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Transparency is a Difficult Concept
It is hell of a job for the little Da Vinci Piccola mono amps with 6 watts of power to drive the Horning Eufrodite. Although quite a few visitors do not believe there is any noticeable control problem, I do not feel it has reached the standard that I am looking for. In fact, the duet reproduction of Byrn and Anna is full of energy that triggers me to reposition the resonators to accommodate the unleash of mid-range energy by two pairs of WE300B. It is scary. I mean real scary in terms of vocal reproduction. I swear I have not heard better. It is very very difficult for me to imagine vocal can be better by the Grandezza amplification system.
The huge diversity of my musical taste demands more power and control. I know well that it is a fundamental issues that would require me to have the matching Grandezza PSE 300B mono blocks to get it right. Money aside, the waiting time is painful. Last evening, I was real hesitant to switch back to Horning SATI ultimate because it was hell of a job to power down the Grandezza. My father encourages me to do so, however, as his belief is always TOTALISM. The system must get everything right but not restricted to certain kind of music. I blame myself not ordering the Grandezza mono amp in the first place.
It took maybe an hour to get the Horning amp back into action. The amp houses a pair of Emission Lab 520B, 6SN7 (Sylvania), also 5U4G (Sylvania) as rectifier tubes. Just one power cord is required and the choice is naturally the SMR EE powercord.
I hit the play button. Albert Au was there singing those cantonese pop oldies. His articulation of each words in the lyrical line is always delivers pristine clarity . It is as though you can actually see his mouthful movement. I then focus on the guitar. Those fingerful movement on the guitar and the subsequent harmonic dispersion are extremely vivid. The tone of everything is absolutely pure. And it goes without saying that the 520 tubes have full control on the isobraic drives of the Eufrodite. The SATI amp and the Eufrodite are meant to be born together, right?
I ask my mind to re-focus on the big picture. I begin to understand the difference of philosophy amongst audio designer. Tommy of Horning pays utmost attention to the each individual musical objects within the soundstage. If you ask your mind to orient towards the guitar, you can always feel the individuality of the guitar: the fundamental tone, the harmonics, the micro dyanmics and the ambience around. If you focus more, you an almost feel the person playing behind those instruments. The body is there and the weight is there too. The bottom up approach is very well done. If not, the overall big picture may lack the convincing power of scale. In some music presentation, size does matter.
That said, it is not easy to change the listening orientation from the Da Vinci Grandezza to the Horning based system. I do not have the objective vocabulary to descirbe the sonic differences between two masters. I have to rely on my intuitions which are of course subjective. I somehow feel the summing of all parts in the sonic landscape depicted by the Horning system is still smaller than the total sum of the Da Vinci system. The wholesome experience of the DV is again scary. Maybe, the cohesive force amongst different musical objects is stronger in the case of DV than the Horning; whereas the portrayal of individuality has more presence in the case of Horning. Again, this is a difference of taste and presentation. Horning may prefer a closer contact with each of the musical objects. The DV on the other hand has more focus on the big picture.
Another major difference lies in the domian of TIMBRE, which is often the most subjective attribute. I personally feel that the tonal palette of DV has more variety than Horning. I am not referring to th dirt trick of overdosing the mid-range. Imagine the change of timbre is no different from eyeing the changing of colors - from pink to light red, from light red to red, from red to dark red, from dark red to dark brown etc. The DV has more variety of color readily available. It does not require a very complicated recording to tell. Even the lastest Albert Au recording could tell a whole word of differences between the two.
Although Horning seems to have fewer color (some may argue less colorations), it has a clearer delineation of objects outline than the DV. A philosophical question thus arises in my mind. What is the meaning of transparency? Does it mean the system has more transparency when I can hear more sound colors? Does it mean it has more transparency because I can see a better outfit of the musical objects within the soundstage? Does it also mean the concentration on energy motion transfer at the slight expense of musical color represent the ultimate audio realism? Besides, some music will always be betterly presented than others as respective strength of system varies. Transparency is thus a tricky word.
I believe all of the above do play an equal role in getting us to the ultimate utopia. (Some may place higher subjective weighting on certain traits.) The challenge is how to evenly distribute the strength when character and design philosophy are inherently embedded in our chosen components.
At certain level, everything is relative. If you ask me is there a system that can do everything equally well? My answer is yes and no. Because it may be a YES for a finite period of time only. The answer will change with one's musical preference and maturity. In other words, it is also a function of time. Over time, an audio conscience will naturally develop too.
The ultiamte audio conscience is thus to utilize the accumulated years of experience of understanding different system strength to overcome our inherent subjective personal preference in guiding others. Sharing also involves the transparency concept, isn't it?
