Posted on Monday, 31st December 2007 by Auw Jimmy

Artist: Carmen Gomes Inc.
Album: Carmen Meets Kharma Live
Publisher: STS Digital
Recording Technology: SACD Hybrid Multichannel

About this album:
What will happen if you see Siltech, Marantz, dCS, Pyramix, SECC, WBT, Soundcraft, Schoeps, Philips, Kharma, and STS Digital join together? Well, the result is this Hybrid SACD Multi-Channel: Carmen Meets Kharma Live (Limited Edition).

According to what I read at the booklet inside this SACD, this album was recorded live in a small theatre in Almere. The audience were 100% audiophile and specially invited for this event (they were all the subscribers of high end magazine HVT in Holland). The audience were very quiet, according to Fritz de With (the recording engineer/producer).

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Posted on Monday, 31st December 2007 by Auw Jimmy

Artist: Various Artists/Compilation
Album: Burmester Vorfuhrungs CD III
Publisher: Burmester
Recording Technology: -

About this album:
Burmester is well know as high end and expensive audio equipment manufacturer, from Power Conditioner to Amplifier. This is their third Reference CD Audio (Burmester Vorfuhrungs CD III). A compilation from some best track to measure up your audio system performance.

As their audio equipment product, this CD also quite expensive considering this is just a CD, not a SACD, HDCD, or even a Gold CD. This is just a plain silver CD and may cost you over US$ 20 (I don’t remember precisely, feel free to check from your local Burmester dealer). Just remember, this CD is quite expensive.

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Posted on Monday, 31st December 2007 by Auw Jimmy

Artist: Anne Karin Kaasa
Album: Svalande Vind
Publisher: Kirkelig Kulturverksted
Recording Technology: -

About this album:
This is a very old album. The first release was 1991. Well at that time, I was still playing with cassette deck

Not much information about Anne Karin Kaasa (or just because I don’t know). Just like other Norway singer, she sang local language songs. Although this album name is “Svalande Vind” (Track #3), but for me, the best song in this album is the “Gje Meg Handa Di” (Track #1).

Anne’s pronunciation in this album was excellent. She sang with emotion and surprisingly, the recording quality was very impressive (consider this was recorded in 1990-1991). Surely it’s above average current most “audiophile labeled” CD. Other strong point from this CD was the instruments. The instruments played could bring and create powerful ambiance. Anne will sang right on the center with instruments filling the ambiance. On some parts, some of the instruments would play themselves without Anne.

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Posted on Thursday, 24th May 2007 by Auw Jimmy

Artist: Teresa Teng
Album: Volume I
Publisher: Universal (works together with Hugo Productions)
Recording Technology: LPCD45

About this album:
This is my first LPCD45 album. I bought it around S$ 39 (forget the exact price) at Singapore. Currently, there are 3 volume of Teresa Teng’s album in LPCD45, but this one (Volume I) contains most popular Teresa’s song. So I picked this one.

Overall, this CD contains almost all popular old Teresa Teng’s song. Track #2 is the popular “Ye Liang Tai Piaw Wo Te Sin” (月亮代表我的心) and track #8 is Thien Mi Mi (甜蜜蜜). You can read the rest on the track list at the end of this page. Finally, I can have an album that contains all good track inside. Really nice, since I used to be Teresa’s fan. I don’t have to tell you much about the album because if you love Teresa’s song, then this album will give you 100% satisfaction.

The sound quality itself can be considered good. The vocal is very sweet and liquid. The treble is soft, warm, transparant, but not harsh or bright. The low extension is tight, well rounded. I also listen other LPCD45 and they are have similiar quality and characteristics.

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Posted on Friday, 13th April 2007 by Auw Jimmy

Artist: Various (Oscars Motettkör and friends)
Album: Cantate Domino
Publisher: Proprius Records PRCD7762
Recording Technology: -

About this album:
This is a nice album for Christmas (though perhaps not all are the Christian’s song). Recorded by Bertil Aving in 1976 and very famous for its incredible sound quality. According to Proprius, the equipments used was the Revox A77 and two Pearl TC4 microphone.

