Opposite the Genesis 2.2jr demo room, lies another smaller set up of Jadis, Wilson Benesch speakers, Genesis Series 7 speakers, Viola, Stello CDT....and the product that I wanted to see/hear about ...the Tombo Audio tweaking items...
Tombo Audio Passive Power Conditioner underneath a Stello CDT100
Tombo Audio Isolation plate
Tombo Audio Cable Elevators/Lifters
Tombo Audio XLR and US Receptacle chargers
Tombo Audio RCA chargers
Tombo Audio Magic Spike
Mr Vattana is as his usual obliging self, explaining the benefit of these products. There are a few members from our local forum www.hifi4sale.net asked me the question on the impact of having these items...and also the cost and where to purchase them. To some or many, these items can be just another snake oil.
The main idea of all these items is to tackle the ever famous vibration, resonance etc issues. All the items were already set up so I didnt get the chance to compare the set up between with and without these tweaks. What a predicament...so what did I do????
I got a few toys for myself ..hehehhe...Got myself 4 pieces of RCA chargers for RM250 and a pair of cable lifters for RM160.
The RCA chargers, I suppose act similar to caps on unused RCA inputs/outputs on your devices. I only tried using them on a MF M6 CD player (RCA output) and M6 DAC (RCA output).
The cable lifters is made of wood and has a unique design of one steel and one brass ball bearing inside it.
Putting these 2 items into my system, a slight different in the overall detail of presentation was quite evident. I played Song bird by Eva Cassidy, there were percussion sounds that I could not hear before. Very odd. Not sure whether its the RCA chargers or the cable lifters.
Been using them for 5 days now....and I swear every track I play, there were details that I could not hear before. I kid you not. At first I thought my mind was playing tricks on me but listening to my system every day..... with different tracks....there is just something in these Tombo Audio product that is giving the really crisp details of music. As if that it took away some restrain from the tracks and just let the track flow.
Tombo Audio is based in Thailand but slowly but surely have started to build its reputation amongst Malaysia Audiophile scene.
RAVE Systems Sdn. Bhd. is kind enough to be their representative in Malaysia. If anyone is interested to try to these items out, you can visit the shop at Loy 1.4, Level 1, PNB Darby Park, No. 10, Jalan Binjai 50450 KL. You can also call Uncle Edwin and Mrs. Agnes Tan on 03-21632818 or 012-3241745
TechDAS Air Force One - One for the Black Disc Lovers
Seriously....I would have bought this TT just for its physical look......if I had the money of course :)
Another session where language was no barrier for hifi and music lovers. Mr. Hideaki Nishikawa had a translator present to assist him explaining his masterpiece. This TT maestro used his previous experience in Stax and Micro-Seiki into this high tech turn table.
My full salute to him for still being energetic at his age.
There are tooooo many features to mention here but it looks like he took into account every element of a TT to come up with this design. Among the unique features that I fancy:
1. 4 different utilization of air element...bearing, vacuum, suspension and chamber
2. For the suspension...he also fluid/gel + air
3. 10" and 12" tone arm can be used and for the special sizes like 10.5", it can be custom designed to fit.
4. It offers 3 different upper platters and to the question why asked by yours truly, Mr. Hideaki explained that this was to give owners the freedom to choose different material to suit their listening preference. In summary, the 3 upper platters give different sound characteristics:
Duralamin...provides accuracy and 'high speed' audio
Stainless steel - deep old analogue sound
Metachrylate - sweet like european sound.
I would describe this TT provide such a clean static free sound. It might be a clean vinyl but one would question whether it was CD playing if the unit was tucked away in another room.
Playing lounge jazz, the sound of the percussionist hitting the crown on the ride cymbal was so natural sounding without any painful high pitch sound. The hollowness of a jazz tuned tom2 made my head shake in disbelief how this unit can transform and deliver such a pleasant jazz atmosphere into the room.
The piano notes was also well presented with precision and balanced sound.
