amitkeerti
New Member
It all started 3 weeks ago when i more or less decided to reserve an emotiva XDA-1. Few months back I was looking for a DAC and had zeroed down DAC magic then i read that emotiva is launching xda-1. now i had never heard emotiva so i wanted to hear it to decide whether to go for it or not.
This is when i pinged Santosh (santhol2). Santosh was in Singapore and was to arrive over the weekend. So i waited and called him on Friday. He had disconnected all the equipment and hence it would have taken some time to connect them back. So we decided to meet after a week. Me being me, called him on Friday. That week being a dasara week, we decided not to meet and postponed by one more week. As usual i pinged Santosh on Friday again. (I believe) Santosh must have got fed up of my pestering and finally agreed to meet on Saturday. Reached his house around 11 AM. He asked me to wait for couple of minutes outside the HT room. I could hear switches turning on sound coming up and lot of ruffling. Then he asked me to come in. What i saw was totally mesmerizing. Huge room (probably 20x18) adorned with red lights. Perforated cieling with lights giving you a feeling of andromeda-orion and what not. Walls covered with maroon/red colored acoustic panels. A huge panoview screen glaring at you, flanked by a pair of B&W on either sides. An array of audio equipments (more on it to follow) scattered all around the room. As soon as I entered the room, Jake sully successfully alighted his bird and flew over the river crossing the flying mountains. What a breathtaking scene.... This was followed by Jake and Neytiri entering the aiwa. The blue color background with the parachute like flies flying around them was too good to be true on a huge screen. I felt as if i was transported into the world of Pandora. The spectacle continued for about 15 minutes.
After about 15-20 minutes we decided to get down to business. Listen to Emotiva UMC-1 and B&W speakers.
I pulled out my first CD: Once upon a time in mumbai. We played the first two songs. "Pee loun" and "paaya maine". The first song took me completely off-guard. I have wharfedale 9.1 run by yamaha amplifier. And my previous review was for wharfedale 9.6 run by pioneer-nad combo. I am used to a particular sound signature for the song. What i was hearing was so completely different !! The base completely flat. mids and highs were very pronounced. And here, i was expecting a huge base from the speakers. The music sounded forward and bright and lacked thumping base. Same was the case with the second song "paaya maine". I looked at santosh who was busy replying to PMs on his netbook. He was completely oblivious. Then i removed the CD and we had some discussion about this. He concurred that Wharfedale is bassy compared to B&W.
Then I put my second CD: Alison Krauss's "Now That I've Found You: A Collection". We played the first song. "Baby, Now That I've Found You". Below is how i heard the song...
Baby, now that I've found you
<pluck><pluck><screach><screach><screach><pluck><pluck><pluck>
I won't let you go
<pluck><pluck><screach><screach><screach><pluck><pluck><pluck>
I built my world around you
<pluck><pluck><screach><screach><screach><pluck><pluck><pluck>
I need you so,
baby even though
You don't need me
now
<pluck><pluck><screach><screach><screach><pluck><pluck><pluck>
I thought, Boy, there is something seriously wrong. I have never heard the song this way. The string plucking on the guitar was very pronounced, the hand movement over strings was screacing. The song sounded so completely out of sync.
This is when it dawned onto me. These speakers are analytical to the core. There speakers are almost clinical. the emotiva-b&w combination makes sure that it will rip apart any mediocre recording. Even Alison Krauss audio CD could not escape.
Then we listened to the last song of: "Now That I've Found You: A Collection". "When you say nothing at all". This song has seen 4 different versions in its lifetime till now. Originally sung by Keith Whitley in the 80s, this song was the one that catapulted Alison Krauss to stardom. This song was also the first solo by Ronan Keating (I prefer Alison's rendition). I was slowly getting used to these reveling speakers. I was getting comfortable with the realistic sounding drums, squeaky guitars, saliva gulping and breathing sound of Alison krauss, the lips parting/meeting sounds (while singing) were being heard.
Shaken, I put my next CR. Shania Twain's Up. I have the Greed CD (Country version of the songs). We heard the 5th Song. "For ever and always." I really enjoyed the song on B&W. Completely different version from what i hear on my diamond 9.1. On diamond 9.1 the voice is heavy and especially during the groovy portion of the song, the voice sounds very masculine. But on B&W it sounds more feminine. Base is lesser. Amazing clarity in the mid-range and high-frequency section (which is missing in Diamond 9.1).
