Match made in heaven for Stealth Cloude 9 Full, the Stealh M5000
To all Thor users out there, this is an instant 20% increase in performance you could bring! Since the day I got the Thor, I thought I was treating it well by powering it with Harmonic Tech’s Fantasy power cord. It return, the Thor gave me hours of tremendously heavenly sound.
Damn, there’s just no free lunch, be it equipments, be it power cords, be it interconnects. Simply put, every single component counts, and that’s huge amount of money if you ask me. I took a hefty cord home without realizing the price, and as it turned out, I can’t seem to unplug it!
I thought I was getting the best out of Thor as the Fantasy is no slouch, with huge power handling capacity and with a linear and wide bandwidth. It was not until I plugged the Stealth M5000 to the Thor that I knew how much I was missing from my hard earned purchase!!!
The moment I hit play, I had to turn down the volume! It was like everything has grown bigger and bolder, taking a bigger acoustical space and fill up my room with eerie realism. I hate to always explain in words what we are hearing as without first hand experience, there is just no way you could relate!
The experience was much like when Leslie replaced the LS25 MKII to LS26, it was also like when I replaced my PS Audio Prelude with Stealth Cloude 9 Full, it was also like replacing the AQ Cheetah with NBS Honey Bee. The increased composure, resolution and definition simply pushed the setup to the next level!
You know why the better our setups have become, the more CDs we are buying? It’s just because there is no deliberately made bad sounding CDs, only mediocre setups that make CDs bad for the hearing. You must know that most pop CDs are not made with the best resolution in mind, they were meant for domestic usage with mostly consumer brands minis. Those minis are added with even harmonics to make things rosy tinted and sweet, no matter what you feed them with.
However, with entry level audio brands that intend to go the neutral and linear way, the resolution is just not enough to dig deep enough from pop CDs. With the loss in resolution, there is just no way could the setup convey the complete harmonic picture to form what was recorded in the first place.
Now, I have no technical knowledge in explaining why by replacing a cord, resolution, definition and harmonic gradients could improve by leaps and bounds. However, one does not need to be a cook to be a food connoisseur. The proof is simply in the tasting, there is just no way could I deny the dramatic improvements which power cords brought!
Back to the CD issue, do you know why some CDs that we raved sounded only mediocre in your setup? Well, I could only speculate that your resolution is just mediocre at best. I can’t say my setup is top notch as that would be a joke to many, but I have actually gone thru twice on this similar experience.
I guess many have got the Huang Hong Ying’s Tasting Loneliness for the First Time CD. I have the XRCD2 version which cost me triple the price for normal CDs. When I first got it, it was a total disappointment, the CD just played softly with everything in a distant. I felt cheated as wasn’t XRCD supposed to give greater resolution and tonal definition?! Let alone this is the XRCD 2 leh!
It was not until I replaced my Prelude with Stealth Cloude 9 for my pre that I was awed with the CD! The experience was similar this time, albeit at greater scale. Back then, all I experienced was increased tonal textures that vividly fleshed out the instruments and vocal presence. However, due to the size of my setup back then, it was not able to convey up to the level of presence with my current setup.
This Huang Hong Ying CD has got heaps of piano and Chinese instruments that demand nothing but the best to play. With M5000, the increased resolution has produced one of the best mid presence and dimensionality I have experienced. This could only be possible with great density and imaging capability, which to me, is impossible without the highest level of power purity.
With such purity in the mid, I am getting one hell of richness in tonal textures and emotional content! The varying playing strength and vocal cord vibration have brought top class performance to my room. The transitions of tones and the frail changes of vocal pitch gave me great pleasure in enjoying female voices.
When the imaging took such solid presence, the depth perception and sense of layering were just to die for! With the M5000, my depth improved, this is not the same as having a more laid back presentation. But rather, it was the distance between the nearest perceived instrument and the farthest deep inside the soundstage.
Many setups could do great depth, but many also failed to fill the in-between with a sense of acoustical space and airiness. Listen to any song in Huang Hong Ying’s said album, can you feel the energy emancipating from Huang’s lung to the throat and out from the mouth, vibrating the air surrounding her and fill your room with the sense of the size of the recording hall?! This is eerie realism!
The other important observation was something I learnt while I was doing comparisons between the many sub 15k CDPs back then. Leslie actually pointed out to me the sense of musical flow from the Meridian G08. It was something I learned and never failed to notice in more expensive setups. This is akin to the capability of the setup in gripping the rhythms of the music and conveying them in great timing.
That was exactly what M5000 imbued in the overall presentation. The subjective body perceived by the added richness in tonal colors might give the wrong impression of the setup sounding slow at first. Upon prolonged listening, there’s just no sluggishness in the mid, lower mid, and down until the bass regions. It’s actually a sense of calmness that made the overall musical presentation so composed and poised.
What do you get after all these? You see the action, the action in music, and that is what matters in hi-end! My heartiest recommendation to all Thor owners!
PS: Can all the Thor owners poll fund in getting me a piece of M5000 also?! Pleeease!
7 comments:
Since you are "Cable Guys" how much should one spend on the power cable? To me anything above 10% of the component is crazy.
Now if I am not mistaken the M5000 is like close to 50% the cost of your amp and it improved by 20%?
I wonder who would say its worth spending that kind money instead of spending it elsewhere like a external DAC or power conditioning in your case for example.
Good cable talk. After see your review, I also got interest to upgrade my power chord. Although, the
price tag of that power chord is 50% of my whole system, because I believe in cable.
Eh, to anon1, I see that many also think spending a car's price tag on a setup is crazy. But I would still do it.
If you have not crossed the point of diminishing return, any spending to get that 1% is also crazy.
My CDP power cord is 85% of my CDP and my i/c is 130% of my CDP price. I still think everything is fine wut.
Nvm where you spend lor in the chain as long as it brings improvements, it's worth it.
To anon2, sometimes it's hard to justify the cost to improvement when the resolution is not up on par.
You can try the Harmonic Tech Fantasy as I find them value for money. PS Audio Prelude is great for CDP also.
I thank you for believing in cables!
KC, Can I get Harmonic Tech Fantasy in Malaysia? Who is the dealer?
Unfortunately, I got my Fantasy from HK rather than MY. Even in SG, the rave on HT is almost nil.
But you could try to post in the many secondhand forums, you might get lucky in getting a used one.
Accountants (I am one) say never send good money after bad. If a PC costs 85% of your CDP would it not make more sense to buy a better CDP, although I would admit your CDP is not exactly high-end.
BTW my speaker cable costs 25% of my speakers so don't think I don't subscribe to the "its worth it" principle. Its just PC is not the place to spend it on.
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