Vocals was where my heart just melted listening to the mellowness and yet full energy of one of the tracks played.
Playing Miles Davis ...Live Around the world LP again delivered and experience where liveliness of his trumpet sound but still maintained a sweet and easy on the ear melodic sound.
And I know it was the unit that stirred my emotion because I was not familiar with most of the tracks. So, listening to tracks that had no sentimental value to me but yest managed to stir my emotion...it must have been the unit...and matched with the other kit, it made me understand why it is called Air Force One....
Just look at this diagram.... such detailed overview....
I was counting the minute on Friday 3rd May to finish off my half day work day so that I can hit off to The Gardens hotel for this unique launch event. Unique because its not just one kit that is being the centre of attraction but a number of it. I personally was focusing on 4 main items (with no order of preference):
1. TechDAS Air Force One turntable
2. Genesis 2.2jr Speakers
3. Frank Voon Powerbank
4. Tombo Audio tweaking products
....and its not just another hifi dealer trying to showcase products...Its full of knowledge and experience sharing and 'hifi' friendly people. Plus...its not done in a hifi shop...it was set up on the executive lounge of the hotel on top floor (29th floor)
I arrived at about 10 mins to 3 pm...Was immediately greeted by the good man TK Han from RAVE Systems...and was first introduced to Gary Koh (Genesis maestro). He was already started to showcase the Genesis 2.2jr, so I opted to listen to the speakers first.
So, first and foremost ...a BIG CONGRATULATION is in order to the whole RAVE team especially TK Han, Edwin and Agnes Tan and the invited speakers...Gary Koh, Frank Voon, Vattana Prastenasung and Hideaki Nishikawa. The event was set up professionally (they also had a 'press' package with hi res photos of products!!!) but yet, feedback I hear from a few guests was that it was a relaxing but informative event.
Genesis 2.2jr Speakers
Before I attended this, I have been reading about the features of this speaker and the one that struck me most was its ability to provide a' blanket' of sweet spot rather than listener have to find that one special spot to get the best performance. So, the first thing I did in the first 15 minutes was sitting/standing at different parts of the room. And YES.. The 'first impression' feeling was literally the same regardless at which spot I was. One may argue that it might because it was playing loud. Nope.....it was playing at moderate volume but the effect of livelines and soundstaging can be experience from different spots in the room.
My first 10 mins listening this monstrous but elegant tower speaker made me realise how important the right setting and listening atmosphere is to a system. Playing Joe Cocker on TechDAS Air Force One TT gave me an impression that these speakers were design to deliver what and how the music is intended to be listened to.
I would summarise this speaker to be a one of a kind design which delivers music transparency, coherence and one of a few truthful speakers. Among the tracks that was played that I was familiar with was Miles Davis rendition of Time After Time. And I never heard this track as I heard it through this speakers.
There was a mixture of source used to showcase this speaker both from the TechDAS TT and also CAS. And it needed serious focus to differentiate between them.
Gary Koh High Resolution Talk
One of the highlight for me at least was this talk by Gary in which was really informative and unbias between analogue and digital source. Withe several examples, Gary showed how important a good quality recording and pressing is.
Sample A: A tune recorded at 24 bit 44.1 kHz and mastered from 7 mic recording into 2.
Sound was full of warm and natural bass. Alive.
Sample B: The same tune pressed onto a CD at 16 bit 44.1 kHz.
There was bloated bass...a bit muddled...slightly compressed...however a bit more extended but not involving.
It was actually easy enough to differentiate between them especially that Gary mentioned the 2 different quality before hand....so indirectly, people was already looking for a better sound in the 24 bit.
The best part came next.
Sample C: A wonderful piece which I could not recall the track.
All the audience agreed that it was so involving, emotional, alive track....and of course everyone said yes when Gary mentioned that it was a 24 bit 192 kHz recoding....
NNNNOOOTTT.... it was actually MP3. Lots of people were stunned.
The message is of course.... A good quality recording is vital but also the transfer made to the CD/vinyl.
