Posted by Tan
A couple of
us from our HiFi gang made a short weekend visit to our audiophile friends in
Sarawak, it was a feast for our ears (and for our tummy too, the food was also fabulous
to say the least).
We visited
multiple systems in Bintulu and Miri. It is my pleasure to share our friends’
pride and joy here.
There are 2
learnings I made on this trip. One is that our Sarawakian friends tend to prefer
to tune to a slightly “softer” sound in their set-ups (as opposed to ‘hard’ or ‘hifi-ish’
sound). Rather than having a brighter, hard-charging, metallic treble region,
their systems’ highs were refined and well behaved, not calling out for too
much attention, but also never dark and not lazy. The midrange had body and never
lean, the bass region had some warmth. So, the listening sessions were always
aurally comfortable and never fatiguing despite we covering multiple systems
with multiple hours of listening each day.
The other of
my learnings was that everyone paid attention to their room treatment. They
knew that our listening space had a significant impact on the sound quality, so
a lot of attention and effort was paid to getting the room acoustic right. This
is definitely a good approach to avoid the never-ending equipment
merry-go-around that many audiophiles got themselves into.
Let’s get
to the listening impressions. These are presented according to the sequence of
our visit:
System 1 Bintulu
– Soul Note cdp and preamp, Accuphase monoblocks, Estelon loudspeakers
Our
listening kicked-off to an auspicious start. This was an excellent sounding
system. I gathered that the owner started his HiFi hobby just a few years ago,
but the progress was fast in getting to his current highend setup, and the sonic
achievement was significant as confirmed in our listening session.
I was very
impressed with this latest iteration of the Estelon loudspeakers, the XB-Diamond
mkII. The sonic presentation was invariably refined and smooth, as smooth as a
baby’s bottom 😊. This is not saying that details
were glossed over; rather, lots of details in the music came through but were presented
in the musical context and never irritating to our aural senses. When dynamics
and impact were called for, what we got was the steel-fist-in-the-velvet-glove type,
there were both strength and composure. The highs were a standout, they were
silky and always full of details, never lost their footing even with challenging
recordings. The diamond tweeters on these beautiful loudspeakers were
outstanding.
Of course,
the supporting cast’s contribution was critical in achieving the final results
too. What can I say? The Japanese electronics, all flagship models from Soul
Note and Accuphase proved themselves to be a great match with these Estonian beauties.
System 2 Bintulu
– Marantz cdp, Rega turntable, Leben pre and power amp, ProAc loudspeakers
I have fond
memories of my time listening to British loudspeakers in my system (mainly Rogers
and Harbeth). I never got around to own any ProAc, though I was mighty impressed
when I first heard the ProAC 1SC – a tiny bookshelf that sounded sweet and
musical, on top of a seductive midrange and dynamics that belied its size.
This ProAc
system brought back memories of all the good things about the British sound. The
sound was warm and musical, rhythm and pace flowed, vocal, especially, was natural
and articulate. The highs from the ribbon tweeters on these D20Rs sounded more
natural and neutral to my ears than my previous experience with ProAc’s dome tweeters.
Being a floorstander, this ProAC also presented more bass than its bookshelf
sibling, it was balanced more on the richer, rather than the lean, side of things.
Here, the bass provided a sonic foundation and contributing a nice bloom of the
overall sound, attesting to the owner’s skill in room acoustic treatment and system
setup. This is a system that allowed long hours of fatigue-free listening.
System 3 Bintulu
– Marantz cdp, Jadis pre and power amp, ProAc loudspeakers
Here, we have
another pair of ProAc loudspeakers, the bigger K6. I always had the impression
that ProAc generally matched very well with tube amplifiers and it seems to be
the case here with the Jadis pre-power combo.
In this big
room, the system conjured up a big, room filling sound. The K6’s delivery did
not depart from the character of ProAc in general, there was a warmth to the
music, the bass region was rich and also prominent, the midrange and vocal stood
out with good body coupled with more richness.
The owner
just moved into his new home for a few months, I think you can see from the photo
that this system’s setup was still a work-in-progress, there was a lot of work
being done on the acoustics, I am sure there will be more to come from this
system.
System 4 Miri
– Esoteric cdp, Accuphase pre-amp and monoblocks, B&W loudspeakers
This system
is stuffed with flagship level equipment. The digital frontend was Esoteric’s top
integrated SACD/CD player, the Grandioso K1X, upgraded with the matching Grandioso
PS1 external power supply. We were given an A/B demo on the contribution of
the external power supply. I was very surprised by the magnitude of improvements
wrought from the Grandioso PS1, they were not at all subtle. With the Grandioso
PS1 plugged in, the sound grew in stature, had greater resolution and came with
more saturated tonal color. I couldn’t imagine going back to the lone cdp after hearing it with the power supply.
