david watt

Description of Item: Mylarone Bijou 3 (Gunmetal) Condition : 9/10 Warranty : Jaben (1yr from 4/9/08) Selling price :$45 FIRM Preferred Mode of Contact : SMS Bought on 4/9/08. Got it as package. Condition is nearly mint. Have run-in for 20hrs in total. Includes full package - 4 tips/ Semi-hard case/ Clip/ Hippo Wrap

Price is negotiable. Amp has been quite underused recently.

The black box at the top right of the CDP is the Sound Devices HX-3 amplifier. I use it both as a portable and home amplifier as it can be battery-powered (2AA) and accepts balanced XLR line-level inputs or unbalanced 1/4-inch and 1/8-inch stereo inputs. It is made of tough alumimium material. Excerpt of Mini-review at Head-fi by Skylab: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f5/mini-revi...plifier-170059/ "OK, so, how did it sound? Remarkably good. It has a remarkably open, clear sound. Stunningly so, actually. I was taken back by how clean it was. The HX3 sounded better and more transparent to me than the Xin Supermacro, but was not quite as transparent as the Meier Corda Aria. Both of those amps are a little more expensive than the Sound Devices amp, but not much. I prefered the sound of the Aria, but not by much. And the HX3 actually has slightly more powerful bass. The Meier HA-2 II/SE was better than the HX3 in every regard, but not my much, quite frankly, and that Meier amp is 3x the price of the Sound Devices. You pay a lot more for the last 5% of performance. The HA-2 II/SE is quieter, and more transparent still, but again, it's a LOT more money. So, where does that leave us? Well, if you have any need for a really good sounding amp that isn't a ton of dough, is indestructible, can drive any dynamic headphone to crazy levels, and can actually drive THREE of them, I enthusiastically recommend the HX3. It really surprised me. I expected that it would be built more for toughness than audiophile-quality sound, but it's clearly built to sound great. And it sure does." Minor cosmetic flaw-mild scratches Warranty Till 1/6/09 Selling price $320 FIRM Bought from Hung Bros on 1/6/07 for S$500. Includes box and manual/receipt/warranty card

As above. PM me for the details of the cables you are selling

Thanks for the recipe. The Belden 1505F/Canare RCAP should be convenient and easy to obtain from LHS. I started off by choosing my speakers/ headphones to be "plain and boring" sonically and then selecting the cables based on my preference.

Regarding the part that Klotz's "Highs are rolled and (the) low bass (being) very lumpy thus in the process allowing the mid bass to stand out", i confirm this is so by playing a few disc from different labels and genres and they all portray the music with such characteristic when i am using my Klotz. This is even so when i use the Klotz on my Tuner. I have also tried the cables on others' system and they all present the same characteristics. Every individual has his/her preference in the way the music is portrayed. That is why there are so many brands out there in the market. It will really be godsend to me if there are same sounding cables from the Canare/Belden or other pro lineup

I am actually referring to the 7N-A2070 and 6N-A2400 series of the Acrolink cables, though the cables in the lower range are also quite good but not as startling. Can you suggest any pro cables that sound organic? I would really like to try them out.

Actually not all studios use the generic cables like belden/mogami/canares etc. Hugo for one uses their own cables in the mastering and recording. More info on their site: www.hugodisc.com The hifi interconnect can never recover lost data, though it may colour the music by truncating certain sections of the frequency response so that other parts of the spectrum stand out. An example is the Klotz GY107. Highs are rolled and low bass very lumpy thus in the process allowing the mid bass to stand out. This may add warmth to the music but then again, the listener is actually losing certain parts of the frequency range. I have been trying out the Acrolink interconnects. To me, they allow the infomation to be transferred from the CDP to the Amp with minimal loss. I deduced this from the increase in the amount of details (texture, decay etc) and also that the volume knob is turned down from its usual level when listening via the Acrolink, even though the music is playing as loud. The Acrolink interconnect allows the music to sound organic and natural compared to the Beldens/ Canares. Certainly, revealing cables cause the flaws in your system to stick out like a sore thumb. The next stage of the game will be to use tweaks in the system. It is quite fun especially, with tweaks that allow the noise floor of the system to plunge- articulate music in a sea of pitch black background. I use footers from TAOC and accessories like the RCA shorting pin from Acoustic Revive. They work for me. At the end of the day, it is the music that matters and every single component in the audio chain, including cables is important to achieve audio bliss.