He also mentioned that amongst his principle in speaker design includes the focus on low end frequency as thats where the emotion of music usually comes from. Also,he makes sure everything is coherence and his design does not break the coherence of music. Even the speaker is blocked, you wont experience the soundstage collapse.
I wish I had more time to listen to these speakers. But of course a 2 hour session was also a great experience especially when you have someone like Gary engaging with the guests.
This is how I started off in music. I was 10 years old and while waiting for my late dad to pick me up from my Saturday footbal training in school, I was walking around on the those long spectator benches and found this cassette of Lefthanded (Seruan album). Played it in the car and my late dad said 'This is Rock music'... Ehhh??? Batu music? What?
The rest was history... It was then Search, Wings, DIO,Whitesnake and Iron Maiden.
And when I went to high school, I joined the school band on bagpipes and drums. Got my first 5 piece Pearl forum series drum set when I was 17. And then a Yamaha DTXplorer in Abu Dhabi when I was 28.
Good times good times...
I have been missing a lot on TV performance for the past few years. When you think that you are already looking at the best display, you find out that as much digital audio development, image too is developing at a high pace.
After the ISF calibration done a few weeks back, I was introduced to this piece of device, specially brought from the US of A. OK, I lied hehehe... I was actually introduced to this unit even before the calibration was done. But I wanted to the calibration to be done first before testing out this unit.
So what is a DarbeeVision Darblet?? It is actually a device that takes HDMI video experience to new heights. Performance = 1080pHD/60 in real time.
An HDMI accessory that will add intense depth and clarity to any video -- enabling ultra-immersive visuals. As a video processor module in a small housing, DarbeeVision technology simply plugs into any HDMI media device and will enhance the output of any video stream, like DVD, Blu-ray, smart phone, and media players and any digital broadcast -- on both standard and high-definition TVs.
It basically enhances further one's TV viewing experience. Even with the ISF calibration, the enhancement can still be seen when this device is connected,.
Another exciting fact about this unit is that it is actually fully made in the US of A. Look at the stamp on the back of the unit.
The unit nicely packed in a carton box and inside the box is the Darbee unit, a 5V power supply plug, credit card size remote and a one page manual.
Do NOTE that the power supply plug is a 2 pin US plug, so you would need a 3 pin adaptor.
How do you connect it? You will need an extra HDMI cable. From your source, plug in the HDMI cable into the HDMI INPUT of the Darbee and take the other HDMI cable, plug it from the HDMI Output of the Darbee and into your TV.
In my case, I connected from the output of my Yamaha receiver into the Darbee where there are 5 HDMI sources connected to the Yamaha namely Oppo 95EU BDP, Marantz DVD player, ASTRO Byond, Apple TV and a Philips DVD recorder.
The impact can be seen instantaneously as soon as you power up the device.
Do NOTE that the unit needs to be ON for an image to be displayed on your TV.
On the remote, you can easily turn the Darbee On or OFF to compare the image with and without the Darbee. And when it is ON, you can also increase and decrease the 'processing effect' from 0 to 120%
There are also 3 different preset mode:
1. Hi Def: Specific for Hi Def sources like BluRay
2. Gaming: Self explanatory
3. Full Pop: The strongest effect, but some possible visible artifacts.
Performance
Played 2 movies today....The Last Holiday and Dances with Wolves. On The Last Holiday, the Darbee gave an astonishing vibrant expression of colour contrast especially red items. I played around the % setting and found that 80% looks the best portarying Queen Latifah's unique face feature.
Dance with Wolves however was a bit tricky. At 80%, the detail shown by Darbee made the picture look a bit unrealistic. Had to lower down to 50% before the enhancement looks more natural.
The unit was preset on Hi Def on both movies.
With ASTRO B.yond content, the HD channels looks very vivid but it needs to at 100% in order to see a good difference. SD content however, does not benefit much from the Darbee. I can say it a bit non-existance actually.
