Streaming Bluetooth 47 Labs Gaincard Dynaudio Crafft NPR Tiny Desk Concerts

Letter from Hong Kong (20-1): Eric L on how 47 Labs Gaincard and $7 Bluetooth from Taobao came to his Rescue.

Editor's Preface: The author of today's article, Eric L, periodically communicates with me by email. After his recent comment on Bluetooth I invited him to write as a guest on his experience. Readers, do not be misled by his humility; he is actually quite an experienced audiophile who had things like Metrum DAC. I don't know his whole story, but I suspect he has left a lot behind him. Like any odd man out, Horn People, Infinity People, "Simple is Best" People just don't get to their desert islands without having wandered in the wilds for eons (and "paid their dues"!) I'd reckon too, someone who uses 47 Labs and Sparkler values Authenticity and Aesthetics. Enjoy!

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Click Pics to enlarge. From Left: Sparkler CDP; icOn4 AVC; 47 Labs Gaincard. The thin cable is 47 Labs; the white thing is part of their proprietary connector. Eric is having a hard time installing them. Below is pic of the BT device which unusually plugs directly into the outlet (rather than use USB battery charge or connected by wall wart).

From Eric L

For my first post, I'd try to be concise and not to bore you. I'll start by declaring that I’m not a hifi hobbyist nor a DIY enthusiast, just a music lover on the cheap (hence a follower of this Blog). Gone were the days that I would spend days to fine tune my system. When I listen to music now, I would like to play at least one whole song/movement, and likely prefer playing the whole disc instead of just an excerpt (say, track 15 from 0:15s to 0:37s for the fathomless cymbals and ocean deep bass).

None of my equipment is expensive in today’s sense but neither are they are too cheap since I believe there’s a certain amount of money you have to pay to achieve decent quality; but I would stop at a price point and I think anything beyond is for the building up of ego. I do believe there are many cheap tricks which really work and are worth exploring as they do not hurt my wallet. I listen to mostly CDs as my LP collection was GIVEN away in Canada many years ago by my cousin when I moved back to HK…. CAS was untreaded territory for me until recently, when on the recommendation of a friend I started to explore Bluetooth.

Size matters or not? I no longer worship massive 100 kg heavy rigs to stroke my ego and bad back, nor will I chase after Carnegie Hall ambience in my modest 200 sq.ft living room. I just want to sit back and relax and tap my feet with the music playing though my system. My theory is simple: as long as music makes me tap my feet or draw my focus constantly when I’m doing something else, it must be something good!

I also believe in less is more, the simpler the better. There is a Chinese saying: one more incense urn only attracts one more spirit (多只香炉多只鬼), meaning the more you design the more trouble you create. That’s why my appetite runs to 47 Lab’s Gaincard and NOS DAC. My latest setup:

Sparkler S507 CDP (upgraded to version ii)
Cheapo BT receiver from Tao Bao played through my vintage Macbook Air (recent discovery~)
Recently acquired Life-Changer Audio icOn4 AVC (autoformer volume control)
47 Lab Gaincard (single Power Humpty, Duo before)
Dynaudio Crafft
47 Lab cables and Mogami speaker cables

As you can see, since I have a bad back, the smaller the equipment, the better for me. All my gears can be easily pulled or dragged down by inch-thick interconnects and power cords, which luckily I never use. Stock 47 Lab and Sparkler power cords are decent enough for me! Also WAF is sky high on the scale due to the innocent, cute and tiny looks of them!

I describe my system as extremely musical and with great microdynamics, which makes you understand what is playing and why the musicians play that way. Great PRAT, transparent sound with lots of purity and no trait of its own personality. I'd characterize my equipment as natural, not neutral, in character. If the musicians and recordings are superb, I will be rewarded by great performances that entice me to press the repeat button if not restrained by my wife.

Bluetooth
Regrettably, my Sparkler CD/Amp combo I had acquired a couple years ago cannot effectively drive my Crafft loudspeakers [Editor: See Footnotes 1 and 2]. I borrowed a pair of 47 Lab Lens, which are supposed to be easier to drive, but the results were still far from what I got previously [Editor: See Footnote 3]. I was wondering what my next step would be…

One day, my friend called me as he had found a great “gadget”. He is a bit more adventurous than me anyway. He told me that his 7 USD Bluetooth receiver from Tao Bao (yes you heard me correct, seven bucks) directly plugged in, worked a treat in his system! Of course I was nonchalant about it but he was so kind to get me one for free~ thx man!

