audio reproduction gear, music and other stuff
March is slowly approaching its end, and this reminds me that I haven’t written anything on this blog for quite some time. The reason is simple: not much has been happening here, although some interesting topics have been circulating in my email exchanges with Biju and Peter recently.
I have to confess that I had been growing impatient lately, counting down the days until the opening of the main audio event in northern Germany — Norddeutsche HiFi-Tage. The fact that the city I live in hosts the second-largest audio show in Germany makes me feel fortunate, because it is a great opportunity, costing me practically nothing, to align my expectations and internal reference with what is considered top-notch audio reproduction today.
Recently, my attention has been focused more on artistic interpretation than on reproduction quality. I think this is a good sign. The decisions of when to hit the string and how long to let the tone ring, as well as how intense each stroke should be, are the aural expression of the artist’s interpretation of the music at the moment of transferring an idea into sound. As an amateur guitarist, I have been confronted with this matter throughout my own experience, and I realize that even a simple three-chord progression can be performed in many different ways by slightly varying the timing and intensity of the strokes.
This is some beautiful music I recently encountered, guys – Beethoven, Chopin & Liszt: Piano Works – performed by the talented young artist Alexei Melnikov. I don’t remember when was the last time I had such a toe-tapping experience with Beethoven’s music, but the fact is that this record brought the feeling back. It is simply stunning what Alexei achieves with the keyboard of the beautiful Shigeru Kawai EX grand piano.
Some time has passed since the Audio Note OTO SE Signature took over the amplification duties in my audio system, and as usually happens when a new component of higher quality is introduced, some deficiencies intrinsic to other links in the audio chain begin to reveal themselves. Armed with some new knowledge obtained during my communication with Peter Qvortrup, I went through a process of system optimization evolving around this single-ended amplifier, with the main goal of bringing out the best in it. I am glad to say that the end result is a level of enjoyment that has surpassed anything I have experienced before.