Yukimu

 

Yukimu as the name sounded Japanese and indeed it is a product made in Japan. The company only made audio accessory like brush for vinyl, noise absorber. I got chance upon the product from a local dealer here (Begins Acoustic). There 2 pieces of product as above picture are the noise absorber. Is quite self explanatory as its main purpose is to reduce noise in the audio chain. Again noise absorber or noise eliminator and many other names is nothing new in audio world. 

Yukimu noise absorber has 2 different options. One is the USB type and the other is the RCA connector type. This are the very common types of connection is almost every kind of audio equipment available today. Is also quite obvious the 2 different types are to cater for different need dependent on the connection available of the audio chain. The question will be if there 2 connection available are they to be use together ? The answer will be yes but I don't hear any kind of benefit at least from myself.

Lets see on this RCA type connection. The unit came in a wooden box and the warranty information as stated in the card if you can read Japanese. Is pretty need and like many Japanese product, even the packaging is well thought of. One personal thing for me is the confidence it gives you when buying made in Japan product. The unit itself is just 52mm in length and 17mm width. Is a little bigger than the usual RCA head for a cable. It can easily fit into any RCA connection on the hardware of the audio chain.

The flexibility here is the noise absorber will work by connecting it to any available RCA connector. For my testing purpose, I have connected it to the power amp. Of course it can be easily connect to the pre-amp, CD player, or any other equipment with RCA connector. This is a good point to note as it will be easily add into any audio chain. 

For try out of the unit, I am using my Asus Tinkerboard running on Volumio which is connected to the Wadia DAC. From the DAC connected to the Accuphase Pre and Power on XLR (Nordost). Since this is a Japanese product it will only be right to try out some Japanese song. The try out with Ayumi Hamasaki (Endroll). Japan Pop use to be the big thing before the Korean came and dominate it. The really noticeable is the vocal being really sharp (not ear piercing). It gives the lively feeling of the singer and at the same time airiness of the audio. The lower bass extension also improve with the feel of the chest thumping.  Pop song can be quite easily fatigue in listening with audio crowding when multiple background instruments playing. The noise absorber do help in the separation and at the same time tame the high frequency.

The second option is the USB type which is suitable for computer or media player and according to the Yukimu is also suitable for NAS drive. For my try out, this was connected to a laptop and USB output to the Wadia DAC. Is quite a known fact that common USB on computer has a lot of noise. With this unit connected really have the immediate impact to having a quitter background of the audio.

Trying out DSD audio format on this album of Scorpion. The song title "In Trance". Rock song is quite noisy at times especially with the high pitching singing. Listening on USB connection can be even worse. The Yukimu does a good job here. The overall sound stage improve with the background music loud and clear. The most noticeable is the vocal is not covered by the background music especially with the kick bass and electric guitar. The same effect on the lower bass which become more solid with the noise absorber. The significant part is the feel of the bass on the chest is pretty cool especially on rock song. 

In summary both the units of noise absorber has its own advantage but I have to say the USB has more impact to overall audio compare to the RCA type. It also make sense that digital audio is in most system today, USB noise absorber is quite an important piece in the audio chain. Of course, digital audio can comes in many forms especially streaming which might or might not going through USB which the RCA can comes in handy. Is quite thoughtful of the manufacturer in catering for all different needs for the current and vintage audio chain. To know more of it can visit the website https://www.beginsacoustic.com/ 

Delightful digital !

 USB - Is it a bane or a wonder for digital world in audiophile ? USB or Universal Serial Bus is a universal connector can be found almost any where in digital world from computer to mobile devices and almost anything digital like TV or an amplifier. We cannot deny that USB has become an important part of life while we are using the digital device. What about the context of USB in the audio world ? Well USB is mainly being use for many different hardwares like AV receiver, an integrated amp or most of the digital playback. Although USB is a very useful connection but is also well known for being noisy or not so perfect signal. I am sure many will think about error correction and such but in reality is not what we all think. If you are not someone who agrees with this than probably is time to stop reading. 

Now for those who want to look for the improvement of USB in your audio, this is one piece of hardware that is going to do the job. Today we are going to be talking about Innous USB Phoenix, a USB re-clocker. Pretty fiery name to called the device "Phoenix". A little bit of background of Innous. Its a UK based company founded back in year 2009. Not too old or too young, is almost the time that digital audio getting heat up. The company aim is to have digital audio quality with simplicity. The picture here with the introduction of the re-clocker.

From the outside (Top and Bottom), the hardware is 2 pieces of metal. The top cover and the bottom base. Simple yet solid box for the unit. 3 pieces of legs at the bottom with rubber ring and a little suspension from the leg to the bottom plate. The unit  about shoe box size but the weight is about 9kg for a small box. Majority of the weight is due to the transformer inside it.

