A Fabulous HiFi Trip to Sarawak

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.