conrad johnson premier 140 pitting against old classic ARC classic 120


i would readily admit that i totally ignored conrad johnson as a premier brand in the last 20 years of my audiophilia journey. i didn't get a chance to listen to their great masterpieces like premier 8, 11 and 12. shame, shame.

now it is time to make amends. you must have remembered how i raved about the solid-state c-j premier 350. but being a tube aficianado, i passed over the c-j 350.

premier 140 is so hernia-inducing (40kg) heavy that my hands were so strained after unloading it from the box. it has an understated beauty about the looks, just like how understated beautiful the sound is. biasing is a breeze; these people in c-j really know how to main tedious task simple. if all tube amps can be so easily biased then more audiophiles would not be fearful of tube amps! audio research should learn a trick or two on how to make biasing simple from c-j.

compared to my reference amp, the trusty ARC classic 120, which is using 16 6550C power tubes (8 per monoblock) to pump out merely 120 watts (triode), the premier 140's use of only 8 6550C to give out 140 watts (ultralinear) is more economical and practical. so no issue about the cost of maintaning tubes; 8 pieces of svetlana winged-c 6550c would cost less than RM1,000.

this connie is a real charmer! sonically, it is sweet and relaxed, musically friendly and smooth. it is far more capable of revealing nuances in music than my classic 120. soundstage capabilities are also superior to my classic 120. the front-to-back layering of musicians are better handled than my ARC, tho' it still loses out to the mighty ARC VT200 in terms of layering, soundtage depth and imaging precision. (this could be due to the extra power of VT200 in pushing my maggie)

i hate to use this - premier 140 is a very "neutral" amp. it does not have the golden yellowish colouration of my ARC. it is interesting comparing the c-j house sound to ARC house sound. the ARC is awlays vivid, lively and high-definition (to the extent of being analytical to some detractors), some kind of solid-state-y, whereas the connie is more down-to-earth sort of tube amp; more human, more organic, less show-off-y and less hi-fi-ish, more well-behaved but also less exciting.

premier 140 has sweet midrange, almost SET-like in its quality. the highs and the bass are sufficiently good. listening to premier 140 is a pleasant feeling. everything is so understated yet so elegant and relaxing.

tonally, it doesn't have the vivacity of the classic 120's triode. timing and rhythm are not its strongest forte. that is not to say the premier 140 is slow but it renders fast-music with a velvety glove - relaxed and in control all the times.

now the real downfall - it has only RCA connections! dang! why manufacturers like c-j, holfi, goldmund only believe in RCA??? i am totally upset by how stubborn these manufacturers are, as i am a staunch believer of XLR balanced connections. with RCA connections, i almost have to turn the volume knob on my preamp close to 12 o'clock or more in order to appreciate the music. the RCA robs the music of some immediacy, dynamic and presence, seriously. this alone may stop me from considering what is otherwise a glorious music maker in the c-j premier 140.

all is not lost, it has been sweet music-making all the way with the connie. i truly revel in the experience!

Omigod, it was a lake last time, now, it’s a hill! Damn, I am in cloud nine, and I don’t want to be awakened and roll down the hill!

Since this Ruby Hill is only 1.5m, I was not able to plug it in to my RGPC. So, I just plugged it in to my pre. With the high expectation set by Forbes Lake’s last visit to my setup, I was again awed by Ruby Hill’s magic.

Ultimate realism! Ultimate coherency! Ultimate delicacy! Ultimate elegance! Ultimate sweetness! Ultimately almost perfect! It gives the best complete harmonic pictures, everything is vividly fleshed out. The presentation is weighty, substantial and compact, giving a sense of tangibility not achievable by the wannabes!

Being the first audiophile in M’sia to have bought a Stealth Cloude 9 Full AC power cord, (dealers not included ar!) it carries respectful calibers to have earned my dough. Can you imagine how stunned I was to realize how fuzzy it was as compared to RH? Man, a silver cable sounding fuzzy, can you imagine that?!

