ranjeetrain
New Member
Lately I have been trying to consolidate my stuff and simplify into something easy and more manageable. To that end I was looking to audition Consonance Opera mono-blocks (reviewed very positively by one and all). Unfortunately, there seems to be no way I can find a dealer that stocks them in here. And a trip to Shenzhen is getting postponed again and again. Anyway, finally I found some good leads and came to know about Tommy Ho of Li Min Audio. Li Min Audio is THE shop for high-end hifi lovers in Shanghai. Strictly a two channel affair, they deal in some of the very best (and the most expensive of stuff).
Tommy Ho A gentleman trained in western classical, and an avid lover of music. Few of the dealers I have visited have so much of music as him. 100s of CDs/SACDs lying all over his demo room. And apparently he knows his collection. Everything I played he identified immediately, and not just the commercial music but also tech-test tracks. A knowledgeable person. Or should I say, an audiophile turned an audio dealer!
Li Min Audio THE shop for expensive gear in Shanghai. Want to hear some of the best there is? Go to Li Min Audio! Some products they have ON DISPLAY include: Acapella (US$ 11.5K 205k), DALI Megaline (only made to order), Eggleston (I didnt dare ask the prices), Genesis, Krell etc. Electronics included: Goldmund, Krell, Mark Levinson, Primare, Red Rose Music, Sonic Frontiers among the ones I remember. If I were to make a guess, there was more than USD 2 million (INR 10 crores) worth of stuff on display.
I contacted Mr. Ho and setup a demo (apparently he doesnt live in Shanghai, so an appointment is a must). I reached there and was warmly welcome. He doesnt have much staff (or so it seemed). More like a business run out of love. And I can see why! How many people would like to spend that kind of money on Hi-fi?
My primary objective was to check out some amps, but I came out very knowledgeable about many other subjects. Such as Cheap transport vs. expensive transport, Benchmark HDR 1 vs. Nuforce Icon HDP, Sonic Frontiers vs Red Rose Music. Time permitting, I will talk about these all as some of them are subjects a lot of people will be interested in.
Cutting to the chase: Once I was into the demo room, we got going. Things were less or more setup and just connection needed to be made/checked. I was advised two of their cheapest amps they had (One of the best way to feel how poor you are is to go to such a showroom). A Sonic Frontier SFS-80 and a Red Rose Music Model 2. The Sonic Frontier is an 80 wpc amp known for its silky, lush warm sound full of tube goodness, whereas Red Rose Music takes a different approach. More on the specifics coming up.
Round 1: We played some Jazz/Classical through Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne. Now, MMMicroOne speaker is no less interesting than its name. Its looks are not cryptic like its name, but never judge a book by its cover. Inside the chick looking high-end furniture grade finish, there is some serious technology. These bookshelves pack two 4-inch (yes 4 inch, isnt the name MMMicro something?) drives and a ribbon tweeter in a strikingly beautiful package, that you may want to buy even if they didnt sound good. But if they did sound good, God help you, there is no way to resist the temptation. And they did. Even as I am going to tell you in detail how they did it, the summary is here. Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne are serious speakers that have the capability to transport you to the live performance and look good to death. Their small size is unbelievable till you hear them. The name Micro suits them well, but there is absolutely nothing micro about the way they reproduce music.
The chain was: Goldmund Transport > Goldmund Pre-DAC > Benchmark HDR 1 DAC > Sonic Frontiers SFS-80 > Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne. When the sound first emerged from the speakers, the very first thing that struck me was: the soundstage. I am used to big soundstages of Sennheiser HD 650 and AKG 701 and I hear them quite often. But the soundstage from this setup tore them apart. The room disappeared and I was like in an auditorium or a stadium under open sky. This setup sounded HUGE! Vocals were outstanding!! Male vocals were nothing short of magical. A lot of throat and chest in the reproduction. I became very interested in the setup. As we progressed to do more listening, one limitation however became evident. At very loud volumes (not loud, very loud) they lost the grace. It seemed speakers were struggling to go loud (and it wasnt that improbable going by their 87db rating). However, at normal to loud volume levels they sounded just right, with a lot of tube goodness. It just sounded like a great setup (and it better did, with no less than 2 Goldmund components in the chain).
