Happy New Year

Letter from Hong Kong (23-1): Happy New Year from Shawn P.

Editor: I'm happy to present our new author from HK. Below is the brief history I solicited from him. Although highly experienced, he's for now confined to a much less than ideal smaller space in HK (plight of many audiophiles there). But he soldiers on, even with his bad back. I reckon he shall have a few surprise articles for us in 2023.

"Path to being an audiophile", is only a path; and whether I have reached “audiophile” status is another matter.

How far should I go back? Things that took place in the eighties were mostly based on myths and misconceptions. My view of good sound was cassette tape (preferably metal tape) played through Sharp GF-777 or Pioneer J7, and a Hi-Fi system must have a 31-band equalizer with flashing lights.

Many of these myths and misconceptions were destructive. They do not contribute to the path to being an audiophile. Perhaps later I shall pen another discussion on teens’ myths, and misconceptions from the eighties.

That said, my path began sometime in the mid-nineties when state of the art home internet was 56kb/sec (theoretically, and only under perfect conditions), I was studying in graduate school back home (at that time) in Texas, and everything was at least 10 miles away.

All these plus others defined my path. First and foremost, there was barely any information on the internet, there were not many dealers carrying good products. Best Buy and Circuit City did not have any “audiophile” products. Hence, it was not easy for me to come into contact with any good stuff.

As there was not much on the internet, I mainly obtained my knowledge and information from Barnes & Noble and Borders Books, where I could read all Hi-Fi magazines without being disturbed. It was nice.

One magazine stood out for me, “Stereophile”. Sadly, most equipment reviewed by Stereophile was very expensive and I had no idea how I could get my hands on any of them. I would also read the small advertisements at the back pages of Stereophile and I was able to find some reasonably priced items, including items from my favourites (still are) “Moth Audio” and “Fi Audio”. Coincidentally, they both sold a 2A3 amp for under USD1,000. They are both defunct and I regret I did not purchase any of their 2A3, as I then knew I would go back to Hong Kong in a year or so, and at that time a thousand something (including shipping) was plenty. In addition, I was not sure what I could do with only 3 watts.

But still, I wanted to build a system and I purchased the only thing I could afford from Stereophile; a pair of NHT Super Zero. USD 99.99 each, not bad. I cannot recall how I came to purchase the rest of the system; perhaps, based on the marketing write up of the Crutchfield catalogue.

That was an age of lack of information and most purchases I made were based on not much information but that was the time I began to evaluate a system based on sound and not visual clues (31-band equalizer…).

I went back to Hong Kong in 1997, and the scene was completely different from Texas. I could then get in contact with plenty of equipment easily. Just one stop usually would carry many brands and models. I also found “What Hi-Fi?” which reviewed more affordable equipment, and better yet, I could test drive most of them in local stores. Great!

What was more? The internet was blooming and even though it was still mainly dialed-up connections, there was more information.

My decisions then became not as blind and, sure enough, my first system in Hong Kong (IMHO) was much better than the one in Texas. You may ask what the components were: CD and amplifier were both Cambridge Audio, speakers were Mission. They were very affordable.

So far, everything then was solid state, but I am now mainly a tube person with only one cheap Emotiva solid state amplifier for reference. So, what changed and what happened?

Hong Kong's economy was pretty bad in 1998. 1997 was a peak and not long thereafter things went off the cliff. Needless to say, Hi-Fi market also went frozen in Hong Kong. I had wanted to get my hands on a tube amp mainly because I was given to understand that it would solve my solid-state fatigue syndrome (i.e., too much odd order distortion) and I thought it would look cool in the dark with the glowing light (I found out quickly that the tubes did not glow as bright as shown in the photos).

I read the local Hi-Fi magazines and there were plenty of cut-throat sales advertisements that caught my eyes. An ad from “勁旺音響” selling Anthem Integrated 1 for HKD6,000. I found enough information on the internet and realised it was an exceptional price. So off I went to Mong Kok and got one of the two remaining Integrated 1s. It was brand freaking new! [Editor: Footnote 1].

First time with tubes: I did not know much and everything was surgically careful. Checked the numberings of the tubes 26 times and finally I got the balls to turn the Integrated 1 on and thought it could be the end of my life if things started to explode.

It turned on and nothing bad happened, as mentioned. I was disappointed to see how dim the tubes glowed. It sounded very good, no solid-state fatigue (although it was a hybrid amp, Class AB) and it was a piece of equipment from a different class. That was the end of my solid-state path.

Economy did not get any better; in fact, it got worse. Better deals appeared and there was one I could not pass on, Unison Research Simply 2 and a pair of Klipsch Heresy II for under HKD10,000 total and brand new [Editor: Footnote 2]. I was quite happy with the system and in fact, the combination of Simply 2 and Heresy II is still among the best sounding, even as I can remember now.

A few years later, circumstances changed, and I no longer had the space for any system; my path had ceased to fo forward and I went into hibernation for a decade. It went completely dead in fact.

Fast forward to 2012 - technology and the internet had advanced. When I woke up from hibernation, I discovered many new things, foobar2000, Airplay, FLAC, ALAC plus more. I thought it would be easier to start a system again. I lost my Integrated 1 and Heresy II, and my Simply 2 had some issues. Fortunately, I also found out the Chinese Hi-Fi equipment had also advanced greatly and there were some good tube amps for not much.

I could no longer afford any foreign brands and I decided to try out Line Magnetic LM-211. I could not be happier especially with the price I paid. I am still using the LM after 10 years and it has been great.

The advancement of the internet certainly helped: it became much easier to obtain information and I was able to catch up quite quickly (such as reading this blog). The improvements of Chinese manufacturers also made the ecosystem more interesting. While it is true that the foreign brands are mostly not affordable, I must say that it is quite interesting to purchase equipment from TaoBao and try them out. Should anything go wrong, it is possible that I may be able to find a solution online. If not, try something else as they are mostly affordable.

How about a 300B amp for HKD 2,500 shipped? Not perfect but it sounds good. I believe it has only been possible in recent years. At least in Hong Kong, since Taobao shipping was not as convenient a few years back.

So, ladies and gentlemen, Happy New Year and enjoy all these new developments!

Editor's Footnotes: 1) I was there when the shop opened, with a cheap offer of the AIWA Discman that has a Digital Out, the kin of which was praised in the magazine 音响之路. It was very good (I was using I think an Audio Alchemy DAC)! And it stirred a couple of my colleagues at CUHK to acquire CD-Roms with Dig Out as source. I still have the thing in HK! Mr Jiang 蒋 is a nice guy, those were the days; 2) And our footsteps overlapped again! I got then an open-box Unison Research Smart 845 monoblocks for an irresistible price - great amps!