Due to gold’s nature, RH’s silver + gold might sound slightly dry and less colorful than C9’s pure silver. C9 has got a slight upper hand when it comes to wetness and moist. OTOH, C9 is a bit light weighted as compared to RH’s sturdy presence. For ultimate grain-less sound, gold is a must have ingredient!

Forget about elaborative descriptions on the highs, mids and lows, as for cables at this price point, those are already part of the package. If you still insist on asking does it sound lifelike, it’s far more elegant than real. With slightly more than 2 times the price of C9, you sure get your money’s worth!

I’d buy a hill at 7K!

NBS is one of the brands I frequently heard of when I started off, usually, they come in huge price tags and endorsed by hi-enders locally and abroad. I guess with an alias like “No Bull Shit”, they sure worth their salt.

The moment I plugged the Omega Jr in to my RGPC, omigod, it’s like my setup had gone on Viagra! I was very much carried on a roller coaster ride, it just kept on going on and on. The 2 traits that struck me were the authoritive bass and sharp image outline!

The bass was, phew, fast and taut with no excessive fat or bloom. The delivery was nothing short on breath, giving a precise grip on the beat and rhythm. With its clean and crystal clear nature, the image was very well defined. The image focus was spot on and the instruments were vividly anchored in their acoustic space.

With this, you could actually “see” the lips of the singers. There was just no way you could not pick out the lines from the songs, it was that focused! The tight focus might be due to its extended, weighty and forceful highs. Well, this cord really meant business in drive, listen to any drum track and you’ll know what I mean! The visceral impact was just mind boggling!

Across the frequency spectrum, I could only attribute it to clean, pristine, neutral and refined. But does it qualify to be the cord for everyone? Yes and no like usual.

For bloomy, slow and mellow tube setups, it might be the one to bring balance to the overall presentation. It would definitely clean up the bloom to give a precise image, put pace in the setup and bring that extra zing to engage you in the music.

For solid state, I really doubt it would cut it due to its overly fast nature. And cutting more bloom from ss would simply be disastrous! What I really wanted to try is to put it with Naim and see the best rockers perform together!

My quote for it? It makes a French bread out of overnite yau char kwai!

transparent audio reference powerlink 2 - the best compromise so far

after prolonged listening to nbs omega junior, i find something amiss. the mids are a bit hard and dry, the speed is way to fast (hence destroy the gentleness of slow music) and the overall effect is just a tad hi-fi-sh. the nbs initially awed me with its drive, PRaT and its superb bass but these qualities are not be-all and end-all for me. i am demanding other qualities like density, weight, wetness, warmth, organic flow, musicality. (gee, what a fussy pot!) it is really not fair in asking all these in the RM1K cable tho. i definitely have to up my price point.

so the search continues.

with just a couple of phone calls, i have with me the siltech G6 ruby hill (RM7K)and transparent audio reference powerlink 2 (RPL2, at RM3K). now the battle looks more exciting.

at RM7K, the generation-6 siltech, like the previous forbes lake interconnect i tried, again impresses me with its ultra delicate and refined presentation. the silver-gold composite really scores in midrange density and cultured high frequencies. everything is so ultra smooth and defined, to be extent of being a bit dainty and civilised. now, this would be a great cord for systems leaning on the rough side or even perhaps a solid-state system but in my system, i find it too much, too good. but i must maintain that in the right system, the siltech can be the best power cord you will ever need.

i have never really fancied the older generation of transparent cables in the past. to me, it is bloated in the mids with not much highs and lows. but some audiophiles swear by their higher-range cables like the opus MM. RPL2 (reference powerlink 2) is their 3rd-ranked power cord so it is rather high-end.

what can i say but RPL2 is the most balanced power cord in my experience so far! it has everything in the right dosage - not too much, not too little; just right. it doesn't have the bass authority of nbs but it still handles rock pretty well. it doesn't have the dryness of nbs; it has more warmth and moisture in the mids. it doesn't have the bloatiness of the absolute hi-fi's brandless cord or the leanness of the nbs; it has just the right density and weight. it doesn't have the too-delicate-to-touch quality of the siltech but it has enough boldness and drive to rock.

