From Janus To Signature, Aesthetix Janus Signature Preamp

The Aesthetix Janus comes in three performance levels, the basic(which is un-named), Signature, and then lastly the Eclipse, for ultimate performance 

I've had a long love affair with the Aesthetix Janus preamp. I first started with the review of Calypso a couple of years ago. You see, the Janus and the Calypso are basically the same thing, sans the phono stage, in which the Calypso does not have. As per my review of the Calypso here a couple of years ago, I just grab the Janus without even an audition when it became available here as used buy.

Every little thing I loved about the Calypso is also here on the Janus, the slightly bloomed seductive mid range, the slamming bass an the all round detailed sound. But what I didn't like so much on the Calypso, is also present on the Janus, such as that slightly whitish noise floor, and that slightly grainy top end texture. Many guys who came to listen to my system always point out that slightly grainy top end texture to my ATI Reference 6004 power as the culprit. I had some how suspected it to be too. That's the power of persuasion, if one guy said it, you wouldn't think much of it. When the second guy says it, you start to really notice. But when the third guy says the same, it must be confirmed then, that all of them are somehow right, even if you didn't want to believe at first! By the way, that's how advertising works too, repeat the message often enough, to the listener or viewer, it becomes just that bit more convincing with each passing repeat.........   

Here is a side by side comparison between the Calypso preamp at it's most basic(left), vs the Signature(right). Immediately obvious are the yellow cap vs the red caps on the Signature. There some other minor parts change, but mostly the Signature also uses better grade, lower noise floor, match pair tubes. Lastly, one upgrade on the Signature you do not see is the 4 pieces Walker Audio feet located at the bottom. These were specifically designed for the resonance properties of the Aesthetix chassis. The regular or basic version gets 5 pieces of rubber feet at the bottom.

And so the day came when I could do a part exchange plus top up to get an equally used Aesthetix Janus Signature, it got me thinking again, Hmm............

I asked for an A/B comparison between my regular Janus & the Signature, but the seller was not keen. He told me to just make that leap of faith, but after much back & forth negotiations, in the end he just said "save your $$$ as it probably won't make so big a difference that you can hear it straight away!" And since we parted on that terms I was glad the seller was honest and I could save my $$$ for something else.

Months went by and I never think about the event, until I was involved in  an audio forum on the web in which I participated, which had Jim White(boss & designer of Aesthetix products) on line as well. After the forum on the side lines, I checked with him if it was worth doing the upgrade from Janus to to Signature? His reply was not what I expected, he said "why stop at Signature? Go all the way to Eclipse!".  I asked what Eclipse? Jim said "it's the last preamp you'll ever wanna buy!, unless you want the absolute best, that is the Calisto" You see, in the world of Aesthetix, you start at the bottom with just the:

a) Basic or regular product

b) Signature

c) Eclipse

d) SOTA! 

With each move up, you need to double your budget!

I told Jim budgetary issues aside, the Signature is available to me in a trade swap, then Jim asked "What are ya waiting for?" And Jim went on about in detail how the Signature is so much better in the next 20 minutes! By the end of the Skype call, I was completely & utterly sold.

I called the seller again, the item in question still available, and proceed to make the leap of faith.

The innards of the Aesthetix Janus preamp & phono stage. The built in 4 tube phono stage is very well designed and not some after thought freebie thrown in. Also note the front face control board & power supply section is fully covered  to prevent EFI/RFI leakage in to the audio circuitry. Going one step, by copper coated chassis would be nice too, but I know.......... that is only a very Japanese thing!

By the following day, the Aesthetix Janus Signature was in my man cave and from the moment of first sound, the difference was obvious. First, the noise floor, or rather the total lack of it! The whole musical background was eerily silent, just pitch black, no tube hash a.k.a. white noise what so ever! Next notice able thing was the top end, where there was slightly grainy texture before, it's now no more....... just smooth airiness on the high hats and cymbals. It goes TIZZzzz.......and decays in to a dark nothingness. My last experience hearing and feeling top end like this was the review of the Audio Research Reference 3 preamp! However, that ARC Ref 3(as it's affectionately called) does it with a slight haze of tube hash! 

Next the strong seductive mid range presence and that slamming bass is still there with the Signature. However, only now that slamming bass has layers & layers of texture built in. I could hear so much more going on in those low notes. The start-stop of bass lines is super tight, without loose end to say the least. And lastly, without the noise floor in the back ground, the whole sound stage in flushed out in to the staging wall of my man cave and beyond, complete with spatial cues if the recording captured it. You can say the projected sound stage is almost close to 3D, there in my room and beyond it's borders.

This gives the overall feeling of music as an event, rather then trying to do a reproduction via 2 speakers. That is the total satisfaction of this well decided upgrade! by the end of the day, I was kicking my self for not doing it sooner! You know, for a balding middle age fatty, life's too short for boring hifi!   

