TAD Evolution Series Launch Event

AV Designs  again have hosted a launch event for TAD (Technical Audio Devices) Lab Inc latest Evolution Series disc player and DAC, appropriately named as the TAD-D1000 and TAD-DA1000. The event was held at their showroom in Rohas Perkasa on Thursday, 21st Jan 2014.

The event was a semi-formal affair with the attendance of the usual Malaysian faces of audiophille, journalists and bloggers.  The event was graced by the attendance of Mr. Takahashi of Pioneer/TAD Malaysia. He emphasized that TAD is very proud with this latest product as it was built for accuracy in music reproduction which came from an engineered approach. It is to deliver a natural and realistic musical experience.

A brief info sharing of TAD history was given by Ryan Lee, their sales and marketing executive. TAD was established in 1975 to develop professional level speakers or monitors. As it grows to develop other products for domestic market, TAD still is well known across the world for its accuracy in reproducing sound in over 200 professional sites. Capitol Records, Pixar, Walt Disney are some of the famous places that employs TAD products for their studios. George Michael, RHCP, Coldplay and Michael Buble are some of the big name artists that uses TAD in their album recording works.

And of course, their products have been highly reviewed by What HiFi, Stereophile and Techradar magazines to name a few.

Some of the key main features:

1. A newly developed unltra high carrier to noise ratio master clock UPCG

2. DAC circuit equipped with Burr Brown PCM1794A

3. A-synch USB transmission engine that faitfully reproduces high res sound sources up to 32 bit, 384 kHz.

4. Aluminium chassis and structure with low COG to minimise effect of external vibrations

5. A proprietary large sized toriodal PSU enables effortless playback of sounds with fast attack

6. Unique CD mechanism for outstanding precision loading and quietness

7. Simple and high sound quality system configuration made possible through a line output volume function in the DA1000

8. The DAC also comes as a headphone ampilfier with dedicated volume function.

The 2 products were then jointly launched by Mr. Takahashi (Pioneer), Mr. James Tan and Mr. Tony Low (AV Designs).

After that, it was all musical pleasure. James Tan demonstrated the capabilities of these 2 items. 4 tracks were played, first straight from the CD player into the full TAD system. Then it was followed by feeding the CD player to the DAC. Most of the audience were in consensus that the sound via the DAC was more luscious. Eventhough its the same DAC chip in both the CD player and DAC, the latter still sounded more appealing.

Overall, it is true what Mr. Takahashi said that its all about naturalness and realistic. Strumming of guitar sounded sharp and detail was given on every chord, the hollowness of the bass drum on one of the tracks can actually be heard and vocals were extremely mesmerizing with sweetness and lusciousness. There was also a complex piece arangement on one of the tracks but the CD player and DAC had no issues in detailing the multiple instrument piece.

I have seen and heard a few hifi equipments that has a price tag that can make a person goes 'You got to be kidding me'.... and even if I do have the dough, I will not purchase it. But this is one product that I believe is priced appropriately. You get a lot from it.... the built, the estatic design, the sound quality....just pure musical pleasure.... I love it.... But I still can't afford it :)

The D1000 disc player is priced at RM 66,999 and the DA1000 DAC is priced at RM56,999 and can be auditioned and purchased only from the sole distributor of TAD in Malaysia... at AV Designs in Bangunan Rohas Perkasa, Kuala Lumpur.

If you are into high end equipments and sound but dont want to hit that RM 6 digits territorry, have a listen to these 2 items. You will be surprised....but just be carefull that you might extremely mesmerized and you will just swipe that credit card to purchase one :)

Other information on the specifications are as below:

TAD D1000 CDP and DA1000 DAC: OFFICIAL LAUNCH

Feast your eyes on these beauties while a full write up is posted.

Magnet MA400S - BBB... Beautiful But Beastly

 

I am kicking off this year review runs with a product close to Malaysia.... A Magnet MA-400S Limited Edition power amp... a design from neighbouring country Thailand.... courtesy Victor Pheh of HiFi Creations.... A BIG THANK YOU to Victor for his trust in my review.