Putting on a more recent Blu Ray (Hobbit), was when the Darbee really shines. The details shown on Gollum character was life like and did not portray it as graphic effect.
The best enhancement however happened on Apple TV. Watching Spiderman (Full HD version) on ATV, it benefit from the Darbee a very rich and detail portrayal of the Spidey suit and the night scenes are more detailed without loosing the nocturnal environment.
The beauty about this unit is that it can be adjusted to suit the best required viewing need for any individual requirement. Depending on the quality of the HD content, people can adjust the Darbee effect to suit their preference.
But for me personally, anything above 100% will make the image looks unnatural.
This unit can be purchased from AV Designs, Mezzanine floor, Bangunan Rohas Perkasa. It is retailed at RM1300 and for those who are looking at improving your movie viewing pleasure, this unit might meet your requirement.
Writing this live from the official launching of Bryston Model T Speakers in AV Designs.
The more I listen to it, the more I am falling in love with them.
A bunch of hifi enthusiasts were invited to this event today words like excellent separation, balanced and superb sounding are just some of the praises coming out from the audience.
Pictures to follow.
The event started at 2 pm but yours truly arrived late at 230 pm. James already started to present the speakers to the guests. One question from the audience was.. .. How is the performance against PMC? The answer ... You need to judge it by yourself. Hehehe.
Songs after songs and people just wanted more... Plus the great hospitality from the AV Designs team was spectacular...curry puffs and chocolate cakes and coffee wooohhhoo...
Great atmosphere, great people, great music, great speakers...
Thanks for the invite.
Now need to find time demo that Mini Model T above....
After 2 weeks of use...with 2 different ways to enjoy this Pre Amplifier... yes that is how MF has classified this product as. Its a pre amp with built in DAC. This unit can be used as a pre amp connected to a power amp and drive a pair of speakers, but it can also be used as a standalone headphone amp.
One thing that I notice about the packaging of this unit (and also the M6 DAC), it comes with a QC Passed label. I cant recall this label on my previous M6 and M1 kit. Well, it only further strengthen my confident in the product.
BUILT
The SDAC comes in the usual shoe box size casing, similar to other M1 range. It is however, feels slightly heavier than other kit due to its pre amp function I suppose. It weighs 3.3 kg and measures 220 mm x 100 mm x 310 mm.
It comes with a standard UK 3 pin plug. The remote is similar to othe M1 series remote. The good news (at least for me), the M6 DAC remote can fully control this unit as well. So for this review I do not have to unbox its own remote.
The light blue greyish LED display is big enough to be legible about 8 feet away. It shows the input you are on, the incoming digital signal freq and upsampling freq of 192 kHz.
It also comes with an antenna plus extension cable for its bluetooth capability and also USB192 driver CDROM
The front fascia includes a standby button with a blue (on) / amber (standby) LED soft button, a small and cutish dual function rotary knob. IR for remote and a 1/4" headphone jack. The rotary knob serves 2 functions:
1. Control the volume in 0.5 db steps
2. Press the knob and it goes to input selection
Refer to the video below.
The overall built, I would say acceptable for its price range. Knob feels sturdy and all digital and analogue inputs (RCA) and also the headphone jack provides tight fit to my interconnects.
SPECS
As oppose to the 24 bit DAC used in M6 DAC, MF went for a 32 bit DAC and a sample rate converter which asynchronously up samples all incoming rates to 192 kHz.
This unit comes with the following inputs and outputs:
INPUTS
1. 2 x coaxial
2. 1 x USB B asynchronous compatible with Windows, Apple and Linux OS
3. 1 x optical
4. 1 x AES Balanced
5. 2 x stereo RCA analgoue
6. 1 x Bluetooth with AptX and can store up 16 pairings.