And if $$$ is not an issue, why not go for the Aesthetix Janus Eclipse? Again, as you can see the differentiation here is the caps and even lower noise floor tube selection. In Eclipse level, even if you don't see it as it hidden undercover, Jim tells me the power supply transformers are also up graded.  

Many of you who have been following my hifi escapes on this blog will probably know my lusting for the a fore mentioned Audio Research Reference 3 preamp. This Aesthetix Signature up grade have me dispel of that dream. But if you asked me, that ARC Ref 3 preamp is still one heck of a reference, that while the later Ref 5 and Ref 5 SE could not match at all, despite being the more technically correct representation. You could say that post Ref 3, ARC made technical improvements on noise floor and super transparency, but along the way, just lost the soul of music. The Aesthetix Janus Signature did not commit that very same sin. All that technical improvements described above, was accompanied by real soul of the music. Soul of music, it's something you feel with the music, the emotions that carries the music. Not many high end  hifi components can bring out the soul and emotion that is in the music these days. For me, that is a major failure of many high end hifi manufacturers theses days. Technical supremacy means nothing if it fails to connect the listener's soul to the emotions that carries the music.

Jim White is THE phono stage & preamp designer to be celebrated today!   

Also with this posting, I wanna tell so many of the guys who listened to my system previously and faulted the ATI Reference 6004 power amp, that your assumption(and to some degree mine too) has being wrong! The ATI Reference power amp deserves way more credit than the general perception.  

Re-Introduction To My HiFi Circa January 2019

My simplified 2 rack HiFi system, circa January 2019, to start my journey again after a 3 year plus hiatus

Let me tell you about my reintroduction in to HiFi again, circa January 2019. With a remodeled home many things have changed, except my man cave, whic remains untouched at the same 12ft x 10ft x 9ft(L x W x H). Small room, and the urge to make it 14ft x 10ft x 9ft(L x W x H) was there, but I had resisted as I loved the way the speakers loaded my room, sound wise. So all it got was a fresh new coat of paint & some LED strip lighting. I started with the room because over the years, my HiFi philosophy have come to embrace the room as the starting point, followed by speakers, amplifiers & lastly sources in the order of hierarchy in the degree of sound influence. Allow me to further explain why it all starts with the room. The room as we choose to house our HiFi system in to, will determine how big a speaker pair allowed, which will in turn tell you how big a power amplifier should be, then comes preamp to be the source switch and volume control plus maybe, just maybe add sonic flavours to your source, which ever you choose. Make no mistake, the job of the source is to extract as much musical information from the media medium as possible. My hifi set up reflects just that philosophy as above and a little more as we go along. 

This set up consisted of items that were mothballed from the past, such as my PMC IB2i speakers, ATI Reference 6004 power amp, Kuzma Stabi S turn table and lastly Torus Power conditioner. Add in some new elements such as the Aesthetix Janus preamp/phono stage & Sony CDP X7-ESD CD player. 

PMC IB2i speakers

The PMC IB2i have been in my past system before. They came in to the picture as replacement to the pair of PMC Fact 8. I fell in love with this pair of speakers at the time of it's review in these pages. At the time, budgetary issues prevented them from being mine. However as PMC introduced a newer model in the form of IB2 SE, this pair made it's way from the showroom to my place with some discount. My HiFi philosophy also dictates that speakers should always be British, especially variations or students of the past BBC Technical Dept designs. Those guys really did much research in to all that make great speakers.

In theory, the pair of IB2i speakers are somewhat over sized for my room dimensions, but with careful placements of not only the speakers, but also my throne in avoiding room modes, made it a possibility in practice. These are speakers with a big sound and real beefy bass. Being a 3 way design with a dedicated silk dome mid range, the magical vocal is always there, ever present when playing music. The highs are not extended like newer speaker designs, but that's OK, as with the right source material, it can still relay the amount 'air' required for 'live' recording that is so dependent on the illusion of being there. The Achilles heel of having such a big speaker is the requirement for an equally big, beefy amp, which is the subject coming next!
     

ATI Reference 6004 power amp

ATI is not a new HiFi manufacturer as they have been doing that for other big American high end brands since 30 years or so ago. ATI amplifiers are designed by Morris Kessler, even if not as famous as Nelson Pass, Mark Levinson, Dan D' Agostino or John Curl, he is definitely in the same technical prowess when it comes to amplifier designs. All good designers but different design philosophies & technical implementation. Coming back to my HiFi philosophy for amps, my choice would always be American muscle.

The ATI Reference 600X series is designed as a multi channel high end AV amp. It can be configured for 1-7 channels in a single chassis at time of purchase. I wanted a four channel 350W amp, so I got an ATI Reference 6004, the last numerical denotes the number of channels in a single chassis. Why 4 channels you ask? Bi-amping, ever since I did that with a pair of stereo Magnet amps, I can never go back to normal stereo. So each one of the PMC IB2i speaker is powered by one channel for the bass driver & one channel for the mid range & tweeter.