Once the cover is lifted, the belly of the beast is revealed. The component arrangement nicely done with possible of shortest route for the wiring. Cables are properly arranged and also as much as possible with similar length. 

The toroidal power transformer made by Innous in house. Pretty big piece for a USB re-clocker. As for any audio product, the power supply is always important. No doubt that Innous do want to give the best for this Phoenix. 

Innous spare no expense to give what is best possible. When comes to capacitor (Mundorf) is like the gold standard. Of course is a pretty penny on this. Each of this Mundorf capacitor has10,000 μf.

This is a lot of capacitance for re-clocker. 

Than it comes to the heart of it all. The clock and the USB chip regeneration. The Phoenix USB Reclocker takes the USB signal from any source and completely regenerates it to an extremely high-precision signal to feed into your DAC, allowing it to perform at its best.

 

Next will be how it is connected link up to your chain of equipment. The simplicity of the re-clocker is allowing any kind of USB playback to be use with it. It can be a simple laptop computer, or digital steamer. The simple rule is as long as it has USB output from it. Simply plug it in and switch it on. Looking at the back of the hardware is as simple as it can get with one input and one output for the USB. On the right side is the on/off switch and the power cord. The input is from the source. It can be a computer or any digital playback device. The output will be from the re-clocker to the DAC. Once connection is all plug in, what you have to do is just to turn on and play as usual. Simple 😏

For myself, I have always been the fan of single board computer. I have hook this up to the USB of the Asus Tinker board. From it output to the re-clocker and than to the DAC. 

I am going to up a simple summary on this box. Not going to go into the detail of what I heard or what I think about the audio but I will say that its something I will miss. What I mean by that, I have been using it for 2 weeks now. Taking it out of the chain I can definitely notices the difference. Is this an upgrade, my answer is yes. It might not be for everyone unless you are very much into USB connectivity for your audio. This box will cause you quite a few penny, being SGD 4000. Not easy to justify for it, is also subject to what kind of level in audio nirvana you want to reach. Simply to put it when you are starting of zero, any small thing will be quite a jump but when you are at 80% level, to squeeze another 5% is not going to be the challenge not just the setup but also to the cost of it. 

A kick-ass hifi system for under RM3000

This is something I always have in the back of my head of what is possible if I put my budget just below RM3000 but I want to have streaming, local media play back and a little bit more if I wanted to have CD player to be added to the mix. Well hifi system can be very simple as one amplifier with one pair of speaker and you are done basically. In the old days, usually be CD player or cassette or even a minidisc player. In more recent times of course digital media is kind of the main stream. Keep that in mind, I just wanted something very simple and affordable which I can just set it up to listen in my living room area. It can be family entertainment and as well as for guest coming to visit.

Now to be realistic with limited budget , it is quite obvious to look into the used market. After all, used hifi gear does have quite many variety to offer. Since this is going to be in the living room area I will pick something not too space consuming. So for speaker, the ideal choice is a bookshelf speaker. It's quite a bit of searching for something that I like and need to be low cost. After some months of going through the search, I came upon a nice pair of Monitor Audio Gold 7. This speaker is the top bookshelf back for its days back in the 90's. Definitely is a very old pair of speaker. The speaker is discontinued back in 2009. I like this speaker very much for the high which makes vocal in music very prominent and not ear piercing at the same time. Well being a bookshelf although the lower end is not comparable to floor stander but it does it very well. The condition of speaker is really good given the years this speaker has seen. I got a good offer this pair for RM600. Quite a fair price to pay.

After picking up this pair of speaker , than the next important part is the amplifier. What should be a good amplifier for it. Being a British speaker is also means is quite the warm sounding speaker. Of course the gold metal tweeter is a bit more forwarding. Probably I am thinking of some British amp probably or even Japanese amp which is more neutral. The selection for me is, I wanted an amplifier that has everything in it with DAC, USB, Coaxial, Optical, RCA. Most old school amp will be rule out for sure. Have to be something a little into the millennium to fit the bill. Most newer generation amp with all build in doesn't come cheap and also not many choices as well to fit the budget. After some long searching, decided to get this little amplifier. The Sony UDA-1  USB DAC amplifier. This unit was launch in 2013 and is discontinued back in 2018. This is a shoebox size amplifier. Is has 2 USB input, one in front and one at the back. The DAC can support up to DSD128 and support hi-res as well up to 192khz. The back it has another USB, with coaxial, optical and 1 pair of RCA input. There is also a pair of RCA output as well. The standard speaker binding post can be use with bi-wire or banana plugs. It has a credit card size remote as well which is pretty cool. This little cost me RM1300.

