Had a blast light night during our listening session over at Sir JoeyGs' place. His room is properly treated and his setup is at par with that of Audio/Video shop's listening room & even Hi-Fi shows. His gear include quality sources; a customized fanless PC paired with Twisted Pear's Buffalo DAC, A customized cd player that can put to shame high end branded ones, A Technics SL-1210M5G & a Luxman TT, (forgot the model & cart), all powered by JDLabs custom made monoblock power amps via Aikido preamp (Sir Joey, pls fill in the items I missed). And an assortment of audiophile quality cables, while we on the other hand are enjoying freshly brewed coffee
And don't get me started with his records & CD collection in several carts & racks occupying half of the room. And yes, more records stacked in about 6 feet high racks in the living room
We started by playing high resolution lossless files via PC & his MA dual CHR-70A in pensil enclosure, those little buggers can SING! and sing LOUD! Couldn't believe the quality of sound we're getting out of those 4inchers.
Then we tried my MA Alpair 10P in pensil cabinets, first with lossless files - Audiophile voices etc, we moved to CDs - Lush Life by John Coltrane, Diana Kralls' Love Scenes, Toto, Ella & Louis, etc. Then an assortment of records with the Luxman TT.
After trying out 3 different type of sources I must say the KING & will remain in the throne for a long time is still ANALOG! It gives a presence which can't be rivaled by lossless files & CDs, it paints a picture of you in the same room with the artists playing. The music just comes out more "alive" & the impact is just soothing to the senses.
The MAs performed well & I honestly believe the quality of sound I heard last night was simply phenomenal especially when you take into consideration the total cost of the speaker build. We were all smiling the whole time and then Sir Joey put on the record - "Moonlight Serenade" by Ray Brown & Laurindo Almeida. Sir Joey, just when Ray Brown was about to start his bass solo shushed us saying; "Eto na hinihintay natin", Sir Ed stopped browsing thru records and remained motionless then at the end of the track quipped "Yan ang recording"...And me, it almost brought tears to my eyes
Till next time Sir Joey & thank you for the hospitality. Sarap tumambay sa listening room mo.