My latest hi fi configuration is shown below. Nothing really new, just some 'recycled' components connected a little differently. It has all added up to a changed, but improved, overall sound.

So what's changed?

• The Supratek Pre / Power are currently out of the system, and back with manufacturer in WA for a refresh;
• The Promitheus TVC has been run in now for over 250 hours and is doing good things. It is not adding much but not removing anything either, just transparent and silent;
• The Red Rose Music Model 2 Silver Signature power amplifier is back! Currently operating in triode mode (~18 watts / channel), it is providing a degree of delicacy and engagement previously missing. Also it is operating relatively noiselessly;
• The Zu Audio Definition Mk 1.5 speakers have been pushed further back towards the front wall, positioned a little closer together and 'squared up' to reduce toe in. The result has reduced the depth of the musical window a little but helped the overall musicality. Listening off axis now, the highs don't 'take your ears off' anymore;
• The Furman power conditioner has come back from a warranty repair to deliver clean power to the components. And placed on a dedicated stand to aid cooling and access;
• Kimber Select (Copper) RCA and XLR connectors throughout the 2 channel system, with the Red Rose Silver RCA added to the Yamamoto;
• Various combinations of Black Diamond Racing cones & pucks, and Vibrapod cones & bases sprinkled throughout the system;
• Better headphone integration as I am now using the Wadia DAC for iPod / iTransport listening as well as CD spinning & de-coding for the 2 channel system;

wadia: Audio

The local hi fi forum, Stereo Net Australia (SNA) has a very active membership, and is very strong in Melbourne. In addition to the useful online information exchanges there is also a concept called Get-to-Gethers (GtGs)where members invite fellow SNA'ers for a bite to eat, a drink and a listen to music and equipment in convivial surroundings.

Events vary in size from 3 or 4 to a maximum of around 25, obviously depending on room and / or house size. And if you think this is just an excuse for a beer and sausage sizzle, ah,no. See some of the pictures below to get a sense of the planning and execution effort that goes into these things. Drinks are usually BYO, with all wine put on show in the middle of the table(s) for all to share. If what you bring is not up to snuff, then you have the pain of watching the bottle you brought remain untouched while hoping that nobody saw you put it down.

Guests are invited to also bring a selection of music to demo. This does two things. It providers the guests with some reference tracks to help evaluate & get a handle on the differences of the hots's system, compared to one's own. Also it is a rich source of 'new' music as it exposes a wide range of artists, genres and periods.

With that preamble, I am happy to report that I have attended two such events over the last month or so.

Details on Mustud52's event, coming soon.

Details on Keith_W's event, coming soon. But in the meantime, here is the official Keith's SNA GtG Thread.

The Acapellas, just gorgeous! - Photo by JohnA 2010

wadia: Audio

I am a member of the hi fi forum StereoNet Australia, and through the forum I have met a number of wonderful people and heard some world-class systems. One such individual and system is owned by forum-nickname LuckyDog, who luckily (sorry for the awful pun) lives only 10 minutes from me. In his spare time, LD is also a representative of the Australian hi-fi distributor / dealer puremusicgroup who sell an interesting, eclectic and great sounding selection of gear sourced from most continents of the world.

Along with two other forum members, Spearmint and Mustud52 I was fortunate to be invited to LD's place recently for a listen to his latest system additions.

LuckyDog, Wadiaman and Spearmint


The Kuzma / Lyra combo was the star of the show while Wadiaman graces the stunning, fully active ADAM Tensor Beta

The purpose of the day was to spend some time comparing SACDs with vinyl. LuckyDog has a new US made Playback Designs MPS-5 CD/SACD player to spin the little silver discs and the Kuzma XL2 turntable, with a Kuzma '4 Point' arm and Lyra Titan i cartridge, with a Kuzma phono stage to play the big black platters. These fed an interesting pre-amp option, a Lightspeed Attenuator hand made by, and avialable directly from, an Australian hi fi designer, George Stantscheff. No moving parts just an LED-based resistor to control the gain. One pair of RCAs in and one pair of RCAs out meant some swapping of interconnects as we compared the two technologies. But that 'delay' was a window for the group to discuss the pros / cons of what we had just immediately heard. It actually worked very well. The speakers were the ADAM Audio Tensor Beta fully active floor standers, that are stunning to look at and powerful to listen to. It promised to be an interesting and fun afternoon and that is how it turned out.