I found the ATI Reference to be extremely transparent & powerful for an AV multi channel design. Which is all one needs for HiFi, gain on a wire. Some may accuse it of not being the last word in refinement and I agree, but it has a certain mid range texture that's invariably missing on those over refined amp designs too. So in HiFi, you always win some, lose some. It's just what parameter is more important to win or lose only, your choice determines the brand and design.

Asthetix Janus pre-amp, comes with built in phono stage. It is basically a simplified Calypso & Rhea rolled in one box for those who needs to de-clutter their HiFi!

The Aesthetix Janus represents another American amp choice for me even if it's a tube based design. We reviewed the Aesthetix Calypso in these pages before and liked it quite a bit. I felt it's performance came closest my pre-amp reference of sorts, the Audio Research Reference 3. Many argue that this is a decades old design, but to me this tube based pre-amp struck a balance between  being transparent & the way it adds a tinge of golden rose hue to the tonal color of music is nothing short of magical. Newer ARC Reference designs have since improved on linearity, lowered noise floor & higher resolution capability, but lost it's musical soul in the process.

Sorry if I digressed, but the Aesthetix Janus represented just that, as in the very slight tinge of rose gold hue added in to the tonal color does wonders to lift music, give it soul, make it just a little bit more humanized. Partner those sonic qualities with a full function remote and high quality phono stage, then is it any wonder why it deserves to be here?

I know Jim White as an excellent phono stage designer. If one can excel at making 1000X amplification,  preamp design would seemed like childs play, wouldn't it?   

Sony CDP X7-ESD CD player, the best of Sony circa 1988!

The 1988 Sony CDP X7-ESD is a special breed indeed, if you didn't know that? I have not come across another CD player that comes with transformer coupled XLR output! The X7-ESD is the first ES series CD player to include XLR output, and Sony went all out to make it special. While the BB PCM 53 DAC chip is one generation before the best, PCM 63, the sound from this Sony unit is truly something else. I used to have the Marantz CD 7, which was a truly magnificent CD player, if not for it's sound quality, then at least for it's collector's value.

The Sony is from a decade before the Marantz, yet will not lose out anything in terms of sound quality, shows that Sony as the CD format's co-developer was truly ahead of the curve at the period of what could be called the Golden Age of CD players, which is from the late 80's till late 90's. I would almost always favor high end Japanese CD players(the other exception being Philips CD players) as they made the transports, and built them to last a life time. I know mine did, it's more than 30 years now and still plays music like as if it was new!

Kuzma Stabi S, or baby Kuzma as many would come to call it!

This Kuzma Stabi S replaced my Linn LP12 turn table sometime after this pages probably in 2014. In terms of design the Kuzma is totally a different breed altogether. I liked the bare bones design of a solid high mass turn table equipped with a 12 inch unit pivot Stoggi arm, fitted with my trusty, long service Benz Micro LP cartridge.

For a small turn table, the sound is big boned & bold. The design is also very quiet in terms of bearing noise and that double thick cast iron platter gives equally big, ballsy bass. Never mind if it's the cheapest turn table among Franc Kuzma designs. The Kuzma family sound is just as evident here as in his bigger, badder ass designs. it's also a very musical turn table, otherwise it will be difficult to persuade me to move away from the Linn Sondek LP12.

Torus Power RM 8A, yes 8 Amperes is all you need. It's showing 1.6A current draw at idle, when my system hits it's Rock & Roll stride at 104dbs, it would be drawing a little over 4.2A! 

The Torus Power Conditioner needs no introduction as you can catch or revisit my adventures with it here within these pages. That's what buying the best equipment do, it stays with you for a long..... time, and possibly maybe for a lifetime. No further thinking about what ifs or regrets later, years down the road.

So that's all about the equipment, as all cables and accessories are carried over from the past and can be viewed from these pages. All I can say is that after 3 years living without HiFi, I am just glad to be back and have sound, good or bad. My journey starts all over again from here on. 

Best Of 2012!

Odiosleuth did his countdown of the best gears of 2012 last month. Here's my belated list, due to high work load, poor health and the need to finish all the reviews before I write this. Un-like the previous years, we didn't quite get an optimum mix of equipments in all categories to list a top 3 followed by other notable mentions in each particular class, be it digital or analog source, amplifiers, or speakers. We did, however got an overload or cables to write about. You know what they say about the hifi industry, when the going gets though, sell 'em more cables!

So this year, I'd just list down 10 of my most memorable hifi experiences, followed with a few notable mentions, which though some not officially reviewed or previewed in this pages, we have strong reasons to believe that they are of notable sound quality and product of substance, worthy of your time to further investigate, should you be shopping in those categories.

Here goes, THE BEST OF 2012!

