A report from SG by the spoiled...

Yeah, call me a spoiled little bastard! I have heard much good stuff, and still hearing heaps more of good stuff! I have heard many hi-end gears which are edgy and I have heard many hi-end gears which are heavenly musical!

Thanks to my burning passion and idiotic spending logic, I get to know many good people in our niche music loving hobby. One of them being Victor of Aural Designs. I still remembered when I first stepped into the shop without much intention of buying. Victor greeted me and somehow our conversation just flowed endlessly about my headache after upgrading to my current setup. He gave plentiful of tips which I find useful and beneficial.

Nope, my setup is not super hi-end. But I still remembered how I enjoyed music and kept the passion burning with heaps of CD purchases. Nowadays, I still buy a lot of CDs, but I could not listen long due to the hi-resolution edginess. As I traveled further and further into the hi-rez realm, I found many sharing my same problem.

I do not know whether the owners realize themselves or not, but their setups are plagued with the incapability of playing loud. I still remembered along my path of numerous upgrades, I pushed the threshold of the level I could play with my setup. They do not go louder and louder as I upgraded, but rather, I had to settle at lower level to contain the higher details, which could be unbearable at times.

Many a times, I had to take a few steps back to get the setup to regain the balance again. And as I go along, I found that stripping those tweaks that I put in earlier would yield better results. There was once I stripped away the pure sine wave power regulator to make the sound more pleasant. There was once I took away the IsoNodes to make the sound more balanced. There was once I took away the Pyramid Ebony Cones to get rid of the edginess. And recently, I took away all my Target spike footers to regain the air and body that were robbed away to give me the deluded focus and definition. More on these later.

Today, I visited Victor again. He was listening leisurely when I hopped in unexpectedly. My intention this time was clearly to listen to the Escalante Designs. In fact, I am very much interested in the Pinyon bookshelves. The initial setup was actually the Vimak DT-600, Almarro 318B and the Escalante Freemont. Man, was I again awed by 318B’s control, speed, agility and the ability to drive things many times its size!

In fact, 318B would definitely be in my second setup wish list. I listened happily but Victor kindly offered me the opportunity to listen to the EDGE CDP and the New Audio Frontier 845SE driving the Fremont. Holy mother of hi-end, I was awed and spoiled at the same time!

The EDGE CDP was smooth, liquid and composed without sacrificing a single bit of resolution. The New Audio Frontier (NAF) 845SE was even more of a surprise to me, everything Victor is doing defy my understanding and expectations on power wattage and SPL! I was definitely impressed with the 18 watter 318B, but to say I am impressed by the 845SE’s measly 25 watt is a total understatement! I was bowled over by its lucid highs, exquisite mids and clean taut bass.

Everything was on honey coating and golden sweetness. Now do not get me wrong as I did not mean it is heavily colored. This is actually what I am looking for, high resolution with liquidity to play loud! Damn, do you know how hard it is to get this right? Hmm, so far, only two I have listened extensively and still find them very very very times 654321 lovable!

Many have told me that they have traveled long and all the hi-rez routes to settle back with a musical setup. Yes I agree wholeheartedly, but resorting to colored and muffled tube amps is definitely not one of them! This NAF + Escalante + EDGE is hi-resolution musicality to the MAX! There is just not the slightest hint of edginess and hardness when pushed. Everything was just swaying with composure and rich tonal textures! Yep, you are getting the complete harmonic structure without the overbearing forwardness.

I am spoiled again. And 318B is no longer on my wish list as I know I have already completed my second setup, which is now residing in my room. Bring in the money, and let’s move on to build my main setup, again!

Oh, Tan is also very friendly and polite. And I also learnt that the life and death of audio brands does not lie in the hands of the manufacturers, but rather, the shops that are carrying them. As I can see, Escalante Designs, EDGE and New Audio Frontier would have a super bright future in our audio scene!