ipod integration to hi-fi is key

while persuading cheeky yong, the intellectual hifi reviewer for the once-famous and once-indispensable perfect pitch publication (a pull-out of the sun newspaper) to come out from "retirement" to write for av xpress, we discussed many issues concerning the fall of hifi (and high-end audio) and the rise of the ipod generation.

cheeky said if he was to write, he would concentrate on thought-provoking issues such as "is it possible to make ipod, MP3, MP4 high-fidelity?", "for hi-fi to revive and survive, it must cater to the needs of the ipod generation" etc etc.

thought-provoking indeed. many of you would have realized that people who play high-end audio are mostly financially stable men over 40 years-old and frankly with most of them above 50 years-old. it is an ageing community and a miserably tiny one no less. practically, no 30 year-olds or under 30 year-olds today can afford high-end, save for a few blessed ones like my fellow blogger here. which means, there won't be newcomers to this hobby in the near future. can you imagine what would happen in 20 years' time? we dare not even look into our crystal ball and predict what would happen but some things are for sure - the ipods would stay and probably evolve into a high-res media; that music lovers would go for convenience, portability and volume of songs one can carry; that music lovers would look for integration of their ipods with analog devices such as tube amps.... the future is indeed colourful!

the worst of times is also the best of times. the faster the audio industry embrace this eventual outcome the better. what would happen to high-end audio then? i think high-end audio would be so niche and exclusive that that it would remain the purview of the rich and famous, more for the reason of status symbol than anything else.

with that exciting outlook, i am awaiting the return of cheeky yong with bated breath.

av xpress issue #2 will hit the street in the last week of april (barring unforseen circumstances)! the delay is caused by a mini revamp, arising from dealers' feedback.

we are confident that you will be pleasantly suprised to see the new look and contents.

the following changes have taken place:

1) widened distribution network
we have appointed, vishal, the biggest magazine distributor in malaysia, to distribute av xpress nationwide. vishal has more than 2,500 agents in malaysia, including those in east malaysia. in doing so, the magazine now costs a nominal price of RM2.00. RM1.50 will go to the distributor and sub-agents, this is just to incentivise them, as av xpress does not intend to make money from the magazine sales at this point in time.

2) limited free copies in record shops
by distributing av xpress in record shops, we are afraid we may not hit the target audience (i.e. buyers) so we are going to limit the number of free copies in rock corner, tower records and victoria music. it is still available for free but you have to be early.

3) addition of a new section called "audio gadgets"
as av xpress aims to promote all forms of audio to the mass market, we have included a new section focusing on audio gadgets - ipods, zune, MP3 etc etc. this will appeal to those younger readers with wide-ranging interests.

4) addition of a bilingual (chinese) section
yes, we know (read and write) chinese too! these articles in chinese should appeal to the chinese literate readers among you, especially those from ipoh, jb and penang.

5) addition of a new section called "new products"
many readers and dealers have asked for this section to display the latest and hottest products that hit the shelves. yes, we are listening!

6) a new format
as we have promised, we will keep improving! the new format is refreshing and easy to read. we are sure that you will like it.

please inform your friends - especially those from inter-state and east malaysia - that av xpress will hit the bookstores and newsagents end of this month! if possible, please forward this link to them.

please support av xpress and the local audio industry!

radiohead's ok computer - one of the all-time-best rock albums

i just had an long interview/chat with nick chua, malaysia's youngest audio designer (the article of which will appear in this issue of av xpress) and it turned out that we share many common views on audiophilia.

we feel that many audiophiles today don't listen to music anymore, instead they concentrate on sound. me included, i am guilty of that over the past 2 years during which i worked so hard to optimize my sound. as a result, i used too many audiophile-approved discs to fine-tune my system. it can get tiring after a while, listening to the same old boring music.

deep inside, like nick, i like 90s indie/rock bands like new order, smashing pumpkins and radiohead, to name but just a few. years of fulfilling life as an hardcore audiophile has killed my passion for rock music because most of them don't sound good in a typical system set up for diana krall, jacintha or carol kidd - if you get my drift.