And of course... out of eagerness to listen to this amp, the unit was delivered within 2 days of confirmation to review. It came with a Magnet power conditioner.....but I will leave that for a separate review.

Truth be told.... I didn't know what to expect of this product. Doing some research and browsing on the company's website (Magnet Website)...It looks that Magnet takes it seriously when it comes to corporate image as well. The company actually has been around for over 20 years now where the founder, designer Khun Pongtorn Malakul Na Ayudhya takes pride of his approach of handcrafted amplifiers.

BUILT

Weighing a monstrous 25 KG, I had the concern of setting it up on my own. But surprisingly enough, the way it was packaged, it was easy for even 1 person to unpack and set it up. One plus point is how the internal components are positioned such to evenly distribute the weight over the whole unit. It is not one of those design which is heavier at one end which can catch you off balance while unpacking it.

Solidly built aluminium chassis with a well thought design of curved edge for the heat sink fins... no concern of cutting yourself during handling. 

The front fascia is a clean design with a power button and a blue LED....soft to the eyes at night.

In the rear panel, the banana plugs on my IXOS 604 biwire speaker cable can snugly fit the speaker gold plated binding post (2 pairs to allow bi-wiring). There is also a gold plated ground post.

The RCA input is also gold plated and my Cambridge Audio RCA interconnect fit nicely into it.

Now... for the XLR balance input, it comes with a unique design protector cap.

The inputs are switchable between XLR and RCA. The switch is an old school type click switch.

The unit comes with a thick and sturdily built power cable with a US receptacle plug.

Its 10/10 in my books when it comes to built quality. 

SPECIFICATIONS

This power amp uses a Full Complementary Symmetrical Push-pull and direct coupling with JFET differential input circuit and output 200 WPC into 8 ohms. Its an AB design amp.

It has both unbalanced RCA and balanced XLR inputs which can be chosen with a flick of a switch.

It offers 2 pairs of speaker binding post so that you can bi-wire your speaker if you wish to do so.

There is also a remote loop to allow the unit to be turned on or off when receiver or pre amp is turned on or off. One trigger cable is included with the amp.

There is also a built in fuse to protect the amp from overloading. And yes.... a spare fuse is also provided. 

THE SET UP

1. Musical Fidelity M1 CLiC preamp/streamer/DAC connected directly to the MA400s using Cambridge Audio RCA IC

2. Sony XB930E CDP connected via Cambridge Audio coaxial cable into the M1 CLiC

3. IXOS 604 bi-wire speaker cable into ProAc Response D18

THE MUSIC

1. Eva Cassidy - Wayfaring Stranger and Wade in The Water

2. Maroon 5 - Moves Like Jagger

3. Because We Believe - Andrea Bocelli

4. Classical Music from French radio station - Classic and Jazz

5. Mariah Carey - Hero

6. Getz and Gilberto - Girl from Ipanema (Hi Res FLAC)

THE SESSION

I kicked it off with Eva's sweet and luscious voice. First thought was.... This is something different. The high frequency sounded elevated as in it was taken up a notch. Not an ear pinching level but its some how a little bit too clear and sounded digital. The guitar plucking in the intro of Wade in The Water was giving me the shivers as it sounded too clear and digital. The vocals were however quite upfront and sounded airy. The Wayfaring Stranger sounded livelier with the melodious guitar and keyboard sound. Quite a first impression it gave me.

Now, I thought of giving the unit a bit of a kick. Went in Maroon 5. Now this was a very good experience as the bass on this track especially in the intro part, was very authoritative and commanding. It does lack a little bit of punch and control but it still made me start tapping my foot....and my head started to nod to the beat. Now, thats what I call a unit that has that one element to move you. And this was played at a moderate mid level volume.

None of my review will be complete without my beloved Andrea Bocelli. This is when the amp really excel. The overall presentation on this track provide me with a very big and spatial sound. It delivered a powerful performance with quite a balance between highs, mids and lows. Andrea's vocal sounded crisp and deep. The music accompanying his vocals sounded uplifting and full of emotion. This is where I think this amp forte is; vocals and classical/opera-ish music. This was further confirmed when I put on a random classical piece from the famous French internet radio station Classic and Jazz. Played it loud and this amp just smiles on delivering such powerful performance through my ProAc D18 speaker. I am not much of  a classical music fan but I must say, one can be influenced into listening to classical music when listening to this amp. I wonder why not many exhibitor puts on classical music during the annual KLIAV show.

