heaven is in the details

marten bird - a star performer that can fly high

issue 229 of taiwan's audio art magazine gives a resounding rave to marten bird, rewarding it with a sonic score of 99/100. trust me, the is definitely not reviewer's hyperbole.

indeed, i could share the excitement with the reviewer, having listened to martin miles twice during the CNY.

enjoying great success worldwide, even in malaysia and singapore, marten, now without the word "design" (i.e. no longer called marten design) builds the bird by building upon experience directly derived from the award winning coltrane and coltrane supreme. the materials and components employed in the bird stretch from traditional high gloss veneer on bird’s 26mm MDF cabinet, to the newly developed ceramic midrange, the ceramic woofer drivers and the ultra modern diamond tweeter.

to me, marten's signature sound is unmistakable - lively, explosive, ultra faithful and plenty of details, details and details. if you are looking for the warmth and thickness of ATC, please look elsewhere. marten's sound is modern and shockingly direct.

of particular interest to me is how the reviewer mentioned the details in the backstage of the soundstage where a lot of speakers fail to reveal but in the case of marten bird, there are just so much more sonic cues and finer details in backstage that lend realism to the whole musical soundscape. i fully concur with the reviewer as this is my experience with the lower-ranked marten miles as well.

the coolest statement from the review is in the ending segment where the reviewer coined the phrase - "heaven is in the details".

[local dealers]
KL - audiomatic (012-3222698)
IPOH - audio art (012-5201066)

note: the only pair of marten bird in malaysia is sold to an audiophile in kampar, perak.