Privileged Membership. Wireworld Starlight Platinum AES/EBU Digital Cable.



Wireworld digital cables are mostly well reviewed, and my experience with the real world priced Starlight 6 was rather positive. My good buddy Jo Ki has nothing but good words to say about this cable, and the man is seldom wrong about hifi(as he bought one to go with his Bryston BDP/BDA-1 combo too!). So when offered the alpha Starlight Platinum by James of AV Design, I am game. The cost of this Wireworld is RM$6,900/piece.

The all aluminium high strength flight case that packs the Wireworld Starlight Platinum cable.


The Wireworld Starlight Platinum arrived in a mini flight case, and inside it's packed with a certificate of authenticity of the well built cable, each marked with serial no. The Starlight Platinum is actually quite bendable, unlike the similarly top dog JPS Aluminata. This makes managing the cable routing easy, behind the equipments.

The cable and certificate of authenticity.

 Like the JPS Aluminata, this Wireworld is just as transparent and quiet sounding. All the recording details contained in the FLAC or AIFF music files it gets from the Bryston BDP-1, no matter how minute or insignificant, is dutifully transferred to the BDA-1 DAC, via the Starlight Platinum. This cable exhibited very even tonality and coherent presentation of the music. Like the JPS competitor, this cable could almost just disappear from the hifi equipment chain. The sound stage and imaging factors are just equally believable without resorting to the use of vivid imaginary powers of the mind! In overall terms of hifi performance, I'd rate this Wireworld digital cable right up there with the JPS one tested earlier.

There are areas of differences in the way the two top dollar cables represent in hifi qualities. First, even though both cables exhibited incredible bandwidth, the Wireworld seems to go one octave towards the lower frequency spectrum, where else the JPS extends further at the other end. This means music via the Wireworld seems to have more bass line detail, texture and slam while the JPS offers an "airier", more spatially dimensional top end. Next is the way both cables handle dynamics and transients. The Wireworld would seem to be the more dynamic sounding cable, only to find that the JPS offers faster transient response subjectively. How does these subtle differences hifi parameters effect the music passing thru these cables? My take, the Wireworld is more suitable to play rock/pop music as it's hifi qualities plays more to the genre's strength. The JPS is more naturally suitable if one musical diet leans towards acoustical instruments, like jazz or classical. Don't get me wrong, both cables will do all genres of music to satisfaction, but only to the ninth degree, from then on is where their differences in musical genre priority lies. While I am not splitting hairs here, but the subtlety of differences can sometimes be very persuasive indeed.

Each cable is individually serial numbered

Both cables are naturally in the same top end market by pricing, and it's only natural that they be compared against, otherwise, I might be doing you, my dear readers disservice, if you happen to be in the market for digital cables at this exclusive and privileged level. In the end, I suspect that one's musical diet and system balance will find synergy with either cable. The Wireworld Starlight Platinum fully deserves it's alpha cable status.

Wireworld is sold by AV Designs, contact James or Tony at 03-21712828.

Cables Do Deteriorate!

The cable guy learns! Recently my Astro(cable TV subscription) channels started to look like the picture above. It had a grainy, pixelated quality to it, and eventually the channels would drop out of service(meaning no picture, or sound). I called the service dept of Astro, which promptly sent a technician to my place to check out my complain.

The technician first suspected my set top decoder, which is more than 10 years old by the way, has developed a fault. He swapped in a new slim line, set top unit of the latest design, the fault persist. He proceeded to check the out door mounted satellite dish, no problems there. Then he said the mostly likely problem is the aged coaxial cable linking the receiver dish and the set top decoder. The use of a signal generator on one end and using the built in signal meter on the decoder unit proved that the cable was indeed impeding the signal transfer(a.k.a. signal loss). I remembered when I installed the Astro system in my home 8 years ago, the decoder signal meter showed 78% signal at the decoder. It showed 44% today.

Like fine wine, the coaxial cable has aged! Unfortunately, fine wine taste better when aged, where else aged cables just lose their transmission properties, slowly over time. A new cable was installed, I paid for the service, problem solved!

I used to advocate buying used high end audio cables for budget conscious audiophile, just as I've done so my self. With this episode, I've come to suspect that perhaps audiophile cables are just as prone to lose their signal transmission properties over time, without us even knowing it?

Granted, high end audio cables have better metallurgy, insulation material and termination quality compared to the industry standard coaxial cable used by our Astro installers. The question is, if the industry standard coaxial cable took 8 years to age to the point of non-function, how long would it take for a high end audio grade cable to lose it's transmission properties?

Would 10 years be a fair estimation? Are used high end audio cables still a good buy, especially those more than 5 years old? Only you, can answer that, unfortunately. So let buyer beware.