Mariah Carey's Hero was presented with a tad more bass than I would like it. Not overwhelming but it made her vocals seems a little bit 'mellowed'. The bass on this track was also a little bit dispersed instead of tight. The overall sound still sounded airy and that is what I usually like. 

Playing Getz/Gilberto hi res piece through this amp reveals quite a detail presentation of this track. Even at lower volume, it still provided me with quite refreshing sound. The different layers of music/vocals  in this piece can easily be delivered and noticeable.

CONCLUSION

BBB....Beautiful but beastly... Beautiful built quality with such a beastly speaker driving performance. Dont worry if you want to drive your speakers hard with this amp. It can deliver enough power for most speaker set up. It also does not run hot even without air conditioning your room.

The amp performs best for classical, vocals and jazzy music. For rock and bass heavy music, one might find that the low end a bit muddled. It might be my speakers but they do not sound muddled when driven by my MF amp. 

I now have a big admiration towards Asian hifi products after good experience with Magnet and also Kingrex products. Would like to be exposed more to designs from this side of the globe as well.

This unit can be purchased and demo-ed at HiFi Creations. Contact Victor on 012-2962799.

It is retailed at RM12,800.

New toys for 2014

Just received these 2 Magnet products...

MA400 Limited Edition power amp and Iso-Clean-1000 Power Station Series....

Great start for 2014.... Review soon...

Courtesy of the nice and friendly Mr. Victor Pheh of HiFi Creations.... Sole distributor in Malaysia for Magnet products...

ProAc D30R is here in Malaysia

Its here in CMY.... Must find time to go and have a listen to it.

Reflection of 2013 Hifi Journey

A happy new year to all. Hope 2014 will be a better year for all.

Looking back into the past year, there were lots of things that happened that I should feel blessed.

THANKS

I took the leap into blogging on 1st Jan 2013. I actually have started this blog much earlier but didnt have enough guts to click on the Publish button... It was always saved as draft... And completed the year with 29572 pageviews. Thanks to all viewers and readers. That is 2464 views per month... Not too bad I think.

I know some readers do ridicule my reviews on other forum platforms which I have learnt to take it as a constructive learning but there are also nice and good supporters... which some really took my reviews as a guide to their hifi journey.

And not to forget the following people and companies for their event invitations, product samples and also friendship, in no preference order:

1. Tony Lee of LTB Enterprise for all the Musical Fidelity home demos, advices (life and hifi) and teh tarik.

2. James Tan and Tony Low of AV Designs for the TV callibration, launch event invitations, dinner and introduction to Bryston (still my reference headphone amp) and Darbee... 

3. Hifi4sale.net fellow moderators and bosses...thanks for entrusting me to be part of the moderator team.

4. Steve Chua of CMY One Utama for the cabling advice and also Beyer T1 headphone

5. Kingrex of Taiwan for their UD384 USB DAC and USB cable samples for review

6. RHA of Scotland for their RHA750 IEM sample for review

7. Editor of Audiofi.net for NAD390DD and Supra USB cable sample for review

8. Mov_freak for willingness to source for me the HFPA discs and deliver by hand... Erik, Victor etc...

9. Friends who visited me at home to enjoy music and do some friendly shoot out.

10. My ex-company colleague Mr. S.K....whom gave me an Amari RCM for a farewell gift. 

11. RAVE Systems Sdn. Bhd particularly TK Han and Uncle for their invitation of their Genesis and Tech DAS AFO launch event

12. Mr. Aaron for the Audeze LCD2 sample unit for test and review.

13. Mr. Dick Tan for the annual KLIAV shows and frinedly banters and talks.

14. Analogue Fellowhsip especially Dr. Paris, Kuan Yew Nam, Dato Danon, Song etc for their friendship and hifi wisdom sharing..