so when i reached home tonight, i have the sudden urge to dig out my radiohead collection and listen thru my oh-so-pretty-sounding system, never mind that it doesn't have the rawness and grunt that it should have. in fact, everything is so beautified and unreal - that's not really how radiohead should sound! but do i care? no, not at all; because the music moves me; because i can connect with the music!

the way i organize my cds (i have over 1,000 cds) in my cd cabinet is such that all my rock/indie cds are buried inside the inner part of the cabinet, never get the chance to see the light of the day! so, i haven't played them for years.

tonight, i decided to swap all those audiophile cds i have been playing for the last 2 years with all the rock/indie cds that were buried inside. i have hundreds of them and i see bands like lemonheads, suede, new order, teenage fanclub, u2, REM, radiohead and many other successful and significant bands of the 90s.

now that my system is tip-top, i want to listen to more music, the kind with angst, pathos, emotions and soul.

musically rejuvenated, yeah!

i have heard many success stories with shunyata hydra products, yet i can't lay my hands on one because the local dealer is not very keen on loaners.

its latest hydra called the v-ray, again piques my interest not the least because it is a passive device. my love for passive conditioning devices stems from the fact that my system has a lot of brilliance in the highs and upper-mids, using active in-series devices would very likely mask out/dull this brilliance.

at more than twice the price of the richard gray 600s, v-ray should even be better than the richard gray.

if you know anyone who owns one and is willing to loan for a couple of days, do let me know. if the owner doesn't like me blogging about it, it is ok.

out goes powertrans...

as soon as i finished blogging the previous post "under critical evaluation", i realize how sensitive and political the result of my evaluation would be. the product is from my dealer-cum-friend; a lot of my audiophile friends use it; and most importantly powertrans is a tested product highly embraced by malaysian audiophiles.

so, let's cut to the chase - in the greater interest of diplomacy and political correctness, i would just say that powertrans isn't for me. maybe i am just too fussy and cocky :-)

however, do bear in mind that it is entirely my view, my experience obtained from testing it in my system. your mileage may vary greatly.

so, please don't flame me. i am a nice guy.

here's it - locally made avia's 8KVa powertrans!

my criteria for this evaluation are quite simple:

what i demand/expect:
1) consistency of performance (that it always sounds good regardless of the time of the day)
2) imaging to become more rock solid and more stable
3) noise level to be reduced further (beyond richard gray)
4) widening and deepening of soundstage
5) increased palpability and transparency
6) possibly, more air and ambience

what i don't expect: (common sins)
1) it limits dynamic expression (freedom of musical flow, does it have "strangling" effect?)
2) it curtails high frequencies
3) it blurs out images
4) it slows down pace
5) it imposes a strong sonic signature

if it has any of the above stated "sins", it is considered not suitable for my application.

give me about a week, ok?

after ARC Ref3, another hot product hits ipoh like a storm.

there are already 4 proud owners of this super-duper cd player in ipoh - audionet ART G2 cdp. touted to even surpass the much heralded meridian 808, audionet art G2 is going to shake-up the scene in the next twelve months. just mark my words.

as usual, i dare not even take home a unit for audition. don't flirt with fire when you don't know how to distinguish it.

only with revolutionary products like this, high-end and audiophilia as a whole will be ignited and prosper.

Krell Transport and DAC - no upgrade plan on these as the owner does not play CDs much.

Krell Evo 2 Pre - the latest addition to the family, which bring so much refinement to MRA's raw power!

Krell MRA Power - raw muscles!

Grand Utopia on the left - huge!

Grand Utopia on the right - enormous!

Over the years, I have built up my belief that there could never be a setup capable in reproducing the live events. As I listened to more and more setups and attended more and more live events, it occurred to me that no setup could provide you the direct lifelike realism on par with listening to live events.

