Kronos Pro, Air Tight PC-1 Supreme, Audionet, Auralic, Mola Mola, Qobuz, Bow Technologies, YG Anat Reference II

Click pics to enlarge. YG driven by Audionet monoblocks. Screen displays Qobuz.

NY Diary (19-12): Exotic High End, LP Kingdom, Vintage Silent Display

Two posts below I reported a trip to New Jersey. What I didn't report then were the main events of that day, and here they are now. A very full day indeed. The day started with dropping off at Paul's our gears for repair. Then we proceeded to the warehouse, and then a so-so late lunch and visit to Princeton Record Exchange, where I bought nothing, imagine! Then for some relaxation, we visited the home of JY.

Home Visit: Exotic High End
The basement was large and comforting. It housed some serious gear. JY is foremost a classical music man and an analog aficionado. The basement was spacious, comfortable and the wall of LP was inviting and comforting.

The Kronos Pro is a very expensive turntable that has garnered a good reputation. As the well written  HiFi+ review introduced, it combines suspension with twin counter-rotating platters (the latter first used by 47 Labs Koma). This marked the first time I heard Kronos. Cartrdige is the Air Tight PC-1 Supreme.

Amplification was all German Audionet (phonoamp on bottom rack, preamp and monoblock amps). Now, Audionet is very familiar to me. In HK I used to know the grey goods importer and got to hear many systems. Good power and OK/kinda bland sound but like most German gear this is not a favorite brand of mine, even among transistor offerings.

CAS is run via Roon, using a Linux Server. As JY does quite a bit of streaming and because of his classical bent, he uses the service of Qobuz, quite new to the US, which is hi-res. This is run into an Auralic Streamer, then into the Mola Mola Tambaqui DAC (another brand that I have never auditioned before), which also serve for CD playback via an old but very beautiful Bow Technologies CDP used as transport (of which I forgot to take a pic!). Bow used to be popular in HK and they sounded as good as they looked.

After suffering damage after a thunderstorm, the YG Anat Reference II were "upgraded" to "current technology" (still available on official website). I did not make a study of all the expensive cables.

Sound
We started with LP. The first one was a current re-issue Decca Ansermet Stravinsky Petroushka, and I cringed in my seat because of the lean balance and threadbare violins, the kind of sound we associate with bad digital. I really question the sound of many of these re-issues, and I as a rule don't buy them. Fortunately, after a few old LP's, sound got to be much better. In this system, interestingly the same album sounds better on London than Decca.

With a loudspeaker like that, it goes without saying that the system was very revealing. But most impressive was the dynamics - in Mahler Symphony No. 2 (Solti), the swing from a whisper to a fortissimo crash was downright awesome. A quibble is that due to the fast speed the bone-crunching dynamics sounded a bit unnatural and crescendos peaked too suddenly. However, impressive it nevertheless was! For sure, the sound was better than the many YG's I heard at HK shows.

We also asked to hear the streaming, which was surprisingly good, on par with the analog actually. Mozart's Zauberflote (Nezet-Sequin, DG) was pristine. We heard a few more cuts and stayed later than usual. In terms of CAS, JY's setup is relatively straightforward but it sounds much better to my ears than those complicated and threadbare systems concocted by many HK self-proclaimed computer audiophile guru's. As in much of audio, the more complicated it gets the worse the sound usually, and CAS is no exception.

Silent Display Then the over-generous Steven insisted on taking us to dinner. Because we had lunch late, we went to his spacious house first. He had equipment and LP everywhere on silent display. Music plays constantly when he's at work so it is no wonder he does not need to fire any of these up. He seems well on the way to become another 陽江十八子 ("Worlds's Number 1 Audiophile?" in this TAS article). Well, but Steven collects vintage only. Well, before I forget, thanks for the dinner! Some pics (click to enlarge):

Pair of Tannoy. In the corner cabinet, Fisher, Scott, Marantz 7C, ARC SP-11.

Study loaded with LP and CD. Pilot, Quad, and many pairs of Quicksilver's.

McIntosh, CJ

Tannoy Churchill, ARC D-79, CJ Premier 7, CAT SL-1, Marantz 8B

Infinity RS-1B Altec 604-H VAS Re-Tip Cartridge Repair Monster Alpha Genesis 1000 Decca VdH SC4E Gold

Click pics to enlarge. A Tale of Two Positions. Top, Initial Position, rather missionary; Above, Final Position, freer. The Bass Columns are all the way in the Back Corners, barely visible below the unused horns. The Front Panels are driven by CJ Premier 3 on the rack and Premier 8 monoblocks in the center. The Bass Column is driven by a Professional Crown Amplifier on the rack below the CJ P3. The Lenco in the center is not used on this occasion. The Thorens TD-125 with Decca Gold (VdH tip) is to its right. Below the Thorens are the Yamaha DVD player, TEAC DAC and Chinese Server. A bit of the VPI turntable is visible behind the left Altec A7 horn system. McIntosh C20 + MC-30 drive the Horns. Poor B&W 801's are covered up in purple.

Background and earlier session with the Infinity RS-1B here.

Infinity RS-1B, Almighty!
To paraphrase Anna Karenina a bit: All great sounding systems are more alike than different, and easy to write up; whereas bad systems are bad in all sorts of different ways and test a writer's patience (not to mention friendships). Now, this article is super easy to write!