So far the music played was what Mr. Tammy thought to be good. But since I wasnt familiar with those tracks I decided to unveil RRDD (Ranjeet Rains Demo Disk). The objective was not only to judge the system based on what I think they should have sounded like, but also to bring the system to a more earthly level (closer to how I would use it in practice). I did it in two parts. Firstly, I listened to my tracks on the above system and then removed all the components I wouldnt use, replacing them with my own components. So we got down to listening to the above setup with my tracks.
Round 2: The first track I played was s Wonderful Diana Krall. This is a great recording and one of the very best of Diana. And I have to say she sounded magnificent. Though I have to concede the system did more justice to male vocals than female vocal. But then, Diana has a deep voice and the setup brought out the nuisances of the recording very well. Next was Love Over Gold Dire Straits. The track again sounded great, with good speed, and fast transients. But not as fast as on many SS setups. Heck, the NuForce Icon driving the HD 650 sounds faster, so does my vintage Avance spakers driven by a cheap tube amp. In brief, the transients were good, but not extra ordinary. Not at least better than my Denon receiver driving MK Sound speakers. What was of course great was the realism in the sound, not to mention the sound stage. Stereo imaging was great as well with instruments located well enough. All in all, the setup was very close to being there in the stadium Dire Straits playing right in front of me. Next was Touch and Go a track from one of my lounge albums. This track has a huge spatial separation, a highly seductive voice and goes pretty low. This track brought out the limitation of the setup clearly. Usually, whenever I listened to this track, I listen to it at about 6 db higher than my usual listening level to immerse myself in the sound track. But here I had to immediately dial the volume back down, to prevent the speakers from going all over. To confirm that the system was unable to cope with deep notes, I played Hotel California the live acoustic version. It was immediately confirmed that the setup was unable to do deep notes at high volume. At normal volume levels however, the system continued to amaze me. [I and Mr. Tommy were constantly chatting during the demo, as if Mr. Tommy was auditioning the gear along with me too]. At this point Mr. Tommy pointed out that the speakers have a slightly lower sensitivity at 87 db and hence having a hard time going very loud (to which I kind of agreed). However, the actual reason was something else, as became evident later). We played some more tracks and then moved on to next round.
Round 3: I removed the Goldmund Transport from the chain and replaced it with my tweaked PC (an HP Elitebook). I also removed the Goldmund DAC Pre + Benchmark HRD from the chain and replaced it with Nuforce Icon HDP. Now the chain was exactly how I would like to use it at my home should I buy it. HP Elitebook > Nuforce Icon HDP > Sonic Frontiers SPS-80 > Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne. With this we proceeded to repeat the test as earlier. Same tracks, in nearly the same sequence trying to figure out various aspect of the system.
What was the difference? I hate to say this, but the difference was negligible. I must have cloth ears, but I had to struggle to think what was lacking in current sound that the previous chain produced. And after stressing a lot I came to conclude a few things. Background was darker with previous chain. Not by a lot like I said earlier, but it was. How many people can hear the difference, however, would only depend on how good a pair of ears they have and how resolving systems they are used to. Here the system we were listening to was not extremely high end, but fairly high end (I suppose two Goldmunds in the chain is enough to qualify the system as high end, right?). And then I brought it back to more real (for me levels) and I didnt miss much. Imaging wasnt as good. With previous chain, the location of instruments was better. But not by a lot, I must repeat, to my ears at least. [At this point I had Mr. Tommy inquire me about what was the component and how much it retailed. Fallacy of playing in the big league, you lose track of whats going around in the lower leagues.] A cheap transport and a cheap DAC (relatively) was giving me 98-99% of the extremely high end chain it replaced (according to my ears). [More on Nuforce Icon HDP vs Benchmark HDR 1 coming soon].
An element of surprise: While changing equipment I looked for what cables were in use. I was surprised to see the speaker cable was Canare, the same cable I use throughout in my home theater. Canare is one of the most underrated names in Cable industry I guess. I havent seen many folks use it, except the few who know about it.
Another element of surprise: Between the rounds Mr. Tommy asked me casually where I was from. When he learned I was from India he immediately told me about another client he has from India. He immediately called him and put me on the line with him. We spoke for about 5 minutes and had a casual exchange. He told me very fondly that he used to own PoLk Audio (he pronounced it with the L) that he imported from USA and later bought BMW (yes, he said BMW) speakers from Mr. Tommy. We wished each other luck and then back to business.