To newbies, I have convinced them many times that there’s no way any setup could mimic that real life events dynamic swing. When I attended the Fourplay performance in Dewan Philharmonics recently, I suffered from withdrawal syndrome that prevented me from touching my setup. That remained for at least a couple of days and I gave up hope in believing that there would ever be a setup able to give you that level of dynamism!

Just the week before I leave for SG, my perceptions changed. I was actually given the opportunity to pay a visit to our MY super hi-ender a visit. For years, I have heard about him. And I could only take a peep on his rigs from a HK website, how ironic is that?

Upon reaching the home of the owner, I knew I was in for a trip of my life! There were Krell CD transport, Krell processor, Clear Audio reference turntable, Krell Evo 2 pre, humongous pair of Krell MRA power amps and the gigantic JMLab Grand Utopias! For those MRA power amps, I swear I have never expected it to be that huge! And if that is not enough, there was another pair idling around! This is seriously hi-end setup and it literally blew me away!

We played both CDs and vinyls, however, it was with analogue that brought the best out of the setup! If you are still indulged in those prettier than life presentations of MBL and ARC, please wake yourself up. Do you have pinpoint localizations in real life events? Do you have tantalizing bloom? Do you go figure the center imaging? Forget about all those as those are false realism that we audiophiles are kidding ourselves into believing!

Have you ever attended any live musical events? As always, I have never failed to feel the excitement. Every one of them is like a journey where the musicians take you to joyrides. They never wait for you to recover from your exhilaration while you could analyze that bloom and texture. It’s all about effortlessness in bringing you waves after waves of musical vibration and the unforced dissipation of energy.

It is all about the transition from one energy form into another. From the movement of the musicians, to the vibrations of the instruments and finally to the sensations at our receiving end. It is a natural process just like God intended. The directness in the dynamic swing is so palpable and raw that no one would believe any human creation could recreate.

As I dig deeper into understanding how the live events sounded, I realized that this was actually IT. The sound that I was listening to right there and right then, this was as real as one could get! There was really no boundary as I was transported to the live events, I was no longer confined within the dimension and space of the room. I was greeted with a soundstage where the layering and depth, height and width were so seamlessly and naturally integrated. In a word, palpable!

At this performance level, the mentioning of highs, mids and lows is irrelevant. I just immersed myself in musical escapades and forget about the rest. If you want to impress me with how loud your 1812 can go, try harder, and try real hard!

stereovox SEI600II interconnect

a new cable has dethroned stage III concepts, nordost and many others as the new king in town!

the name is stereovox and it is inexpensive...

stereophile editor john atkinson has this to say: "what I find fascinating is that, in an industry as mature as audio cables, a new company can appear out of the blue and upset everything." check it out in:

http://www.stereophile.com/cables/207stereovox/

apparently it is distributed by music by design (s'pore). maybe you can give a call to its malaysian counterpart in city square. (03-2164 8818).

USD$100,000 for an ugly pair of speakers, only high-end cable manufacturer siltech can do it! still a prototype, the sc-1 was created entirely in the digital domain using the COMSOL multiphysics advanced 3d modeling software. doing so, siltech was able to "model and accurately predict total cabinet, driver, and in-room acoustical behavior."

the 16" bass drivers are isobaric loaded with a jumbo port round back. 7" mid crosses over at 200 and 2500 while the electrostatic tweeter uses its 72" of radiating area to take you all the way up to 38k.

sound aside, will it get past your girlfriend/wife? we highly doubt so!

may it never see the light of the day!

while the nation is celebrating the remarkable achievements of our badminton doubles pair, a petite malaysian chinese female singer has equally made malaysians proud by being the first malaysian female singer (the male being michael wong) to perform in the prestigious HK colliseum stadium, the mecca for all superstar cantopop singers. more than any local singers (again, other than michael wong) in the country, fish has brought fame to malaysia as a land of many talented singers.

fish's success is a typical story of hardwork coupled with talent and a little bit of luck. while many malaysian chinese singers falter at the prospect of conquering taiwan, fish did it with so much style and maturity. in fact, EQ is one of fish's greatest assets, besides her vocal prowess. the way she handles the media and industry as a whole, shows that she is a woman with high EQ.