Eggleston Works Ivy Signature.

The Eggleston Works Ivy Signature speakers are now on demo in Centre Circle Audio. To me these are almost the perfect big boy speakers that can be had in an imperfect world. Beauty, brain and brawn, the Ivy Signature has it all. Bass, bass, bass, the Ivy's got plenty of it, tight, accurate, and with no overhang. The highs have the best of silk dome smooth qualities in the air too. The mid range fully fleshed out vocals, with plenty of presence and bite. It's got some of the best bang slamming dynamics in the business, yet able to handle the small things, such as truth of timbre, harmonic texture, tonal colour with aplomb. The Ivy is also one of the most transparent speakers out there today, exposing recording flaws and imperfect musical performances as they are only meant to be, yet the Ivy take no hostages, and you never have to pay the price of exposed imperfections. It just gives the whole essence of listening to music that much more value. It's a do it all speaker with potential stunning performance, but they do demand the best front end components and all else connected before it to give their all. Priced On Application only. Consider this as the preview that qualifies it being here too.

dCS Puccini CD/SACD player

The dCS Puccini charmed it's way in to our hearts and mind, not quite the way we remembered it to be. I always thought dCS had a house sound that is full of details and resolution, but can be musically underwhelming. That is until the kind folks at A&L Audio Station had us putting the Puccini thru it's paces right in the comfort of our own homes. The dCS had details in spades for sure, but within those details, also lie the musical intent and emotional content of the playback performance. One can put the "entry" level dCS with the SOTA likes of TAD-D600 or the Wadia 9 Series stack of components we rated so highly last year, in the same ring on a three corner fight, and the Puccini won't disgrace it self, even if the odds of winning are stacked against it. It kinda reminds me of the Jaguar automobile motto not too long ago, it's got Pace, Grace and Space!

Skogrand SC Air Markarian 421 cables

Another memorable product experienced recently is the Skogrand SC Air Markarian 421 cables. It's a SOTA cable that not only lives up to it's name by price, but actually matched by performance too. Some say they heard god speak to them when listening to their hifi with this cable, others that have not experienced the connection, but still nothing short of audio nirvana if such a place existed?

Can't afford the Skogrand but want a taste of today's SOTA cable performance? For a smaller outlay, one can consider the Wywires Gold range, which gives a Skogrand like musical experience, but the only difference being, the Wywires does not quite have the fully developed mid range density of the more expensive cable, all other performance parameters being near equal.

Wywires till too expensive? Fret not, the latest Taralabs range of budget cable, namely TL-2/14 speaker cable. The sound is very much in mould of Skogrand and Wywires, except that it lacks the bandwidth and transparency of the two, but not the bass slam! Highly recommended!

All the above three cables share the same sonic DNA's and in some way or another, they might as well be cousins from the same family tree just a few generations ago. The only difference is rich relative, middle class uncle, or poor cousin just starting out in life.

SVS PC12-NSD vs PB12-NSD sub woofers

When it come to low, low bass, can't go wrong with SVS Sound. Be it the trouser flapping experience of the top woof PB13-Ultra, or the entry level PB12-NSD. For the budget conscious AV enthusiast who still cares about the slamming "low down" experience, there's not much in the market that can compete with the PB12-NSD.

Aesthetix Calypso pre amp

I love tube pre amps for their beauty in tonal colour. The Aesthetix Calypso comes as fine as tube pre-amps do. They play in the same sonic levels of ARC LS-26(now 27!), yet beats the LS-26 with much more pronounced dynamic contrast and burst of musical transients. For those who love the convenience of having phono stage and pre amp all in one box, there's the Janus(twin of the Calypso) to consider. And finally, Aesthetix offers greater value for performance ratio too, brand power aside. Odiosleuth highlighted why he was impressed with the Aesthetix Atlas 200W hybrid power amp, and I share his enthusiasm, plus what a fine pre/power combo the Calypso/Atlas would make.

Rega Apollo R CD player and Brio R integrated amp

It's hard to ignore the shoe box sized Rega R series components, as musical reproduction, NOT hifi goes! They're god sent to those starting their journey on hifi, or some one coming down to earth from the orbit of upgrade stars. Also perfect as a second system that doesn't take up much space. However, it's the Rega Apollo R that deserves most of the accolades as it will not make a fool of it self, even when inserted in to a system costing many times it's own price! If you believe in the almighty, the Rega R series component's only sins are of the omission kind.

KE blade speakers

The KEF Blade is a technological tour de force show case for the company's 50th Anniversary in business. It's a speaker with designer elements and high WAF(Wife Acceptance Factor), yet sounds like an audiophile's pair of dream speakers. By today's crazy high end speaker prices, the KEF actually seems like a pretty realistic buy too. It's only weakness? Bass doesn't quite go as low, nor as hard as some American speakers.