...

Playback Designs MPS-5 & The Lightspeed Pre

The quality of the two source devices certainly accurately portrayed the sound quality of each of the software titles we played. I had never heard SACDs seriously before and I was mightily impressed by many but disappointed (as in no great benefit over CD) with the quality of some titles as well. Not all SACDs are created equal I can safely report, and unbeknown to me, this is the same for vinyl releases. Some sounded absolutely glorious while others just sounded OK.

We all wanted to believe that the vinyl rig would be superior to the SACD system on the same titles. And so it proved. Typically, we enjoyed improved vocal / instrument separation and heightened harmonic enjoyment and sonic realism from the analog playback. Without over analysing the outcome, it was just more enjoyable. Seriously, addictively enjoyable in fact. But with a 2x cost differential, was the vinyl twice as good? Almost certainly not, but the heights to which 'quality' vinyl can reach is simply unattainable from SACD (or CD) playback. As is often the case, 'Ya get what you pay for'.

Being a tube guy I always try to focus on the mid range where most of the music lives, and it was indeed here where I felt the vinyl was superior. A full mid range with a superior rhythm and engagement, the records simply drew me into the music more. Interestingly Spearmint, a CD/SACD and active speaker guy, tended to focus more on dynamics and also scored the vinyl rig most favourably on this aspect also.

The music we listened to ran the gamut of female vocals (Natalie Merchant), Celtic (Mary Black), blues (John Lee Hooker), a cappella Gospel (T Minus 5), pop/rock (Steely Dan), jazz (Dave Brubeck), rock (Dire Straits), African (Hugh Masekela) amongst many others and LuckyDog (using the host card) managed to squeeze in some vinyl rap-ish stuff of indeterminate provenance at one point!

Not only did we sample great tunes reproduced superbly, but the side-bar conversations were most enlightening (these guys are really knowledgeable audiophiles with 'golden' ears) and the hospitality was first class. Thanks for a great day of music and fellowship LuckyDog.

Spearmint (again), the rarely standing Mustud52 and the Comfy Chairs

wadia: Audio

On a whim, and as a sucker for an international 'sale' with a high Aussie dollar, I recently purchased a TVC (transformer volume control) passive pre-amplifier from a Malaysian company, Promitheus Audio, owned and operated by Nicholas Chua.

Nicholas' products have been enthusiastically received by audiophiles around the world for a few years, and as the principal designer, he is continually upgrading the specifications of his products based on personal listening and customer feedback. A few words about Nicholas and his business can be found here.

The Reference TVC4 is a dual mono design, with one Neutrik XLR and three silver RCA In and Out, housed in a bespoke stainless steel and merbau wooden 'box' with ebony knobs. The cosmetics are fine for the modest asking price but the design and finish won't cause Rowland or Krell any sleepless nights on the aesthetic front! I am new to the world of passive pre-amps so I am sure some tweaking of cables, cable lengths and footers will reveal benefits for experimentation and patience.

I have only just started to burn-in the TVC4 and it is recommended to sound it's best after about 100 hours. 95 to go then. I need to set up an iPod or tuner to continuously drive the TVC for a few days to hasten the process. It does however sound quieter than my Supratek tube pre-amplifier even at first listen.

Interestingly, using Kimber Select (copper) balanced connections from the Wadia to the TVC4 then silver RCA to the 35 watt Supratek mono block power amplifiers requires the 24 step solid-feeling dual volume controls to be wound around to about 3 o'clock to obtain enough gain and drive for the Zu Audio Definition Mk 1.5s. The specification for gain is -54db of attenuation. But given the silent operation of this unit, should I care?