Some photos are here: Hi-Fi
[To be continued]
Tommy Ho A gentleman trained in western classical, and an avid lover of music. Few of the dealers I have visited have so much of music as him. 100s of CDs/SACDs lying all over his demo room. And apparently he knows his collection. Everything I played he identified immediately, and not just the commercial music but also tech-test tracks. A knowledgeable person. Or should I say, an audiophile turned an audio dealer!
Li Min Audio THE shop for expensive gear in Shanghai. Want to hear some of the best there is? Go to Li Min Audio! Some products they have ON DISPLAY include: Acapella (US$ 11.5K 205k), DALI Megaline (only made to order), Eggleston (I didnt dare ask the prices), Genesis, Krell etc. Electronics included: Goldmund, Krell, Mark Levinson, Primare, Red Rose Music, Sonic Frontiers among the ones I remember. If I were to make a guess, there was more than USD 2 million (INR 10 crores) worth of stuff on display.
I contacted Mr. Ho and setup a demo (apparently he doesnt live in Shanghai, so an appointment is a must). I reached there and was warmly welcome. He doesnt have much staff (or so it seemed). More like a business run out of love. And I can see why! How many people would like to spend that kind of money on Hi-fi?
My primary objective was to check out some amps, but I came out very knowledgeable about many other subjects. Such as Cheap transport vs. expensive transport, Benchmark HDR 1 vs. Nuforce Icon HDP, Sonic Frontiers vs Red Rose Music. Time permitting, I will talk about these all as some of them are subjects a lot of people will be interested in.
Cutting to the chase: Once I was into the demo room, we got going. Things were less or more setup and just connection needed to be made/checked. I was advised two of their cheapest amps they had (One of the best way to feel how poor you are is to go to such a showroom). A Sonic Frontier SFS-80 and a Red Rose Music Model 2. The Sonic Frontier is an 80 wpc amp known for its silky, lush warm sound full of tube goodness, whereas Red Rose Music takes a different approach. More on the specifics coming up.
Round 1: We played some Jazz/Classical through Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne. Now, MMMicroOne speaker is no less interesting than its name. Its looks are not cryptic like its name, but never judge a book by its cover. Inside the chick looking high-end furniture grade finish, there is some serious technology. These bookshelves pack two 4-inch (yes 4 inch, isnt the name MMMicro something?) drives and a ribbon tweeter in a strikingly beautiful package, that you may want to buy even if they didnt sound good. But if they did sound good, God help you, there is no way to resist the temptation. And they did. Even as I am going to tell you in detail how they did it, the summary is here. Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne are serious speakers that have the capability to transport you to the live performance and look good to death. Their small size is unbelievable till you hear them. The name Micro suits them well, but there is absolutely nothing micro about the way they reproduce music.
The chain was: Goldmund Transport > Goldmund Pre-DAC > Benchmark HDR 1 DAC > Sonic Frontiers SFS-80 > Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne. When the sound first emerged from the speakers, the very first thing that struck me was: the soundstage. I am used to big soundstages of Sennheiser HD 650 and AKG 701 and I hear them quite often. But the soundstage from this setup tore them apart. The room disappeared and I was like in an auditorium or a stadium under open sky. This setup sounded HUGE! Vocals were outstanding!! Male vocals were nothing short of magical. A lot of throat and chest in the reproduction. I became very interested in the setup. As we progressed to do more listening, one limitation however became evident. At very loud volumes (not loud, very loud) they lost the grace. It seemed speakers were struggling to go loud (and it wasnt that improbable going by their 87db rating). However, at normal to loud volume levels they sounded just right, with a lot of tube goodness. It just sounded like a great setup (and it better did, with no less than 2 Goldmund components in the chain).
So far the music played was what Mr. Tammy thought to be good. But since I wasnt familiar with those tracks I decided to unveil RRDD (Ranjeet Rains Demo Disk). The objective was not only to judge the system based on what I think they should have sounded like, but also to bring the system to a more earthly level (closer to how I would use it in practice). I did it in two parts. Firstly, I listened to my tracks on the above system and then removed all the components I wouldnt use, replacing them with my own components. So we got down to listening to the above setup with my tracks.