7. 1 x 3.5 mm mono jack trigger in
NOTE: All inputs accepts native 24 bit 192kHz signal except for optical (96 kHz) and Bluetooth (16 bit 48 kHz)
OUTPUTS
1. 1 x coaxial
2. 1 x optical
3. 1 pair of pre out RCA
4. 1 x 3.5 mm mono jack trigger out
NOTE: All outputs allows native 24 bit 192kHz signal except for optical (96 kHz). Bluetooth signal is upsampled to 96kHz.
The pre out function will be muted when a headphone is attached to the jack.
The LCD display cannot be dimmed.
THE SET UP
1. Sony BDP 765 as transport with QED Coaxial Interconnect
2. Sony MDJA20ES connected with QED optical cable
3. ASUS Windows 7 laptop, using WMP and iTunes connected with Noops USB A-B cable
4. iPhone 5 and Blackberry Z10
5. The M1 SDAC connected to M1 PWR power amp with QED Signature interconnect
6. ProAc D18 speakers single run from M1 PWR amp with QED Silver XT Anniversary speaker cable
7. Headphones: Alessandro Grado MS Pro, BOSE Over the Ear
THE MUSIC
1. Zee Avi - Siboh Kitak Nangis (CD)
2. Andrea Bocelli - Time To Say Goodbye, Dare To Live, Vivo Per Lei, Because We Believe (CD, 192 kHz FLAC)
4. The Eagles - Hotel California (CD, 192 kHz FLAC)
5. Joey Scarbury - Greatest American Hero (AAC)
6. Ella - Chinta Dahulu Kala With Azlan (MP3 48 kHz 256 kbps)
7. Gipsy Kings - A Mi Manera, Hotel California (MD)
THE SESSION
It was difficult for me to jump onto this SDAC since I have been listening to M6 DAC for the past 3 weeks or so. Just to 'reset'' my digital brain and 'erase' the M6 digital stamp, I went back to listening to black disc for the past few days before hooking up the M1 SDAC.
CD REPLAY
First to go in the Sony BDP765 is music from our local lass Zee Avi whom has made it big in the USA. Siboh Kitak Nangis is a song sang in Zee Avi's native language in Miri, Sarawak.
The ukelele on this track sounded very melodic and detail while vocals was very upfront. It felt like I was sitting right at the front seat of a jazz lounge. Quire lively experience, The best was to hear the mild scratch of the wire brush on the snare drums. Overall it was slightly dominated by the low end frequency, sounded a bit bassy which a bit of a surprise given the high frequency characteristics of the class D power amp in the M1 PWR. Maybe this was Anthony Michaelson's plan all this long.... to match the SDAC with M1 PWR amp.
Andrea Bocelli's tracks reconfirm this. Dare To Live, Vivo Per Lei sounded a bass-ier than the usual lively and tonally balanced sound I hear on my set up. It does provide a full bodied sound and gets your adrenalin up with quite an authorative musical engagement. But it may still be a bit to bassy for some people. For me personally, for vocal based music, I would prefer a more natural sounding atmosphere.
Now, putting in Foo Fighters My Hero gave a a more realistic experience where it gave justice to how Foo Fighters wanted their audience to listen to their music. Full bodied, growling vocals, kick pedal heavy drums and roaring guitars. Two thumbs up for M1 SDAC for this experience. Its more natural and balanced throughout the whole musical spectrum.
Last but not least, Hotel California...the Live version. My my my... the kick pedal and guitar sound in the intro...is really really empowering. Again, it has this authorative sense ... as if it is saying to me - 'Hey dude, come and listen to me and I will rock you'. I do believe its the M1 SDAC doing this ...both the DAC and pre amp section because I dont believe the 70 wpc from the M1 PWR class D poweramp can give me this. I have tested this M1 PWR amp before with my CLiC and it was a different experience.