Hot Indeed - Krell S-350a CD Player

Big E is enamoured with this Krell. You can be pretty sure of that. He calls it ‘Hot’ and ‘A Giant Killer’. Go read his review from June 3, 2011.

With endorsement like that I couldn't resist to hear it for myself in my own system, could I? Who does not like an underdog winning the day?

So, the Krell S-350a CD player duly arrived at my place. Straight out of the box, the construction quality impressed already. It is a very sturdily built box, the proverbial built like a tank quality seen in all Krell gears. The player is also deeper than usual, and it just barely fit on my rack. The remote control is a metal one, chunky and heavy, one that can inflict serious damage if dropped on your toe. If I had not known and were to guess its price, I’d come up with a figure circa RM20k. However, it goes for RM10,500. Boy, was I impressed again.

The Krell S-350a has a deeper than usual body

When the Krell S-350a started to play, I was impressed a third time. This did not sound like anything I knew or was expecting at this price level. I bought a CD player 7-8 years ago at the same price range, and I can vouch that the sound quality was not even close to this. It shows how much we have advanced in terms of price/performance ratio for digital players now.

The rear of the Krell S-350a

The only comparison I could do was to compare the Krell to my own Ayre C-5xeMP player. Ok, the Ayre costs 2.5 times more, so some may say this is not fair. Still, the Krell stood up to the challenge and its performance was nothing to be ashamed of. Well, I understated. In fact, in many performance areas, the Krell stood toe to toe with the Ayre. In contrast, my old player at the same price as the Krell could not hold a candle to the Ayre.

The Ayre player did pull ahead of the Krell S-350a in a few areas. It retrieved a bit more details from the silver discs, especially the micro details (little flexes in an artist’s singing and playing, ambiance and air); it also sounded somewhat more dynamic; the sound stage was marginally bigger. However, I could conclude all this only after a couple of A-B swaps. I think if I were to walk into a room blind and was asked which player was playing I would have a tough time giving you a correct answer.

The Krell S-350a comes with both balanced and single ended outputs. One strange feature is that the balanced output's left-right channels are reversed

I like the Krell S-350a’s sound. It is not the highly analytical, matter of fact and cool type. It sounded robust, hearty, yet smooth, very organic and natural. This is one that will allow you to enjoy your music for long hours. It is the same set of characteristics that I recognise from the Ayre C-5xeMP, thus this Krell really struck a chord with me.

The Krell S-350a comes with both digital inputs and outputs. Handy if you have an external digital source

The Krell S-350a is absolutely a worthy upgrade from any midrange CD player. In fact, I would go out on a limb and suggest that anyone who is looking for a high end CD player to include this Krell in your audition. You may find few reasons to spend more.

As Big E said, this one is hot, indeed.

Krell is available from Hi-Way Laser, contact Kenny at 019-2813399 or 03-78738325.

AIME At Home.

 The system view.

We've visited CK's home a few times now, with each visit, he drifts a little more towards the obvious! More and more Audio Image range of products gets added in to his room. Now the migration is complete he says! CK invited us over for a listen to what is likely the final destination of his system building journey(really? Are you sure CK?). 

This Clearaudio Ambient turn table has been modified to accept a Schroeder tone arm, which is highly modified with use of AIME brass counter weight and head shell, to mount the Clearaudio Stradivari V2 MC cartridge. 

Let's go in to his system detail a bit since we last visited, Clearaudio Ambient turntable, check. Marantz SA11S1, changed to Lindermann CD1 player. AIME phono stage, check. Nagra PLL pre amp, check. VAL 845 mono block power amp, changed to Odessey Stratos Extreme. Audio Physic Scorpio, changed to AP Medea! There are plenty more minute changes which we will mention later.

For CK, his belief in finding the right dealer and sticking with him through out the journey of hifi system building seems to have paid off.  Lovers of the black arts called vinyl will be familiar enough with that hifi shop called Audio Image. The shop owner Adrian, is quite the tweaker himself, and possibly the only other person I'd trust to mount my ultra expensive cartridge(if I bought one that is!). Lately Adrian has been busy, dreaming up new products for his house brand called AIME. They include phono stages, transformer based power line conditioners and energisers, isolation boards and cables. I asked Adrian, what does AIME stands for? "Audio Image Musical Experience" he answered. He further advise that AIME is pronounced as AIM(the E is silent), and not AI-ME as more popularly thought. Yes, Adrian's products aims to bring you a musical experience each time you turn on your hifi for some music.

The AIME phono stage, with separate power supply chassis. It also come with a remote controlled multi EQ curves selection. The black board that all of CK's equipment sits on is the "famously mysterious" AIME isolation board. It's highly affordable too, apparently. 

