joe3rp wrote:Thanks for sharing Philip, great review!
Definitely an awesome system...equipment, room and evolution!
Not to put you in a SPOT or back you in a corner...but can you say that this EXTREME SETUP to be the BEST sounding HI-FI system to YOUR ears?
As a bonus the availability of multi-"flavor" analog (6 arm/cartridge)front end which can act as the "personal tone control" to suite most listeners/music genre.
hi joey,
thanks for your comments and reading too.
funny thing but when i left the house this morning, i had a inkling that someone is going to pop me that question which you just did
- "Not to put you in a SPOT or back you in a corner...but can you say that this EXTREME SETUP to be the BEST sounding HI-FI system to YOUR ears?" and reason is, i was asking MYSELF that question at around noon time. you see, while i was with my family the whole day, where ever and whenever there is an opportunity, a piece of my mind seemed to always insert the audio episode that was yesterday afternoon. i knew i was in trouble (pleasurable though) when i enter the Emperor's place, i said that half jokingly in the subterranean lair thread, but little did i know it pre-occupies me even when i do no wish to.
hokayyyyyy...do i really have to answer the question??????? even with comrade JD's pronouncement?
honestly, i had answered the question that i had asked myself this noon already. i answered myself, YES. the emperor's set-up is the best sounding (to me) in all my audio history, and i am not kidding when i say i remember them all great or extreme systems i had laid eyes and ears on. i entered the sub lair and emperor's place trying very hard to remove the last vestige of bias i could ever had - that of both having Koetsu's in their systems. let me qualify by saying right now, off hand, that i was not amazed by JD's system BECAUSE i was listening to a koetsu. it is quite evident in my report then, as mostly, i was impressed with what the room change did to his sound. going into the emperor's place, again there was a blue lace koetsu, but it only played a single piece which was mathis' heavenly. 95% of the session was done with another cart which i am bowled over with, and that was the da vinci cart. so this bias is out of the way as well.
other super systems i have heard excelled in one or 2 or even 3 audio parameters. some in bass punch, one in bass depth, another is upper bass dynamic sock, another in midrange liquidity, and other in detail/high frequency response. i was pondering on systems which had the MOST or ALL positive qualities that I LOOK FOR in a system. and i repeat, i am talking only of parameters that i set FOR MYSELF and no one else. obviously, each audio hobbyist has his own set of lookouts. that said, the closest i have encountered which had wow'ed me no end, with my own self-set standard of top to bottom and TOTAL musicality was the SEQUERRA SIGNATURE speakers i heard at the 1st HK high end show in the early 90s. that system did not stand out in one, two or three areas. the sum was greater than its parts, so to speak. the grand apogee would have beaten it in large scale and even dynamics, the IRS 2 in midrage lucidity, the eggleston ivy with its very relaxed and large sound, the B&W 800s with its incredible dynamic range, the Gen 1 with its deep plowing subterranean bass, the wilson alex 1 with its transparency and upper bass whop, and maybe some other system that i may have neglected to mention, BUT in an overall musicality that conveys its message to my ears, none of them had come close to the 'live' musical event that was the sequerra signature/rockport sirius 2 system in HK. it was the hot audio darling then, and proof was that at least 3 pairs were brought in to this islands during that time.
and my answer to your question and mine, joey, is that the VS VR11 setup has eclipsed the sequerra signature system as de facto the best sound that i have ever heard.
and thank you comrade jack for agreeing with me in advance.
the classical piece (symphony) was the lithmus test if you will. mind you, i was not thinking of this question AT ALL yesterday when i listened. i was there to enjoy myself and not to rate anything, after all, i am not a reviewer by any standard. when the music played, it reminded me of those live classical performance i attended at the CCP, the instruments floats, and there was no need to look for them, nor to think about 'focus', 'image' or whatever. i just heard them and they just hit me. it was as simple as that. and the last audio system that made me feel that way was with the sequerra signature. why i now regard the 11's as eclipsing that system is that in terms of ease of presentation, the effortlessness that the music came out without grit nor grain, the 11s has set a new standards as far as my audio experiences are concerned. i cannot pinpoint anymore any specific component in the chain that accounted for this sublime result, so i just have to see it as a TOTAL SYSTEM, one that is anchored of the VR11, after all, it is the most expensive single component in the audio chain of the emperor. and most certainly, the room acoustics is a MAJOR MAJOR factor (i can't believe i said major twice, but i like venus),
i am sure of that because of what i experience at the sub lair last week. and finally, i attribute the resulting sublimal sound i experienced yesterday to the incredible passion and dedication of the owner, who for months and years had told me of those bi-amp matching plans, the impedance curves, and all those technical concerns which i myself am not so technically adept at, with the full intention and determination to realize what he set out to do, and after hearing it, i am convinced that he has achieved his goal. and true enough, he told me, he listens to his system for around 7 hours on a free day. on that fact alone, he had beaten my own listening record of 6 hours which i did when i just got married (to my wife, not my B&W 801s).
well, i hope i had answered the question well and thanks for reading.
pinapawisan na ako...