-engage the music in its organic form. Totally f--ed my brain leaving my heart behind to savor the beauty.
The quality of paino reproduction is already a given. I listened to Pires playing Mozart's sonata and it is flawless that even the techniques with the paddle work is showing through. Would be very interested to hear Rach or Liszt if there is a chance again.
In PT's sytem, the vocal is at least a notch above that of instruments. The ability to project human voice with warmth and dynamism is unheard of. Apart from Erna, PT also spin Peter and the Wolf for me. The voice already has that 3D palpability but with the addition of Tron, the narrator really coming alive with warmth and passion. I almost ran when the wolf came out.
Did anyone listen to big pieces at PT recently? Would love to see more sharing.
Although I was expecting to be shocked by the Troy, I still said something which revealed subconciously how I was stunned. When we played the Kabi Laretei piano LP (Proprius), I told Bigpiece and PT that I feel something wrong with the LP...how can the bass keys be so organic and elastic, is it the same LP that I am listening in my system (that LP was brought across to PT's place by me, so it is definitely the same LP!)...taking away the Troy, I started recognising the kind of 'flattened' bass keys resembling the sound from my system....we kept spinning LPs like Carmen, Erna singing Mozart each doing one with and one without the Troy. Results were the same. Before Bigpiece went back to his hotel, I heard him saying to PT if he can ship the Troy to him earlier than the batch with his Cessaro active bass.
I am glad that I have chosen 805Mk2 where the almighty 90lb power supplies has elevated the noise platform by a wide margin from his brother in the same family. With this Troy, I think all the EMF/RFI induced by the power supplies, transformers, etc could be eliminated leaving a clean and sharp contour on all musical waves produced from the system!!
Last but not least, I really missed the sound of Syren!!
Imagine you are driving in a highway at 150km/h on a Nissan GTR, you can separate the quietness inside the cabinet from the roaring engine, this is what Troy gives me the kind of listening experience. How does it sound like without Troy, open a small slit in the window, all the quietness and roaring gone....
Philip...you are right, Syren is a very spectacular tube preamp surpassing the performance of all tube preamps that I have used, though not too many. But I am afraid you might be seeing me in this waiting queue as I am very very tempted to buy back or consider a Black Label version...after you, sir....
marvel, I like your analogy. That's a very good description of the Troy does to the system.
If PT would like to sell the syren, I will take it without any hesitation. That German power amp is also one hell of a masterpiece. I don't even know the brand, no bias, no formal experience, no information - then I know the feeling is the most pure - simply a great amp.
To be more exact, I asked PT whether I can simply take the demo one back to Shanghai on Fri. The answer was a definite NO, I can understand it would be a torture to live without TROY, once you have the experience.
I was prepared for the TROY but the amp combo just hit me with very big surprise. I know where I should go.
Comments
Raymond's reference to "unamplified music" has fired me up and I can't resist listening to the Troy to bring the concept into context. Over the years of audio adventure, I have consoled myself that where a system falls short of re-creating live recordings, my brain can fool me into a pseudo-nirvanna stage. Try it out for yourself and if you work hard enough, you can fool yourself to an imperfect setting sometime. By nature I listen for emotion in the music but more often time my attention has been drawn towards the drivers against my will. These are tell tale signs that the rational mind are rejecting the sound bits and the fantasy process starts falling apart. There is a limit to how far our brain can calibrate sound reproduction to recreate the feeling of live music.
I have always approached systems with an open mind and regardless of camps - if it clicks, it is good! Last night experience is a revelation. There is no question at all about the quality of DV + Cessaro Alpha One - the mid is super revealing. If I am super picky, the bass texture at PT was falling slightly behind the top end. Listening to arias by Erna Spoorenberg is so much pleasure. She sails through difficult passages with so much ease that it is a sin if you are being distracted. But it was immediately noticeable that my calibration process kicks in the moment the Troy was detached. It is this extra effort which I need to expense that is annoying me. Troy manage to throw out "music" as natural as it can be. Unfortunately PT doesn't have any big orchestral piece to show for it last night but I am sure the impact could launch a thousand ships.
Unamplified music as Ray was referring to is simply this unmatched naturalism. The brain will no longer need to tear away the artificiality to project the impact of real music as opposed to disectable soundscape. If one is to put this into a taste bud context - Troy removes the MSG in processed food. Technically how it works is still an enigma to me and I am sure this gadget does more than mocking up the ground noise. It sucks away fuzziness in all conceivable and expressable forms (timbre, position, size, leading edge & trailing tail) to let us re-engage the music in its organic form. Totally f--ed my brain leaving my heart behind to savor the beauty.
It is a no brainer and aptly so now I can finally listen without my brain.
In PT's sytem, the vocal is at least a notch above that of instruments. The ability to project human voice with warmth and dynamism is unheard of. Apart from Erna, PT also spin Peter and the Wolf for me. The voice already has that 3D palpability but with the addition of Tron, the narrator really coming alive with warmth and passion. I almost ran when the wolf came out.
Did anyone listen to big pieces at PT recently? Would love to see more sharing.
I am glad that I have chosen 805Mk2 where the almighty 90lb power supplies has elevated the noise platform by a wide margin from his brother in the same family. With this Troy, I think all the EMF/RFI induced by the power supplies, transformers, etc could be eliminated leaving a clean and sharp contour on all musical waves produced from the system!!
Last but not least, I really missed the sound of Syren!!
Marvel
Philip...you are right, Syren is a very spectacular tube preamp surpassing the performance of all tube preamps that I have used, though not too many. But I am afraid you might be seeing me in this waiting queue as I am very very tempted to buy back or consider a Black Label version...after you, sir....
Marvel
If PT would like to sell the syren, I will take it without any hesitation. That German power amp is also one hell of a masterpiece. I don't even know the brand, no bias, no formal experience, no information - then I know the feeling is the most pure - simply a great amp.
I was prepared for the TROY but the amp combo just hit me with very big surprise. I know where I should go.
Shanghai Bigpiece