Katharsis Telah Dipiring Hitamkan - Ulasan Audio dan Kualiti Pengeluaran

Baru-baru ini, satu pengumuman telah dibuat di media sosial tentang pengeluaran album terakhir kumpulan legenda tanahair Seach dalam format piring hitam. Edisi piring hitam ini akan berada di pasaran pada 28 Julai 2020 ini. Walaubagaimanpun, memandangkan pengeluarannya terhad kepada 500 keping sahaja, peminat-peminat Search dan piring hitam boleh membuat tempahan dengan penjual-penjual terkemuka seperti Sezali Zakaria.

Saya pula agak bernasib baik kerana dijemput untuk mendengar dan mengulas serba sedikit tentang pengeluaran piring hitam ini sebelum ianya dipasarkan. Sejujurnya, penerbitan album ini dalam bentuk cakera padat pada tahun 2017, saya tidak dapat menjiwai lagu-lagu baru kumpulan Search ini kerana adunan bunyinya lebih menekankan frekuensi tinggi. Vokal Amy agak tenggelam di sebalik kenyaringan gitar Kid dan Nordin. Contohnya dalam lagu ke lima, Henjut. 

Untuk sesi pendengar khusus ini, saya telah menggunakan dua kaedah iaitu melalui sistem speakers dan juga sistem headphone. Senarai peralatan boleh dibaca di nota kaki ulasan ini.

Setelah mendengar setiap lagu dalam album dalam format piring hitam ini sepanjang 4 hari yang lalu, saya mendapati terdapat mutu audio yang berbeza daripada cakera padat. Saya telah memutarkan piring hitam ini seiringan dengan cakera padat dan telah menukar input unutk membuat perbezaan bunyi A-B.

Perbezaan yang amat ketara adalah lontaran vokal Amy yang lebih timbul dalam adunan audio dalam format piring hitam ini. Ini amat ketara dalam lagu-lagu yang lebih keras seperti Henjut, Gagalista dan Sulalatu Salatin. Di sebalik kenyaringan gitar, vokal Amy jelas telah diketengahkan dan lebih menonjol.

Pengamatan audio yang kedua merupakan kepada lontaran frekuensi rendah dari gitar bass Nasir dan juga ketukan drum dan kick pedal Pae. Petikan gitar bass dalam lagu Apologia lebih dalam bunyinya. Begitu juga dengan kick pedal Pae.Intro bass di dalam lagu Sidang Kangaroo juga lebih padu dan bertenaga.

Di dalam pengeluaran cakera padat tempoh hari, saya juga dapati yang frekuensi tinggi di dalam lagu Embun agak nyaring dan seakan-akan 'pecah dan dipotong'. Paling jelas merupakan bunyi snare drum, hi hat dan crash cymbal Pae. Bunyi alat-alat drum ini seakan-akan terbantut di mana sepatutnya bunyinya harus lebih tersebar (disperse). Dalam format piring hitam ini, bunyinya ini lebih tersebar dan aliran bunyinya amat lancar.

Masih ada satu atau dua lagu yang adunan audionya masih nyaring dan kasar tetapi tidak senyaring di dalam cakera padat. Antaranya ialah Sidang Kangaroo dan Nama Yang Kau Lupa.

Secara keseluruhannya pula, apa yang saya dapati, melalui sesi mendengar piring hitam ini, saya telah dapat menjiwai dengan lebih mendalam lagu-lagu dalam album ini. Saya mula memahami mengapa sifu M. Nasir telah mencoret kata-kata berikut:

'Mencipta lagu dan album kumpulan Search bagai menempa senjata untuk mereka berperang. Saya bukan berkarya sekadar menghibur tapi mencipta wirawan wirawan budaya. Album ini adalah hasil darah, keringat dan tangisan orang melayu, memberi pengharagaan pada muzik terdahulu tercipta...Insha Allah.'

Bagaimana pula saya boleh mengalami pengalaman ini berbanding dengan semasa mendengar cakera padat? Saya hanya dapat atribut pengalaman ini kepada tarikan mutu audio yang lebih kemas pembikinannya berbanding dengan cakera padat. Mendengar lagu Apologia membuat saya begitu tersentuh dan terkesan dengan mutu audio piring hitam ini. Adakah ianya analog sepenuhnya? Dalam skala 1 hingga 10, saya akan letakkan mutu audio piring hitam ini di aras 8. Masih ada yang boleh diperbaiki terutama di dalam lagu Sidang Kangaroo dan Nama Yang Kau Lupa.

Baiklah, cukup dengan ulasan tentang mutu audio. Apabila kita membeli piring hitam, ada yang juga melihat mutu pengeluaran kulit album dan pakejnya. Untuk piring hitam ini, peminat akan mendapat sebuah poster dan buku lampiran yang mengandungi foto-foto berkualiti tinggi yang diambil sepanjang pembikinan album dan konsert Search. Piring hitam ini juga adalah dalam kelajuan 33 rpm dan kulit albumnya adalah dalam bentuk gatefold yang tinggi kualitinya. Sesuai dengan 'artwork' yang menarik. Artwork untuk piring hitam ini juga agak berbeza dengan cakera padat.

