UMI 2 Clarity Plus S2

Letter from Hong Kong (24-13): ELO on UMI 2 Clarity Plus S2, Part II

UMI 2 Clarity Plus S2, Part I

It's been a few weeks since I received the new UMI 2 and I have been using it everyday. Some may wonder why I am so enthusiastic about this product. I hereby declare that I have no personal interest in this brand and I bought my own UMI unit. I do not  know Engineer Li (the chief designer) nor had any contact with him although I would love to meet him!

I have been praising this little transformer for so long (since Mk I) it's possible some readers may wonder whether I have overexaggerated the effects. Well, thanks to Icefox, who had recently organized a group buy, 3 of my Hifi friends who trust my ears also took the plunge.

Initial Feedbacks from my Hifi Friends

Kwong He has been my long term Hifi buddy since the 90s. We have been inspiring each other and often recommend gadgets and gear to each other. I took his advice on the "Studer" cables and the popular little Bluetooth device H9A. The "Studer" Cables has now become indispensable in my system. While I had recommended to him quite a few items in his current system:Audionet, JMR, Holo Spring, Rayaudio and now the UMI! 

He was so excited that he called me on two consecutive nights to tell me how amazing this unit is! At the beginning, the sound of UMI 2 Clarity Plus was not appetizing to him at all! But the second night, with a little play time under the belt, the unit transformed itself and then went from strength to strength! Here's his view:

"...the high end extension seems limitless. With the UMI, the supertweeter flourished. The music is now extended beyond the walls and the soundstage had been pushed back 3 feet to create a holographic soundstage. The decay of instrument seems to last forever, like the half-life of Uranium, LOL! The loudspeakers just disappeared!

...Background becomes darker, resulting in heaps of low-level details emerging from the depths. Bass extension improves and more bass details show up. Playing Chinese Guqin is such a treat and I'm stunned by the endless reverbs of decaying notes washing over each other. Imagine rain falling on a pond and creating ripples which intersect with each other!

...Vocals is natural with no edges nor any digital glare. I'm drawn into the sea of music and have no choice but to isten to song after song. Even familar songs which I have listened to hundreds of times sound like brand new songs or recordings!

...In conclusion, UMI is THE most important upgrade in my system. The word "improve" is not enough; "transform" is more like it!..."

Needless to say, he immediately placed an order for additional one!!

"7" Another friend  who was perhaps a bit skeptical initially about my overly enthusiastic recommendation (remember that I almost lost a friend over hard persuasion) and procrastinated a bit but finally joined the group buy. Needless to say, we have another happy customer, and here's what he wrote:

"...好多謝一位音響師兄前輩朋友ELO兄介紹我使用，起初都半信半疑，引不起即時購買嘅意欲，又相隔一段時間，ELO師兄告知攪了一個團購計劃，抱住信ELO師兄心態去購買，貨到時ELO師還親自帶給我，正值下午時份沒時間測試，當晚工作結束，打開包裝插進系統，一著機，這還是我的系統嗎？這音效從未出現在我的音樂室，真是太豐富太精彩，多了從來未聽過的音樂細節，這次真是買對了，也即時覺得這次花費，物有所值，完全超出金錢上的性價比，真的沒有介紹錯，我還打算多購入一台去再次提升糸统，這次花錢來得出的效果十分顯著明顯有效，感謝ELO兄推介，也希望多啲同好受惠..."

(Translation: Many thanks to my HiFi friend ELO who had introduced the UMI to me. At first I was skeptical with the UMI and did not have the urge to try it out. After a few months has passed, ELO told me that there's a group buy, so I thought I may give that a try based on his recommendation. ELO delivered the UMI 2 to me in person! I waited till the night after work and unwrapped the unit and hooked it up immediately. At once , I asked myself if this is the same system I  have been listening to everyday? The extent of impact and improvement brought by UMI2 has not been experienced in my music room previously and it's simply amazing. I heard so much more details in music which were not picked up before. I think I made a right decision and also think the money spent is well worth it. The PQR value surpasses any products I had bought previously. That was a heck of a recommendation and I am planning to buy another unit, hoping to elevate further the performance, which is so pronounced and immediate. Thanks ELO for his persistent recommendation, and hope more hifi lovers can benefit from this unit.)

Also, needless to say, he immediately placed an order for additional one!!

"7" also bought a vintage MF power amp recently and I asked him how it is. He said  with confidence "With UMI in the mix, everything that you throw in always sounds good!!"

Jo Another music lover friend of mine, Jo has been following my recommendations on building up his system, and after the listening session Chez Mila (see Part I), he was really gobsmacked by Mila's system and the changes UMI made. However, although he feels that in his system there are improvement when UMI is plugged in, his deelings do not seem to be up to the magnitude expressed by Kwong and "7". Also, he thinks that his noise background at home is not dark enough to reveal all the details. Therefore, I will leave him time to improve on his setup first. He will try to make a DIY ground box to lower the noise floor further. So stay tuned!

Well, things has progressed unexpectedly in a good way. I had bought him some tourmaline chips and a big piece of black tourmaline for him to DIY a gorund box. Today, he bought a wooden box and use a cheapo wire to connect it to the back of his router. He heard a difference immediately and can hear more nuances of singing skills of  Sandy Lam which makes her famous! So his setup has improved due to various upgrade! Good to know!  I give some credit to his DIY Ground box, UMI1 and "Studer" cable, LOL!

My impressions
By now, you must be curious on my own experience with the UMI 2 Clarity Plus S2 and how does that compare to my UMI 1. After I plugged in the UMI 2 and start listening to it, I lent my UMI 1 to Dr. Lo so I still haven't had the chance to directly A/B. Strangely, Dr. Lo is the only person among my friends who has experienced a setback in musical experience. I don't know what went wrong and scratch my head. He's giving me the chance to go over to his place; maybe I can try to find out why and that's the fun of playing with Hifi, haha.

My initial feeling is, if broken down into hifi parameters, all the good things that UMI 1 has, UMI 2 Clarity Plus has them too, and perhaps I do not feel any significant improvement. However, as a whole, there is an improvement in overall musical experience. The sound has gained refinement and has become more organic, smoother, more natural and musical. At first, I felt that there may be a slight loss in detail when compared to UMI 1. But the more I listen, the more I do not feel that way. In fact, the details are there but not as flashy. The music presentation has become more holistic -  I would  say overall a 10 to 15% increase in quality of UMI 2 Clarity Plus over UMI 1 (since the starting point of UMI 1 is quite high already)