Posted by Tan
In this post, I’d like to
share my list of top 5 systems that led in sound quality in the recently concluded
Kuala Lumpur International Audio Visual Show 2024.
I found that the sound quality of the systems on show was very high overall. The rooms seemed to be friendly to most systems, I didn’t come across any system suffering the biggest audio bane, the annoying bass boom for example.
I prefer systems
that sound alive and lifelike, not a fan of a lazy or overly laid-back sound.
Music in real life, even from just a solo voice, a single instrument, playing a
slow song, always has a certain liveliness to it. A system that doesn’t convey
that musical ‘tension’ will render the music un-interesting and will fail to
hold the listener’s attention.
My choices here are selected based on the music I heard when I visited the respective rooms on Sunday afternoon. The systems are presented in the order that I heard them in the Show, there is no implied ranking. They range from the highend to the mid-tier, so it was not a matter of the more expensive the better.
1. Perfect HiFi – Nagra electronics, Sonus Faber
Perfect HiFi got it perfectly right this year. The Sonus Faber Amati loudspeakers used in this year’s demo were smaller than the SF models used in the previous years, but with the Nagra electronics, these Amatis had the command of the big hall. Bass was solid and very assured, further up the frequency spectrum there was an organic-ness, a flow to the music that was the strength of Sonus Faber. The sound never turned aggressive or harsh despite playing at a high volume level
2. AV Designs – Innuos streamer, complete TAD system
Huge soundstage, wide ranging dynamics, big sound. The top loudspeaker model in TAD’s Evolution range, the TAD-GE1 (Grand Evolution) is not a small loudspeaker, but they did look somewhat small in this big conference room, regardless, the pair of TAD-GE1s produced a room-filling sound and the whole system practically disappeared into the immersive soundscape.
3, HiFi Creations – Pink Faun, Playback Designs, Accuphase, Clarysis
HiFi Creations’ debut of the Clarysis panel loudspeakers was impressive to say the least. I loved their top to bottom seamlessness and coherence, there was no feeling of different drivers playing separate spectrum of the music. Transparency was excellent with a wide-opened window into the soundstage. Bass performance was a surprise to me, I always had the impression that bass was not a strong suite of panel speakers but what I heard here was well defined, deep and punchy bass notes.
4. Dream Audio – Shanling, Denon, Polk Audio
The first thing that attracted the attention of visitors to this room would be the flashy and flying saucer like Shanling CDP, but when I sat down for a longer listen, I noticed that the music coming out from the Polk Audio floorstanding loudspeakers (the extreme left right speakers in the photo) was quite nice to listen to. It was a lively, balanced and musical presentation. These loudspeakers are worthy of serious consideration indeed if one is putting together a mid-level system.
5. D&A Analogue HiFi – Melody. Canton
These Canton bookshelf loudspeakers were absolutely punching above its size, they are worthy of their 'Reference' label indeed. I enjoyed the tonal balance of this system very much, the sound was rounded, had a pretty good body and no lack of details. The music presentation was lively too. The Melody tube amp were a very good match with these Canton loudspeakers.