iggyting

Hey thanks! Don't you find the bass of electrostatic, though extended, may lack dynamic in some instances? What about the soundstage? Interesting to know your impression, regards

We all are eagerly waiting for your comments on the "Blue Hawaii". Tubeman, you are one lucky fellow. I mean with all the hell of a economic crisis let loose around us, you still can afford to sit pretty with your headspeakers chasing the 'blues' away. On another topic, has a tube-driven dynamic headpone setup ever match a electrostatic one? BTW, anyone know where to get alternative ear pads for Stax beside Kingsley? Any DIY alternative? Thanks

I have two recommendations if you like jazz and classical pieces. Late Night Brubeck (Telarc): Four talented musicians ,led by Brubeck on the piano, give a live performance from the Blue Note, spontaneous and improvisory, so relaxing. The 70-minute recording includes the lovely Koto song. But the cd is hard to get locally. Glenn Gould....And Serenity (Sony): Relax and let yourself go...15 dreamy recordings (from the burb). "The purpose of art is not the release of a momentary ejection of adrenaline but is, rather, the gradual, lifelong construction of a state of wonder and serendity" - Glen Gould. Just believe him!

I have not heard Li Yundi's recordings of Chopin and Liszt yet. Recently, I heard this young and charismatic Chinese pianist's recordings of Prokofiev Piano Concerto #2 and Ravel Piano Concerto in G major, on DG label, with the Berliner Philharmoniker, under Seiji Ozawa. Technically very accomplished (as most of the younger generation painists are), he played Prokofiev's with panache. Refreshing! As for Li's Ravel, I compared it with that by Benedetti Michelangeli with the Philharmonia Orchestra, under Ettore Gracis (EMI- Angel). Li's rendition is very accomplished. However, I find Michelangeli has more finese and nuances in the interpretation. In the lanquid second movement especially, Michelangeli's playing is so expressive. Maybe it takes time to be a great master pianist.

Yes Heady, developing B&W in a madeshift darkroom was an exciting time for the young and creative. This again highlights the question why the film-format industry failed to seize on this opportunity to promote home processing with increased R&D. Was it an idea too early for it's time? Whatever, one feels a sense of loss of aesthetic. Especially in B&W, film reproduces in print a greater range of black and white. I do not know how far digital can go in narrowing the gap. However, I doubt the discrete matrix in digital can ever fill up the continuous spread of film. An additional limitation is in the digital print matrix. Can a discrete mix ever match that of a continuous spectrum? Sorry I am not technical enough to stress my points further but hope you catch my slant. So the convenience of the digital age has arrived but with it a compromise. Ending in apprehension of a ....

The enterprising Chinese, with a billion-people market, will find it profitable even in a sunset industry. Wonder where will "Lucky" be a decade from now? The speedy penetration of the digital format can also be attributed to it's versatibilty in bringing the processing right into the home, under the control of the consumer. Would the analogue format be more successful if the industry players (Kodak, Fuji, etc) had done so with better R&D? The best was Kodak's effort in instant processing in it's polaroid cameras range. Yet it failed eventually. So there were limitations to the photo-chemical medium. The industry knows better that the digital age has unequivocably arrived.

An interesting personal site you have there, fuwen! The jury still out on whether digital will triumph over analogue commercially as the sole format for photography and hifi. I say 'commercially' because it concerns us, the consumers or hobbyists directly. Two observations, though debatable, are forwarded here. First, the convenience and 'value-added' usefulness of the digital format. The impact of the digital format in photography hits me when my elder-photographic friends 'abandoned' their SLRs for DSLRs. Their reason is not that digital is superior but it is more convenient. These long-dedicated film users say they can 'live' with the minor downside of digital photography. What is lacking in digital is more than made up by the subsequent digital 'paint-over', which value-adds to the final photograpic product. However, the same may not be true for hifi in that the LP sound remains unique and unproducible in the digital format. It is like comparing a tube and a transistor sound, both are unique and different. There will alway be 'tube' and 'transistor' sound lovers, the former group will not only be stable but also grow with time. The above differences by themselves may not see the demise of the analogue format because there will always be a select group of users. Yes old things are not trash! However, this brings us to the second observation. How 'big' is the group of photographic users of the analogue format to be commercially viable for production set-ups (factories, companies) to stay in it? Kodah and Fuji are scaling down their film productions; Konica and Agfa are long gone. It is all a question of dollar and cent - it requires big money to invest in small return. Not so with hifi in that it takes a relatively low investment to form a set-up (sound crew, musicians, etc) for a still sizeable steady-growth market of analogue (LP) users. So digital photography will replace analogue definately this 21st century. On the other hand, we may see a steady growth in analogue sound reproduction. Just my 2-cent worth..regards

I wonder what is the future of film in the 21st Century. Will the 20th century history of photography be remembered as the beginning of the end for film?

Well, the question,"what's a good or bad bass?", refers to whether the reproduction of the bass is as high in fidelity to the source music - a hifi question. I suppose the other question, "is bass necessary?" refers to whether the music is too bass-biased in the way it is played - a whimsy musical question. In regard to the hifi question, I extend it to the overall musical reproduction and suggest that more than the hifi system used, the high fidelity of the recording (the recorded music source) determines the musicality of it all in reproducing :- (1) the soundstage - layers, postions, breath n width (2) the balance of the music (high, mid, bass) (3) the weight of the music (4) the characteristic of the instruments or vocal (5) the separations of the overall music (6) the clarity n tones and all the 'she-bangs' of musicality involved in the sound reproduction. Waiting for some hard from audiophiles!

"Bad bass is like when you on a song too loud, or over alr. Like eating laksa, add too much chili padi...till you can only taste the chili, not the noodles and tau pok." I too mix up 'bass as an ingredient of music' with 'bass as in sonic fidelity' - like laksa n chilli padi!