More thoughts soon.

wadia: Audio

After the previous post regarding the sound of the Osborn interconnect in the system, I must say that my limited subsequent listening sessions have been less than joyous. Maybe it was my mood, maybe my sobriety level, maybe lack of warm-up of the equipment, but I just wasn't 'juiced' with, and by the sound. Again, I have trouble replicating my satisfaction with the sound. Sadly.

Well, I fixed a couple of those tonight. With my wife out at a riding competition, I had the house to myself. And I didn't waste it. Fixed myself a tasty BBQ with a glass or three of fine white wine and followed that up with an extended listening session which I planned hours in advance, allowing plenty of time for the equipment to warm-up etc. Not surprisingly, the results were most enjoyable. I even got the Audio Desk CD Trimmer out and 'shaved' a few edges. As usual, a couple of the discs responded well, while others didn't show much change at all.

Incredibly, I got the volume cranked around to '3 O'Clock' on the pre-amp (which starts around 6.30 if that makes any sense!), and the sound was duly lively. Perhaps not so articulate up top, but mid and low range drive was excellent, making most music I tried highly entertaining for me, if not the neighbours. It was actually surprising how little room resonance / distortion there was at such high volumes. I look forward to the next session to see if I can reproduce the magic.

But frankly the jury is still out. The lack of audible / emotional repeatability of my listening sessions in particular, and the system in general, is frustrating me........

wadia: Audio

This review was posted in the 'Sources' forum of the on-line community StereoNet Australia on January 11, 2009.

"Thought it was about time I posted a review of my experience with the Wadia 170iTransport so far. The device has about 50+ hours on it now and is giving a much better account of itself than when I first tried it.

For the test, I had the iTransport plugged in to my Wadia 861SE DAC section via the supplied Coax cable. It enabled easy comparison between the 170 and the 861 as transports. The output / gain of the iTransport was virtually identical (by ear) to the CD transport. I have only used the 170 as an audio device, and have not tried any of the video options.

Music on the iPod was ripped via an Apple iMac using the Apple Lossless Codec. For this review, the tracks I focused on were:

Monty Alexander, 'Sweet Georgia Brown', ‘The Ultimate Demonstration Disc’, Chesky
Santana, 'Black Magic Woman', ‘Abraxas’, MFSL
Patricia Barber, 'Ode to Billie Joe', ‘Cafe Blue’, Premonition HDCD

Set Up is a snap. Attach the wall wart (direct to the wall in this case, not via the power conditioner), and the supplied Coax cable and you are away. To tailor the dock connection to your iPod version, a number of inserts are supplied to provide a tighter fit.

One possible word of caution. If the iPod is left in the dock, the 170 is effectively 'On', and when I then powered up my tube pre / power amps I got some squeaks and squawks as the electronics came up. Simple solution is not to dock until all components are up & running. Might just be related to my system, not sure.

How does it sound. In a phrase, very good indeed.

On the Monty Alexander track, an instrumental jazz ensemble including two drummers and brass, the 170 sounded a bit thinner in it's overall presentation than the CD with a smaller stereo image. In isolation it sounds fine, only in direct comparison do these differences become obvious. But interestingly, the differences between the two transports were highlighted most clearly on nearly all tracks of this Chesky disc. Not sure why.

As for 'Black Magic Woman', it was a much closer comparison. The only differences I heard were a marginally smaller image this time, with a bit of bloom on the bass at times and some 'blurring' or overhang during large dynamic swings. The lead guitar sounded crisp and the bass line was very easy to follow and the lively percussion was well rendered.

On 'Ode to Billy Joe', the two transports were the most similar. The fingers snaps sounded 'real' and natural on both the 170 and 861, the upright bass clear and upfront and Barber's voice rock solid. Impressive!

