Equipment used:
a) Cullman & Joby Tripod
b) Leica M240 x 28mm x 35mm x 50mm
c) Sony a6000 x 24 – 70mm equivalent
Hanging Up The Moon Immaterial Album Launch
Author: admin
Sonus Faber Toy Tower (Walnut)
More photos of this wonderful little floorstanding speaker, Sonus Faber Toy Tower. I have mounted Finite Elemente Cerapuc on the front & Ceraball on the back of the speakers spike. It tightened the bass and mid vocal immediately. Finally i have a full range speaker in the house for listening pleasure! The Italian are sure artisan in making sexy and desirable speakers and this is just the entry-level.
Having said this, the Scanspeak 25mm Ring Radiator tweeter is awesome ( found in higher end range eg: Cremona M , Guarneri Memento). Midrange deployment of 110 mm coated cellulose cone driver. Woofer duty is the 180mm hard Nomex cone driver ( notably used in PMC IB2 speakers).
There is nothing toy about the sound. It’s musical and enjoyable.
Sonus Faber Toy Tower
My first floor-standing speakers and it’s the Sonus Faber Toy Tower! Got this 3 years old baby from the previous owner due to upgrading (what’s new?) and he keeps it in very good condition. No visible scratch, dents and it’s show room quality. I am pairing it with DH Labs Q-10 Silver Sonic speakers cable to complete my current configuration. Am a happy camper.
Black Background
Today, after many eons, i heard the black background in music. Pre-amp could possibly be the weakest link in my current setup and I knew it to change from a Roksan K2 Integrated using the pre-out to a vintage 20 years old Mirror Image .2P Preamp (balance out). As in the search of the holy grail, today i might have found one that might possibly be a very good preamp.
It’s the Mark Levinson No 320S PREAMPLIFIER introduced in 2004. Retail price of US$8000 (used US$4.3k) in it’s days and carries the bloodline of the famed Reference Preamp No 32.
There many useful features that belies it’s simplistic but distinctive layout. This includes Polarity mode, sleep mode, gain and offset parameter setting for each input. One important design is differential balance whereby input signal (single ended) will be converted to balance and remain balance thru to output. This give a even lowered signal to noise experience that could explain why i can hear the “acoustic”of the singer’s recording room.
Here’s a direct comparison to Mirror Image .2P (a decent preamp) :
a) less fuzzy image
b) top end slightly airy but not too airy
c) bottom more define
d) a confident performance but not in your face
And that my friend is audio for the win.
JRDG Preamp List
Turntable Hum
The Ortofon 2M Bronze is definitely a good cartridge replacement from my 2 years old Rega Exact2 stylus. One problem i noticed was a regular hum during playback with it. I tried to ground the phono amp but to no avail. After reading up on how to eliminate turntable hum, one of the article mention to troubleshoot against the cartridge itself as it might be picking up magnetic interference. This lightbulb moment immediately prompt me to remove the Rega PSU underneath the plinth. Lo and behold, the hum is gone !
And the my friend is audio for the win.
Ortofon 2M Bronze
Finally took the guts (or overcome laziness) to change the Rega Exact2 cartridge to Ortofon 2M Bronze. The Exact stylus starts to loose the brightness – sheen after 2 years of play. William recommend Sumiko Blue Point Evo III as my replacement. Due to consideration like no stylus cover and the fragility of the 4 bare wires connectors, i opt for Ortofon 2M Bronze instead.
Thankfully, no solders gave way from the dislodge and insert to new pin connectors. This is a huge sigh of relief !!! Right now, it’s the running it stage for the next 50 hours or so for the new stylus.
Sound wise so far is its a high resolving stylus, i can hear layers of the mid-high range, like shimmering cymbals, percussions. I hear less intrusive noise although i can pick up some hum signal (which i need to earth the phono preamp possibly).
Ultrasonic Cleaning
A good use of industrial ultrasonic cleaner on vinyl!
McIntosh C50 Preamp
Combo for today is the awesome McIntosh C50 pre-amp. The warmth signature and it sound so lively and loud thru the Rockport Mira II. Bass extension is slamming !
Digital Audio Player
The year 2015 is very different 2005 as far as portable media player goes for me. I probably lost 10 years to 256kps MP3 and I am determine to start afresh to listen to high resolution audio. Many DAP on the market today with shortlist for this listener to either AK100 ii or Calyx M and the coming Sony ZX2. Still, i am not convince AK240 is worth the value to buy a portable DAP. It would be better to get a top of the line headphone rather than pursuing the current TOTL DAP. In 1-2 years time, AK240 would be “obsolete” in electronics value.
We did a aural comparison between iphone 4 vs iphone 5 recently and all agree that iphone4 is a damn good DAP for all it’s worth. Between iphone 6 & Calyx M, the ip6 holds up well with Calyx M winning with more authoritative musical performance. ip6 sound drier with Calyx M providing more listening excitement.
Right now, I am stuck with a semi-faulty Calyx M, whereby the battery life is extremely short and it discharges overnight be it in standby or power shutdown mode. I have wrote to the dealer which I have purchased from and they are checking with the Hong Kong supplier for a resolution. The UI and large screen of the Calyx M is the best out there and way friendly to use than Hifi Man and Fiio X series.
In conclusion, my advise is to get the Best Headphone or Earphone first. With good source file, any capable DAP will present the musical enjoyment you are seeking.