CMK gives some good comments on bass n asks 2 interesting questions. The fact that this 2006 posting is reveberated in 2008 illustrates the long-lasting effect bass has on listeners! Besides giving a sense of pace n rhythm, a sense of scale, a better treble balance,as said, I think a good bass provides depth and also contributes to a better soundstage. Bass is inherent to certain music (imagine the introduction to Richard Strauss's 'Also sprach Zarathustra' minus the organ bass); unnecessary to others? So, What is good bass? What is bad bass? and, Can music do without bass? More discussions for better understanding?

Farle quoted close to $500/= for d2000 and $799/= for d5000.

Thkq. Keeping faith with my w1000 but don't mind making a leap either!

I was there earlier this week but Mr Wilson was busy unloading in his expanded shop - looks like a workshop! hahaha! Anyway, no chance of listening to any denon then. Well better luck next time, I hope. regards

That's the trouble with 'contraband' silver wires. Is the price the only indicator of 'pure' and 'inpure' silver? 99.90% vs 99.99%? Really that's splitting hairs! Actually what would be an acceptable silver wire (in terms of purity); and how much should it costs(in terms of value-for-money)? regards

Alban Berg's Violin Concerto is recognised as an advant garde masterpiece, a lamentation for a deceased young daughter of a friend - 'To the Memory of an Angel'. The atonal music form, described by Arnold Schoenberg as 'an emancipation of dissonance' as equivalent to the comprehensibility of consonance, is used by Berg to convey his sentiments. The opening 6-tone theme of the 1st movement is signature to the Concerto. This leads into a discordance of sounds and chords, like conflicted emotions, giving a sense of incomprehensibility of the tragedy. This dark melancholic reflection gives way to a much more agitated dissonant 2nd movement in which all the traumatised emotions (all the angts n dark feelings), dissociated from thoughts, are played out, like in a descent into madness, before a sort of normacy settles in with a brief return of the signature theme. The music in the later part takes on a calmer tone and ends in a sort of resignation to the inanity of it all. I can't say I understand the music fully. Yet, don't we at times experience emotions taking over our senses? That Berg's Violin Concerto draws us into a musical equivalence of a trauma is great arts.

It is a great blessing for music lovers, generation after generation, that Beethoven, the fiery composer of the heaven-storming 5th symphony, should also leave behind the tranquil 6th; such contrasting masterpieces. The 6th, aptly described as a pastoral symphony, was intoduced to many cinema-goers in the marvellously Disney-produced "Fantasia"(1941?), combining popular classical music scores with beautiful animations. In the 'scene by the brook' the same score of the 6th was used to paint a tranquil picture of playful nymphs, satyric creatures, baby flying-horses, cherubic water-babies, other mythological creatures, having fun by the clear-water brook. Beethoven's music score makes the scene magical. The Pastoral Symphony would be delightful under any competent symphonic archestra. But with great orchestras and conductors, the music scores sound magical. I have at hand three cds, Beethoven 6 (Archive), the Orchestra Revolutionaire et Romantique, conducted by Gardiner, the 6th (Decca), the Philharmonia Orchestra, by Ashkenazy, and the one (Teldec) by The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, under Harnoncourt, in his award-winning Beethoven's symphonic cycle. Each of these 3 readings of the symphony has its own strength. For a short comparision, I chose the scores from "Scene by the Brook" and the "Thunderstorm". In "scene by the brook ", Gardiner gives a calm and languid reading, the characters are well-mannered, enjoying a laze in the sun. Ashkenazy also reads a calm and lanquid scene, more rhythmic, and allows more expressive individual instruments play, giving a sense of playfulness to the characters. Harnoncourt, on the other hand, paints a panning view of the activities of the characters, with a bitzy more pace. In the "Thunderstorm", Ashkenazy unleashes the full fury of the storm, with soft to howling winds gushing through the foliage. Gardiner's storm is also furious but a calmer affair. Harnoncourt's storm sweeps through the general landscape and relents after a short fury. I think Ashkenazy's Pastoral Symphony stands out for its jollity and playfulness overall - a personal preference only.

Where can one hear a D5000 wo that searching look!

Hi fuwen, thanks for an interesting intro. BTW, you look forever young with the K1000 between your ears!

Wonder which part of the 9th brings tears to your eyes?

Never mind lah! Ignore my lack of sense of humour. So the Republic Symphonic Wind is giving a 'silver medal' concert. The concert programme looks interesting....blowing with 'lyricism and candour" as the blurb says. All the best .... maybe there. $10/= can afford lah!

Is Berstein or Bengsan coming?

Aiyah! Traffic jam or accident is very common in Singapore; one can get used to it! Seriously, behind Berstein's rhetorical question "So, is the conductor necessary?", lies a fundamental answer. He is saying that what one sees is just a performance (maybe good or bad). What is not seen are the hours the conductor spent with the orchestra players, moulding them into a signature sound, unique and different from others, and playing according to the conductor's reading of the music. That's the difference between a great and good conductor (or orchestra).

Now that's something to hear about! Aside from the 'special effect' like listening in an 'earthquake zone', are the high, mid and bass finely balanced? My personal preference is for a balanced sound. regards

It is always good to speak the lingo of the "trade" so that fellow enthusiats can appreciate what's being said. However, I find some of these descriptive terms more difficult than the sound itself! Hahaha! Take the term "dry" used - a sound that is devoid of "juice", which usu comes across as fine-grained and lean. Also a loss of reverberation as produced in a damp environment. Ahem! Do you mean apple or pineapple juice? If devoid of them, I am most happy - I don't like juice that much - never mind fine-grained and lean. Better reverberation in a humid environment? BTW, someone prefers it "dry", not stirred or shaken! Hehehe!