RPL2 seems like the best compromise i could ever ask for.

for the fun of it, i tried replacing my ps audio xstream statement - which has proven to be a firstl-class power cord for digital source - with the transparent. alas, the RPL2 cannot even touch the ps audio in terms of weight and bass solidity. the RPL2 is light-weight and floaty, altho' it has more details and is more refined than the ps audio. it truly justifies my faith on the ps audio xstream statement.

ok, let's make a conclusive remark about power cords: the higher end you go, the more you get in terms of (1) resolution (2) image precision/definition (2) image compactness (reduction of bloatiness). generally cheaper power cords are ill-defined in imaging and they tend to bloat.

can transparent reference powerlink 2 stand the test of time? watch this space.

kharma - exquisiteness rivalling planars and electrostatics

ever heard of 80s cult group culture club's hit single karma chameleon with the line that goes "you come and go, you come and go, karma karma karma chameleon..."?

this kharma speaker that i listened to doesn't come and go but instead it stays rock solid in imaging and creates such a stunning soundstage that you can walk into and wander around with the musicians. the air around the speaker is so intense that you can call it the "air supply" phenomenon.

i have long heard about the rave on dutch-made kharma speakers from reading articles by TAS' john valin, a reviewer whose tastes i trust. john has been living with the kharma exquisite speakers for years until he divorced them and married with mBL speakers recently. so the kharma must be something special.

stationed in high-end research's showroom are the smaller kharma ceramique 3 series and the bigger ceramique 2 series. both exhibit the same trademark quality, that of exquisiteness and refinement which is the guarded territory of planars and electrostatics. i have heard many big high-end box speakers but not many convince me that it can better than planars in terms of highs, refinement and soundstaging but the kharmas surprised me! however, they don't strike me as the typical rocker speakers so naim-proponents can stay elsewhere.

but they don't come cheap yeah. even the mid-range kharma ceramique 2 series is already RM70K, the same price range as eggleston andra, jmlab alto utopia, wilson watt puppy 7 etc. etc.

i have the feeling that many rich audiophiles in malaysia would embrace kharma with open arms.

experienced audiophiles would know that a good power cord for power amp is not necessary the best for preamp and vice versa. also, digital sources always require different power cords. my ps audio xstream statement is a very good cord for cd player but absolutely terrible cord for preamp. normally preamp prefers thinner power cords. in fact, cable company like jps actually have different power cords for different equipment/sources, e.g. digital ac for cd player, analog ac for preamp etc. etc.

my resident power cord for my ARC LS25MKII preamp is the brandless power cord i bought from absolute hifi 4 years ago. altho' it is relatively cheap at RM500, nothing could completely smoke it so far. in the areas of presence factor and PRaT, this UK-made power cord reigns supreme, which truly befits the reputation of those absolute hifi folks who are known to be "rockers".

so far, i have tried audience powerchord, jps analog ac, ps audio xstream statement, shunyata taipan, zu cable and many others. all of them lost to my brandless cord in presence factor and PRaT, two factors which rank high in my criteria. the major shortcomings of this brandless cord is that it is expectedly and sligtly rougher than those audiophile-approved cords; it smudges ever so slightly on imaging and it has a golden yellowish colouration (which could be intoxicating).

being the perfectionist i am, i am never totally at peace with this brandless power cord - i want the best compromise! presence, PRaT and refinement - i want the whole package. i know there is something better out there; i just need to search hard.

my fixation on refinement and resolution came after listening to some truly high-end sound lately, including the krell 700cx and goldmund telos 600 monoblock (which cost over RM200K!). there is two things constant in these systems - refinement and resolution. let's face it, these are the qualities that separate the men from the boys.