IsoTek EVO3 Polaris PLC

I think this IsoTek EVO3 Polaris is the finest effort ever by the company, yet it's asking price is not astronomical either. It's honest to goodness British way of doing business which will endear them to the market for a long, long time to come! I am still thinking about it, now that it's gone, if that's any indicator of how good it was. Most times, you'll only miss a good thing after it's long gone.

YG Carmel speakers

The YG Carmel is perhaps the company's most captivating speaker in it's line up. I would consider it to be a serious rival to Magico's V3 speakers in every way. It's the exquisite small speaker for modern quarters(i.e. small rooms) given today's sky rocketing real estate prices, many well heeled folks have less space for hifi. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with them and may some day aspire to have them as my permanent daily reference too!

TAD CR-1 speakers

The TAD CR-1 is certainly one the best, if not THE BEST, small high end mini monitor ever. Need I say more? I congratulate Odiosleuth for his fine speaker choice, but now, herein lies the problem, the CR-1s are so revealing, that it's exposing all the short comings fo the poor guy's front end components, be it, even if they are already mighty good to start with. Here's to another round of up grade orbit, buddy. Ha! Ha!

OTHER NOTABLE MENTIONS:

Pioneer BDP-450 Blu-Ray player

The Pioneer BDP-450 is an excellent Blu-ray player, especially in 3D mode, no doubt about it. What surprised me however, is that it makes a mighty impressive CD/SACD transport too, accessed via it's co-axial audio output, for connection to an external DAC. It's built like a high end audiophile CD player too, with rigid all aluminium and steel casing, equipped with weighty proper metal feet, not make believe plastic feet. The transport drawer action is smooth like a high end CD player too! Sound is detailed, smooth, coherent, noise/jitter free, and most of all, musical rhythmic flow, accompanied by big-big sound stage, deep and wide.

Wilson Audio XLF speakers

No, I didn't hear Wilson Audio XLF speakers yet, there's only one pair in Malaysia now. My sources are based upon people(whose ears I trust) who have heard them in action, and they rated the mighty Wilson  as the BEST speakers they've ever heard(and these are true blood high enders who have listened to nearly all the top hifi systems in the region), period! I wish to congratulate the proud owner fo the Wilson Audio XLF, you know who you are!

New B&W 802D speakers

I was never in love with any of the previous incarnations of the B&W 800 D series speakers, despite their high tech diamond tweeter and kevlar mid bass driver calling card with 1st order x-over topology for the smoothest hand over frequency point. They were very good on the hifi performance parameter, but they always struck me as being rather business like in their musical presentation. If diamonds are a girls best friend, then some degree of musical beauty is to be expected, and in it's latest form, the B&W 802D actually delivers them in spades. Looks like they'll be around for a little while more!

ASI Super Tango speakers

These Frank Tchang designed Super Tango speakers are nothing like you've ever heard in high end dom! They will never be another pair of speakers that sound like the Super Tango. They are definitely not shy and rockers will love their explosive dynamics with gutsy and big hearted musical delivery. Viva la de France! They an enigma, if they ever was one.

Marten Design Django speakers

Marten Design Django XL is a scaled down version of the Getz, but with beefier bass, tuned for American taste. All the sonic goodies offered by the Getz are there with little down side, at only half the price! Marten Design just launched the Django L, which is a smaller brother, trickle down technology have never meant better than this!

Well folks, that's the end of our adventures in HiFi-Unlimited. Stay tune for some last words before we call it a day.

Gear That Impressed in 2012

It is customary for us to start a new year with highlights on the hifi equipment that had impressed us in the past year. Fewer items coming through my place last year, due to a rather busy work schedule, nonetheless a few of them stood out and I am glad to put them up here.

The first 3 items are hifi gear that conceivably could be put together as a high end music system – a digital source with volume control, a stereo power amplifier and a pair of loudspeakers.

 1. dCS Puccini SACD/CD player.  RM 73,625. A&L Audio Station

  

This is the one and only source component that I auditioned in 2012, but oh boy, what an experience it was.

The dCS Puccini came to my place 3 days before the end of the year. I have not written extensively about it on Hifi Unlimited, that I’ll do in the days to come. However, for the performance the dCS Puccini conjured up , I must have it included here.

In one stroke, the dCS Puccini vanquished my past impression of the dCS house sound (I though the earlier generations of dCS gear sounded technically very accomplished, but just somewhat detached in communicating musical emotion).

The dCS Puccini continues the dCS tradition of being technically excellent, but it also sounded excellently organic, with music flowing naturally. I listened, and listened, and listened some more, all the time with not just my head but also my heart.

The dCS Puccini has user selectable variable output level – either 2V or 6V max. The latter setting is good enough to drive a power amplifier directly, so you can save on a preamp, a pair of interconnects and a powercord.