In summary:

Pro
- Easy to use
- Very musical (good PRaT)
- Maintains good detail resolution
- Very good extension of tone top to bottom

Con
- Slightly smaller (Left/Right) stereo image
- Occasional loss of bass control (bloat /blurring) on dynamic transients
- Shallower image depth (Front/Back) presentation on some tracks/discs
- Slightly higher noise floor (perhaps it was the lack of conditioned power in my test)

Overall, I am very happy with my 170iTransport. It does what it promises to do and performs well above it's price point in my opinion. I would be most interested in other owners views.

I am now taking the iTransport from the 'Big Rig' and setting it up as the front end to my headphone system. Looking forward to listening to it further".

wadia: Audio

Well, the Osborn Cables 'Silverlink' (silver single-ended RCA) have arrived and are now inserted in the main system and the Red Rose Music Silver One slipped into the headphone rig. I know many people who may read this don't believe that different cable manufacturers or construction methods have any impact on sound reproduction. I recommend those folks move on, nothing for you to see (or read) here. I obviously live in the other camp. Not night & day, but different enough to be noticeable. Also out of necessity, I try to stay away from the uber-priced models. For example the two reviewed here are in the $A200 - $A300 per metre pair range.
The 'Silverlink' has been running in over the last few days and has about 25 -30 hours on it now. At least enough for an initial evaluation I reckon. According to the manufacturer - "Osborn Silverlink is the result of several years of careful experimenting with many different types of cabling and insulation materials. Silverlink is made from pure extruded silver wire which is specially made for Osborn Loudspeakers. It is extruded into one continual length. Many reference cables up to $6000 per pair were used as comparisons during the selection phase. Neither I, nor any of my customers have yet found an interconnect to match the performance of the Silverlink. Silver Interconnects often suffer from a brittle top end and a restricted bass performance. The sonic purity, transparency, inner detail and soundstage of the Silverlink is quite extraordinary."



The RRM cable is nearly 10 years old so needs no running in. The spiel according to Red Rose Music - "Red Rose Silver One is our finest interconnect cable. Unlike many premium cables on the market, there are reasons why it is superior. The most important reason is that when we record music and play it back, Silver One reproduces the event better than anything else. It is a fraction of the cost of many high end cables, yet is made from pure silver wire in a true litz construction (many fine conductors, separately enamelled, soldered at the ends) with a teflon dielectric (teflon is the best insulator known).
Red Rose Silver One is the ultimate interconnect, outperforming all others in terms of accuracy and faithfulness to the original signal."

With the recently purchased Cambridge Audio DAC, and the relatively new Yamamoto amplifier and under-used after-market Sennheiser 600 cable, 'Equinox' from Stefan AudioArt, the headphone system is certainly still not at it's absolute best yet. But again, good enough to see if the RRM sounds like it does in the main system. Won't spoil the answer too soon!

First up, how does the 'Silverlink'. My first impression of the sonic signature of these cables is one of 'weight'. They impart a sense of 'seriousness' to the sound and a feeling of gravitas, like you are listening to something important. Detail retrieval is good, the hi fi artefacts on my test discs were laid out to hear. At this stage, they don't sound like the fastest cables I have heard in my system, but the pace is OK. I found the imaging to be very good with musicians placed clearly across the soundstage, but the overall size seems to be a bit smaller and a little closed-in / smaller compared to what I was previously used to. Despite this, there is good 'air' around the instruments & vocals. The mid-range presentation is excellent imparting a pleasing tone on some Phil Manning acoustic guitar on 'Two Roads' and the Sarah McLachlan piano on 'Angel'. I did notice a slight fizz on the trailing edge of the treble at times as well. Not perfectly smooth to my ears yet, as evidenced by some edginess in a sample spoken passage in the Chesky 'Ultimate Demonstration Disc'. In summary however, the 'Silverlink' is a very appealing cable in my system and I would expect it's strengths to consolidate over time and the fizz to disappear and image size to open up also. They are certainly not the same as the Red Rose Silver One, and may I say Viva La Difference'.