my answer came in the form of nbs (nothing but signal) omega junior power cord, the lowest model in the omega series. nbs is known to be exhorbitant but suprising the omega junior is reasonably priced. i got a loaner from high-end research in plaze mont kiara. (i will feature high-end research in my coming blog. watch this space!)

the nbs has 90% of the the UK-made brandless cord's presence factor and PRaT but has 20-30% more refinement. it also has tidier imaging and less colouration than the brandless cord. that's enough to make me draw out my cheque book...

one thing i observe about nbs all these years - the bass is superb!

Actually, ignorance is bliss. I would’ve never thought this would plague me until I heard the best of Leslie’s setup. I would’ve never taken note of my listening level and kept on listening without noticing what’s wrong.

When the current quality is bad due to whatever unknown reason, it’s actually causing havoc on the sound you get. When the current gets so bad to a point where god also cannot help you, even putting Richard Gray or PS Audio also cannot help.

It’s not hard to detect such foe in sound when the electricity is no good. You’ll notice that the harmonic richness has been stripped away, leaving only a thin and glassy sound to torture you. The tonal textures would’ve all gone out of the window, leaving classical guitars to sound like acoustic guitars.

When the electricity is good, you’ll get a sense of saturation that is so rich and vivid in the mids that mimics eerie presence! Everything will gel into a cohesive presentation, with no particular spectrum shouting for attention. You'll be embraced with a calm, effortless and organic presentation.

Of course, it’s easy to get by all this while. I normally would just turn down the volume and listen like normal. Or just let the setup plays something as background music. Silly tube waster!

If you do not notice this, either you are the world luckiest audiophile, or you are as deaf as I am.

kc and i visited our friend, mr.o, for the 2nd time to listen to his megabuck system, which comprises of krell 700cx power amp, dCS combi and apogee duetta signature planar speakers. we are already familiar with the sound but we just wanted to sample it again (now that our listening skills have improved) to see what's the gap between a super-duper system like his and a high-end aspiring system like mine.

we realized that all the differences were contributed mainly by the source, that's his dCS combi. even a top-notch cd source like my meridian G08, pales in comparison to the dCs.

mr.o's system sound so detailed and high-res that my meridian, in contrast, sounds rough and unrefined. can you imagine meridian sounding rough? that's an oxymoron! someone once told me before - the difference between a state-of-the-art cd player (above RM100K) and a class-leader like meridian G08 (RM14K) lies mainly in the resolution and precision, and this is right on the dot.

eventho' my meridian has subjectively more PRaT and presence (always a forte of meridian), it can't match up to dCS' precision and accuracy. all the images are compact and precise, not an ounce of fat and excessive bloom like my ARC. and the vocalist's mouth is very very small, that's the way mr.o wants it to be.

at the end of the day, we were so thrilled to have visited mr.o, knowing that we have learned another important lesson in audiophilia.

oh, btw, mr.o has the best dedicated sound room (done to robert harley's measurement) i have ever seen in malaysia.

readers would have remembered that my house is plagued with inconsistent electricity from TNB. (not so much of insufficiency but the quality of electricity)

recently, i asked TNB to switch to another line of supply (there are 3 lines coming to my house, my house being the last house in the row of terrace houses) and this current line is the best of all 3, with a consistent reading of 240-250V. i also experience on many occasions, fantastic sound from my system, especially after 10pm at night, the later the better.

now i have developed a sure-fire method to test the quality of electricity. chesky test disc, track #4, vivaldi's four seasons, has shimmering and sonorous strings when the system is normal. so when it sounds slightly thin and edgy, i know it is time to switch the system off and do something else instead. from observing the trends, i would say that the electricity is bad from 7pm-9pm, when neighbours come back from work and take shower using heaters, presumably.

after tasting how sublime my system sounds when the electricity is robust, i have finally decided to bite the bullet and commission TNB to build a pole infront of my house, for direct supply of electricity.

my "audiophile-grade" electrician quoted me RM4K last time and i wasn't happy. now i get an alternative quote of RM2.5K from a "normal" electrician.

hopefully, i will get it done by the end of this month and it will be perfect sound forever! whee!