15. The regulars at AV Designs ...for their friendly welcomes and chats... Jo Ki, Willy, Felix, SFLam etc.. 

16. Feedback from Google+ members on this blog...you know who you are :)

17. Rock Corner especially KLCC, BV, Gardens, The Curve branches for their discounts on LPs.

18. Chong for the UD110 USB DAC review sample...its a keeper of course

19. Drife for bringing by my old flame ..the Sony CDP XB930E

20. Last but no least....my wife and kids who gives me the space and time to enjoy my hobby...and for the Beyer T1 headphone birthday gift.

Did I leave out anyone???

HiFi Progression

Referring to my posting on 1st January 2013... http://www.notanotherhifiblog.blogspot.com/2013/01/el-hefes-2013-hi-fi-set-up.html

I have only managed to achieve 2 out of 3 targets..

1. Upgraded my main DAC to from Musical Fidelity M1 DAC to an M6 DAC... my personal stellar purchase.... a keeper for sometime...

2. Record Cleaning Machine.... thanks to my ex-colleague and mentor Mr. S.K. from Jakarta, I now own one as he gave me an Amari RCM for a farewell gift.

3. Wanted to upgrade my office headphones to a new Musical Fidelity flagship headphones.... unfortunately.... there is still no sign of the production of this flagship model.... So I got sidetracked and got myself  (or my wife got it for me)....the Beyer T1 flagship unit...

Sidetracks:

1. Rekindled with an old flame... the Sony XB930E CD player

2. Lots of LPs

3. High Fidelity Pure Audio

4. BOSE AE2W bluetooth headphone

5. Darbee 

So, I am starting up 2014 with this set up:

Dream to have but most probably will never get one

1. TechDAS Air Force One turntable

2. PMC Fact 12 speakers

Dream to have but may put some effort in getting one in 2014

1. Bryston Mini T speakers to replace my Mission M34i home cinema front speakers

2. A projector and screen set up / 60" or 65" TV

Format Matters: Part One

So...it was so exciting to get my hands on the 6 HFPA discs on Wednesday... 18 Dec 2013...thanks to a nice gentleman nicknamed Mov_freak from Lowyat.net forum. Not only he was very helpful to get me those discs all the way from Melaka, but also had the trust for COD at KLCC. Who says internet is full of weirdos? I actually now made another friend over the net. Thanks to this great hobby.

A BIG THANK YOU TO MOV_FREAK....

Now the juicy part....

OPTIONS OPTION OPTIONS

All the 6 discs came with 3 coding options of 2.0 channel music (yes was a lil dissapointed of not having a 5.1 option):

1. PCM 24 bit/96 kHz

2. DTS-HD Master Audio 24 bit/96 kHz

3. Dolby TrueHD 24 bit/96 kHz

Now, with all these options, I was little bit confused on which set up to play these discs with.

1st SET UP: 2.0 CHANNEL ON MY MAIN HIFI

I first loaded in Diana Krall's The Look of Love using the following set up:

- SONY BDP S765 Bluray player connected to Musical Fidelity M6 DAC via a QED coaxial cable

- M6 DAC connected to M6i amp which drives a pair of ProAc Response D18 via Siltech Balanced XLR cable

The disc autoplays once loaded (loading time is faster than movie BD) using the PCM. The most evident signature of this format, in the first impression is the low end reproduction. Clean and tight bass not only from instrument but also from vocals. The overall sound is also more opened to the usual experience I have from CDs.

With the fear of the other 2 codings will produce loud noise through my DAC, I zeroed the volume and then changed ther audio coding to DTS HD MA and slowly increasing the volume..... and voila!.... it worked.. The M6 DAC can still extract the DTS HD MA (and Dolby TrueHD) signal. I believe however, this is because it is still in 2.0 channel. Nevertheless, I have played 5.1 and 7.1 bluray movies, and my DAC still able to reproduce the sound into 2.0 channel. It however shows only 48 kHz input.

Hhhmmmmmm..... Not sure how all these work as I remembered during the DVD days (it sounds like so long ago hehehhe), if I try to play 5.1 signal into a DAC, there was only loud noise coming out. And given that this disc suppose to produce 96 kHz signal... but the DAC shows 48 kHz...Any kind soul out there can explain this? Feel free to leave a comment.

