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AE's showroom
Piano Tuner (PT) granted me an honor to visit AE's showroom in the afternoon last Saturday. I stayed over 2 hours at this place. It was a very good chance for me to learn more about the products , to enjoy some good music replay and to re-discover the relationship between music and HiFi. The audition session was based on 2 CD :
1. Beethoven: Triple Concerto / Schumann: Piano Concerto
Argerich, Capuccon, Maisky - Rabinovitch-Barakovsky
EMI 57773
And
2. Tchaikovsky, Schumann: Piano Concertos
MARTHA ARGERICH piano
Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Kazimierz Kord
Accord 011 305-2
.
During the first movement of Beethoven's Triple concerto, PT switched the DAC from Zanden 5000 Signature Dac to Orpheus Heritage Dac for comparison. The Heritage Dac obviously has a better control in climatic point of music passage and more layers in decrescendos. On the other hand, the Zanden Dac has its advantage in presentation of the inner texture of instruments. I liked the Heritage's performance in the replay of big Orchestra music but Zanden won back for chamber music and piano recital.
.
The 2nd music selection was the Bourees I and II - English Suite No. 2 in A minor in the CD 2. PT demonstrated how the Acoustics System tools affected the sound. It was really amazing. These little tools could change the whole music replay perception. Removing a little white circular sticker from the TV, the high frequency of the piano fell into mess. Taking away the litter yellow bowls from the corner of the room, the midrange of the music lost its clarity. It is a real eye-open experience. These tiny tools could make such big changes in the high and mid frequency. But it is not the end...
After the above demonstration, I honestly told PT. I felt Argerich just used the right hand side of the piano to play the music. Where is the bass ? The lower bass was cut from the music presentation. PT responded quickly that he cut it by the acoustics method. A heavy metal enthusiast visited him in the morning and he had to cut the lower bass to avoid over booming the room. He then took out some black club from the loudspeakers and played the first movement of the CD 1 again. Wow. The bass came back immediately.
I was totally convinced about the capabilities of these room tuning tools on controlling the frequency at different ranges.
What is coming next?
PT played a Sorprano LP. I was not familiar with this LP but I was shocked by the LP system performance. The Heritage Dac and Zanden Dac have already reached the SOTA in digital area with different approaches but they were too 'digital' in comparing to the LP system I listened. The most challenging part in replaying this kind of music is to present the penetration power of the voice but not in attacking mode. It got to this state. I'm surprised about the performance on the LP system. I've been played by LP (yes. Not played but played by) for two years and dropped from the wagon. I found I spent the time on tuning the system far more than I enjoying the music. My loss of patience and the destructive power of my little kid drove me away from the LP . I fully understood the difficulties to tune a LP system to achieve the result I listened. I asked PT about how he could do it. He replied me - experience - not his but his father's. Bravo uncle.
Hifi itself is a process of pursuance and compromise. We love music. We have the spirit to pursue for the excellence to replay the true music but we have to learn to compromise under different short coming in real life. This compromise is starting from selecting components, like choice between the Heritage and Zanden. The room tuning is also a kind of compromise. It is impossible to tune a room to perform every kind of music optimally. My requirements would be different from the heavy metal enthusiast. Choice of the right music would be the first step in room tuning. To calibrate the room to replay all kind of music in averagely good or optimal for a particular music is another compromise.
However, the final decision should follow the route to present the favorite music.
The HiFi adventure is like steering in the dark. Sometimes, we might be pushed by the current and lost our direction. But if we know the position of the North Star over our shoulder, we would eventually go back to our right track :
Keep my eyes on the North Star
I take pleasure in the tenderness of the moonlight and the kindness of the gentle breeze
Even I am steering in the dark.
1. Beethoven: Triple Concerto / Schumann: Piano Concerto
Argerich, Capuccon, Maisky - Rabinovitch-Barakovsky
EMI 57773
And
2. Tchaikovsky, Schumann: Piano Concertos
MARTHA ARGERICH piano
Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra
conducted by Kazimierz Kord
Accord 011 305-2
.
During the first movement of Beethoven's Triple concerto, PT switched the DAC from Zanden 5000 Signature Dac to Orpheus Heritage Dac for comparison. The Heritage Dac obviously has a better control in climatic point of music passage and more layers in decrescendos. On the other hand, the Zanden Dac has its advantage in presentation of the inner texture of instruments. I liked the Heritage's performance in the replay of big Orchestra music but Zanden won back for chamber music and piano recital.
.
The 2nd music selection was the Bourees I and II - English Suite No. 2 in A minor in the CD 2. PT demonstrated how the Acoustics System tools affected the sound. It was really amazing. These little tools could change the whole music replay perception. Removing a little white circular sticker from the TV, the high frequency of the piano fell into mess. Taking away the litter yellow bowls from the corner of the room, the midrange of the music lost its clarity. It is a real eye-open experience. These tiny tools could make such big changes in the high and mid frequency. But it is not the end...
After the above demonstration, I honestly told PT. I felt Argerich just used the right hand side of the piano to play the music. Where is the bass ? The lower bass was cut from the music presentation. PT responded quickly that he cut it by the acoustics method. A heavy metal enthusiast visited him in the morning and he had to cut the lower bass to avoid over booming the room. He then took out some black club from the loudspeakers and played the first movement of the CD 1 again. Wow. The bass came back immediately.
I was totally convinced about the capabilities of these room tuning tools on controlling the frequency at different ranges.
What is coming next?
PT played a Sorprano LP. I was not familiar with this LP but I was shocked by the LP system performance. The Heritage Dac and Zanden Dac have already reached the SOTA in digital area with different approaches but they were too 'digital' in comparing to the LP system I listened. The most challenging part in replaying this kind of music is to present the penetration power of the voice but not in attacking mode. It got to this state. I'm surprised about the performance on the LP system. I've been played by LP (yes. Not played but played by) for two years and dropped from the wagon. I found I spent the time on tuning the system far more than I enjoying the music. My loss of patience and the destructive power of my little kid drove me away from the LP . I fully understood the difficulties to tune a LP system to achieve the result I listened. I asked PT about how he could do it. He replied me - experience - not his but his father's. Bravo uncle.
Hifi itself is a process of pursuance and compromise. We love music. We have the spirit to pursue for the excellence to replay the true music but we have to learn to compromise under different short coming in real life. This compromise is starting from selecting components, like choice between the Heritage and Zanden. The room tuning is also a kind of compromise. It is impossible to tune a room to perform every kind of music optimally. My requirements would be different from the heavy metal enthusiast. Choice of the right music would be the first step in room tuning. To calibrate the room to replay all kind of music in averagely good or optimal for a particular music is another compromise.
However, the final decision should follow the route to present the favorite music.
The HiFi adventure is like steering in the dark. Sometimes, we might be pushed by the current and lost our direction. But if we know the position of the North Star over our shoulder, we would eventually go back to our right track :
Keep my eyes on the North Star
I take pleasure in the tenderness of the moonlight and the kindness of the gentle breeze
Even I am steering in the dark.
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Steve