The system starts with a Lindemann CD1 for digital and a Clearaudio Ambient turn atble, using a highly modified Schroeder tone arm mounted with Clearaudio Stardivari V2 MC cartridge. The vinyl system is then supported by a 2 pc AIME phono stage, equipped with remote controlled multi EQ curves. The hifi chain also includes the lovely sounding Nagra PLL pre amp and lastly, an Odessey Startos Extreme power amp(Extreme spec amps get beefed up power supply and uses boutique brand audiophile grade parts). The mouth of the system is a pair of the early Audio Physic flagship Medea speakers, which features the famed Manger transducer driver all round(in the front baffle and both the side panels). 

The Lindermann CD 1 CD player sitting on Clearaudio Magix magnetic levitation device for total isolation. Note the external power supply units at the bottom shelf, the black one on the left is for the Lindermann and the silver one on the right is an SMPS(Switch Mode power Supply) for the Nagra PLL pre amp.

CK uses only AIME products(where possible) for all his auxiliary equipment, such as the transformer based power line conditioner, volt meter, power strip, all cables in the system and isolation boards. Equipment support is courtesy of Finite Element Spider, with full Ceraball footing and interface. Clearaudio Magix magnetic levitation devices are used for the Lindermann CD1.

This top loading Lindermann CD1 uses a modified Philips CD Pro transport, internally suspended on 3 points, much like a Linn Sondek LP12 turn table.

All AIME cables, which are terminated with European sourced silver cable stocks and WBT plugs can be order in single or "shot gun"(as shown here) configuration. My personal experience suggest that for a little more $$$, the "shot gun" version always wins, in sound quality terms.

From top: AIME transformer based power line conditioner, power energiser, power strip. All power cables are also supplied by AIME.

The tube based Nagra PLL pre amp, inputs on the left and output on the right, because of internal straight line circuit design, which obviously benefits the sound.

We started the listening session with some CD play back. The sound is lush and organic, with much refined highs and reaccessed mids. The bass has a supple quality too. The sound is totally devoid of digitalis syndrome. However some might find this kind of presentation just too polite, perhaps?

The vinyl source proved superior in this set up. With much more conviction and faster transient response. The vinyl source is less dark sounding too. The highs is airier and just as refined, the mids lucid and warm with density that one you'd expect from a top drawer vinyl play back system. The bass is well defined and tuneful, which shows the speaker set up skills, considering the AP Medea(with 10 inch bass drivers) is no small speaker in a room measuring only 10 x 13ft. By the way, the room is bare and un treated in anyway, except for a front wall curtain and regular home furnishing items, like the rug on the floor. CK used to be big in to resonant cups and Shun Mook tuning, but has come to realised that a well set up high end system can sound better with less "Ajinomoto"(a famous Japanese food MSG brand).

The Odessey Stratos Extreme power amp is excellent value for money. Some call it the poor man's Soulution, only because it sounds much like the later but only cost 1/10 the price. However, it's price tag(at RM$10k or so) is clearly entry level high end.

The sound stage provides excellent perception of both width and depth. The sound is room filling and is satisfyingly musical. The imaging properties are not as clearly outlined as some(just a little blurred on the edges), but is dense and just as believable. I believe this is a characteristic of the speaker, which radiates sound from all sides of the box, much like the MBL 101 Radialstrahler system. The system is highly transparent and will reveal the recordings faults for better or worst.

The Audio Physic Medea is the former flagship prior to the Kronos. It uses 3 Manager transducer drivers for all round sound field dispersion. This gives an immersion effect and throws a believe able sound stage, however imaging is not as pin point as normal box speaker designs.

CK seems to be satisfied with his system(for now) and is just happy to enjoy the music. He has spent much time and resources to reach this high level of playing field and wants to reap the happy ending. However, I just have this suspicious feeling, from one audiophile to another, that he'll want further improvement after a while. After all sonic conquest and lust for better sound is an audiophile thing, that comes naturally! Ha! Ha! 

Hot Stuff! Krell S-350a CD Player.

Krell S-350a CD player, with a slot loaded DVD ROM transport, supplied by TEAC.

The end is near for CD players, I proclaimed not too long ago! Ladies and gentleman, like all dooms day nay sayers, the rush of new great sounding players lately is making me choke in my own words. The arrival of the Ayre DX-5 Universal AV Engine is just the beginning, then now, this brand new Krell S-350a CD player. Next, I am holding on to the promise of a TAD D600 CD player to be delivered to my man cave(with bated breath).