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Posted on Thursday, 15th March 2007 by Auw Jimmy

Artist: Ingram Washington
Album: What A Difference A Day Makes
Publisher: STS Digital
Recording Technology: -

About this album:
This is one of the most recommended album. Superb recording and superb male baritone vocal. Most of the songs came from the classic song, like “Unforgettable”, “Smile”, “What a Wonderful World”, etc. When he was young, Ingram enjoyed music from Nat King Cole, Sinatra, Al Hibbler, Arthur Prysock, and Billy Eckstine. No surprise if his style was similar with them.

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Tags: audiophile, CD Audio, ingram washington
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Posted on Thursday, 15th March 2007 by Auw Jimmy

If you haven’t read my previous article, please click here. I discussed the mod of MX5021′s satellites. Now, it’s time for the electronic parts

I opened the Altec MX5021 subwoofer yesterday. Here’s the picture of the board inside. We can see two big rectifier, some big capacitors (removed from the board), and some op-amps (all are ST4558C).

We have two chip for amplifier here, one is TDA7265 and other is TDA7295. Both from ST. One for driving the both satellite (TDA7265, 2×25 Watt), and one for subwoofer (TDA7295, 80 Watt).

Photo above shows the removed main capacitor. Well, they come from “well known brand”, Samxon. You can see the value, 4700 uF, 2200 uF, and 1000 uF. I remove them all.

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Posted on Monday, 8th January 2007 by Auw Jimmy

Artist: Chen Lily/Chen Chie Li (陳潔麗)
Album: Each in a Different Corner of the World (一水隔天涯)
Publisher: Rain Forest Studio
Recording Technology: N/A (available in XRCD2 and LP)

About this album:
Weird album name? Wait until you hear her sound. This is one of my favorite album for easy listening session. Nice, warm sound. I suspect they use some digital effect, but who cares? They did the mastering in a smooth and neat way. Perfect! I enjoy this album a lot.

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Posted on Saturday, 2nd December 2006 by Auw Jimmy

Artist: Susan Wong Chui Shan
Album: I Wish You Love
Publisher: Rock In Music
Recording Technology: N/A

About this album:
This is her second album. In this album, Susan has learned how to outfit better She has a better photograph in the front cover. Also, you can find her photographs inside the CD. I bought this CD in 19 September 2003, around 4 months after her first album.

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Posted on Saturday, 2nd December 2006 by Auw Jimmy

Artist: Susan Wong Chui Shan
Album: Close To You (1st album)
Publisher: Rock In Music
Recording Technology: N/A

About this album:
No one knows Susan Wong (Wong Chui Shan) before. Until she released her first album (this one). I bought this CD on 16 May 2003 (hey I kept the invoice on every CD that I bought).

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Posted on Saturday, 7th October 2006 by Auw Jimmy

Artist: Rim Banna
Album: The Mirror of My Soul
Publisher: KIRKELIG kulturverksted
Recording Technology: N/A

About this album:
I don’t have too much comments on this album. This is a very unique album. All of the songs are in Arabian. Hard to explain it, though this is an Arabian album, but it’s not hard to enjoy it. I believe Rim Banna sings with full of emotion, so you don’t have to understand the language to enjoy it.

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Posted on Tuesday, 15th August 2006 by Auw Jimmy

Artist: Various Artists
Album: Audiophile Reference II (Popular Music)
Publisher: FIM
Recording Technology: HDCD 24K Gold Disc

About this album:
This is the second compilation from FIM for Audiophile’s reference. The first was classical, and this one contains more popular music. I think FIM realizes that not all people love classic. So, this one contains more popular musics. Surely, FIM hopes that this album can be accepted by most listener, not just for an audiophile.

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