2.    Aesthetix Atlas Power Amplifier. RM28,000. The Audio Store

The Aesthetix Atlas has a hybrid topology and puts out 200w per channel into 8ohms. The sound was refined, composed and pristine. Very communicative musically, you will spend a lot of your time listening to your favourite music through this amp. 

The power in reserve came into play when called for, pretty much like a ‘steel fist in a velvet glove’.

The Aesthetix Atlas is excellent value for money. Highly recommended.

3.    TAD Compact Reference Loudspeakers. RM148,000 with matching stands. AV Designs

I own a pair of TAD CR-1. This is more raving of the TAD-CR1 from me. If you think it is unbecoming behaviour for an owner to rave about his own stuff, then just take it from me that the TAD-CR1 are one of the great loudspeakers out there currently and skip to the next section. :-)

The TAD-CR1 has been with me for one whole year now. I count myself a very happy and satisfied owner. After experiencing firsthand what they can do, they will stay with me for a long long time if not forever. You may think that after paying for something as costly as this, the owner will always say such a thing. Who would want to think that he has made a mistake, right? However, we know how us audiophiles could have the little devil in us giving us second thought, some time after the deal is done. We would get that niggling thought whether we had made the right choice, may be brand XXX or YYY would have been a better decision, may be I should have gone for the other model, may be….

I came across and listened to a number of great loudspeakers throughout the past year. Fortunately, that niggling thought never surfaced in me. I am not saying that the TAD-CR1 sounds better. No, every one of those great loudspeakers has its strengths. However, for me the TAD-CR1 comes across as a more balanced and complete package. The TAD-CR1 is worthy to be ranked as one of the best loudspeakers available today, regardless of size and price.

It may be futile for me to describe the character of the TAD-CR1. Probably I should just fall back to the statement made by Alan Sircom in his HiFi+ review of the TAD-CR1 – “This is actually one of the hardest loudspeakers to describe in sonic terms, because you end up thinking about things in terms of what other loudspeakers do wrong. When it comes to describing what this does right, it pretty much does all of it right”. (You can read the full review article here -> http://www.avdesigns.com.my/Reviews.html?cat_id=7, the second article down)

One thing that the TAD-CR1 does exceptionally right is its accuracy of timbre. Listening to vocals and piano through them was educational – I’d play some simple vocal recordings (such as Rickie Lee Jones’ ‘Pop Pop’ or the second 2V1G album) while having a few friends in my listening room. Striking up a conversation, it was uncanny for me how the timbre of the reproduced vocal sounded so similar to the live conversation. Solo piano music too was conveyed with the full harmonic richness of that instrument, it sounded similar in timbre compared to the live one my children played in the living room (just that the quality of playing on the recording was much better, but of course).

The TAD-CR1 is a transparent and honest instrument, it faithfully conveys what the other components in the system feed to them. They could sound lean / voluptuous, laid back / dynamic, aggressive / refined, exquisite / bold, boring / exciting , as I played around with equipment combination, cabling, tweaks, acoustic treatments, etc.. When I thought I caught some characteristics of the TAD-CR1, something came along, and the sonic character changed.

Usually, the loudspeaker is the bottleneck of a system, it is the most uneven and most coloured component. With the TAD-CR1, the reverse is true. I’ll honestly say that the TAD-CR1 outclassed every thing else in my current system. I have not explored the TAD-CR1’s full capability. From now onwards, my upgrade path will focus on allowing the TAD-CR1 to convey the following – An even bigger scale (they are already sounding as big as a pair of midsize floorstanders now), better control at loud passages, even greater resolution, greater soundscape density, more refinement, while retaining speed, impact and balance. I know the TAD-CR1 can do all these, because I have heard them doing these with different equipment that came through my place throughout the year.

The better the equipment you partner them with, the better the TAD-CR1 will sound. They are amazing. 

4. SVS PB12-NSD Powered Subwoofer. RM 3,499. Maxx Audio

Recommending the SVS PB12-NSD is a no brainer. At the asking price, you get a lot of subwoofer, in terms of material and of performance.

If you are looking for a subwoofer for your home theatre and have the required space to house one, the SVS PB12-NSD is a must-audition at this price point. This SVS is equally adept at conveying the rumbles and the subtleties.

Aesthetix Atlas Power Amplifier

I like this Aesthetix Atlas Power Amplifier quite a lot.

During the week I had it in my system, I was enjoying music rather than getting fiddly and fidgety with hifi reproduction. Coupled to my TAD Compact Reference loudspeakers, the Aesthetix Atlas produced smooth, delicate and gorgeous sound to serve up the music. Listening through the Atlas was always satisfying and enjoyable, which can’t be said of every piece of hifi equipment that has passed through my listening room. I became disinclined to analyse what the Atlas did from a hifi perspective after a while, rather, every night when I switched the system on, I slipped into a relaxed mode to listen to the music. To LISTEN TO THE MUSIC, not the sound.