OK, now what about the Red Rose Music Silver One in the headphone system? The openness, previously evident in the main system, is easily recreated by the Wadia/Cambridge Audio/Yamamoto combo. And I think the speed of the Silver One is really a good match to drive the Sennheisers which can, to my ears, sound a little slow and 'plodding' at times. Mind you the 'Silver Ones' are only replacing 15 year old Monster Cable ICs so I would hope that they would impress a bit! Highs are clean and not brittle at all, and of course the mid range is excellent. Overall, the sound is OK, but I would have hoped it was more engaging. The combo seems bass-shy giving the music insufficient substance & impact. 'Stormy Monday' off the Allman Brothers ' Live at the Fillmore' just didn't jump out and grab me. Damning with faint praise, all I can do at the stage is to say that it sounds 'nice'. It may be my lack of experience of benchmarks of headphone sound. Or I could just blame the Senns........ And like all my systems, it hums from I suspect a ground loop problem as this system does not go through the Furman power conditioner. Aarrgghh.

More evaluation to be done on this combo. Will swap back to the 'cheap' Grado SR-60 and see if the above still holds.

I will post additional details to be added after longer listening sessions. Stay tuned!

wadia: Audio

A new Digital-to-Analog Converter (DAC) has found it's way into he headphone system here at Chez Humphries.

I did some listening at a city dealer between the new Musical Fidelity V-DAC and the CA DacMagic. They are at the lower end of the price scale, with the DacMagic a couple of hundred Aussie bucks the more expensive. In my test / demo I much preferred the sound of the DacMagic unit. It was more extended at both frequency extremes and a bit 'faster' (I hope it wasn't just perceived brightness), The MF V-DAC in comparison had a lovely mid-range but was rolled-off at the top and fairly weak in bass delivery. I was concerned those characteristics would have been, pardon the pun, amplified by the Yamamoto headphone amplifier. So the DacMagic won the day.

The Cambridge Audio DAC has an extensive range of input and output options from balanced to single-ended, to S/PDIF, to Coax and even USB.

With the Wadia iTransport feeding the DacMagic, then into the Yamamoto HA-02 tube headphone amplifier the initial sound through the Grado SR-60s was very tight, revealing and engaging. With only 50 hours on the gear, I will let it run in for another 50 hours before strapping on the Sennheiser 600s for a full review and evaluation. Cables are Digital (Coax) from the Wadia and some Monster Cable RCAs (!) from the DacMagic to the Yamamoto. I have a new pair of silver RCA cables coming from a local manufacturer (Osborn Speakers) which will be used either in main system or slipped straight into the headphone system. And the whole lot sits on granite shelving on an E&T rack.

So far I am very pleased with the synergy and the sound. Highly recommended.

wadia: Audio

In order to eke out some more performance from my system, I decided NOT to buy new equipment! Instead I bought some knowledge in the form of this book, 'Get Better Sound' by Jim Smith.

It is in the style of 'tips', some 200+ pieces of collected wisdom from the author's days as an audio salesman, vendor representative and consultant / custom installer. It is an interesting and easy read.

What have I learned that changed or re-inforced what I had?
- Place your listening chair 350 - 700 mm from the rear wall as a starting point for system set up. That is a good metre further rearward than I had the seat previously;
- Don't go for the equilateral triangle of speakers to the listening seat, instead separate the speakers some 83% (!) of the distance of the tweeter to the listeners ear;
- Toe out speakers slightly rather than point them directly at the listener;
- The author supports some of my preferred 'tweaks' like a dedicated AC circuit, an AC generating conditioner, a CD 'sweep tone' disc and cable elevators properly used and implemented;

What were the results?
The sound became more stereo centred, less mono 'beamy' from left & fight speakers and the sound stage & imaging have been enhanced with a more holistic presentation. Overall, the sound became much more musical while still retaining the detail I expect from the Wadia and the Zus.

Independently, when moving things around, I removed the discs from under the spikes of the speakers and much of the harsh treble I was hearing diminished, replaced by some added timbre, body and a little warmth, which I always expected from the Supratek tube pre/power combo.