Now we decided to listen from the squeezebox. We played couple of Madonna songs. Santosh was very curious to show me the 24 bit/192 version of "Hotel California". Let me tell you, i have never been so happy listening to hotel California before. This seemed to be a live recording of the song. I was totally into the song and never realized when the song ended. We plated few more songs using squeezebox. I was impressed with the clutter-less feeling that squeezebox gives you.
I have never had an opportunity to listen to Turn Table before. When Santosh offered the option i jumped onto it. He gave me a brief history of the TT, how he was lucky to get it at a bargain price. His reason for entering the TT world. About the effort it takes to maintain the vinyls and the occasional popping sounds from TT. He recently bought some records from his trip to Singapore. One of the records was "Ultimate Audiophile Sounds" (boy these records are expensive !!!). Among the 10 songs in the record, i could trace a familiar name, who else, Alison Krauss. It took santosh about 2-3 minutes to carefully place the record and the reader on the record. Turntable hooked to Adcom pre-power combo which in-turn hooked to the B&W. Right from the word go, you can feel the difference. The sound is very analog, very musical, guitars and human voice sound so natural absolutely no fatigue. very smooth. It feels as if the song is being played live in front of you. Very relaxing indeed. We played 3-4 songs on the vinyl.
This is when we realized that Santosh had to leave for a lunch. I packed my CDs in my bag thanked Santosh for the amazing mid-morning ecstasy and left for my home.
After i came out of his house i asked myself how do i feel. I felt very calm, relaxed and thoughtless. The same state of mind that i am in, probably after meditation or sudarshan kriya. What do i say, Saturday well spent !!!
Summary,
GO for B&W speakers if
1. You love clinical, clear and revealing music.
2. Chest thumping Base is not your definition of music.
3. Dollars is your second currency and you dont convert Dollars to rupees in your mind for everything you buy.
When i came home, just for kicks i played Once upon a time in Mumbai and the first two songs: "Pee Loun" and "Paaya Maine". The chest thumping bass was back and i smiled with satisfaction. There i go, the Audio Blind !!!!
ps: Santosh also has a Yamaha 350 CC Bike. Mind you 350 CC !!! 150 CC more and Santosh can as well get into Moto GP
Thanks santosh for introducing me to the other end of audio.
This is when i pinged Santosh (santhol2). Santosh was in Singapore and was to arrive over the weekend. So i waited and called him on Friday. He had disconnected all the equipment and hence it would have taken some time to connect them back. So we decided to meet after a week. Me being me, called him on Friday. That week being a dasara week, we decided not to meet and postponed by one more week. As usual i pinged Santosh on Friday again. (I believe) Santosh must have got fed up of my pestering and finally agreed to meet on Saturday. Reached his house around 11 AM. He asked me to wait for couple of minutes outside the HT room. I could hear switches turning on sound coming up and lot of ruffling. Then he asked me to come in. What i saw was totally mesmerizing. Huge room (probably 20x18) adorned with red lights. Perforated cieling with lights giving you a feeling of andromeda-orion and what not. Walls covered with maroon/red colored acoustic panels. A huge panoview screen glaring at you, flanked by a pair of B&W on either sides. An array of audio equipments (more on it to follow) scattered all around the room. As soon as I entered the room, Jake sully successfully alighted his bird and flew over the river crossing the flying mountains. What a breathtaking scene.... This was followed by Jake and Neytiri entering the aiwa. The blue color background with the parachute like flies flying around them was too good to be true on a huge screen. I felt as if i was transported into the world of Pandora. The spectacle continued for about 15 minutes.
After about 15-20 minutes we decided to get down to business. Listen to Emotiva UMC-1 and B&W speakers.
I pulled out my first CD: Once upon a time in mumbai. We played the first two songs. "Pee loun" and "paaya maine". The first song took me completely off-guard. I have wharfedale 9.1 run by yamaha amplifier. And my previous review was for wharfedale 9.6 run by pioneer-nad combo. I am used to a particular sound signature for the song. What i was hearing was so completely different !! The base completely flat. mids and highs were very pronounced. And here, i was expecting a huge base from the speakers. The music sounded forward and bright and lacked thumping base. Same was the case with the second song "paaya maine". I looked at santosh who was busy replying to PMs on his netbook. He was completely oblivious. Then i removed the CD and we had some discussion about this. He concurred that Wharfedale is bassy compared to B&W.