I hooked it up to my Sparkler integrated amp and, without any difficulties, it connected with the Macbook Air in my system and produced sound which was good enough for background music.

Fast forward to the day that I finally decided to pull the trigger and send my CDP to be upgraded to version ii and to be switched back from current mode to voltage mode so that I could again hook up my Gaincard, which was boxed. As Sparkler is a one man band (the designer DIY's every single order) I expected I would only get my CDP back in a month or two, which was fine as I had become used to no music.

While waiting for the upgraded Sparkler CDP, I took my Gaincard out from the box and hooked it up to my little BT device and connected it to my Crafft [Editor: See Footnote 4]. And my, oh my, everything came back to life! All the missing dynamics, details, musicality and even tuneful bass were again present and, surprisingly, the source was my humble Macbook Air paired to a cheapo BT device only!! The YouTube video channel Tiny Desk Concerts, which specializes in Indie music, was music to my ears again (especially the videos of The Free Nationals with Andy .Paak and Chronixx, as well as Raveena). I couldn’t stop tapping my feet with the tuneful and rich bass lines! Overall, the sound was way better than using Spotify on my old Android phone. So I would happily stick to the current combo. The only drawback is the finicky connection between my Mac Air and the BT: sometimes it works perfectly with no glitches but often I'd need to restart by unplugging the power from the outlet, which could be a compatibility issue. But that doesn’t bother me one bit as long as I have got music!!!! Perhaps the iFi Zen Blue will be the perfect solution…….lol

How would I describe the sound? With the right music channel, it’s organic, dynamic, tuneful, with reasonable details to get me going. No, you won’t pick up the breathing of the singer, nor the unlimited decay of instruments, and it lacks ultimate resolution in hifi terms. But I am enjoying every bit of the music it reproduces. I can imagine listening to internet radio or high quality music files using a better BT device; it will be heaven for me!!! Looking forward to getting the iFi Zen Blue!

Next time, I would like to talk about my impression of my newly acquired icOn4 AVC line control unit from Life-Changer Audio, plus, possibly, covering the ceramic balls used to support the gears and speakers. Old technology, cloned, bought so cheaply from, again, the almighty Tao Bao! My friend raves on and vows they significantly improve the overall performance and are probably among the best accessories he has ever had!

Here are links on The Free Nationals and Raveena:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y1VKZUg8XZA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pre9lE3Wa78

Another one by FKJ is also my recent favorite!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuc9C-C6Ldw

Update from Editor: As I neared the end of my edit, I received an email from Eric. Just as I thought in my preface, he is definitely an aesthete. Guess what? Not only was he previously a blog writer on the now defunct Yahoo Wine and Dine, he is an avid photographer. Visit his Instagram Account @ericlovesfuji to see his works, one of which I chose to place on top. As an Indie Audio Blog, I also dig his liking of Indie Music. Mind you, given the current music landscape, classical music is kinda Indie.

Editor's Footnotes: The casual reader may want to know [1] The Dynaudio Crafft, circa 1989, is Dynaudio's first monitor loudspeaker. Among audiophiles, it is known for its Esotar tweeter (though not the most coveted version) and its inefficiency (supposedly 86 db but much harder to drive than similarly spec'ed LS3/5A!). It has its adherents, but Eric's Sparkler amp likely only has 7 watts, an impossible task; [2] Sparkler favors current mode connection so its CDP can work with its own amp but not with conventional voltage mode operations (like the 47 Labs) unless converted back to voltage mode. The amp though likely has 1 voltage mode input; [3] The 47 Labs Lens (4722) is 47 Labs' first loudspeaker. I once had its alnico younger sibling, the 4737 and it definitely benefited from more solid state power (here); [4] The Gaincard only has one input. Also, if I remember correctly, the HK fellow I bought my 47 Labs Shigaraki digitals from used the Gaincard to drive the equally inefficient KEF 107. Comments (1) Old Apple products have terrible BT compatibility problems, so a better BT device may bring better sound but not necessarily better connectivity; (2) I can't wait to read about the icOn4. As it can have more inputs I'd like to hear about BT vs Sparkler CDP; (3) I sampled some of the music Eric mentioned. Tiny Desk Concerts is an NPR production which one can follow. They are excellent and in fine HD sound. I sampled others which are just as good. I embedded two at the bottom; the Chronixx is not from the NPR series.