How did the Atlas do this? It was hard for me to put my finger on one particular area and say, ‘there, that’s the secret ingredient.’ My way of putting it would be to say that the Aesthetix did not do anything wrong and did a lot of things more than right. Trying as I might I could not find one area of the Atlas’ sound performance that I could be critical of. It was this rightness that contributed to my musical enjoyment. When the analytical and critical mind of an audiophile was put at ease only could we enjoy the musical beauty, I suppose.

Saying that the Atlas did nothing wrong seems like a backhanded way of praising, but I assure you it is not. The Aesthetix Atlas seems to bring out the best of its hybrid (it has a tube input stage and a solid state output stage) design while not inheriting the weaknesses of the 2 dissimilar technologies. The worst solid state could have roughened highs, hardened mids, or sounding anaemic, the Aesthetix Atlas did not even have a hint of those. The worst tube gear could have flabby lows and excessive warmth, the Aesthetix? None of those was in its vocabulary.

The best word to describe the sound the Aesthetix Atlas produced was ‘pristine’, in my opinion.  The sound was clean but it was not sterile, the highs were sparkly yet sweet, the bass production was strong and well controlled yet tuneful, the mid was neutral while veering a little towards richness. Every note was properly reproduced with nothing getting rough or poking out like a sore thumb. The pristine sound of the Atlas allowed excellent details to come through. I especially appreciated the way it portrayed musical details in the recordings, such as ambiance cues and minute changes in tone and shades, of which the TAD-CR1 loudspeakers could really take full advantage of. My normal music diet which consists almost entirely of acoustic stuff – jazz, classical and vocals benefited tremendously, the greater details and nuances meant there was more to listen to and that translated to greater enjoyment. The Aesthetix Atlas is a music maker extraordinaire.

The Atlas has 200w on tap. It was interesting to compare it to my Pass Labs XA60, which is a class A 60 watter. The higher power from the Aesthetix did not manifest itself as a bigger sound or bigger scale, in fact I felt that both the Aesthetix and the Pass Labs were equal in this regard. The XA60 though exhibited the typical class A voluptuousness in imaging while the Atlas’ was more focused and cleaner. One clear advantage that the Atlas had was in the bass region, again it was not bigger or deeper bass that the Atlas’ higher power produced, but it was in bass control that the Atlas won out. The Atlas’ bass exhibited better nuances and simply played better tune, which was easy to hear in the acoustic bass line on many jazz recordings. I could listen into the bass notes, hear what was going on and follow their progression. In handling dynamics, the contrast between the two was also interesting. If I liken it to a 100m dash, the Pass Labs was more explosive coming off the starting line, but at the halfway mark, I could sense that on occasions it would start struggling a bit, especially on a big crescendo. The Aesthetix Atlas on the other hand was holding steady all the way, unwavering and unfazed, until it reached the climax. The Aesthetix Atlas sounded more at ease, and that translated into a more relaxed listening experience rather than more of an ‘edge of the seat’ kind.

The silver fascia version of the Atlas that I took home for audition looked handsome. The only ergonomical grouse I had was that the chassis did not have grab handles built in. So, to move the Atlas’ 70lbs bulk was not easy, carrying it for any distance was a 2-person job.  The Aesthetix Atlas offers both single-ended and balanced connections. There is a pair of loudspeaker output, the binding posts are the Cardas design which I delighted in using where the speaker cable spades could be tightened down by hand with a few turns of the big knobs. One unusual feature on the Atlas is the high-pass crossover input, this input allows a rolloff point to be set between 40Hz and 200Hz, the rolloff slope is 6db/octave. Such a feature will be handy if you intend to mate a subwoofer to your main speakers.

The Aesthtix Atlas is well built, the quality commensurate with its not insubstantial RM28,000 list price, though for what it can do  I think it is good value in today’s hifi world. It tempted me to think about replacing my current amplifier with it.

If you were to give it an audition, I am pretty sure it would tempt you too.

Aesthetix is sold by The Audio Store, contact Mr Aw at 03-78872233.

Musical Calypso! Aesthetix Calypso Pre-Amp.

The Aesthetix Calypso looks very classy with it's black over silver anodised aluminium finish.

I first encountered this pre-amp, along with it's matching phono stage sibling, the Aesthetix Rhea, when a friend bought the pair from overseas, back in 2009. I could still remember how the tubed pair captured my musical imagination, I've always yearned for a local dealer to carry this brand in to the Malaysian high end audio retail sector. The good news is that my prayers were answered, when The Audio Store secured the rights to distribute Aesthetix locally. The bad news is that I had just up graded my pre-amp a few months ago!