COMPUTER AUDIO SYSTEM - USB INPUT
Dont laugh.... but in the recent weeks, this old classic 80's song by Joey Scarbury have been playing on my mind, So browsed through iTunes and sure enough I found the song for $0.69. Tested the The Greatest American Hero and it made re-live my childhood nights for a moment. I remember watching this TV series with my late dad when I was growing up. The combination of this track and the M1 SDAC gave me this emotion and thats what matters when listening to music. OK, the track of course is not the best of recordings. The drums sounded flat as most 80s songs are. Snare were rough and kick pedal were soft. But hey, this is not heavy metal. The vocals are transparent and most importantly, it did not sound digital and still have that 80's ambience. And this kind of musical engagement is what it is all about for me. Emotion runs high on this one.
Moving to another local artist, a duet by Malaysia's Queen of Rock ..Ella... with the growling vocals of Azlan...the front man of Azlan & The Typewrites. This was an excellent track to test the M1 SDAC. Rock vocals, heavy guitars and solid drumming. The low end reproduction of the SDAC balances out the screeching voice of Ella and gave more bass to Azlan's vocals which I need to admit that its not their usual natural sound. But I aactually like it this way. The drums and guitar of course was again very engaging and entertaining.
OPTICAL
The few DAC's I have reviewed in the past few months have given a new life to my MD experience wwconnected to optical input.
Playing A Mi Manera which is basically a Spanish rendtion of Frank Sinatra's My Way. The SDAC maintains its bassy sound which made the guitars on this track sound a bit muddled. But not to bad. When it comes to the solos, it sounded very lively.
The next track which an uptempo rendition of Hotel California. Again the guitars sounded a bit muddled but solos were great. Vocals were a bit flat. Still enjoyable but could not match my previous experience with NAD 390 DD digital amp and the now resident M6 DAC of mine which gave a big leap to the MD.
HEADPHONES
Now..... I would even buy this SDAC on its headphones capability alone. I was very surprised to go thorugh all the tracks above using my Alessandro Grado MSPro cans. The bassy sound from the M1 SDAC is there but it does not overshadow the high freq of the music. In other words, it compliments it and makes it sound more balanced. Truth be told, I spent a good 4 to 5 hours straight on this session.
It is however still needs careful matching with the headphones. Using the BOSE Over the Ears, it became a little bit too bassy. Not the M1 SDAC's fault. It may come from the closed cup design of the BOSE.
BLUETOOTH
Similar to M6 DAC, the BT capability pretty impressive. Connectivity is simple enough even my 5 year old son knows how to connect his iPad to this unit. I came into my hifi room one day and saw him playing Smurfs with the sound coming out from my hifi !!! No dropouts throughout the 2 hour session I had on my Z10 aand iPhone 5.
The sound from my Z10 and iPhone 5 were refreshing and maintains the characteristics as above. Still on the low end side of the musical spectrum but at the same time, on certain songs could still provide that emotional connection expecially on one particular song that came in at random... P. Ramlee's Anak Dara Rindu.... Cant explain the emotion. For you local Malaysian lots... go and try to find this track. And its not even a well recorded track.
FINAL VERDICT
Looking for a well equipped pre amp to match your power amp? Have both digital and analogue sources? Then one dont have to worry about insufficient inputs.
I would recommend this to match a lean power amp. Maybe its just me but the low freq characteristics from this SDAC will work best with a lean, soft sounding power amp or hifi set up. It will give a quite drastic change in music representation.
The M1 SDAC can be purchased from LTB Enterprise in Subang Jaya. Call Tony 019 3388577
So you enjoy a good 2 hours movie on your telly or projector screen and you tell yourself...'The image on that movie was soooo real! ....or the graphic was so life like'...
The question...what is real? Is that blue colour on Avatar creatures that you see is the blue colour that was intended to be displayed by the movie director?
Is that red and gold colour on Iron Man are the real colours that is suppose to be?
To top that, have you ever feel that certain night scenes are too bright that you dont feel that it was night time?
Or do you experience fatigue even by watching 2D Blu ray movies?
Read on if you are interested to know my recent experience in answering these questions...