Later (after listening to the music)...I played around with my BluRay player setting....then realised that because I have set it up to Downmix 2.0 channel, hence thats why all the different codings work with my DAC. When I actually changed the settings to Direct....then there were loud noise each time I tried to play DTS HD MA and DOlby TrueHD via the DAC.

But...evethough I set the Coaxial Digital Output to 24/96....my DAC still only detects the signal from the disc to be 48 kHz..... hhhhhmmm... Disc issue? DAC not up to spec? Answers please....

OK. Enough with technical write up (or the lack of it as I dont have answer to my own questions)... back to music...

Diana's album was quite a good first impression of HFPA for me. There was definitely a different presentation than standard CD. 

Next in was Nirvana's Nevermind... wanted to see what HFPA can do on this raw grunge album...

Opposite of Diana's experience, I didnt get to experience the elevated ambience of HFPA. Dissapointed? NOOOOTTT... and why you ask? This is a grunge album..... I prefer that it does not sound over-engineered and digitalized.... And thats what I get from this High Fidelity PURE Audio... I guess this format is trying to give listeners the chance to listen to the music as pure as possible.

The growling vocals of Kurt on Smells Like Teen Spirit was classic and it reminded me of the era where grunge rules. The rawness of his guitar is also very evident. The bass from from Novoselic and Grohl's bass drum was not overhighlighted as opposed to Diana's album. Even on the intro of Come As You Are, everything was mellow and in the right balanced proportion.

FORMAT VERDICT

So, on its own..... HFPA is delight to listen to. I dont even have to listen to the other 4 albums to support this.

Comparing between the 3 codings, I find that I prefer the Dolby TrueHD option. It sounded the best as its more balanced across different frequencies.... vocals were more upfront.... and the overall experience is more elevated. Having said that, I need to later compare it with a 5.1 channel set up.

But......is it better and the ultimate format compared to CD, LP and hi res FLAC? Read on....

For comparison of formats, I use Getz/Gilberto as its one of the albums that I have in LP, CD and FLAC.

HFPA vs CD

First thing I notice, the different volume level. Eventhough the CD was played through a balanced XLR chain from M1 CDT to M6 DAC to the M6i amp, the HFPA sounded louder at the same 9 o clock on the volume knob.

I am in trouble as the CD now sounded a bit dull. The HFPA sounded livelier with overall presentation was more involving....more realistic and natural. The bass line on HFPA was cleaner and more defined. Vocals were more bold. Is all this due to higher resolution? Most probably.

1-0 to HFPA.

HFPA vs FLAC

For this, I use FLAC files with the same resolution 24/96 downloaded from HDTracks a couple of years back.

Close call between them. Hard to differentiate between them. At one point, I forgot which format was playing. Perfect bit to bit transfer? Perhaps. Excellent remastering? Most probably.

The only different I notice is again the volume level. The HFPA sounded louder than the FLAC....although it might be because the FLAC was played via the M1 CLiC which is connected via RCA to the M6i amp compared to the XLR connection for the HFPA from M6 DAC. Hence a draw.

2-1 to HFPA

HFPA vs LP

The final battle....A bit tricky here as I would not say my LP is optimumly set up.... I have not changed nor re-tune/align/callibrate my TT since I purchased it in 2011.

Playing the LP made me realised what was still missing in HFPA. The warmth and sweet character of analogue production. Although HFPA can provide that natural sound, the level have yet to reach what LP gives out. Now now....Its not all that bad... Bare in mind that HFPA (or hi res for that matter) is still in its early days and I do believe it has the potential to go higher.

So for multiple format war final result?

2-2....its a draw hehehehe. :)

This is how I rank them based on musical enjoyment:

1. LP

2. HFPA

3. Hi res FLAC

4. CD

However, for overall taking into account conveniency:

1. Hi Res FLAC

2. HFPA

3. CD

4. LP

There you go.....in the end .... consumer have CHOICES..... so choose wisely....and enjoy the music....

Stay tune for Part Deux.... HFPA on 5.1 channel review...