it is also exciting to know that in conjunction with her maiden concert in HK, she would be releasing a cantonese singles. now that is exciting; just how many malaysian chinese singers dare to sing cantonese songs in HK? the last one who did it in grand style was eric moo, but his success was short-lived. fish, good with her cantonese, is the only candidate hopeful of satisfying the critical HK listeners (when it comes to cantopop). even the likes of stefanie sun (yanzi), who has such a big presence in HK, does not dare to sing cantonese, for the fear of disappointing her HK fans. i am waiting with bated breath for fish's first cantonese song.

besides penny tai & michael wong, fish leong is easily the most successful malaysian entertainer overseas, and a good embassador for the country. we are proud of her!

Seriously, I was shocked to realize the overall standard of equipments our lovely neighbors are using. In a weekend, I heard 2 MBL setups that basically blew my underwear away! This really opened up my horizon on the choices I could go if I were to dump more money in this hobby.

If Ipoh is the town of Audio Research Corp and KL is the city of Krell, then Singapore is no doubt the city of MBL! In 2 days, it changed my perception on solid state and humbled me even more!

The first setup I heard comprised of Mark Levinson 31 transport, Theta processor, mbl 6010 D pre, mbl 9006 power, 2 Jeff Rowland Model 7 powers, mbl 202 A sub and mbl 101 D speakers. All cables were WireWorld, the 9006 was used for the lows while Model 7 were used to power the highs. The second setup was equally jaw dropping with mbl 1621 A transport, mbl 1611 D processor, mbl 6010 D pre and 2 mbl 9011 powers to drive the mbl 101 E speakers. Coincidently, cables used were WireWorld too with some mix in between.

With such high caliber of equipments veering towards MBL, it was easy for me to fully appreciate the sound of MBL, which to me, is standing tall against the great brands out there like ARC and Krell. Albeit the slight differences in front end, the MBL house sound was easily identified.

Unlike Krell, which caters its sheer power towards giving that effortless leading edge transient attacks, MBL is a bit on the darker side of tonal balance. MBL hangs on the notes longer, making them highly densed, tonally rich and full of textures. Although MBL is more than capable in providing that gut wrenching power, the leading edge to me is less snappy than the American powerhouse.

In both setups, the musical soundstage is never up front, residing always behind the 101 D/E with great depth and layering. The sense of space and dimensionality is vivid and never faltering, in fact, disregard of music genre, MBL is always composed and under control. It is more gentlemanly than playful.

Contrastingly, ARC gives a much more playful presentation with its lively and vivacious mid to top band coverage. Although both giving highly densed imaging, as compared to what I’ve heard with the new LS26, ARC has got that sense of air more. It might be unfair as I am overly used to MG3.6 + LS26 + CL120, which gives world class airiness. While music fundamentals develop with air surrounding and developing outwards, gracefully trailing into thin air with ARC, MBL gives a much more substantial body. Notes start and end so incisively with MBL!

It might be due to MBL’s darker nature, I find that MBL tends to hang on to the notes longer with slower (still fast relatively to tubes) leading edge and lesser decay. Is this a bad thing? I don’t think so, as for the first time in my life, my perception towards solid state changed! I have never expected solid state to converge so closely to tube’s richness and textural quality.

However, please do not overlook the forte in MBL’s rendition of highs and lows. The highs, though not as vibrant as some premier tube gears, are solid and substantial. The leading edge might not be as crispy as desired by some; similarly, the decays are not so graceful as well. It is where the time slice of music fundamentals developing into rich harmonics that MBL somehow could slow down the time and let you taste them like wine.

The bass of MBL too, is slightly of the laid back nature. But never relate them to wobbly or sissy, they can definitely play loud and very well defined, too. It is more like a matured musician, never out of swing and always in a composed manner. Coupled all these, when listening to orchestral work, I find that MBL did a great job in repackaging the musical event, titivating them and fit them nicely in the comfort of your listening room!

