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AOR Reference 003, pretty in white.

Sometime in late July last year, I heard a story about how a local David slayed an American Goliath in the power cord stakes. The myth, apparently pointed out that this locally made RM$1K plus power cord, beat an American branded high end product costing ten times more. The rest they say is history!

Sometime in August last year, I was home visiting our resident LS3/5A guru, Jo Ki and came across this pretty in white looking cable, seemingly made of litz construction. I asked, what's this?, my host reluctantly shared with me that he was helping a friend test and develop this interesting power cord, apparently, designed to work best with Torus Power Conditioners and digital playback equipment, such as DACs and high end CD players.

I gave my dear friend, Felix a call, and asked to try his latest efforts. He told me that he was finalizing production details of his then, yet to be named power cord. Two months later, in October, my sample arrived. I asked, what took him so long?

He told me that to build each power cord consistently, he had to prepare a jig to facilitate the litz construction, the cable's high purity copper cores are sourced from a reliable supplier. All terminations are of silver solder sourced from a well respected high end manufacturer in German. Standard American style male plugs and IEC female side is sourced from Holland. British style male plug is 13 amps MK Duraplug with rubber body(like those usually seen on high end big Krell power amps), not plastic. Standard power cord length available is 1.8M and 2.1M.

But the real secret in shaping AOR Reference 003's final sound, is in the building process. Each termination screw has it's own torgue spec!, as is each plug body screw. To protect the cable outer screws from being mucked around, all screw holes are waxed. Felix further adds that it takes him a little more than 2 days to build a power cord. Each power cord, will sound the same as he not only checks their impedance, resistance and capacitance to spec, he also burns them for a few days, then listens to them on his own system, to ensure all AOR Reference 003 sounds the same. He also tells me, each system only needs one AOR Reference 003, best used with the source, if not pre amp duties is good too. I totally trust his ears!

I plugged the AOR Reference 003 in to my Marantz CD7, replacing the Isotek Premium power cord. The comparison from here on is made between the Isotek Premium and the AOR Reference 003. From the first notes, I was blown away. The Marantz CD7 being a player of slightly mellowed nature, suddenly sounded as if it just completed a 12 week fitness program.

The AOR Reference 003 made the overall sound a little more focus, the level of energy and micro dynamics of the Marantz CD7 was improved considerably. Also improved is the transparency of the CD player, seemingly able to dig out more information out of the CD medium than previously. Low level detail previously masked is now brought to the fore, but ever so naturally and never calls attention to it self.

However, at times I felt the power cord can be just a little more refined and civilised. Not that it's bright or harsh, just wishing that at times when playing music of more mellowed nature, it can just be a little gentler, yes, that's the correct word.

I then proceed to try the AOR Reference 003 on my DIY Pass ONO clone phono stage, and found that it gave the same kind of improvements as per the CD player experienced earlier but only this time, the leap was bigger, much bigger. Not one who does things half way, I called Felix again to request for a second AOR Reference 003 to power my phono stage, again, the wait was another two agonising months!

The two ends, MK Dura plug and Furutech FI-11(G).

My wish for a gentler sounding AOR Reference 003 came in the form of the Furutech FI-11(G) IEC female plugs. With the Furutech installed, the experience of the sound was life changing!(refer back to my 8th January 2009 post, A Tale of IEC Plugs) The Furutech maintained all the positive attributes of the AOR Reference 003, but also made improvements the to weaker areas, to make the power cord such a world beater. I called Felix, told him to come listen to his product again with the Furutech, he was impressed, took my two AOR Reference 003, went back and did further studies on the matter.

When returned to me about a week later, he told me that it'll now sound even better! Apparently, all the cable to plug termination screw's torgue spec on the IEC female side have been revised for the Furutech, as well as the amount of silver solder used for that affected end. Now, that's attention to detail! The returned cables are simply magical, giving more airy highs, a little warmer mids, and the killer micro dynamics which I found so amazing, never diluted one bit!