I guess since all the youngsters have gone iPod and MP3, the leftovers who are going to buy CDs are old farts like us. Ops, should be audiophiles like us. 英皇娛樂集團 has realised such untapped market and got one girl to sing for us.

Certain parts of her voice resembles Sandy Lam's, though at higher pitch and less versatility, is no slouch in presenting the songs in a composed manner. Half of the songs are actually catered for audiophiles as they are arranged in jazz, while some are run of the mill pop stuff.

Still, I would highly recommend this to those who love music and appreciate new faces in satisfying our music appetite. The effort in bringing this album out is not to be overlooked, too. Neuman149 mic, Tube-tech tube pre, 192 sampling and Neve Mixing console are utilized to produce this splendid album!

Remember, you see it here first!

audiophiles have various ways to describe how moved they are by the music emanating from their hifi systems at their peak. words such as "goosebumps", "moved to tears", "awe-inspiring" are common to describe the experience. but seriously how many of you have experienced sublime sound reproduction?

I personally have experienced it close to 3 times when my system is/was really sublime. it takes a combination of good electricity, perfect tubes and perfect system synergy to achieve that sort of sound. good electricity is a random thing in my house, depends largely on luck. whereas perfect tubes does not need luck - you need to find the best tubes (e.g. svetlana 6550 winged-C for audio research amps) for your amp and you need to run-in at least 500-1,000 hours before it sounds heavenly. system synergy is the hardest to achieve among the 3 ingredient of heavenly sound aforementioned. it takes years of mix and match, trial and error, and good room acoustics before one finds/assembles a system which is perfectly synergised.

here's how my system sounded when it was at its best: vocalist seems to emerge from a cloud of dense and thick air (a very magical experience no less); and when she opens her mouth, you could feel the movement of her mouth (well, this requires a very very capable cd player! most system only manage to create a fixed spot for vocalist's mouth, never the movement), her articulation, her breathing (inhaling and exhaling) and the gymnastics of her vocal cord - all these minute details will become very very prominent in a very transparent system.

there are other attributes, of course, that make a sublime system, such as tonal beauty, mids density, sparkling highs, tactile basslines, superb layering, 3-D soundstage but we will leave them for another post another time.

can share with us your best experience?

sometimes we are so consumed by hi-fi that we forget there are more important things in life, such as hi-fi!

Wah, I sure got problems in manhood already, I have been getting weak knees these past few weeks. First, it was the Naim CD5X, and then it was the Meridian G08, now it is the Goldmund EIDOS 18CD. Selling at more than 20K, wah lau, must be something good within lar.

I dunno whether it’s the Swiss preference or a similarity shared by rigs costing 20K and up, coz both Siltech and Goldmund share similar traits in many areas. The only difference between the 2 is tonal temperature, while Goldmund goes for the breezy cool and pristine sound; Siltech turns towards the lush and warmer tonal shade.

If you have not heard rigs costing this price, don’t even tell anyone about resolution and definition. This player is able to dig real deep into recordings, giving plentiful of details. Indeed, Goldmund has got really no problem in extending sky high and plunging super low. However, I find the details over staggering; do we really need this much of details to enjoy music?

Don’t even think of telling me that this might be false resolution due to excessive highs, coz the details cover from top to bottom. Everything is presented in an incisive manner, cohesive and crisp, snappy and visceral. The outline of the image is sharp and precise. Not only that, there is this classiness and elegance similar to Siltech, products of $$$? Your guess is as good as mine.