Still, the good folks at The Audio Store tried to tempt my faith, with this review offer. Like the Rhea phono stage, the Aesthetix Calypso belongs to the entry level Saturn range of the company's products. The more up market and highly impressive Jupiter range is also on demo at The Audio Store. The build quality is sumptuous for an entry level high end audio offering, save for the plasticky dull grey looking remote. The thick all round aluminium panels, resulting in a sturdy chassis, along with pure dual mono, fully balanced circuit design is highly impressive. The top panel can be easily lifted for a little eye-fi and tube(a pair of 12AX7 and 6DJ8, a.k.a. 6922 resides inside) maintenance, should it be required.  Tube rollers will be in high heavens, due to the many choices of these two type of tubes available in the NOS or after market supply. However, Aesthetix does not seem to encourage tube rolling as they practically match each tube supplied to the particular unit, and replacement tubes are encouraged to be matched, and supplied by the manufacturer.

The insides of the Calypso reveals a lot of attention to impeccable audio engineering applied in the design process. The front portion of the box, where the power supply transformers reside are sealed to shield the audio signals from EMI/RFI leakages. The top panel is held on by Velcro strips, which makes it easy to access the tubes. This review was written based upon the Calypso connected with balanced inputs and outputs.

I inserted the Aesthetix Calypso in to my system, taking place of my just acquired, pre-owned Pass Labs X0.2 pre-amp. From the power up then standby, the unit takes about 45 seconds for the tubes to become stabilised, and be ready for playback. The blue LED display counts down the remaining time, and than clicks the the audio circuit turn on relay. I immediately re-called why the Calypso previously made such a musical impression on me. Before I continue, let's just say that I am probably tube biased when it comes to sound preference, so it shall be no coincidence that this is gonna be a superb product review, which any way one looks at it.

The only area of glaring cost cutting, a DVD standard like remote is provided, but thankfully, ergonomics are logical and intuitive in daily use.

This is fusion Japanese music, titled 567, by Miroku, is recorded by JVC's best production facilities which results in spectacular playback fidelity. In the right system, it's capable of projecting the illusion of 30 feet sound stage depth. One must experience it in one's audio lifetime to believe the hype!

The sound is beautifully balanced, that Aesthetix walks the fine line between refinement, clarity and dynamics, imbued in a warm and inviting tonal palette. There's no excessive tubeyness in the sound, just well balanced and highly enjoyable. There's an airy delicate refinement on the highs here, not quite attainable at this price point before, or from even costlier solid state pre-amps. The mid range is well rounded and robust, giving male vocals it's full chest of vocal breath. Playing familiar violin and viola tracks reveals the wonderful harmonic texture and timbre of the said instruments exquisitely. The bass is at once solid, articulate and tune full, so that the very foundation of music is well preserved to start with.

This tube pre-amp is also very capable of defining dynamic shading in a linear fashion. It doesn't get shouty when playing loudly, nor does it sound musically lost when playing at soft volumes. The Calypso holds musical rhythm, images and sound staging together, regardless of playback volume.

This is one of the quietest and noise free tube pre-amp I've heard. The jet blackness in the back ground really allow for 3D prop up images within a deep, layered and dark sound stage. Playing the JVC recorded CD, titled 567 produced by Japanese cultural artist Miroku, on a 16 bit FLAC file via my Bryston BDP/BDA-1 combo really brought out the illusionary 30 feet sound stage depth effect on track 2 of the said CD. I must say that in my small room, it didn't quite made the illusionary 30 feet, but it was certainly the deepest I've managed to achieved by far!  Now, we are talking about the art of self deception at the highest possible level here.

There's only one area of sound performance that I could fault, is the matter of transparency. Compared to my Pass Labs X0.2, the Calypso did left me slightly wanting for more fine details buried deep within the sometimes complex musical structure, where the resident pre-amp just bares it all in the open. However, the Calypso is so musically engaging, regardless of what ever music genre is spinning, it's easy to overlook it's one and only small sin of omission. At the very least the Calypso never distort the truth or tell lies, it only with held certain minor information, which to most of us don't really matter, not unless, you're that nutty fella writing this review!

The back panel is busy with both balanced XLR and RCA single ended inputs and outputs.

Overall, for it's asking price of RM$17,800.00, I find this Aesthetix Calypso to be an over achiever of sorts. I can think of some of one looking to buy a used Audio Research Reference 3, only to find this Calypso pre-amp more musically appealing, unless one is fanatical about the transparency factor, that is.

Listening to music via the Aesthetix not only sounds tonally right and rhythmically tight, but rather it's the way it engages the listener, drawing one in to a staged event or recording venue and artistic emotional intents all rolled in to one, highly rewarding experience. I found it hard to return this unit to The Audio Store, but yet I am hoping to sample the Aesthetix Janus Signature in the near future, should that chance come around. I find the Janus one chassis solution to pre-amp and phono stage needs highly appealing in the up graded Signature form, of which the Calypso and Rhea is also available in. Here's looking towards a better tomorrow indeed!

Aesthetix is sold by The Audio Store, contact Mr Aw at 03-78872233.