Piano Tuner
The huge diversity of my musical taste demands more power and control. I know well that it is a fundamental issues that would require me to have the matching Grandezza PSE 300B mono blocks to get it right. Money aside, the waiting time is painful. Last evening, I was real hesitant to switch back to Horning SATI ultimate because it was hell of a job to power down the Grandezza. My father encourages me to do so, however, as his belief is always TOTALISM. The system must get everything right but not restricted to certain kind of music. I blame myself not ordering the Grandezza mono amp in the first place.
It took maybe an hour to get the Horning amp back into action. The amp houses a pair of Emission Lab 520B, 6SN7 (Sylvania), also 5U4G (Sylvania) as rectifier tubes. Just one power cord is required and the choice is naturally the SMR EE powercord.
I hit the play button. Albert Au was there singing those cantonese pop oldies. His articulation of each words in the lyrical line is always delivers pristine clarity . It is as though you can actually see his mouthful movement. I then focus on the guitar. Those fingerful movement on the guitar and the subsequent harmonic dispersion are extremely vivid. The tone of everything is absolutely pure. And it goes without saying that the 520 tubes have full control on the isobraic drives of the Eufrodite. The SATI amp and the Eufrodite are meant to be born together, right?
I ask my mind to re-focus on the big picture. I begin to understand the difference of philosophy amongst audio designer. Tommy of Horning pays utmost attention to the each individual musical objects within the soundstage. If you ask your mind to orient towards the guitar, you can always feel the individuality of the guitar: the fundamental tone, the harmonics, the micro dyanmics and the ambience around. If you focus more, you an almost feel the person playing behind those instruments. The body is there and the weight is there too. The bottom up approach is very well done. If not, the overall big picture may lack the convincing power of scale. In some music presentation, size does matter.
That said, it is not easy to change the listening orientation from the Da Vinci Grandezza to the Horning based system. I do not have the objective vocabulary to descirbe the sonic differences between two masters. I have to rely on my intuitions which are of course subjective. I somehow feel the summing of all parts in the sonic landscape depicted by the Horning system is still smaller than the total sum of the Da Vinci system. The wholesome experience of the DV is again scary. Maybe, the cohesive force amongst different musical objects is stronger in the case of DV than the Horning; whereas the portrayal of individuality has more presence in the case of Horning. Again, this is a difference of taste and presentation. Horning may prefer a closer contact with each of the musical objects. The DV on the other hand has more focus on the big picture.
Another major difference lies in the domian of TIMBRE, which is often the most subjective attribute. I personally feel that the tonal palette of DV has more variety than Horning. I am not referring to th dirt trick of overdosing the mid-range. Imagine the change of timbre is no different from eyeing the changing of colors - from pink to light red, from light red to red, from red to dark red, from dark red to dark brown etc. The DV has more variety of color readily available. It does not require a very complicated recording to tell. Even the lastest Albert Au recording could tell a whole word of differences between the two.
Although Horning seems to have fewer color (some may argue less colorations), it has a clearer delineation of objects outline than the DV. A philosophical question thus arises in my mind. What is the meaning of transparency? Does it mean the system has more transparency when I can hear more sound colors? Does it mean it has more transparency because I can see a better outfit of the musical objects within the soundstage? Does it also mean the concentration on energy motion transfer at the slight expense of musical color represent the ultimate audio realism? Besides, some music will always be betterly presented than others as respective strength of system varies. Transparency is thus a tricky word.
I believe all of the above do play an equal role in getting us to the ultimate utopia. (Some may place higher subjective weighting on certain traits.) The challenge is how to evenly distribute the strength when character and design philosophy are inherently embedded in our chosen components.
At certain level, everything is relative. If you ask me is there a system that can do everything equally well? My answer is yes and no. Because it may be a YES for a finite period of time only. The answer will change with one's musical preference and maturity. In other words, it is also a function of time. Over time, an audio conscience will naturally develop too.
The ultiamte audio conscience is thus to utilize the accumulated years of experience of understanding different system strength to overcome our inherent subjective personal preference in guiding others. Sharing also involves the transparency concept, isn't it?
Piano Tuner
0
Comments
That's the best piece you've ever written. I am glad to see you reaching the state to question the concept of transparency. Many have mistaken transparency as colourless. Guess they should take a good look at sunglasses.
Anyway the varying degree of tonal colours embedded inside the concept of transparency would very much a result of personal preference. And the personal preference is basically an extension from one's intrepretation of music. Ain't your recent room tunning job requires more and more of your personal interpretation? I do think that's a right direction you're heading.
Then again hope you would not intend to build a cathedral inside a 8-ft ceiling aprtment. Volume of air still plays a decisive role in the proportionality of sound art, I believe. When you bring up transparency I hope it will be followed by colouration too. keep up the right work.
Regards
PT, are you suggesting even if I can see and listen everything from the CD, it dose not mean complete transparency if there is no sound color?
Ju