This man Kevin is one of the most incredible audiophiles I have encountered. Over the course of a very short 2 years, he has gone from someone who was using a small Fostex full range to Altec A7 horn system, then B&W 801 and then now Infinity RS-1B (amply chronicled in this blog, search link). If audio is a degree, then in 2 years he went from high school to post-doc! Of course, he was helped along by Andy, and benefitted from Andy's many connections. I tell you, if you have the chance to connect with older audiophiles, do so; it is likely more beneficial than hanging out day and night on the internet. One thing great about Kevin is, whatever "advice" we give him (some just guesswork from experience), he would try it out. Even if the conclusion is different, the experience is worthwhile. Yes, audiophilia is serious work.

This pair of Infinity RS-1B came on the heels of Sad News - the departure of Andy's long-time friend, Mr Ma, a notable tech wizard familiar to many in upstate New York. When he was young, in Taiwan, Mr Ma serviced the very complicated Studer components and most things are just piece of cake to him. I should have touched upon him in my last article below but somehow didn't. Suffice to say, Kevin went with Andy and bought the Infinities which were languishing in the garage and also took home a pair of Altec 604-H.

Last weekend Kevin called us and told us of the great progress he has made since my last visit (here). I of course was a bit skeptical, as this kind of call has happened often with audiophiles. Gratifyingly, it proved otherwise on this occasion.

In-Room Kevin had drastically rearranged his room. He removed his sofas (to me unnecessary) and moved the Infinities forward (just as I'd like, as chronicled with his Altec's here and at one time his B&W's here). It is my firm opinion that in-room usually sounds the best. And this time, as in the past, it is proven again. The sound was wide open and dynamic, just superb, as one would expect of Infinity (at its best). Surprisingly, the bass alignment was excellent, and I could not detect any incoherence - an achievement! Closer Together We first listened to them this way (top pic), and the sound was highly focused, super-detailed, but somewhat tight and relentless. Further Apart Then we pulled them apart (second pic from top). Aloha! The strings in Sibelius Symphony No. 4 (Karajan/BPO; DG) sweetened considerably and everything relaxed; both Andy and I nodded in approval. Dialed in, as far as I am concerned, a total success! As a matter of fact, it sounds even better than Mark's Beta, as last heard here.

Loudspeaker Placement Again, as I have expounded many times in the past (search link), this illustrates the absolute importance of loudspeaker placement. For people who have a choice (I know many don't), it is imperative to try to find the best position. It is also true that in-room and near-field positions are freest from boundary effects.

Digital vs Analog To balance the system, this time Andy brought over material in both CD and LP format . We are in total agreement that digital and analog should sound similar in tonality at least. Here. tonally the modest digital setup was definitely warmer and fuller in the bass. The Sibelius was definitely better in CD form when the speakers were in initial position. Ditto Britten's own recording of his Prince of the Pagodas (Decca). But when the speakers took up the final position, wider apart, the sound smoothed out in the treble, to make the analog sound more open and detailed, without stridency. I judge it superior but, knowing Andy, I'd think he still prefers more warmth. Nonetheless, the way analog breathes and brings out the full harmonic spectrum, and how it makes one aware of phrasing, simply can only be approximated by digital. We discussed how the ribbons have their own sound, likely not easy to fully warm up.

Two Decca Cartridges Both have the Van den Hul re-tip, and both exhibited the Decca's virtue of fast transient time and evenhandedness. Detail is probably more than the original ones due to the VdH mods. Overall the Decca SC4E on the VPI Prime was preferable; indeed this marked the best sound I had heard on the VPI (that says a lot for me, as it is not my favorite brand). Andy is very particular about the TT used with Decca's; while his current choice is Nottingham, he gave approval to the VPI. The Decca Gold on the Thorens TD-125 (with tangential arm) was not far behind. As a Decca fan, I was quite happy with both; surely with time and some cabling experiments the sound would further improve.

Altec A7 I don't know what he did, but on this occasion the A7's sounded quite good driven by McIntosh C20 + MC-30. It was the best sounding since he moved them further back. This is just a footnote, as we didn't pay too much attention being more distracted by the younger brother...

Altec 604-H
A dining table and a few chairs separate the two ends of the room. I did miss the old couch, which I think he could have kept! But now at the other end is another horn system! The Altec 604-H is the last alnico iteration of this classics, which I have heard many times in HK (read this home visit in HK). The Bell 2122-C's were not optimally tubed and lacked impact compared to the Sun Audio SV-2A3, Sound showed potential and was in keeping with many others I have heard, though bass certainly could have been fuller. I told Kevin that one time I heard a McIntosh amp worked well with the 604. Kevin followed up and called me that sound had further improved. That would have to wait till the next report.

Altec 604-H driven by Bell 2122-C's and Sun Audio SV-2A3 (behind). Preamp is Conrad Johnson PV-5 and turntable is a Lenco L-78 with original arm and ADC cartridge.

Monster Alpha Genesis 1000 (VAS Repaired)
A few days later we had a lunch gathering at Andy's. He wanted us to hear his resurrected Monster Alpha Genesis 1000 Cartridge. This was a famous cartridge in its days, and Stereophile online has an article on its sibling 500 compared to the 1000.

Andy's 1000 is certainly not the first one Steve had repaired. Here is an interesting report on his job with this cartridge.

Our impressions were certainly in keeping with the Stereophile report. The Monster was made by ZYX, which still makes them more or less the same way. I am not a fan of ZYX, which I have heard many times in HK - its usual literal manner holds no fascination for me. On this occasion though, they sounded pretty good with Andy's A5's driven by a pair of vintage Bell 2122's. Andy's 1000 broke off after not much time, and he had waited all these years for a re-tip. Andy said VAS Steven's re-tip is likely better than the original. We enjoyed the music together with the sumptuous lobster noodle and seafood tofu soup.