Now the final piece will be the speaker cable. I am keeping in mind that the speaker is kind of forwarding with the metal tweeter and now with the Sony amplifier it will be on the neutral side. I was thinking a little bit of mix in the cable with copper and silver should be nice. I found this used unit of DH Labs T-14 speaker cable. It is copper cable with silver coating to it. I have this similar cable for my home theater setup which I really like the vocal the cable produce which is clear and sharp. The cable is 2.5 meter pair and it cost RM500 for this pair. Is probably quite a bit of spending here. 

With amplifier and the speaker, I can simply hook up a laptop or even my Ipad / Iphone to the USB and I am ready to play some music. The good thing is it can support hi-res which is good for me as I am using Apple Music which recently have launch the hi-res audio. The total cost of all 3 components cost RM2400. Pretty much it is ready to rock and roll. To make things a little more , I have added into the mix a Asus Tinker board S (Single Board Computer) install with Volumio player as a media player which I can use for streaming spotify, apple air play or even listening to internet radio. This little unit cost less than RM500 which will bring my total cost to RM2900. 

Overall, I am very happy with this setup. It fulfilled all I wanted to get it for listening to music with different sources. Probably I can add in CD player in the future. For now it is covering all that is needed. The overall sound quality is pretty awesome. A short recording of the sound. Recording

Not so hifi dongle DAC

 Many music enthusiast will know what is a DAC (Digital Analogue Converter). This is a device to covert digital signal into analogue so that it can be heard by our ears. Human ears cannot understand digital signal so anything we hear is analogue wave form. Lets not get into technical detail on it but generally most of the devices we use today has DAC in it. Can be a laptop, a smart phone, TV, BluRay player, media player, etc. As all our devices have DAC inside and why do we need another one ? Various reason, some DAC cannot decode certain types of digital format, some cannot support higher resolution, some just plain without much to offer but just can produce the sound as is.

Generally as music lover we want to hear the high fidelity that music can offer and therefore external DAC comes into the picture. There are many different kind of DAC from small to big size hardware. Also many different implementation as well but I won't go there. As today many people go portable as smart device is readily available and  music streaming is also common this days. Somehow most manufacturer of smart phones also decided that the usual 3.5mm jack of earphone is no longer needed. Many a times we have some nice IEM but can't be use with the phone. So the only way is to get some kind of converter. The converter sometimes is also called pigtail converter as is usually small and just short cable. This little converter is actually a DAC as well which it convert the digital signal to analogue so the ear phone can produce the sound for our ears.

This create a bottle to the audio especially hi-res audio. So to take advantage of the many hi-res audio streaming, this comes the dongle DAC. If you compare the dongle DAC and the pigtail converter, it look almost similar. This little dongle DAC only weigh few grams. So why the bothersome of getting this little DAC ? 

Look closer to this we can see the hi-res audio label for this little DAC. With this , now I can enjoy hi-res audio without the bottle neck. It can even support up to DSD512. Pretty impressive for such a small device. The good news is also this DAC cost about RM250 or so. I think is pretty affordable. 

So what I need now is just an earphone. I have mine JVC wood IEM. It sure doesn't a lot now with this simple DAC. Not just for hi-res , even CD quality streaming sounds very good with the DAC to my IEM. Although is a little bigger than the pigtal converter but is still pretty easy to tug into the pocket when I go into train or even going for a run. Simply amazing to have this. 

To gain a little more out of this DAC, you can use it as traditional DAC together with your computer. Easily this can be hook into your hifi system to listen to your favorite songs on streaming. For myself I have contacted it with the Surface 7, playing from spotify. Of course there is no hi-res but is still pretty good with it has to offer. 

Now does this output to the amplifier if is just 3.5mm jack. This can be solve with cable from 3.5mm to RCA. You can simply get this for less than RM15 or so. I am using the AudioQuest evergreen which is a little costly but it does improve the sound even more. So with the RCA , just simply connect it to your amplifier and voila you have hifi streaming with the dongle DAC. 

Apple Music this link to a video for what I have use it for apple music with the ipad with the same solution but additional converter needed for the apple lightning connection. Enjoy the music.

The Entry Level 2021, A New Set Up

The Entry Level Set Up

It's been a while since my last article, but it doesn't mean I have not been busy. If you've been following my restoration of a pair of  Acoustic Research M6 Holographic Tower Speakers, link here if you wanna read: http://hifi-unlimited.blogspot.com/2020/09/another-classic-restoration-acoustic.html

A buddy of mine have been rather keen to take it up for use as a simple system to relax in his bed room. However, he is an everyday guy with up to date everyday needs, meaning he wants to wireless stream music & remote control the system from his smart phone, plays MP3 music files on a USB stick and the occasional CD, if he is in the mood for sound decent sound quality. His needs are more of a practicality & connectivity, with absolute sound quality being less of a priority. i.e, he is not strictly dyed in the wool audiophile, but rather someone who wants decent sound quality, but with connectivity of a modern lifestyle system. And yes, he has provided a budget for me to work on too!

