you can do magic

having been away from home for the last 7 days (to celebrate CNY in hometown), the first thing i did when i returned home tonight is to power on my system to check that it is still working!

after chalking a healthy 250 hours of burning in, the ARC LS26 preamp sounds like a magician with a deft wand, that has simply transformed my already-decent system into something quite beyond reproach. one friend describes it as "a system that can cause teary eyes". yet another regards it as his long-term reference system. thank you all for your compliments.

for the newbies, seasoned audiophiles or sceptics alike, i would like to offer my advice - your hardware (and its synergy with the rest of the system) merely contributes 40% to the overall sonics you can derive from your system; your cables another 20%; your electricity/power another 20% and finally, the last frontier is room acoustics (which includes speaker positioning), which contributes another 20%. which is to say, even if you have the best hardware money can buy, without good cables, good electricity and good acoustics, your highest possible sonic score is only 40%. those who disagree, check with others who have seen the light.

as i am playing in my 13' X 24' living hall, i haven't quite achieved my last frontier yet. to have a dedicated room is my next goal/dream. i can either start buying lottery now or work extremely hard for the next 10 years. i will do both!

this is a new milestone, one that is very significant in my hifi journey. i have travelled so long, so far in search of this kind of sound, my kind of sound and i have got it now with flying colours.

my kind of sound is only to play my kind of music, which is delicate acoustic ballads (simple female vocals with an acoustic guitar), classical (both large and small scale), jazz and pop/rock but not sheffield lab drum, kondo drum or sister drum, or anything that requires the equivalent of a 12" woofer driven by a 400w solid-state monster amp. my kind of sound has to have very extended highs, very liquid and emotive mids, with a certain moisture, wetness, warmth, texture and tonal colour that only a top-notch tube amp can give, and lows that is not too slammy but tactile and elastic all the same. i don't need my system to frighten small children and harmless pets. i don't need my system to play loud rock music at 100db and above with pounding bass and lightning transients. i need my system to touch my heart and soothe my frailed nerves. i need my system to be airy, palpable and superbly transparent. i want my system to be extremely lively, vivacious and communicative. as i have compromised acoustics, i don't need my system to have first-class depth and width, soundstage layering and separation, tho' these are important attributes to me nonetheless. one can't have perfection when one doesn't have a dedicated room.

and my friend, achieving all your set targets within your set budget, that is the ultimate in high fidelity.

i now welcome myself to audio nirvana!