High Fidelity Pure Audio - Will it Survive?

Its finally here... Bluray High Fidelity Pure Audio... Testing it tonight...  At the same time, got myself a 2013 remix of In Utero in 45 rpm...

Thanks to a nice gentleman from Lowyat forum whom helped me to source these discs.

Will the black disc still be superior?

Nirvana on 45 RPM?

Could not resist the urge to buy this when I saw it selling at RM95...

Wonder how good it will sound over the 33...

KARAN Amps is now in CMY

Just got news that CMY is carrying KARAN amp now. Need to go and have a listen...

Xmas Sale!

Received this SMS today... So come one all.... Lets go shopping...

When Music is A Passion: PMC SE Series

PMC’s Head of Sales Mike Picanza, was recently in Malaysia to have a meet and greet session with a few local hifi audiophiles and to talk about PMC SE series loudspeaker. The session was held on Thursday 28th Nov in AV Designs in Kuala Lumpur.

First of all, its always an exciting experience to be able to meet and chat with hifi companies reps from overseas as we get to hear first hand of any of their latest plans and designs. And this excitement just got better after chatting with Mike Picanza. Listening to his past experience working with several hifi companies, I could feel how passionate he is when it comes to hifi designs. And mind you... this is not because Mike impressed me with a sales pitch, but more on his approach and understanding of what music listeners want.

And this kind of experience with hifi companies reps was made possible by AV Designs.... so a BIG THANK YOU to James Tan and Tony Low for organising this (and of course for the wonderful dinner in Serai)

Mike's presentation mainly  was about the improvements in the SE versions from the Classic range. Not to say Classic was not a good speakers. But its also practical to based on an already established and prooven design and just refine it more.

Some of the major design changes are:

1. Internal bracing of the cabinet

2. Solid aluminium dome midrange  

3. New waveform guide for the treble

Can you spot the difference between Classic and SE?

PMC have also bought a mansion turn homely office in Bedfordshire which will also include dedicated hifi and home cinema listening rooms and an anechoic chamber. They will be moving to this place in 2014.... and there might be an invitation for local enthusiasts to a PMC summer party to celebrate the move.

And for this year's KLIAV show, PMC and AV Designs are thinking of offering something different for the event attendees.... Wait for it OK?

More pictures from PMC facebook

PMC Facebook

RHA MA750: My 2013 Choice of IEM

 

When I was first contacted by RHA to review this unit about 3 weeks ago, I have to say that I have not heard of the name RHA.  So, I googled it and saw a few pictures and reports of RHA participation in audio shows. And its based in Scotland. After a quick read through of the company's portfolio, I really did not know what to expect of its sound characteristics.

RHA is a specialist British headphone company which takes true-to-life audio reproduction and long lasting quality as their core values. More read up of their range, I came across their mid range MA600i model which offers 'aircraft grade aluminium'. Got me a bit excited to really sample their unit. To my surprise, RHA decided to send me their top end model MA750 instead which made me even more excited. MA750 is relatively the same as their MA750i model but without the iPhone talk-through function. This model however is a stainless steel unit as oppose to the aircraft grade aluminium.

After a few emails, the MA750 sample unit arrived at my door step within 4 days of its being dispatched from Scotland. This made me feel more confident of RHA services which also offer delivery for those that opt for online purchase.

FIRST IMPRESSION

Impressive packaging. Some marketing thoughts have been put into the packaging design which was fully secured and yet wasy enough to un-box the unit. Truth be told, Apple can learn a thing or two from RHA with regards to packaging. I truly dislike how Apple package their products. 

I didnt actually bother to check the content at the beginning as I just took out the IEM unit and plug it into my iPhone 5. First track played was Iron Maiden's Can I Play With Madness... (Yes... I was  in a frenzy mood and needed some adrenalin flowing).. And the MA750 really got my juice flowing... 

This IEM delivered a very clean and natural sounding character. BUt at the same time, the low end frequency sounded full and bold. Mcbrain's awesome drumming was really revealing and the MA750 delivers this with high precision. Only after this track, I started to explore whats inside the packaging :)

WHATS INSIDE AND BUILT QUALITY?

