Hi faust, have fun demoing speakers and gear, it's half the enjoyment of hifi hobby. I'd say look on the positive side that it's a lot cheaper than buying cars. =) I'm curious what the boss would suggest, let me know how it goes.
How about B & W 803S
Recently, there is a 2nd hand B & W 803S in our dealer in Taiwan which cost US$4,300. It is said that the production period of 803S is the same as 803D, but the 803S has aluminum tweeter instead of diamond tweeter in the 803D. Since my listening room is not big, the area is 3m in each direction (from ear to speakers, and speaker to speaker and the ceiling height.). I live in the apartment that means downstair and both sides have neighbors. I don't want to bother them much for when I turn up volume, I usually keep it adequate, sometimes when it is lounder, I would close doors or windows. At current, I use Accuphase C275V+ A47 power Amp. & Dynaudio 1.3SE. The quality of sound is OK, but sometimes, I feel the shape of the instrument is a bit slim. Do you think it is good idea to switch to 803S in my listening condition. My favorite music is classical music and long period of audiophile. Tks. in advance if someone can provide opinion about the sound of 803S or 803D (for there is also a 2nd hand in the store for US$7,000).
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Hello, hifineubee, I have attened a music appreciation class at Taipei National University of Arts for almost 5 years at the suburb of Taipei city. There is around 10 students or so in class, most are ladies who are fond of classical music appreciation. On the last weekend, the teacher, a Julliard school graduate and a learned vocal music in Belgium for 2 years with the winning the 3rd award of Elizabeth vocal music contest, she told us that the boss of the radio, wanted her to terminate the program where she acted as a program hostess for more than 20 years. We can fell that she got hurt by the stopping of the program where she worked so long. In now days, the people are changing fast, tastes, knowledge, preference, fashion, news, event............ I suppose she must be petty sad for the losing of the long time work which she devoted so much of her effort upon it. I know that some of the words she lecture on the class is unable to compare to the phrases or sentences she disclosed in the radio program for the audience are much difference at least in the sum. We are just a small group, but tho konws the No. of audiences in the radio program...... We feel it is such kind of shame that she was kicked out in the way like this........ In now days, the sustain of a media or platform is not easy while the economy and customer tastes varies from time to time....... How about the tastes of your music preference? |
Hi faust, I sympathize with you and your teacher's experience. Things come and go thought I'd say what your teacher is experiencing isn't necessarily the death of music appreciation but rather the slow end to radio as an entertainment and information media. But that's a totally different topic of its own. My taste in music is a bit peculiar I suppose. I like female vocal and large orchestral music as well as combination of the two which nowadays some call popera "pop + opera" (try Katherine Jenkins). Ideally I want combination of lush thick warm sound of tube/analog plus the detailed, analytical and hi-resolution of digital music. Sadly, it is very expensive to try to achieve the above and even then not easily achievable. |
Hi faust, Hope you’re still enjoying your speaker search. Now that I’ve 120hrs+ with the B&W 805 D3 and more side by side comparison with the 805S, I thought I’d give you a few pieces of interesting updates. I’m going to give you lots of generic ’funny asian’ descriptions that I think you would appreciate to avoid long boring technical jargons. S vs D3 - listening 805S is more like the nice low sweet but flavorful desert you get from the boutique bakery. It has signature flavor, some may like the taste some may not, but at least no arguing what it tastes it. 805 D3 is like plain organic salad without salad dressing or flavoring of any sort. The salad will taste exactly like the vegetable mix you throw in so you better wish the vegetables are full of flavor you like otherwise it’s going to be a very bland salad. S vs D3 - living 805S is like a sweet teenage daughter. Messy at times and no matter how many A reviews she gets from school you still can’t help trying to compare her with others. You get frustrated with trying to keep pushing her work harder study harder (hint, that low 3.7ohm impedence)... But in the end you still love her. 805 D3 is like a beautiful trophy girlfriend. At first all you and your friends all go ’oh how a lucky bastard you are...’, but quickly you realize that bossy nature. She wants everything perfect - her way; use silver plated cable instead of solid material she bitches, use jumpers instead of bi-wire she bitches, use a colder sound Class D amp she bitches, older poor music recordings she bitches,...basically she bitches at everything you do. You pay for everything yet she keeps reminding you’re still good enough. You get the point. 3 rings in life - engagement ring, wedding ring and suffer-ring Ok I’m exaggerating a bit but I’ve literally sold almost every gear I had in order to start fresh with the 805 D3. All the gear that were ’good enough’ with the S are now unacceptable with D3. Good things about D3 is that it is a lot easier to drive, a lot less high current hungry and super high resolution. Sound coming from the D3 is like watch a 4k UHD movie while the S would be like DVD (I’m guessing D1/D2 would be more like Bluray level). Now whether seeing in high resolution all the arm and leg hairs on the young blonde model in the Samsung 4k TV demo disc is a good thing, I guess it would be fair to say it’s a matter of taste. Suffering leading to bottling Never thought I would do this but after our recent chat and seeing how the D3 has super high resolution, I got curious about tube amp pairing against the D3 to see if I can get that ice-cream melting voice of 蔡琴 from the original 2002 HK movie Infernal Affairs (無間道). I got a good deal online for an open box EL34 tube amp. I’m experimenting right now with just a DAC (bare minimal chip to decode digital music) then RCA directly to tube preamp and tube amp. So I’m literally as tube as it gets while listening to digital music. So far I have to say I’m impressed with the performance of the $600 USD tube amp but I’m not impressed with the tube sound which I would say very solid state like. I’ve further taken another step to see if using a 300B SET tube amp would change my mind. Thought I’d share some good stupid laughs with you that only another hifi guy could understand. *all you 300 other peeps reading this post, feel free to share your funny stories too. =p |
Hello, hifineubee, I think you should be able to read Chinese, here is my comment on the Dynaudio Contour 30 which I listened last week. 評論說下放有名的confidence estar 高音 到 Contour new 30 ( in Confidence series grade),我聽感如下: source: CD + 數位流 +同品牌power (英國brand: Audiolab,但made in China), 一邊125W,音樂:蔡琴(有青蛙那條),人聲清析,呼吸氣腔可聞,但覺得部份樂段人聲有點粗,也就是dynaudio contour 舊款的人聲甜味沒有了..., At the pawn shop,低音也沉不下去,高音(木琴)也沒有B & W 804D3那麼滑溜.活潑,高.低音質感,雖說等級不一樣,但沒有C2好(音樂性差不少),也許是器材搭配的因素影響,郭金發台灣人:白牡丹,男聲人聲不厚,業者說說:現在speaker設計是走解析,因此,和舊型有差別....,和期待值有落差..... |
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