Round 2: The first track I played was s Wonderful Diana Krall. This is a great recording and one of the very best of Diana. And I have to say she sounded magnificent. Though I have to concede the system did more justice to male vocals than female vocal. But then, Diana has a deep voice and the setup brought out the nuisances of the recording very well. Next was Love Over Gold Dire Straits. The track again sounded great, with good speed, and fast transients. But not as fast as on many SS setups. Heck, the NuForce Icon driving the HD 650 sounds faster, so does my vintage Avance spakers driven by a cheap tube amp. In brief, the transients were good, but not extra ordinary. Not at least better than my Denon receiver driving MK Sound speakers. What was of course great was the realism in the sound, not to mention the sound stage. Stereo imaging was great as well with instruments located well enough. All in all, the setup was very close to being there in the stadium Dire Straits playing right in front of me. Next was Touch and Go a track from one of my lounge albums. This track has a huge spatial separation, a highly seductive voice and goes pretty low. This track brought out the limitation of the setup clearly. Usually, whenever I listened to this track, I listen to it at about 6 db higher than my usual listening level to immerse myself in the sound track. But here I had to immediately dial the volume back down, to prevent the speakers from going all over. To confirm that the system was unable to cope with deep notes, I played Hotel California the live acoustic version. It was immediately confirmed that the setup was unable to do deep notes at high volume. At normal volume levels however, the system continued to amaze me. [I and Mr. Tommy were constantly chatting during the demo, as if Mr. Tommy was auditioning the gear along with me too]. At this point Mr. Tommy pointed out that the speakers have a slightly lower sensitivity at 87 db and hence having a hard time going very loud (to which I kind of agreed). However, the actual reason was something else, as became evident later). We played some more tracks and then moved on to next round.
Round 3: I removed the Goldmund Transport from the chain and replaced it with my tweaked PC (an HP Elitebook). I also removed the Goldmund DAC Pre + Benchmark HRD from the chain and replaced it with Nuforce Icon HDP. Now the chain was exactly how I would like to use it at my home should I buy it. HP Elitebook > Nuforce Icon HDP > Sonic Frontiers SPS-80 > Evolution Acoustics MMMicroOne. With this we proceeded to repeat the test as earlier. Same tracks, in nearly the same sequence trying to figure out various aspect of the system.
What was the difference? I hate to say this, but the difference was negligible. I must have cloth ears, but I had to struggle to think what was lacking in current sound that the previous chain produced. And after stressing a lot I came to conclude a few things. Background was darker with previous chain. Not by a lot like I said earlier, but it was. How many people can hear the difference, however, would only depend on how good a pair of ears they have and how resolving systems they are used to. Here the system we were listening to was not extremely high end, but fairly high end (I suppose two Goldmunds in the chain is enough to qualify the system as high end, right?). And then I brought it back to more real (for me levels) and I didnt miss much. Imaging wasnt as good. With previous chain, the location of instruments was better. But not by a lot, I must repeat, to my ears at least. [At this point I had Mr. Tommy inquire me about what was the component and how much it retailed. Fallacy of playing in the big league, you lose track of whats going around in the lower leagues.] A cheap transport and a cheap DAC (relatively) was giving me 98-99% of the extremely high end chain it replaced (according to my ears). [More on Nuforce Icon HDP vs Benchmark HDR 1 coming soon].
An element of surprise: While changing equipment I looked for what cables were in use. I was surprised to see the speaker cable was Canare, the same cable I use throughout in my home theater. Canare is one of the most underrated names in Cable industry I guess. I havent seen many folks use it, except the few who know about it.
Another element of surprise: Between the rounds Mr. Tommy asked me casually where I was from. When he learned I was from India he immediately told me about another client he has from India. He immediately called him and put me on the line with him. We spoke for about 5 minutes and had a casual exchange. He told me very fondly that he used to own PoLk Audio (he pronounced it with the L) that he imported from USA and later bought BMW (yes, he said BMW) speakers from Mr. Tommy. We wished each other luck and then back to business.
Some photos are here: Hi-Fi
[To be continued]
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