The bass, though articulate, is not as capable in building the musical mood like the Meridian. In fact, dry could suitably describe it as it’s clean and taut. Although the highs extend far better than Meridian, it lacks the weight to give it a sense of presence. I find the mids finely grained, too, but not to the extend of giving rough edges. Results of too much details?

If you are an audiophile rather than music lover, by all means, go Goldmund. The sound reproduced is top notch technically compared to Meridian, giving more details and resolution. Sadly, I listen to music rather than sound.

If both players come free, I would still go Meridian! Meridian dealer, hint hint!

Do you really like pop music? Britpops to be more exact? Don’t forget that a lot of rock started right after Beatles. Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple remain the few bands residing in the soft spot of my heart. Sandie Shaw, anyone?

With my rigs, clearly, it was not built around beats, but rather, on tonal attributes. When given the chance to audition one between CDS3, CDX2 or CD5X, I chose CD5X as this is the farthest budget I could push if I ever got smitten by it.

On first listen, I was really surprised actually to note its capable soundstaging and imaging qualities, something that Naim was not known for. Although the depth is kinda narrow and upfront, it throws a really wide stage in my setup. Live concert like?

This player holds rhythms and beats up above all else, there’s an overriding effect on all the music being played. You know like playing piano, there’s a beat keeper; this player plays the role of a beat keeper in my setup.

Listen to the drum work or any percussion instruments, there’s an energetic quality to them, visceral and on the spot. They never fail to follow the pace! But then, all else take a backstage, following the speed frantically disregard of genre played! Fuhhh!

On the other areas, I can live with the mids and highs. The mids is grainless and sweet, though not as communicative as Meridian (a far margin!), but definitely head to head amongst the good (not great!) players out there. Highs is not as extended, but enough to let you enjoy even audiophile CDs.

It’s great at making pop music, out of anything! But who would afford 10K just to play perfect pop?!

goldmund eidos 18cd sacd/cd player, currently auditioning. review by kc forthcoming.... stay tuned.

This is for those who might miss it in the comment section, plus some bits and pieces I might add in here and there.

Months ago, I read a review about this superb and so deemed the best sounding player within its price range player. Being a sucker for hyped reviews, I soon announced that this would be my dream player without knowing how it sounded.

Months later, Leslie upgraded. Man, how awed I was to find that it was miles ahead of the 508.24! Every single area, not just some. Sorry Les for discouraging you on the upgrade as I thought 508.24 was already a tough act to beat!

Anyway, after I had a demo at home, this is my next upgrade, PERIOD! BUT, if your setup is not transparent and balanced, forget about getting the G08. Coz this is one heck of a balanced player, doing everything in approriate balance yet never fail to embrace musicality as the ultimate goal!

From top to bottom, nothing stands out but integrating seamlessly to build up the flow of music and emotion. The bass is by far the most organic and articulate I have heard, the top is extended with a natural sense of weight and density.

The mid is the killer part of this player! Talk about presence and emotional conveyance, I have never listened so deeply into my CDs. This player has got the eerie capability of portraying the singer with full bodied outline, anchoring vividly in front of you!

Everthing takes a lifelike presence in my room. 508.24 has got the capability of giving the instruments individual space and dimension, G08 surpasses this by giving the whole presentation the space and dimension in a seamless organic canvas! Soundstage was deep and appropriately wide, with great layers.

I can only say that Meridian is selling this at lesser price than the player deserves! At sub 10K, I have not heard a player that came close to it, and that's a huge gap!

THIS IS BY FAR THE BEST I HAVE HEARD IN MY SETUP! AND ONE PURCHASE THAT I CAN CONFIDENTLY SAY WOULD LAST ANYONE A LIFETIME!