The focus today though, falls squarely on this China built Krell S-350a CD player. Krell's past CD players have being highly sought after in the used market, often transacted with good second hand resale value. The S-350a is a modular design disc player approach, with the option to add a DVD video board should one desire, at extra cost. Today, we are only interested in it's performance as a stereo source.

The rear panel of the Krell S-350a. I only used the XLR outputs for this review.

This Krell is rather heavy in built, and cosmetically styled to match the S-300i integrated amplifier of the same series. This means a decent front aluminium armour plate and 2U epoxy coated, steel casing of clamp shell design, which results in a very rigid box. The front panel buttons are clearly marked and has excellent finger/action feel. There's a contemporary blue back lite display for CD status, input bit/sampling rates and other functions, when in use. The hand held remote is rather heavy duty, with clearly marked buttons and offer excellent handling ergonomics. I only wish it was back lited too!(Big E always asking for more, more, and more!)

Round the back panel RCA and XLR outputs are provided, along with coaxial and toslink digital inputs and outputs. An IEC power socket and 12V remote trigger jacks completes the back panel features.

The handy all aluminium remote, which is clearly marked and very ergonomically sorted out is use. However, the remote refused to work in the first two days after putting in the batteries(supplied by Krell). On the fateful third day, a good whack of the remote on my thigh woke it up. it never failed again since! Hmmm......

The slot loading transport takes a bit of getting used to. There's a few hesitant notches one could feel when pushing the CD in to the slot, but with some practice, disc loading is quite effortless.

The sound of this CD player is so very complete, that I find it hard to pin point any faults. In my years of reviewing CD players, I've admired players like the Esoteric X-03, Wadia 381i and perhaps even the Metronome Technologies CD One T. What does all these great players have in common with the Krell, you asked? Let's see, how about the way the S-350a digs out information from the CD pits remind me of the Esoteric? The robustness in sound that was reflected in the Wadia? And perhaps, half the measure of the way music is portrayed with such humility, much like the Metronome?

Yes! The S-350a is tonally neutral, with just a hint of warmth thrown is for comfy measure, but the way it presents music is pure Krell, in terms of dynamic power and transient response. This is one player with balls of steel, are you man enough to handle the way the bass is kicked right in to the room from the sound stage? Listening to well performed orchestral music, such as those in the Arabesque, selections by Crystal Cable, is pure joy, with roller coaster thrill ride type exhilaration! Even the more subtle solo piano tracks brims with energy and realism, only because of the way this player handles music transients with confidence that is a Krell hallmark. Even the choir tracks, especially track 5 Rutter Requiem Pie Jesu, is rendered with such detailed measure, along with the hall ambiance fully reproduced, turning my man cave into an old European styled church, acoustics wise. The choir section contrasting with the female Soprano voice is rendered so realistically, I get goose bumps feeling of the un real kind! Now that's eerie.

With performances rendered this believe able and life like, need I further describe it's staging and imaging qualities?

This Krell certainly deserves to be on the top shelve of any decent high end audio system.

This is a player that will faithfully reward the listener with every genre of music thrown in, be it, pop, rock, jazz, classical, even world music. Every CD I played thru the Krell, I enjoyed tremendously. I sometimes question, how can a player this revealing of recordings, warts and all, always manage to sound enjoyable too?

For all the kind words and high praises I heaped on this player, are there any negative areas that I should highlight? Well...... if I've to nit pick, it would be the noise floor, which is subjectively not as quiet(back ground noise) as the RM$30k+ heavy weight examples mentioned above, but that's just me being audiophool anal about such things. I bet most people would not even be bothered about it.

Another area that I had trouble with was the digital input. I used the Bryston BDP-1 to stream CD ripps at 16/44.1 FLAC and AIFF music files and it played beautifully, just like the CD playback. However when I tried to stream at higher bit rates, such as 24/96 or even 24/192 FLAC files, then the Krell would replay them with an accompanying irritating high frequency distortion. The higher the sampling rate, the louder the distortion. I find this rather puzzling, given the latest Burr Brown DAC spec,equipped inside this player, should be able to handle hi-rez files up to 24/192.  Perhaps a firmware upgrade is in the pipeline to fix it?

This is a fine CD if one loves well recorded and performed classical music. It is an excellent introduction for newbies venturing in to this genre. I just loved the music selection here! Ms Gabi van der Kley of Crystal Cable has such wonderful taste in music.  

In honour of joining ranks with the elite company of Esoteric, Wadia and Metronome, one would wonder if this Krell s-350a is truly afford able, despite it's China made origins? I now tell you, this Krell S-350a CD player cost only RM$10,500.00!

It's one CD player anyone shopping for a disc based digital source should not ignore, at any price!

Krell is sold by Hi-Way Laser, contact Kenny at 019-2813399 or 03-78738325.