I know this might be hard to swallow and digest, with MBL, I sense that you still remain a spectator, an onlooker towards the musical presentation as a whole. With ARC, the presentation gets a much boost up energy and lifelikeness due to its more forward presentation and slight added engagement.

If you ask me, I am still leaning more towards ARC. However, looking at the hassle of tube maintenance and the confusing tube sound from different brands, I am really contemplating to go solid state the MBL way!

finally, back to blogging. it turned out that Blogger is having some conflicts with IE. i have decided to dump IE and go for FIREFOX instead. many of my anti-microsoft friends swear by FIREFOX. i am a late convert.

while i am still waiting for a long-term solution on my electricity problems, i have developed some listening habits. i have become a morning audiophile! night-time listening is sporadic, depending on how good the sound is, using my now-indispensable reference cd (fong sum lui, the cantopop audiophile cd i recommended in av xpress). within about 20 seconds, i could tell if the electricity is great on the night. if it is not, i would just switch the system off and do other things. such is the agony of being a perfectionist audiophile!

at the same time, i am also drawing a daily chart on the performance of my system at night. this chart will be useful for me to see if there is a pattern or trend. if i find that sunday nights are persistently bad then i won't waste my time to listen to my system on sunday nights.

also, i seldom entertain guests at night now, preferring them to come in the morning or early afternoon.

a check with local dealers A&L (ps audio power plant premier) and tong lee (exact power) was responded with the expected answer "out of stock at the moment". wah chai (the A&L manager) told me that for ppp, demand has exceeded supply and ps audio can't even cope with the worldwide demand.

meanwhile, ah chee of audio art, asked me to try the locally-made powertran, an isolation transformer and a voltage regulator, the brainchild of veteran audiophile wong kok wah. i am quite sceptical but i will get one 8KVa unit to try it out when i go back to ipoh the next time.

for now, i will remain a morning audiophile!

my only and last saviour - ps audio power plant premier

an audiophile who doesn't think electricity is important to his system can either fall into the following categories: (1) his system doesn't have the resolution (2) his ears can't tell (3) all of the above.

seriously, electricity can make or break or system; the higher you go, the more dependent it is on electricity. having installed 3-phase in my house, i now have a more complete understanding how electricity impacts my hifi system.

first, 3-phase is not the solution to all problems. even for me, i still face nights where the electricity is less than ideal, 3-phase notwithstanding. my conclusion is that loading in my area (bandar utama) is very high.

when i mean less-than-ideal electricity, i don't mean having voltage less than 240V! the voltage can be a very stable and healthy 240V but the QUALITY of the electricity can be poor. this is the common misunderstaning of many audiophiles who think that they need a voltage stabilizer to maintain at 240V. in fact, i would strongly advise you to stay away for active components like voltage regulator/stabilizer. these active devices impose their own sonic signature on the sound and their have a "strangling" effect on dynamic music passages.

now, back to loading and quality of electricity. in my case, the purest electricity is obtained from morning 8am to afternoon 2pm; the best being at 2pm when presumably there are very few people at home. the worst electricity is obtained from 7pm all the way to 12 midnight. another astute observation is that on cooler nights, the electricity is better than hotter nights, when presumably more people utilize air-conditioners, the chief culprit and sucker of electricity.

now, how to tell when the electricity is bad? again, it is not about voltage reading (ie. less than 240V). you would detect that images become bloated, larger than usual and less focused, and highs become blunt. i would advise that you develop a reference cd to detect this anomaly. if you are not a critical listener, you wouldn't even detect this deterioration!

my richard gray 600s DOES NOT HELP in situation like this. so, don't think that by having a conditioner will solve your problems. i am banking on the new line of PS audio ac regenerator, my only hope and saviour.

"the edge of our pants were a-flapping by the thunderous bass; our hearts pounding in unison with the pulsating drum beats; our faces were red; our bodies sweating profusely; we were gasping for breath ... the whole 1812 climaxes with orgasmic delights!"

such is the exhilarating experience of listening to ben tan's super-duper system - arguably malaysia's most high-end setup - comprising of the HUMONGOUS and GARGANTUAN krell MRA monoblock driving the jm lab grande utopia....