You can find FuWen's and my feedback here: http://www.sgheadphones.net/index.php?showtopic=2786&st=15

Miki Imai 20051211IVORY: Audio recording of Miki Imai's performance on December 11 at the Tokyo International Forum features many of the best songs from her career including "Ivory."

http://www.psaudio.com/products/duet_power_center.asp Reviews: http://www.stereotimes.com/acc072707.shtml "Instruments and vocals became more immediate and had greater clarity. I heard distinct improvements in high-frequency extension and detail. The emerging music was more involving, intimate, and airy. In a word, it was “blissful,†and I hungrily gobbled down each and every savory note and nuance. It made me want to call Paul McGowan on the phone immediately and request a few more Duets and/or Quintets." http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/frr.pl?raccs&1173700851 "If you are looking to bust some line grunge, allow your system devices to breathe a bit easier, provide them some additional protection and possibly save yourself the expense of repurchase due to power line surges either way, and get closer to the actual sound of your system, then Duets might just be the ticket. Add in their cost and it seems a simple choice. I chose them as I like the notion of not redefining the power by active means." Retail was S$695. Selling for S$450 SOLD 230V Unit. Comes with the full package including box, manual and PS Audio Stock Power Cord. Bought in August 07 from Kingsley@Adelphi. Comes with 2 years local warranty. Low-Ballers will be Ignored!

My Current Headphone Rig: CEC TL51XZ -> Sound Devices HX-3 Amplifier -> Sennheiser HD25-II

Very cute- the ring around the eyes and also the very thick lips

haha. And no one realise when listening to the setup. We need a right/left channel test disc next time lol

http://www.oyaide.com/e_audio/audio_products_files/pa-02.htm My personal favourite currently is the PA-02. It is double core with shield. I bought the stock cable at S$10 (0.5m) from Audio Basic and get LHS to terminate for me using Canare Mini plugs (S$15). I think it is a bargain at S$25 total IMO Plenty of details and minimal colorations at this price point

