by Michael

Vincent Belanger ft. Audio Note U.K. at Munich HiFi Deluxe 2019

Recorded in 24bit, 96khz on May 11, 2019 at the Munich Marriott during Hifideluxe 2019.

Vincent was accompanied by, well, Vincent being played back on an Audio Note U.K. stereo with:

1. X? a prototype Level 5 DAC (on the Fifth Element DAC platform with Fifth Force power supply) with a brand new very bold architecture which is a big departure from what anyone has tried before and a clear advancement of the state-of-the-art
2. AN/E SEC Signature speakers (on “J” stands)
3. Ongaku Kensei stereo 211 power amplifier
4. M9 phono preamplifier
5. TT3 turntable with Arm Three/2 and IO1 cartridge and S9 step-up transformer
6. CDT-Six transport

Vincent was accompanied by the Audio Note system which was – frighteningly(?!) – realistic. From where I was sitting I had to look closely at what Vincent was playing to tell which notes were by him and which were previously recorded [Cellos are much harder for a Hi-Fi to reproduce, to sound correct, than, say, electric guitar for which there are several of these types of live demos]. I guess that is the charm and entertainment here, and with these kinds of demos, but seriously, this was impressive.

There is more to this session in the Audio Note room which we will hopefully get to post shortly.

 

in Audio Note / Featured Audio Note Posts / Munich 2019 0 comments
 by Michael

Mike and Neli went on a little audio adventure

Mike and Neli went on a little audio adventure to visit Audio Note in the U.K., the Munich High-end 2019 show, and the Acapella Audio arts factory where we listened to the Sphaeron Excalibur speakers (pictured) for most of the day.

Details galore forthcoming after sleep and uploading and sifting through several thousand photos, 100s of videos and many recordings of various systems in 24×96 hi-res audio.

 

 

 

 

in Acapella / Audio Note / Featured Acapella Posts / Munich 2019 3 comments
 by Michael

Audio Note U.K. level-5 volume controls

Volume controls? Yep. Volume controls.

Audio Note’s more expensive pre-amplifiers have high-performance and awesome-looking volume controls. Hand soldered resisters are used for discrete levels of attenuation – arranged in a couple of different geometries that are pleasing to the eye [well, MY eyes anyway!] as well as the ear.

The red, square-looking one in the photos has more “steps” and allows for finer control of the volume between soft and loud. AN believes in high-gain preamps and so do we, but we wanted a little more control over the playback and recently had Nick at True Sound install the red volume control in our M9 Phono preamp.

We are liking the change. 🙂

It is taking  us both awhile to get used to setting the volume 5  clicks in and still being able to hear ourselves talk [which can be a good thing and a bad thing ;-)].

OK. Enough with the spouse-humor [sorry Neli :-)]. We also upgraded the M9’s umbilical cord between its power supply and control unit a few months ago, a major improvement.

Audio Note U.K. doesn’t stay still and keeps improving things. Which is good. Because after some amount of time, I am always ready for something that brings me closer to the epiphanies of hope and beauty that music can deliver to world-weary tired souls – like mine. And maybe like yours too.

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