For amplification,
most of us would be happy with a pair of monoblocks, or a pair of stereo power
amps for biamping purpose, but here we saw 4 Accuphase monoblocks being used to
biamp the B&W 800D3 loudspeakers. The Accuphase monoblocks were in turn
plugged into 2 units of Accupahse PS-1250 power conditioners, situated behind
the racks.
This
substantial system produced a huge and deep soundstage in this cavernous room. The
B&W 800D3 produced substantial sonic images with excellent body, the sound blanketed
the listeners with warmth and airiness. Dynamic expression was done with great control,
which was to be expected from the 4 class A monoblocks, Vocal was outstanding, I
can’t really put my fingers on what the secret sauce was, I’d just say it was imbued
with just enough sweetness and magnetism such that it was really attractive to
listen to (the young Jackie Evancho’s voice was so beautiful). I imagine it
would be difficult for one to live without that ‘secret sauce’ once one got used
to it, but I believe all this was just a walk in the park for this flagship in B&Ws
renowned 800 series.
This was again
a very listenable and non-fatiguing system for long hours of listening.
System 5
Miri – Orpheus cd transport and dac, Goldmund pre and power amps, Dynaudio
loudspeakers
Many people
would think that the big Dynaudio C4 Platinum loudspeakers could not work in this relatively
small room. That was indeed the case when I visited this system a number of
years ago. The bass boom was somewhat pronounced then, such that much of the
frequency spectrum further up was obscured when there was substantial bass
energy in the music.
That was
pretty much history now. In the intervening years, the owner experimented and did
substantial acoustic treatment in the room (I saw a number of GIK bass traps).
The bass problem was now solved, and it proved again the importance of
appropriate and targeted room treatment.
This system
had not one offensive bone in it, I am sure the legendary Esotar tweeter used
in the C4s had a substantial role in this. The sound was smooth and the
presentation was warm. Detail delivery was good, nuances in vocals were clearly
resolved. Again, a system that would allow long hours of comfortable listening
and one of the best Dynaudio based systems I have heard.
System 6 Miri
– dCS Vivaldi digital system, AVID and Techdas turntable with multiple tonearms,
cartridges and multiple phono amps, Naim Statement pre and monoblocks, Focal
Utopia loudspeakers
This was
one massive system. The owner was an analogue fan, so the LP frontends were
especially extensive, I can’t recount all that I saw on the LP rigs as I am not
that knowledgeable in that area, except being impressed by the two turntables,
each with multiple tonearms and cartridges, everyone playable, all high-end.
Following on
from the frontend, the amplification was equally high-end, being the Naim Statement
trio (pre and 2 monoblocks). We could see only the pre in the listening room as
the monoblocks were situated in another room behind, which also housed the owner’s
massive digital music server system. The end of the audio chain was the
imposing Focal Utopia Stella EM Evo loudspeakers.
No music could
faze this extreme and extremely capable system. I liken the experience to sitting
in a sedan with a 6L V12 engine, one got the sense of limitless power and yet
it was power delivered with smoothness. The soundstage was wall to wall and enveloping,
each sonic image within the soundstage was clearly defined and delineated. The
sound was fine-grained at all volume and dynamic level.
We listened
to LP almost exclusively, vocal was as sultry as it come and the airiness was
pervasive from every track. The sound was silky, there was not one note that got
harsh, too bright or ear piercing. I noticed that my nerve never got tense nor my
attention got bored throughout the listening session. Music enjoyment, without saying, was extremely
high.
Without a
doubt, this system occupies one of the top spots on my list of impressive HiFi
visits.
System 7
Miri – Audio research cdp and pre-amp, Krell power amp, Dynaudio loudspeakers
Another
pair of Dynaudio floorstanders in a not-too-big room, but this setup worked
too. In fact, my impression was that these Dynaudio Contour 60 loudspeakers and
the room were working hand-in-glove as if they were made for each other. All in
all this was a testament to the owner’s excellent setup effort.
The owner
professed himself to be a fan of dynamics and impactful music. He definitely achieved
his sonic objectives with his system. We listened to many dynamic soundtracks,
drum tracks, and electronic music, all were handled very well, with the Krell
power amp exerting a good grip on the loudspeakers, and the room acoustics not
allowing the sound to misbehave.
This was
another Dynaudio system that impressed me. Together with the Dynaudio C4 system,
our Sarawakian friends sure have a way with Dynaudio.
Well, my
coverage of this excellent HiFi trip is thus concluded. My gratitude to all our
Sarawakian friends who so generously opened their doors and spent their precious
time with us. I had the chance to listen on-site to systems I only saw
in photos and heard through handphone recordings. I got to experience never-before-heard
models, setups, and equipment combinations, all of which added much to my Hifi knowledge,
something I could not get by playing in my own system alone. So, let’s go out
to visit and listen to fellow audiophiles’ systems, and reciprocate by opening
our doors to others too.
Another well known brand of Keces from Taiwan. The amps, pre-amps and power regenerator within the stack. 
Another giant in the audio brands, the TAD speakers with the amps, pre-amps and CD player together with the Innous next gen streamer.