1. The MA750 IEM itself
2. Leather pouch
3. Nine (9) different ear tips, locked into a neat metal plate. Comes with dual density silicone, double flange silicone and memory foam ear tips.
4. Manual
5. Cable Clip

I particularly like the material of the cable used. Its somehow manage to avoid cable entanglement even without having a clip. The cable is steel reinforced, oxy-free and comes with a gold plated connection.

The stainless steel housing gives it a sleek and luxurious look and its already pre-contoured with the cable to go around the ear.

This IEM is a noise isolating unit. Using RHA's aerophonic (TM) design, it was contructed from individual machined stainless steel componets.

Top notch built quality at this price range.

THE EXTENDED LISTENING SESSION

I used this unit DAILY..... yes DAILY for a straight 3 weeks. Thats how much the first impression impact is. The listening session was done via iPhone 5 and Musical Fidelity M1 HPA headphone amp.

Tracks chosen are as below. All of which are 48kHz 320 kbps MP3 files:

1. Can I Play With Madness - Iron Maiden
2. The Pink Panther Theme - Henry Mancini
3. Perfidia - Andrea Bocelli
4. Siboh Kitak Nangis - Zee Avi
5. My Hero - Foo Fighters

Isolation Quality: I find the double flange tip provides me the most comfortable experience with the best isolation level.

As mentioned earlier, Can I Play With Madness.... was indeed madness :). Bruce's vocals was full of energy and although the drums was really evident, it did no overshadow the heavy guitar solos and riffs. The MA750 presented the song with such high level of detail but still clean and balanced. No issues of bloated bass or high pitch treble.

Now, very recently, I got more serious in listening to Mancini's work. So The Pink Panther theme is a perfect track to test this IEM. And yes, it got me more excited with the legend's musical arrangement. All the wind instrument on this track was presented in a very bold but relaxing tone. The percussion also was very bold but was never exhausting even with the high pitch ride cymbal playing. Using the wrong IEM for this track can make this track sound loud and tiring to the ears due to the way the percussion and trumpet were recorded.

Perfidia... although its about one partner deceiving another, it is still such a beautiful tune. The classical guitar solo on this track sounded very lively with the right amount warmth injected from the MA750. And Andrea's vocal was presented in his most melodious tone but still as uplifting as his other tracks.

Through this IEM, Siboh Kitak Nangis gave me the emotion of how beautiful my nation's music and lyrics can be. The soundstaging on this track was well presented by the MA750. Zee Avi's vocal was very crisp and emotional with the beautiful sound of ukulele and double bass overhanging behind her, as if I was listening to her live performance. 

When it comes to heavy and complicated music, I always listen to My Hero. And yet again, the MA750 had no issues to deliver such a high level quality music reproduction. The drums on this track was presented with such detail and definition. The heavy bass drum gave me the urge to start banging along on my Yamaha DTXplorer drum set. And that what I did. Grohl's high strung vocal was also the highlight of this IEM. No fatigueness experienced even with such a high screeching vocals. All well balanced.

CONCLUSION

As the title suggest, this is my 2013 choice of IEM. Yes, its November... but I doubt I would get to listen to another pair in this next month that can compete with the MA750. I have actually listened to a few this year in the likes of Shure, Senns, MF although may not be reflected in my blog.

If you need clean, natural, balanced sound with good noise isolation, please audition this IEM. It is not for those who are looking for heavy bass boom. Not a Beats definitely but it does give enough to make you want to shake your head in excitement. And at this price range, its definitely can be a good Christmas present....:). Go on then.... put a smile on the face of your loved ones....

Do visit www.rha-audio.com for their full model range and specifically for this unit, click here

http://www.rha-audio.com/us/headphones/ma750.html

I was also informed that there are a few other products in their plan, to supplement their existing high quality product.

A BIG THANK YOU to RHA for the review sample. 

For those interested to purchase one, you can order it from Amazon:

(toggled to 'In ear headphones') http://www.amazon.com/RHA-MA750i-Isolating-Headphone-Microphone/dp/B00ELAM8NC/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1385397298&sr=8-3&keywords=RHA

RHA MA750 IEM: Sneak Preview

For those wondering what I received from Scotland last week, its actually one of RHA's IEM offering...the MA750...

