SPEC RSP-301 Real Sound Processor

Letter from Hong Kong (23-8): ELO on SPEC "Real Sound Processor"

SPEC is a brand that had aroused my interest from a random search of high-end Class D amps. I have been looking at Class D amplifier (in hope to better my Aiyima A8 Pro across the spectrum). Gato DIA250, Lyngdorf, AAVIK, Billie's Heaven 11. They all look handsome but I have yet to audition them to find out if they are better my Elekit/Aiyima combo.

Behind SPEC There is a group of Hifi fanatics who had retired from Pioneer. They are tube fans that specialize in Class D amplification, aiming to create tube sound from Class D, also with sufficient power to replay orchestral music with authority and slam.

I went for a trip to Osaka and spotted their SPEC H-K3 "Sound Insulator", a set of three circle wood pieces. I bought a set to place under my Wattson Emerson. The improvement was subtle at best - I wondered if it is because the weight of WEA is so light.

Doctorjohn's goodies from SZ are still in the hands of my friend Kwong, LOL. So lately there's not much tweaking in my system. One exception is that my friend Ray had brought a pair of Viard HD38 speaker cables (costing a whooping $38K HKD/ 2.5m pair) and I got to try it.  While it did bring an upgrade in sound, it was not earth shattering in my mind.

By chance I spotted the RSP-301 on sale on Review 33 forum. Hooking it up is a piece of cake - it's like hooking the earth box to the negative side of the loudspeaker but now both + ve and -ve are connected to the RSP301. 

To my big surprise, the RSP-301 brought an immediate upgrade in sound, across the spectrum, and without changing the sound character of my system. Everything improved significantly!

How does it work? I cannot go into details - all I know is that it may be due to stabilization of the impedance of the speakers, which makes the power amp work more efficiently. Snake oil you can call it, but it worked well on my system!

What is the improvement? Well, with the addition of the RSP-301, background is darker, soundstage is deeper, image is clearer and more defined, music is easier to follow and lyrics can be heard clearer! There is more air as well. Others things, such as dynamics, speed and slam remain the same.

After a month of listening without paying much attention of the existence of these little boxes. I come to notice the improvement on musicality which all my favorite songs has gained. Bass especially has more  bounciness,  roundness and attack. Timing of music is more accurate which the excitement , message of music is easier to be transferred to the audience!  It has become indispensable in my system!! 

Next I will be hooking up the goodies from DJ, but I am so satisfied that I don't even want to touch or tweak my current setup!

Photos taken at He Art Museum at Shunde, China. Designed by Tadao Ando, one of the best architects in the world. Famous for its fairface concrete structure design.