What's next?
- Cleaning all contact points to ensure proper and tight connections;
- Experimenting with pre/power amp gain controls to better match speaker / amplifier loads and manage output compression;
- Finish reading the book!

What I have found enjoyable is learning more about the behaviours of my components, understanding how they integrate together and how the complete system interacts with the room. Jim's mantra is you have to get your system to 'Play the Room'.

Additionally, we have moved the furniture around the listening (lounge) room, re-stacked the hi fi cabinet (again) to give the room a fresher and airier feel and take advantage of the rural views. Just need to ensure that all this doesn't impact the sound.

A fun journey and all in all, the book was a great help and a super $A75 investment. Highly recommended!

wadia: Audioi170Literature

My Wadia 170iTransport has finally arrived! It is a cute little thing. The product has now been registered, installation is complete (after attaching a bayonet extension to the supplied RCA-ended digital cable to accommodate the connections in my DAC) and sound checks confirm all is working as designed.

For the uninitiated, the 170i is a 'transport' or iPod dock which bypasses the Digital-to-Analog conversion (DAC) and analog output stage of the iPod and offers pure digital audio output from an iPod (or iTouch or Nano). It is designed to feed a bit-perfect audio stream to an external DAC. The performance of the 170iTransport is therefore only limited by the resolution of the content stored on your iPod. First impressions? Having never listened to an iPod without headphones I have no real point of reference for an iPod driving a two channel audio system. But so far, so good and none of the RFI / EMI noise issues from the power supply that have been reported by some users overseas.

Wadia i170 Transport sitting on the Wadia 861 SE - 2008

I will be testing the 170i as an audio source versus the Wadia 861 SE transport, and sharing the 861's DAC. The usability factor of the iTransport is high, delivering convenience (custom playlists etc with playing time only limited by hard disk size) and decent sound quality in the one small package. Video output is also available, but I won't be testing this functionality as its use as a video streaming device is not in my plans.

However my primary use for the iTransport will be as a front-end to my headphone system. So I require another DAC to enable separation of the 170i and Yamamoto HA-02 / Headroom Cosmic amplifiers from the current audio system.

From my readings on the internet, there is a great 'buzz' around this product and a cottage industry has sprung up for board modifications, clock enhancements, integrated DACS, upgraded power supplies, 'off the grid' battery power supplies and probably more that I haven't seen. As a long time Wadia customer and fan, I am pleased to see the brand now more in the mainstream. Also rumour has it that Wadia themselves will be releasing complimentary product(s) at CES in early 2009. Can't say any more .........

I will post a detailed review after the i170 has run-in and I take a bit more time to analyse.

PS - For all you eagle-eyed viewers who spotted the 860 on the front of the Wadia CD Player and all of my references to the 861SE.......... I had the 860 upgraded to full 861SE specification by the local Wadia agent in 2007!

wadia: Audio

Some recent amplifier problems have kept the lounge room reasonably quiet for a few weeks, but I am pleased to say a pretty simple repair got my system back up & running again. Thanks Earle!

No system changes to report. However, a small directional cable change appears to have a reduced the ground loop hum problem that has bothered me over the last few months and the sound is back to being acceptably good again.

I have added a little new music recently, mainly retro rock stuff. A couple of re-mastered Heart albums and a Mobile Fidelity Steely Dan ‘Aja’ (pretty cool actually on second & subsequent listens) and Dr John ‘The City that care Forgot’ come quickly to mind.

I had the pleasure to visit an audio buddy last weekend who has recently added a new Acoustic Signature ‘Mambo’ turntable to his already impressive system (Moon/Rowland/Dynaudio C4). Wow, what a sound. It was full, coherent, convincing and really, really musical. And free enough of surface noise, & pops & clicks for it not to be a problem or get in the way of the glorious sound. Another guest bought some anniversary Cary CAD 211 AE mono-blocks to try. The group agreed that, on balance, the overall tone of the valves was generally favoured over the greater dynamics of the Rowland solid state.

Thanks for a great night Phil!

wadia: Audio