I purchased my 55" Samsung LED TV Series 7 sometime in Nov 2009 when LED TV first hit the Malaysian shores. I remembered that time in SenQ in Miri, Sarawak where I was suppose to go there to buy a rice cooker and end up purchasing this TV instead after being so fascinated with the visual display of the TV. (And of course, I forgot to buy the rice cooker !!)...However, when the TV was delivered the next day and set up in my house, I was tad dissapointed to see the picture was not as sharp and vivid compared to the show room. It was just plain dull. Trying different settings did not help at all where I have to mess around with it for each movie I watch. I ended up putting the TV on Dynamic mode for all purpose of watching...may it be Bluray, DVD, Astro or games. Which initially it was OK as all the colours are boosted to the max...
It got worst recently that I get too fatigue and dizzy after each movie I watch....and mine is not even a 3D set up !
Will change to projector screen improve the experience? Will a bigger screen improve my movie experience?
So, while I was scouting around for a bigger TV or a better quality TV or projector screen, I was informed about TV/Projector calibration to a reference imaging standard.
What is ISF? It stands for Imaging Science Foundation. They are in the Display Standards Industry and since 1994 has been dedicated to improving the quality of electronic imaging. You can read more a bout it here: www.imagingscience.com
In Malaysia, AV Designs provides this service as part of a TV/projector purchase package. But they also provide this calibration service to people with their own existing TV/projector. Curious to know about this calibration, I requested AV Designs to calibrate my TV. James Tan himself came to my house last Sunday 31st March to perform this calibration on my 3.5 years old LED TV. This would be the first time a calibration is done on an 'old-ish' TV.
The whole calibration session took about 3 hours but that includes friendly chats and also listening to my 2 channel hifi :)
Anyhow, James came with 3 basic equipments:
1. Chroma Meter
2. Laptop with software and USB cable connected to the Chroma Meter
3. Test patterns BD played on my Oppo 95 player
James was kind enough to explain a few things about the imaging standards using laymen's term. A few points that I think very important are:
1. There are international standards for colours as reference. With this standard, a red colour object can only be called a red object if it meets the specification outlines in the standard.
2. One of the criteria of a colour standard is 'temperature'. Yes...you got that right....temperature in Kelvin. That is why you will find in the settings of most TVs now...the option of putting on a Cool or Warm display.
3. All colours depends on how good is the grayscale (black and white) colours are calibrated. Get this wrong and you will not see the standard set colours.
James went through several test patterns on the BD and with his computer, took snapshots from the Chroma Meter and the software processes the data. A pre-calibration status of my TV is displayed below. I chose to show the simplest information which was the RGB and Temperature distribution.
As you can see from these 2 plots, I have been 'enjoying' good BD imaging with blue as the dominant colour while Red and Green are either way off the scale or non existence. And I was also 'enjoying' a very warm image as the temperature across the spectrum was up to and even beyond 10000 deg Kelvin. The threshold for ISF standard is at about 6500 deg Kelvin.
To cut the story short, the following are the post-calibration plots. As you can, the RGB balance is there and the temperature profile is at average 6500 deg Kelvin across the spectrum.
So, who cares about plots right? The results post calibration....is very very outstanding. As when I about to give up hope on my TV, this calibration injected a new life to it. Colours are more natural, night scene provides the feeling to audience that it was actually shot at night, and dullness is no longer there. The imaging is maintains the vividness and liveliness pre calibration but does not give that glaring, fatiguing effect on the eyes. Playing Star Wars Episode 1, the scene in the desert, I can actually see the separation at the horizon between the desert and the sky in which pre calibration, this was not visible.
I am not a good photographer nor do I have a sophisticated camera, so its a bit hard to show the difference but this is one calibration that one should try if your TV experience is as dull as the movie Vanilla Sky. Even ASTRO B.yond benefitted from this calibration.
That night alone I watched Star Wars and Life of Pi back to back....and no sign of fatigue nor dullness.
Now I am thinking whether to take up this service again for my other TV downstairs. :)
DISCLAIMER: This is purely the results I get on my TV based on my not so perfect eyes. And for a better technical explanation, do visit the ISF page
