Gemme Audio Katana DS Audio E1 Tannoy

Click pics to enlarge. Tannoy 15" Gold's. Driven by Marantz 7 and (not seen) Stromberg Carlson monoblocks. Source is the legendary 2-chassis Philips 1000. Marantz 9's idle. Thorens TD-125 not heard. In left foreground is an upside down Citation II.

Letter from NYC (23-14): One Day in New Jersey, and other Loose Ends

Written in Shenzhen

One Day in New Jersey

During my stay in NYC, I made 2 trips to NJ. One was with Richard, a visit to VAS etc. But, before that, I had made a trip with Kevin., which is briefly chronicled here.

In terms of audio, the trip served 2 purposes, We went to NJ Paul's place, where Kevin picked up his CJ MV-75 (Paul installed 2 meters for him). We also met Leo there, and "my" Harbeth P3ESR SE went back to him. We spent a bit of time listening to Paul's simple but effective system. Kevin wowed at the sweetness of the vocals there. The Tannoy's sounded nice indeed!

Kevin then drove to Northern NJ to run an errand with his Auntie, an astonishingly elegant old, pedigreed lady from Shanghai and an accomplished pianist. Below are pictures of the lavishly restored old Steinway. Nearby laid piles of scores, including the complete Beethoven Sonatas. I would love to meet this lovely lady again! And to hear her play!

An Afternoon with Kane

This blog had visited Kane before. Once again, I went with Paul (NYC, not to be confused with NJ). Kane's system hasn't changed that much, but he has upgraded his loudspeakers to Gemme Audio Katana. These use Accuton Ceramic Drivers. Design is said to be quasi "horn"/Transmission Line (Soundstage review). NYC Paul and I had actually heard them several years ago, before the pandemic, when Kane just got them. They were kinda shrill at that time, but this time it was very nice. Quite an opulent sound (Kane is a cable man, particularly Siltech fan, and that's what he strives for). BTW, our NYC Andy wechat group members may not know he's in the group, as @Ren Kang.

DS Audio Optical Phono Cartridge

To this day, I don't know how good DS Audio Optical Cartridges are, but I take every opportunity to hear them. What I do know is, they are good. At the very least, There'd be many people reluctant to take up this technology, and I don't blame them, as I was perhaps once one of them! When I first heard DS Audio a decade ago at a HK show (here, a very expensive one), I was skeptical, but I also conceded the sound was not bad and deserved more careful evaluation. Fast forward to now, thanks to Andy, I got to hear the cheapest E1 (green light) at 2 venues! At Andy's place (on an SP10), with the JBL system, I can report the sound as totally "normal" and truthful and neutral to the material. Andy has changed the opamps used in the "equalizer/amplitude device and I think he now uses the Douk E6 to buffer it for a warmer sound. Whatever, I heard nothing unsavory at all. Even at R's place, where the system sounded subpar, the sound was not bad. I myself would like to try it out one day and, at least with the cheapest E1 model, you should think about it! With the insane prices of today's MC cartridges, the E1 seems reasonably priced! For a completely different experience!

Andy's Opamp Stash

NJ Paul's treasure trove!

What a beautiful vintage Steinway!