Kepada yang berminat untuk menempah piring hitam ini, boleh berhubung dengan penjual seperti Sezali Zakaria di Facebook beliau atau secara langsung  dengan Pawana Music. Piring hitam ini dijual dengan harga RM199 dan pada saya, dengan kualiti yang sebegini, amat berpatutan terutama untuk peminat tegar Search.

Nota Kaki:

Senarai peralatan yang telah digunakan untuk sesi audio ini:

1. Kronos Sparta Turntable dan kartrij ZYX Omega
2. McIntosh MCD350 SACD/CD player
3. SPL Audio Phonos, Direct Mk2 pre amp dan S800 Performer power amp  
4. Speaker PMC Twenty5 24
5. SPL Audio Phonitor 2 headphone amplifier
6. Beyerdynamic T1 dan Sennheiser HD800S headphones

Mark Levinson, Revel, Lexicon and JBL Are Coming To AV Designs

Yes. Its coming. In fact, its already here somewhere in Malaysia. Just waiting to be transferred to AV Designs showroom. They will then need a couple of weeks to set things up and hopefully before July ends, I will be able to listen to these new products at the showroom.

In this first shipment, these are some of the items that will be made available to the audiophiles and HT enthusiasts in Malaysia:

• JBL L100 Classic speakers
• JBL L82 Classic speakers
• Mark Levinson No 5805 integrated amp
• JBL Synthesis SDR 35 AVR
• JBL Synthesis SDP 55 surround processor

Wait for the official announcement of when we can start demo-ing these babies at the AV Designs show room.

JBL L100 Classic

Mark Levinson No 5805

JBL L82 Classic

JBL Synthesis SDP-55 surround sound processor

JBL Synthesis SDR-35 AVR

Pictures courtesy of JBL, Mark Levinson

Absolare Integrated Amp - A Peak of Luxury?

Leather and hifi gears - apart from my headphones, I rarely see leather being used as part of a hifi equipment design. This is the main eye catcher for anyone who have seen Absolare luxurious suite of hifi components.  My first experience listening to them was in KLIAV show a few years back.  Little that I know that after I purchased my Kronos Sparta turntable, an Absolare amplifier and phono stage willl  land into my set up. But of course, only for a review. For this, I have to YL Audio to thank for giving me this opportunity to really listen to these masterpiece.

In this review, I will share my experience on the Integrated Amplifier. No fancy name, no model name. Straight off, this unit is called Absolare Integrated Amplifier. I had it for a good 3 months or so.

THE BUILT AND SPECIFICATION

The overall design is derived from their Linestage Preamplifier and Power Amplifier design and housed in a single chassis. The PSU and signal sections however are internally separated by a thick aluminium wall to avoid any magnetic influence of AC noise onto the signal path. Beautifully finished with hard leather option colour of your choice. 

All signal collectors are made of gold/silver plated tellurium copper and its binding posts are made of silver plated copper with PE outer barrels. For the tubes sockets, it is of pure teflon with gold plated copper contacts.

Four inputs are available on the rear section (2 Balanced XLR and 2 RCA). The power switch is also located at the rear panel. The front section has a simple fascia with just 2 knobs; one for volume and one for input selection. The volume pot is of a 48 step motorized attenuator.

On the top lies the tubes. Every unit comes with selected NOS tubes of 2 x 12AU7/ECC82 or other compatible tubes. 

Now, here is the unique part. It is a hybrid architecture amp where the preamp is based on SET tube and the power amp is of a dual mono solid state, churning out 200 WPC at 4 ohms or 150 WPC at 8 ohms. Another unique design of it is the internal cabling are all using Echole cables. 

The unit weighs 33 kg and the dimension is not of a typical hifi equipment. Measuring 38.2 x 67.4 x 20 cm, the unit is protruding out of my TAOC rack. Absolare provides a hard case for delivery with a special cloth to carry this unit to place it onto your rack. You need 2 people to install this. 

It also comes with 3 footers that you need to 'land' the unit onto them in a triangular configuration.

OPERATING THE UNIT

It takes about 40 seconds before the 'clean' sound will come out from my system but its true sound will need about 15 to 30 mins on the tubes to be at its optimum temperature.

THE SET UP

• Kronos Sparta with ZYX Omega cart

• Musical Fidelity M1 ViNL phono

• SONY HAP Z1 ES

• PMC Twenty5.24 speakers

• Vermouth Audio Black Pearl speaker cable

THE SESSION

Talking About Revolution on LP

As the title suggest, that is what the Absolare did to the session. Tracy's vocal was just amazing being churned out by this amp. Energetic sound not only from her vocal but the overall music. The vocal still took center stage and sounded elevated and layering of various musical instrument was very evident. The drums sounded detail with dispersion of the snare can be heard clearly as well. Loving the huge sound stage and to me, this was the highlight of this amp.