Of course, if I strike lottery, then maybe a 808 lor.

cheer chen.... best recording and best chinese album

the real joy of being a hardcore audiophile lies not in buying audiophile-approved cds (as they are mostly boring and soulless stuff) but discovering pop/indie cds that have supreme recordings.

introducing cheer chen qi zhen 陈绮贞 , the biggest indie artiste in the chinese music scene today. it may be a misnomer calling chen an indie singer since she has somewhat crossover appeal with the mainstream chinese pop music fans as well.

i will leave you to google her background. suffice to say that this 4th album, entitled "adventure" 华丽 的冒险 is her best todate, a tour-de-force of album that also wins my vote as the best chinese pop/indie album as well as best recorded chinese pop/indie album in the last decade. (note: as i speak, cheer chen has been nominated in the best female singer category, best album category and best production category in this year's prestigious golden melody awards - taiwan's answer to grammy awards - to be held on 10th june 2006).

some of you may not be literate in chinese but hey what's there to matter because the recording is so rich, raw, airy and sumptuous. recorded by taiwan's top recording engineer kenny and mastered by doug sax, this album is full of artistry yet never looses sight of pop sensibility. every song is a gem. every song is well crafted and immaculately produced.

a word of caution: if you are used to jay chou and lee hom variety, sorry you won't be able to appreciate this intellectual gem.

it has become mine and kc's favourite test cd to test a system's ambience, liveliness and presence factor. try track #11, the last track. if you can't produce the kick drum and upbeat tempo with aplomb, time to retune your system.

note: this album cover is the limited edition which is not available in malaysia. the normal version has blue cover.

My exposures to cables are mainly on AQ, Harmonic Tech, Stealth, Stage III, MIT, Transparent and WireWorld. Although I wouldn't care less to listen to cables below 2K, I was god smacked and flabbergasted and (you fill in here...) when I was passed a pair of Siltech Forbes Lake, the entry level to their signature series.

Damn, with the listing price of RM19K, my knees were weak even to get them up my apartment and plug it in. You could tell how excited and short breathed I was when I switched on the pre, power and CDP. It was like, 20k leh, must be good lar, if not how to sell at this price?!

I guess people who know me have already grown sick over my hype on new products I tested. But I assure you, this ain't no hype! I always have the problem of going gaga over products that was good in certain areas but fail to deliver the promise as a sonic whole. This is where I learnt to appreciate the presentation as a whole rather than parts of it.

This cable is by far the most expensive and delivered by far the best performance that graced my setup. With no change to the rigs, it is able to elevate the performance of my setup to a level of delicacy never before experienced. The minute changes in details and intensity in musical passage is second to none.

The transitional nuance (OK lar, microdynamics) between the softest and loudest passage alone was so captivating and delicate that it certainly mimic lifelike realism. The mid has got this classy elegance not easily found in lesser cables. Everything is portrayed in grainless manner, a quality I found in many hi-end rigs.

Cables below 10k have got a common tendency, to some extend, draw your attention to certain aspect of the sonic presentation. For example, AQ Anaconda has got the drive that would send you tapping your foot due to its bold and forceful drive. Stage III Magnus has got this rich harmonics and splendid highs that you would never fail to notice.

Some quibbles I have might be due to its overly done noise filtering network. With 2 huge chunks of ferrites per side, I sense certain shut-in in lower mids and slight bottom heaviness. Other than that, the cable gives perfect harmonic textures and density.

Forbes Lake exudes realism, classiness and grace to the presentation if your setup could live up to expectation.

We’ll have to wait to see if AQ Cheetah and Sky come any closer. Till then, it’s STATE OF THE ART!

The recent CDP comparisons have really opened my mind and enriched my knowledge, which I have never imagined gaining without years of bumpy rides!

I have been trying to replace my current CDP, tried Benchmark DAC1, no luck. Then I brought home the CEC TL51XR, the latest mid entry player from CEC. A belt driven transport with 24/192 DAC. Please be careful though, there are many players touting a 24/192 DAC, this only means that they are multibit players. They are not upsampling players, the players must explicitly state upsampling, or else, they are just 44.1 players.