Then I put my second CD: Alison Krauss's "Now That I've Found You: A Collection". We played the first song. "Baby, Now That I've Found You". Below is how i heard the song...
Baby, now that I've found you
<pluck><pluck><screach><screach><screach><pluck><pluck><pluck>
I won't let you go
<pluck><pluck><screach><screach><screach><pluck><pluck><pluck>
I built my world around you
<pluck><pluck><screach><screach><screach><pluck><pluck><pluck>
I need you so,
baby even though
You don't need me
now
<pluck><pluck><screach><screach><screach><pluck><pluck><pluck>
I thought, Boy, there is something seriously wrong. I have never heard the song this way. The string plucking on the guitar was very pronounced, the hand movement over strings was screacing. The song sounded so completely out of sync.
This is when it dawned onto me. These speakers are analytical to the core. There speakers are almost clinical. the emotiva-b&w combination makes sure that it will rip apart any mediocre recording. Even Alison Krauss audio CD could not escape.
Then we listened to the last song of: "Now That I've Found You: A Collection". "When you say nothing at all". This song has seen 4 different versions in its lifetime till now. Originally sung by Keith Whitley in the 80s, this song was the one that catapulted Alison Krauss to stardom. This song was also the first solo by Ronan Keating (I prefer Alison's rendition). I was slowly getting used to these reveling speakers. I was getting comfortable with the realistic sounding drums, squeaky guitars, saliva gulping and breathing sound of Alison krauss, the lips parting/meeting sounds (while singing) were being heard.
Shaken, I put my next CR. Shania Twain's Up. I have the Greed CD (Country version of the songs). We heard the 5th Song. "For ever and always." I really enjoyed the song on B&W. Completely different version from what i hear on my diamond 9.1. On diamond 9.1 the voice is heavy and especially during the groovy portion of the song, the voice sounds very masculine. But on B&W it sounds more feminine. Base is lesser. Amazing clarity in the mid-range and high-frequency section (which is missing in Diamond 9.1).
Now we decided to listen from the squeezebox. We played couple of Madonna songs. Santosh was very curious to show me the 24 bit/192 version of "Hotel California". Let me tell you, i have never been so happy listening to hotel California before. This seemed to be a live recording of the song. I was totally into the song and never realized when the song ended. We plated few more songs using squeezebox. I was impressed with the clutter-less feeling that squeezebox gives you.
I have never had an opportunity to listen to Turn Table before. When Santosh offered the option i jumped onto it. He gave me a brief history of the TT, how he was lucky to get it at a bargain price. His reason for entering the TT world. About the effort it takes to maintain the vinyls and the occasional popping sounds from TT. He recently bought some records from his trip to Singapore. One of the records was "Ultimate Audiophile Sounds" (boy these records are expensive !!!). Among the 10 songs in the record, i could trace a familiar name, who else, Alison Krauss. It took santosh about 2-3 minutes to carefully place the record and the reader on the record. Turntable hooked to Adcom pre-power combo which in-turn hooked to the B&W. Right from the word go, you can feel the difference. The sound is very analog, very musical, guitars and human voice sound so natural absolutely no fatigue. very smooth. It feels as if the song is being played live in front of you. Very relaxing indeed. We played 3-4 songs on the vinyl.
This is when we realized that Santosh had to leave for a lunch. I packed my CDs in my bag thanked Santosh for the amazing mid-morning ecstasy and left for my home.
After i came out of his house i asked myself how do i feel. I felt very calm, relaxed and thoughtless. The same state of mind that i am in, probably after meditation or sudarshan kriya. What do i say, Saturday well spent !!!
Summary,
GO for B&W speakers if
1. You love clinical, clear and revealing music.
2. Chest thumping Base is not your definition of music.
3. Dollars is your second currency and you dont convert Dollars to rupees in your mind for everything you buy.
When i came home, just for kicks i played Once upon a time in Mumbai and the first two songs: "Pee Loun" and "Paaya Maine". The chest thumping bass was back and i smiled with satisfaction. There i go, the Audio Blind !!!!
ps: Santosh also has a Yamaha 350 CC Bike. Mind you 350 CC !!! 150 CC more and Santosh can as well get into Moto GP
Thanks santosh for introducing me to the other end of audio.
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