Been using it  for nearly a week now....a review of this will come out soon.

Feast your eyes on ths pics first....

PMC FACT 12 Launch - Live from AV Designs

 

On Thursday, 7th Nov marked another successful launch day for AVDesigns where the famous PMC Fact 12 was officially launched in Malaysia. The word official....sounds like a ribbon cutting ceremony right? Far from that actually .... It was actually a fun and informal launch event graced by many of James Tan and Tony Low friends and family, past (...and future?) customers, local hifi critics/reviewers, and guru.

The event started at 3 pm....but yours truly...due to work commitment could only be there at 5 pm... And i stayed on till 7 pm... By the time I arrived, the 'usual suspects' are already there enjoying the big sound from the Fact. There was  Dick Tan, Jo Ki, Eric, uncle Peter, Mark, Willy, Tang and soon after that Felix as well.

So, first thing first... A BIG THANK YOU to AV Designs for the invite and most importantly for the hospitality...

FIRST IMPRESSION

The Fact 12 was driven by a full Bryston set up and wired by WyWires. :

1. BP 17 pre amp

2. 4BSST2 power amp

3. BDP-2 with built in SSD media player/streamer

4. BDA-2 DAC

Three words to describe the first 5 minutes listening to these speakers: BIG, CRISP, CLEAN

Why?...read on my fellow readers...

THE SESSION

2 hours of listening .... And I was entertained by the big, room filling sound from such a slim speaker. The speakers delivered such a powerful performance in which the low ends was very controlled and tight and yet still sounded quite subtle and warm to my ears. I guess I have to attribute this to the ATL feature of the speaker. Small drivers but can easily match any bass heavy 'normal' sized speakers.

Bear in mind that this pair was designed with the following dimensions and drive units:

Dimension: 

H 1110mm (43.7”) + 25mm spikes 

W 168mm (6.1”) + 100mm (3.2”) ingot feet 

D 420mm (14.9”) + 23mm (0.9”) Ag terminals

Drive Units:

LF 2 x fact 140mm (5.5”)

MF 1 x fact 50mm (2.0”), 

HF 1 x fact 19mm (0.75”)

However, what impresses me most was the mids and highs. I have always known that PMC speakers have no issues in delivering the bass, but to balance this with the mid and high notes, not all speaker manufacturers can do what PMC does in such a slim design.

Several tracks that was played on that day includes some high pitched vocals and guitar and trumpet works. Not familiar with the tracks but the chosen tracks were good musically and recording wise. I had the concern of getting fatigued if the mids and highs are ear pinching. But to my surprise, the vocals and guitar and trumpet works were soooooo gentle to my ears but still sounded convincing. The bass did not overshadow them at all, in fact the mids and highs compliment the authoritive bass with such a crispy sounding environment. It delivers that emotional connection from the music to my soul.

And put this two together, the overall presentation was clean and no-nonsense delivery of music was achieved. At first, I thought that James and Tony used the tuning function below but I was informed that the setting used was flat and it was just that the speakers have been fully run in. The tuning switch (the 2 switches above the top speaker terminal) will allow the listener to increase/reduce the decibel of the high and low frequency by 1 to 2 decibels. It may be useful to cure some of the basic acoustic issues for a given room. But, on that day, the speaker delivered its potential without the need of any tuning,

Various music genres was played and the Fact 12 will just keep on rocking and entertaining. But for me personally, jazz and rock was the best. I also believe, vocals heavy music such as in the likes of Andrea  Bocelli will benefit most from these speakers.

The event ended (at least for me) at 7 pm. Leaving the shop was hard as the rest was still enjoying the continuous music being put on by James and Jo Ki.

PMC owners and fans out there, do go and demo the Fact 12. You owe it to your ears to experience such a well designed speakers.

Do contact James Tan (016 3280237) or Tony Low (012 2330771) to arrange a demo. Their outlet is located on Mezzanine floow, Bangunan Rohas Perkasa, Jalan P. Ramlee, Kuala Lumpur.