Anyway, the CEC is no slouch a player. Giving instruments a complete harmonic texture with almost grainless presentation. Is this analogue sound? I'm not sure, but switching back to my Sony tells me surely that it is. The sound is rich and the mid is just smooth, tangible and densed. The Sony is a bit on the soft side, light weighted and grainy as compared to the CEC.

Technically, the CEC is very much more superior sounding than the Sony. There is no shortcoming in speed, drive and extensions. You want inner details? Plentiful. However, this player is neutral to a capital T! Well behaved and very much indifferent in presentation.

I once thought that the source should be as neutral as possible with almost no coloration at all. Hence, I normally stick to Jap players due to the cultural appreciation in freshness and rawness in food/seafood. And the CEC has got no problem in giving you this, everything is fresh from the CD with no additive at all!

However, when pitted against the behemoth Meridian G08, everything just paled down! The CEC lacked the extra zing, the quality to get you engaged in the music. Cheer track 11 seemed bland. Michelle's latest album brought no indulgence, too, she seemed like cold fish straight from track 1, which is not supposed to be!

With an entry level setup like mine, the CEC is able to give you well defined body, width and depth. But still, the cold fish nature is still very much apparent if you listen carefully. At sub 6K, I could be very much happy with it if my setup is on the bright side. Heck, with Stage III pure silver jumpers, I could bring more out from this player, but still a cold player it is.

TL51XR sure is sushi, just without wasabi!

naim cd5x - PRaT is a two-edged sword

if there is such thing called expedited learning then kc and i have the best of it in the last few months, trying out some really really esoteric stuff.

it is always fun doing a shootout in my system - the outcome will be known in practically seconds, due to the revealing nature of my system.

today, kc brought the following:

1) siltech G6 forbes lake (signature series), RM20,000

with a price tag like that, you would have expected that it would trash my stage III magnus (RM6,000) but it turned out to be a even contest. the siltech is even smoother and more refined than stage III, rendering minute details in a spectacular fashion. it is so classy and composed but alas, it is quite a slow cable compared to stage III. we suspect it is the network box (some sort of ferrite thingy) that causes all this slow speed.

both kc and i prefer the stage III magnus but our ears are opened by the superior refinement of the siltech forbes lake.

round 1 winner: stage III magnus

2) naim cd5x (RM10,000)

now, this is the most entertaining contest ever done in my listening hall. it is like pitting one hifi camp against another hifi camp.

pitting naim against the formidable meridian G08 is a suicidal act but we want to know how the new generation naim cdp actually fares.

playing naim cdp is akin to changing the drummer in a band, a drummer on steroid that is. the beat and rhythm of the naim makes every cd sounds like a pop cd! the drummer is always over eager and over enthusiastic member in the band, so much so the rhythmic foundation overrides the whole musical presentation. the drummer in naim cdp seems like drumming in isolation, totally out of sync with the rest of the band. the beat of the drum seems like in an auto-pilot mode, no matter what is the pace of the music!

this is fantastic for pop/rock music, we wouldn't be bothered with the out-of-sync drum but when you play female vocal audiophile type, that's where the naim sounded decidedly contrived. when we switched back to the meridian, ah, so nice and comfy. the drum effect slows down and follows the rest of the music in unison.

kc and i were so amused by this contrasting style of the two cdps.

the naim is suprisingly refined and elegant, tho' not to the exceptional standards set by the meridian. but it loses out to the meridian by a big margin in airiness, communication and emotioning.

the naim makes a singer sounds like she is a salaried worker, just wanting to get the job over and done with. but the meridian makes the singer such a wiling performer, belting the song with all her heart and soul.

this is a new generation naim for sure. it is much better than all the naim cdp i have heard in the past. for once, naim has class and refinement.

but seriously, the PRaT thing is a two-edged sword.

before shootout, kc had almost drawn out his cheque book and written a cheque to CMY but after the shootout, as usual, he was awaken.

round 2 winner: meridian G08