Descreate on WAV 16/44

At the point I was reviewing this amp, Singapore local heroes Desecrate just released their new album Toxic Relations. So I took the opportunity to test the limits of this Absolare amp. Can it deliver the metal rawness? Short answer - Yes. Long answer? While it can push through such genre through my system, it lacks that punchiness I need for this kind of music. Especially on the double pedals. The guitar riffs still sounded energetic even though the sound stage was huge and dispersed. 

Take Five on LP

Of course, my favourite track to test a hifi equipment. The wind instrument sounded very melodious indeed. Yes, given that my set up has been with a solid state amplification for quote sometime, this has injected a whole new experience. The sound stage of my set up went up few notches. The slam from the percussion still had a similar slam like before but with added warm and bigger sound, thanks to the tube pre amp section of the Absolare I suppose. It was amazing to hear this track at a different level of excitement. It provided me a different perspective of what else my set up can have.

Pet Sematary on LP

With a classic punk tune like this Pet Sematary by The Ramones, the amp delivered quite an impressive rawness to the track. It is not as punchy as I would like it to be when it comes to this genre, but the Absolare is not shy to churn out that huge sound, giving this punk tune a livelier ambient. The drums was quite hard hitting but with the combination of the tube-y sound, it does loose out some punch to it. Still a very decent effort to deliver that 'punk' essence to this song.

Perfidia

With this 16/44 WAV file of Perfidia by Linda Ronstadt, the amp delivered a very warm sound to this digital presentation.  Linda's vocal came out crystal clear with in depth emotion delivery. I find it is more engaging than usual. The wind instrument also sounded more refined and even at high pitched section, the amp injected a warmer sound to it, giving it a more somber ambient to the tragic behind this track.  Even the Latin percussion sounded huge with a very extensive highs that made the track sounded wholesome, complimenting the wind instruments. I must say that the Absolare Integrated Amplifier can really make my digital collection sounds more engaging than usual.

THE CONCLUSION

Having this amplifier in my set up even though for a few months made me realise how fortunate I am to have the trust that hifi dealers are giving me the opportunity not only to review but to experience equipment that I may not be able to afford it. The Absolare Integrated amplifier (or all their product) is indeed one of the luxury symbol in hifi world. The looks alone with the various leather colour option is already a winner. Coupled with its simplicity, one just cannot stop thinking, will the sound match its luxury look?

Overall, the amp did give me a total different experience with my set up. The hybrid design provided a huge sound stage with a hint of warm to the overall musical presentation. Digital presentation benefited it most in my set up. Is it a picky amplifier? I dont think it has any issues to match any decent speakers but it may not be for all genres of music. Vocals - check. Guitar works - check. Ballad - check. Jazz - check. Metal is the one that I find it lacks that punchiness. 

I must say that the Absolare demands a higher standard piece of equipment to be matched with. My speakers might not be a well matched pair to the Absolare but it did do well in most of the tracks I played during the review.


The Absolare Integrated Amplifier can be demo-ed and purchased from YL Audio.

Retailed at USD 26,500, the Youtube videos I shared in this review cannot provide full justice to the capability of this amp. It is best for you to request a demo from YL Audio to really showcase what it can do.

Technical Audio Devices (TAD) - A Full Set Up Private Experience at AV Designs

The MCO made me realised how much I miss visiting HiFi shops. So as soon as I received a message from AV Designs, I arranged for a visit on 3rd July. This was mainly just to meet up and hear some updates on their future plan with the incoming products from Revel, Lexicon, JBL and Mark Levinson.

But first, I was in for a treat as this was quite a private session to sit down and listen to a full Technical Audio Devices (TAD) set up. The last time I heard them was many years ago in Rohas Perkasa. Surreal experience from this set up. It has somehow being shadowed by other makes of hifi in this showroom in the past few years. Glad I had time to listen to them.

The set up consists of:

1. D600 CD/SACD player (and we also used the Bryston BDP2 and feed it into the DAC section)
2. C2000 preamp
3. M2500 power amp
4. CR1 Mk2 speakers

5. Cables by WyWire

 

THE LISTENING SESSION

This is not so much of a review but I must say that I am pretty amazed with this set up. Not sure whether I should call the CR1 Mk2 as bookshelf as the sound coming out from these pair can be mistook coming from huge floorstanders.  It is no way a bass shy speakers and the high level of clarity is one of the highlights. The whole set up has such a low background noise even at low volume you can actually enjoy a sweet musical presentation.

AV Designs played it loud. I mean really loud. Level that my Audiologist wife will not approve of :). But I didn't feel any listening fatigue for that 2.5 hours session. The highs.... instead of sharp, it was actually very sweet and tender to the ears. The bass was extensive but not punchy. The attack is there but its not hard hitting.

The overall set up is indeed a well matched and engineered set up. From source to speakers, TAD have fully thought through the musical chain. Granted, it is not a cheap set up to own (speakers is in excess of RM200K, CD player in excess of RM100K retail price) but one who has the dough should not miss the chance to listen to this set up before more new stuff comes in. Who knows, AV Designs may be able to come up with a suitable price for you. Hint2!

Give them a shout should you feel like experiencing a full TAD system. 

H-2-6, Block H, Boulevard Business Park, No. 115, Jalan Kepayang
51200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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03-6241 1237