http://www.blacksandcable.ca/cords.html Review for Violet Z1 in a 22 Power-Cord Shoot-Out: http://www.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?p=2663648 Quote from review: Black Sand Cables is one of those low-flying, under-the-radar companies that prefers to let the quality of their products do the talking for them, rather than relying on marketing hyperbole. I've observed as the man behind the company, John, has declined to hype his products on numerous occasions when he could have otherwise easily done so. It seems genuinely not to be his style. In fact, if you were to visit their modest web-site (as it exists as I write), you'd be quite puzzled by their offerings. You'd have a hard time determining what went into their basic offerings vs. what went into their more upscale offerings. It's basically a mess (sorry, John)... Allow me to clarify (such as I can with the limited info even I have). Black Sand used to have a full cable product line, but more recently, they decided to focus exclusively on power cords only, as that was where they felt they had the most value-add. To that end, they've developed a few power cords, but at the low-end, after receiving lots of feedback, they decided to consolidate their products into a single design. These bottom-level products are all identical save for the color of the jacket they come in: White, Crimson, Arctic Blue. These are all pure copper designs. Beyond that, they offer a copper/silver hybrid called the Silver Reference Mark 4. That's their current top-of-the-line cable. OK, so Black Sand has only 2 products, right? Well, not exactly. This review chiefly concerns their "Violet" power cord, a product that John is not yet convinced he should include in his product line. It was made as an experiment, and rests between their bottom-of-the-line cords and the Silver. John is not sure if he's going to ofer the Violet as a full-time product. I've written to him several times urging him to reconsider and to unleash the Violet on the world at large. We'll see... I paid for and received a single Violet, and then later informed John about my intentions to review his product. He then sent me his top-of-the-line product, the Silver to put his best foot forward. Well, after giving the Silver and the Violet equal time, and numerous swaps, I have to give the nod to the cheaper all-copper Violet. This all-copper power cord goes WAY WAY beyond the level of performance I've achieved with any other cable. And at a fraction of the price, AND with twice the build quality. (And it's highly flexible, to boot). Anyway, this cable (the Violet) is just stunning, I'm very excited; it's really like a component upgrade rather than a mere power cord swap. These impressions concern the performance of the Violet on my source, though I've ordered another one for my headamp. Mad resolution, I'm constantly hearing things I've never heard before, and as you know, that's always a thrill. It's making old 80s CDs sound practically hi-rez. This thing is totally "un-veiled" in every possible way. Best soundstaging I've heard so far (not the biggest, but pretty astounding imaging, everything is so vividly defined and real), and ultra BLACK background. The Violet is all about lifting veils. The question it poses to you is: how many veils do I *really* want lifted? Is there such thing as "too open" or "too revealing"? With the Violet attached, your gear becomes totally open and airy, with a nice full, firm sound. Bass is insanely tight and solid. Everything sounds extremely *real* with this cord. The Violet digs up so much information you've never heard before, it can leave you slack-jawed. This cord (like all great audio products) has taught me something new. Yes, we are all intoxicated by that component which gives us a perceptibly "blacker" background. But, when you think about it, really, half of obtaining a "blacker" background is achieving whiter whites and thus, establishing a greater sense of contrast. IMHO, the Violet is a lot like an Ansel Adams print-- it goes from absolute white whites to pitch blacks; yet it's incredibly sharp and detailed because he's used an absurdly large 4x5 negative. The Violet leaves you with the exact same feeling. It leaves nothing to the imagination, yet at the same time, it doesn't exaggerate or over-emphasize. It's almost realer than real. The Violet excels in palpability-- you can reach out and touch the artist(s). Guitars are crunchy and vivid. Voices are so clear, you can easily make out expressions that were previously garbled. Bass and dynamics are second to none. Bass is TIGHT and solid. Bass goes incredibly LOW. The sound this cord makes is eerily present and *real*. There is no way to extract greater dynamic range than to attach the Violet to your gear. Regarding the Silver, there's definitely a family resemblance, so there seems to be a Black Sand "house sound". However, the Silver still comes across a bit more constrained, the background not *quite* as black. It has a *slightly* more mellow top end than the Violet. So yes, it's definitely more "refined", but it doesn't have the same degree of impact, dynamics, astonishing dynamic range, and amazing holographic sound of the Violet. I would think if the Violet was "too much" in your system, the Silver would be a great alternative. But for me, the Violet is intoxicating, I pause and listen to songs I normally skip just because everything sounds so fresh and new. Even though this cord is beyond ruthless and ultra-high-rez, it does the neat trick of making everything sound great without resorting to syrupy euphony. Over the course of doing this review, I purchased a second Violet for my headphone amp. While not quite double the fun, adding the extra Violet to my HR-2 has taken my system a few steps further into the direction described above, and that's all to the good. One final word of caution on the Violet-- it needs around 150 hours of break-in. While it sounds fantastic out of the box, you will likely notice a bit of extra top-end energy. Don't be too concerned, because over time, it just dissipates away, leaving you with a cable without a sound (coloration) of its own. Flexibility: 7 Build quality: 9 Tonality: 10 Soundstaging/imaging: 10 PRAT/dynamics/speed: 9 Resolution/detail/transparency: 10 Value: 10 Overall Performance: 9.5 Conclusion Still with me? To wrap this up, it’s time for me to rank order all of the cables under review. This rank ordering reflects performance in my system, based on my own biases and needs. It reflects performance on those components on which each cable fared best. It is not a straight listing of cables in order of the “Overall performance†rating I gave within the individual reviews. Those ratings are dependent on cost/value, flexibility and other factors, the final rank order is based on pure *sound* alone, all other factors be damned. 1. (Tie) Virtual Dynamics Nite II (on my source), Michael Wolff Bohica (on my headphone amp) [glow=red,2,300]2. Black Sand Violet with stock ends.[/glow] 3. Black Sand Silver 4. Split decision between the TG 688 (for my source), and the Wolff Source cord (for my headamp) 5. Black Sand Violet "Deluxe" (with Oyaide 046 ends) 6. Virtual Dynamics Reference (since replaced/superseded by the David) 7. (Tie) KAS Audio Primus (on my headamp) and Oyaide Tunami (on my source) 8. VH Audio Flavor 1 and Flavor 2 9. Custom Power Cord Company Model 14 Series 2 10. Tek Line Eclipse 11. Iron Lung Jellyfish / Volex 17604 12. Straight Wire Blue Thunder 13. Audio Metallurgy Gold Alloy 9 14. Analysis Plus Oval 10 15. Absolute Power Cord 16. Zu Cable BoK 17. PS Audio XStream Plus Costs CAD329=SGD500 (exclude shipping) Selling for S$350 FIRM. SOLD

