Thank you Steven Stone for the great Sonic Amarra Review. We do enjoy the sound and features of Amarra. It makes the Apple iTunes combo so well with Weiss DAC2/DAC202/Minerva for advanced digital library and playback. Look forward to read your review article on Weiss DAC202.
Thank you Audiophile magazine from Thailand (Bangkok) recently reviewed the Weiss Minerva DAC.The reviewer is much appreciated in the sound quality of Minerva. He said that “Minerva is the best sounding DAC from all every External DACs that he has been reviewed.”
There is a cycle between audio and music. We need good music to full fill our great audio system, and good recordings require good audio system to produce its potential. Sometimes some music is boring but bring the effects of superb absolute terms, sometimes music is fantastic however the recording is not as good. Since I wrote Jacky Cheung album and received quite many emails, maybe I can use some spare weekend time here to recommend good music/good recordings to you.
A tribute album to Dusty Springfield by country music artist Shelby Lynne. If you have long enough time as an audiophile, you must know that “Dusty Springfield Casino Royale” James Bond movie soundtrack is one of the must have audiophile discs. The best version is either vinyl or HDAD (24/192) by Classic Records. A lot of audiophiles extract HDAD back to high res music files at 24bit/192kHz. Dusty Sprignfield “The look of love” is so groovy that makes you move, Shelby Lynne one is keeping that soulful sound, without the royal orchestra (strings/horn) arrangement but rather minimal piano,guitar and drum instruments country approach. It is produced by Phil Ramone, engineered and mixed by Al Schmitt and mastering by Doug Sax. Well, they are my most respected people in the industry, obvious the quality is extremely high. My favorite song is “You don’t have to say you love me”, a bitter sweet song that precisely represents the music and space of sound. A lot people in our local music scene talks about bad things of cover version. I believe there is it depends on how the rearrange, engineering of musical taste of the artist perspective. And this one is perfect in my book.
Sophie Milman is a Russian born Jazz vocalist who lives in Canada. Her albums reminds me the early Hole Cole Trio albums, which are very popular in audiophile circle because of their high quality production. This album is mastered by Joao Carvalho Mastering in Canada. He uses Wilson Audio Maxx as mastering monitor and full set of Weiss digital processors. The album includes my favorite song “My one and only love”. I am addicted to collect this song in good cover and even created my own engineered version, which you can download free high resolution from our sample page. The flow of Sophie Milman version is gorgeous sounding and ccordion solo arrangement reminds me of Ricky Lee Jones Pop Pop album. This album is great for a lazy saturday night with a bottle of good year Pichon-Longueville.
If you have pre-ordered a Weiss DAC2, the new shipment has arrived yesterday and you should receive emails that we can now schedule for pickup or delivery. From this shipment, we will also raise the DAC2 price from HK$23,800 to HK$24,500. The new DAC2 (2010 version) has upgraded with four new RCA plugs, same as latest ATT202 and DAC202.
Beside that, we are also providing a complete new packaging system that every Weiss user will like too. We also sell this box as an accessory. It has pre-cut protective foams to fit in a DAC2 / Minerva / Vesta. It is made of very thick and strong card board with fancy paper. We think this is a much better production to maintain the Swiss product image. Please contact us regarding this new packaging box.
We will soon announce our Asia Weiss company here, and more information will be available to improve our services to serve existing Weiss users and potential Weiss users. Stay Tune.
IF you are interested on Digital Audio, Computer Audio Source and audiophile playback chain, please watch out for our March big seminar! We will be provide a very special seminar that everyone will like to join, and gain something in return.
Mega song singer Jacky Cheung has released his new records “Private Corner” The concept of the records is excellent, and it is my favorite Jazz music genre. The preface is absolutely wonderful. “There is a place in the sun, it doesn’t belong to anyone; just friends and drinks, quality music and me. Yes, this is my private corner, come join me and you’ll see. ” Very mood feeling.
The production is handled by people from US and mastering is done by the giant Bernie Grundman, no doubt one of the best mastering engineers in the whole universe. This records is marketed on audiophile market however I personally think it is more towards Pop genre rather than REAL audiophile records. If you have joined my digital audio seminar you know that I am one engineer very much want to preserve the natural dynamic range of acoustic materials. To me this is the most important aspect of any “AUDIOPHILE” recording. The high quality playback system can reproduce the lowest volume in details while the loudest volume sounds huge.
I think most audiophile does not know how to describe this effect but they can easily feel that while listening to this records, the low level music is much better until the loud section comes in, the loud section will sound compressed, limited and boxy. This is the side effect when using excessive compressors and limiters. I have done a DR (Dynamic Range) test and the records gets DR7 rating, which is not near “audiophile” level.
The following screenshot is the whole album zoom out. You can easily see the loud section is overall packed square.
Jacky Cheung – Private Corner DR7 Rating.
Conclusion: I like the music and it is a big thing that Jacky Cheung is releasing album again. I purchased my copy but personally as an audiophile I just wish it can be a good one. I hope the album will be re-engineered for higher quality version. MY intention to write this article is hope sharing the elements of good recording and hope the industry can be improved.
Dynamic Range 動態範圍評級:
由全球音響界所組成的世界性組織，為錄音的動態範圍訂立標準，The DR Value 代表此錄音的動態範圍壓縮度，並展示原錄音的動態達到那一級標準。 動態於音樂表達和享受上是不可或缺的。 數值越大表示動態範圍越大及壓縮較少。 詳情可參巧 www.PleasurizeMusic.com.
Thank you Winson Ng for the great AJP3-Review, and Sam Ho to mention us on his editorial. We will be in contact shortly regarding the all the Weiss series.
Today is 2010 – January, 26. The day before Apple announces its tablet product. In today standard, after I bought a new CD, I will put in to our music server, rip the disc, and get the album info while reading the booklet and see all the credits (especially recording studio, mixing and mastering engineer). After that, the CD is stored in the rack and hardly bring it out.
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