The Furutech FI-11(G) is now a cost added option(take the Furutech option if you're really serious about sound!, IMHO) when buying the AOR Reference 003.

There's a now a 2-3 month's waiting list for this power cord. Felix tells me the waiting list is growing still. He can't make the power cords any faster, as he has to personally make, and test each power cord. Now, if this isn't a custom product worthy of a signature, then I don't know what is!

If you're thinking about spending some serious $$$ on power cords, you owe it to your self to check out the AOR Reference 003.

If interested, you can call Felix to enquire at 012-3662408.

Here are two recent CDs, released by ABC International Records, featuring the Burwen Bobcat mastering, done under supervision, by none other than the legendary Mark Levinson.

I got this two CDs recently and all I can is this, amongst all the high resolution mastering system employed ABC in the past, including JVC's K2 and HD Mastering, the Burwen Bobcat mastering system is by far the most natural sounding! It's very close to analog reproduction(based on comparisons with my own, very humble analog rig). In fact, ABC's 180gsm audiophile vinyl realeases are also mastered using the Burwen Bobcat system.

Of the two CDs the one on the left tittled, "The Soul of Analog is Back" is a compilation of various tracks, some available previously on the K2 Sampler and the HD series CDs. I happened to have those too and therefore, can make meaningful comparisons that support my conclusion above.

The other CD on the right titled, "From Mark Levinson" is a selection of favourite songs recorded by Mark Levinson, the man himself! Track no.2, 23rd Psalm, even features his ex-mother in law's voice, Shane Cattrall[if that last name sounds familiar, it's because she's Kim Cattrall(of Sex and the City fame)'s mother, ah..... Mark Levinson is indeed a very, very lucky man!]. He qoutes that Shane Cattrall "has a beautiful speaking voice". I agree with Mark, based on what I heard on the CD. All other tracks has a mixture of Jazz, Classical, and of course, great vocal recordings. I like the man's selection!

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Finally, the new Escalantes are out!

Can't wait to have a listen to them!

with the new "river" series of interconnects out in the market, i now dare to nit-pick on the previous generation of dbs cables, without the fear of offending the dealer. the cheetah silver interconnect (RM4,800 for 1m), 2nd ranked after sky, is a minor flop in terms of tonal balance. no matter how much one tweaks, one just can't rid of the mild emphasis in the mids. it was very irritating!

truth be told, the cheetah can't even compete with its predecessor, the copper-made and my once long-time reference anaconda and the silver-made amazon, eventho' these two cables are notorious for their long burning-in time and fast cooling-off characters.

but bill low is not one to sit on his comfortable laurels, i am sure he knows the weaknesses of cheetah hence he keeps the sky intact and replaces the cheetah and panther with a totally new "river" series which includes colorado, columbia and niagara (in ascending order). the metal & carbon-loaded synthetics composite used must have something to do with taming the brightness - it is only my guess, don't flame me for that.

at RM5K++ for 1m, the niagara holds great promise. i am hoping i could get one to try on in the near future. i would love to try all the silver cables in the world!

this is an expensive toy, called "demag", that is supposed to demagnetize LPs, any CDs, DVDs, SACDs, CD-Rs and DVD-Audio discs. this device also is great for removing the built-up magnetism in interconnects, speaker cables and power cords.

yes, it works even for cables! the demag removes the residual magnetic fields that build up over time in any cable.

it is claimed that demag will result in an increase in resolution and a more natural sense of “flow” to all of your records and discs.

but at usd1,800 a pop, only deep pockets need to apply! it is reported that hugo's boss (pun intended), eik yew goh (spelling) is so convinced of the benefits of the demag that he has bought a unit to be used for all his recordings. btw, congrats to mr. eik for his huge success of the LPCD series of audiophile cds.

for poor souls like me, i have to rely on my XLO and DENSEN discs for those all-important demos.