1 Pair of Grover 'S' RCA Interconnect Review: http://www.stevehoffman.tv/forums/archive/...47670-p-23.html Quote: "I replaced a pair of Audience Au-24 IC's with Grover UR-8's and immediately noticed an improvement in detail, resolution and soundstage. The Grovers sounded much more musical. They were detailed without sounding lean or etched. The Au-24's cost approximately 3 times as much as the Grover's, and the Grover's beat them soundly (pun intended)." Grover S is an updated version of UR-8 http://www.audionervosa.com/index.php?topic=344.0 Review of grover cables vs JPS 'aluminatas' JPS 'aluminatas' is US$2999/1m pair retail price (http://www.stereophile.com/cables/407jps/index2.html) Quote: "they are 85%-90% as sonically revealing as the aluminatas'...the richness and fullness of the aluminatas' as well as their being able to deliver better micro details...smoother more natural vocals and a slightly qiucker transient response is the difference" Review of grover cables vs Anti-Cables "Yup, I used anti-copper IC for more than a year before being corrupted by the Grovers. Both excellent, Grover more transparent, especially on the super subtle things like low freq reverb in a concert hall, tonality on low instruments, overall more details, but not more harsh." http://www.headphonesrock.com/Grover-Cables-Review.html Quote: "The White Grover S Interconnects sounded exceptional in every setup used, by increasing musicality and detail." New was S$250 (Include Shipping) with 2 Weeks lead-time Selling for S$150 FIRMSOLD

The exterior of the stock Xiang Sheng looks like this:

Wow. I must go down to KEC one day to audition the SA7001KI. Wonder how it matches up to the CEC TL51XZ

Thanks for the review What's the retail for the ATH-ESW9?

"This live recording from 1980 matched fusion guitar heavyweights Al DiMeola and John McLaughlin with Spanish guitar whiz Paco DeLucia." Love the interaction and the atmosphere.

Have you heard the SA7001KI? Any impressions of this CDP?

Interesting that the Marantz SA8001 ranks in the same league as the Rega Saturn while the Rega Apollo is relegated to Class B, despite the price differences. Anyone seen the SA8001 locally?

Enjoy the speakers. They are meant for near-field. YOu were lucky to get it before the show. Heard that all the stock have been snapped up

BM5A Compact MC15 From the specs alone, the MC15 seems identical to the BM5A compact. The MC15 is priced the same as BM5A but the latter has a wider frequency response: BM5A