I never really liked listening thru headphones. I always got sweaty ears with those cupped types. And the force they exerted on the sides just made my jaw line sore. With open type, it’s so easy to get thin sound as the tiny diaphragms would need to move more air to ooze out that wee bit more of lower registers. With closed type, I always got the bloaty sound with much of the higher registers rounded off inherent to common design for not hurting the ears.

Disregard of designs, it was quite uneasy for me to swallow the fact that the soundstage would get trapped within that small area between my ears. Where’s the space and freedom of movement so paramount in making music enjoyable? Where’s the correct ingredient in making the sound full, tonally rich and balanced across the frequency response?

It happened so many times when my cousin would go overly excited to share his discoveries on the AKG K1000 while I just kept on mumbling about the importance of cables. But if he could keep on doing that for that many times we met, I am sure this was something worth checking out. I was lucky this time as he was back home during CNY and was able to show this baby to me!

Prior to this, I never even bothered checking the cans out in the web due to my resistance towards them. What I saw was beyond me as I never really expected it to look and function as intended by its designers. The diaphragms were housed in two huge metal meshed square-ish boxes which got me into thinking that they were electrostatics. Nope, they looked exactly like conventional speaker drivers on close scrutiny.

With the headband bearing the head, the earpieces were held in position by just a pair of leather-looking sponge-y bars on each side. They stayed above the ears on the temples and kept a clear 2 cm air space between the earpieces and the ears. That was the first shock!

The earpieces were actually attached to the unit by a vertical pivot which enabled them to be rotated to desired angles. Didn’t that sound like having a pair of dedicated speakers hanging by the side of your ears with the correct toe-in all the time disregard of your whereabouts?! Second shock!

The demo were done using modded Marantz CD67SE and TS Lim custom made headphone amp, linked by what I presumed to be cables from TS Lim as well. Upon firing up, I was shocked at its cohesive presentation and balanced frequency response. Can you believe such performance with such huge gaps between the earpieces and the ears? The extensions were wide, smooth and evenly distributed.

I tried some old Bob Dylan and was shocked at how it could render the drums to lifelike veracity. It told you what’s going on in the highs yet without sounding gritty, dry nor glassy. The highs were extended, airy and smooth, yet retaining the correct weight.

Although I perceived a certain dryness in the lower registers and mids, even with tube headphone amp, it was not to the extend of robbing that tonal richness from the lower registers. Kick drums were fast, lively and tangible.

The mids, though not as moist and blossom as desired, still shined thru with its honesty in delineating the lines. It has got vivid presence which carved out the vocal from being masked by complex musical passages. It was as much alike as a properly positioned setup with well projected center imaging.

Since the unit was relatively new, I dared not angle it any farther than 10 degrees away as it was still tight like a virgin. However, that was enough to enable me a glimpse of air, space and freedom of sound being projected behind my head. Weird it was, but nonetheless miles ahead of what I have heard. The details even thrashed most of the home setups I heard, but that is just being unfair!

I was sure that I placed the earpieces to their intended side and the pivots were in front, enabling the earpieces to be fired exactly like speakers towards the ears from front. Maybe further angling and orientation might get the soundstage to my liking. But long dinner prevented me from getting too indulged and opened opportunities for longer future sessions.

I am a believer now.

Just in case you didn't know.

I was shocked at the same time excited as this might be a nice stand to go with my ProAc R8S.

The bottom plates very much resemble those in Fremont's stands.

Cannot afford the real deal Fremont, buy the stand also can gua?!

I think my R8S should look nice with that added confidence in the bottom end!

Nothing HODOH (bad looking in Malay) as the name implies.

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!

Officially discontinued in January 2006, this is a true benchmark in headphones sound!

Heck, I do call them ear speakers if you have seen one!

If you can find one, BUY!

More to come... stay tuned!