I set about studying the features he needs and the available components that will meet his requirements. but yet still providing high enough quality sound, while meeting his budgetary concerns.

Teac PD 650-B CD Player With USB Input

After going through the products that meet the budget, and lifestyle vs sound requirements, I have decided to start the set up with a CD player c/w front panel USB input for MP3 convenience, which lead me to the Teac PD 650-B model with see here. Retailing at just MYR 1380/unit, it's quite possibly the cheapest CD player with USB input and hifi brand credibility. After all, Teac used to make many good studio grade components. 

The plastic finished front panel still looks & feels solidly built, despite it's humble price tag. The satin black finished unit still looks & feels very decent to touch. The weight is not too heavy of course, but enough not to make it feel cheap. The central CD drawer design ejects in & out smoothly and all front panel buttons work with an reassuring "click".  The unit comes with a basic plastic remote for convenience too.

  

Yamaha R-N602 Receiver

The next star in this system line up is the amplifier, the heart of any self respecting hifi system, or in this case rather, a receiver, which in these days seems to be making a comeback of sorts. This Yamaha R-N602 is handsome, with pseudo classic looks that is functional and well built at one go. The Yamaha comes with all the modern feature that any audiophile or otherwise could want in a receiver. It has built in wifi, which could be wireless or wired, USB input for smart phone connection or just for playing MP3 music files, and it even connects to your smart phone via Bluetooth. Last but not least, once wifi is set up & connected, one can down load Yamaha's Musicast  app to your smart phone to access the Yamaha receiver wireless. Musicast app can be used as a remote control function or, play music flies stored on your smart phone. As a bonus, the receiver also come with FM/AM tuner.

The Yamaha receiver is rated at 80W RMS power output and the internal bits, such as beefy EI transformer for power supply, and over size heatsinks tells me the hardware is serious stuff! There are multiple RCA inputs at the back and the amp section can drive 2 pairs of speaker at once if required. 

Acoustic Research M6 Holographic Tower Speakers

The speaker in this system is my recently restored Acoustic Research M6 Holographic Tower Speakers. These are considered pinnacle of 90's speaker design and frankly, it still sounds pretty darn good today. Tonal balance is on the rich side of things, and the speaker is capable of projecting a big open sound space that is very transparent, yet managing to sound musical. With a built in sub woofer at the bottom cabinet, a nice weighty, low bass is there to anchor the music. This is an efficient speaker design and the Yamaha's 80W RMS feels comfortable pushing this speaker to it's fullest potential.

Ancillary items used in setting up this system includes a pair of Cardas Hexlink 5C RCA cable, a pair of Belden speaker cables, and a Weiduka AC2.2 power bar for power conditioning. Setting up the simple 3 component system was easy as A,B,C!

  

Once hooked up, the overall sound of this system was high musical of the foot tapping kind. I played The Best Of Yazoo CD from the Teac CD player and I was dancing to the music. Yazoo's blend of punk pop fusion music is synthesizer heavy and can sound distractingly jaunty and tiring in the wrong system, but here it actually sounded very nice. The near neutral tone with just a tinge of warmness from the Yamaha saved the day. Now, how did I tell who was doing what sound wise?

You see, both the Yamaha & the Teac allows USB input, and that is where the similarity and sound differentiation can be easily identified. When playing some of my old Canto pop music on MP3 via the USB stick, I first plugged in to the Teac CD player and then do the same via the USB input of the Yamaha  receiver. From the Teac, the sound was as per described earlier as playing CD, only less details and resolution, and maybe just a tad higher noise floor(white hash basically). However the same USB stick played via Yamaha, the sound turned even more musical, more danceable, and those MP3 files gained an analog like texture which to my ears are more sympathetic to the low res files. I also managed to stream music to the Yamaha from my smart phone and got very good results as well, with no signal drop of or anything as such.

I find it highly satisfying being able to enjoy music from an entry level system, costing even less than most of those high end cables that audiophiles prized. With the latest crop of budget hifi products on offer as represented here, I see a glimmer of hope for an industry coping with changes of modern life style. Lovely indeed! And lastly, after setting up this system in my buddies house, he sent me a thank you note, saying he was very satisfied with the sound of the system and will be so until he hit the jackpot, then he will consider an upgrade! 

For this project, I did all my shopping at Style Laser in Kuala Lumpur, a cash & carry outlet.