Techno Commander
06-05-2014, 22:57
A number of things have happened during my spell away from here. If we ignore getting a new job and other mundane happenings and move straight to the more musically orientated delights, then things will get a little more interesting. I have been umming and ahhing for a couple of years about what to do to improve my PC sound. My initial thoughts were a pair of JBL Control 1s and a T amp. I had even managed to acquire a pair of the rather rare JBL Control 1+. However during my hunt for a decent amplifier I somehow came across the Adam Artist 3 speakers and became intrigued and decided to investigate further. The Artist 3 seemed to offer everything one needed, looked stunning but had a price tag like that of a high end hooker. :eyebrows: I also thought the on-board 16 Bit DAC was a bit limiting.
However not all is lost. Dismissing the Artists, lead me on to the A3X. A more business like incarnation designed for studio use and to be worked for a living. The finger print magnet piano black is substituted with a more durable (less cleaning required) satin finish, the DAC has been dumped and 200 notes has been pocketed.:) Some research around various pro music forums reveals pretty much all the Adams to be held in high regard. Coming from a pro music background myself, I tend to be a bit "anti hi-fi" in so much as I don’t generally do hype and a lot of my gear in the past has come from a more studio, or pro based direction than hi-fi shops. I find people who use kit for work as opposed to pleasure are a bit more forthright with their opinions and less susceptible to marketing trends.
The more I read, the more my desire for the Adams was growing. I could see this ending nastily for my wallet and there would need to be some kind of domestic appeasement in recompense. My only course of action was to try and find a demo and convince myself they were crap and I didn’t want them. Fortunately, I managed to find a stockist not a million miles away from the local Triumph dealer, so while the bike was getting serviced; I took advantage of the new Bonneville they leant me and went off in search of musical nirvana.
I have no connection with Absolute Music (http://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/), but upon entering their store I couldn’t help grinning at the display of shiny high tech and geeky electronics on display. Rooms full of guitars and Marshall amps were just bonus eye candy. I grabbed myself a nice espresso from their on-site café and went in search of a sales person. After a brief chat, I was lead to their speaker demo room (http://66c02cd7531f2538496d-2699e8c95559034be19c2e3b3367d4e1.r53.cf3.rackcdn.c om/slideshow/superstore/slideshow_CAPTION8.jpg?1399416666267). Definitely not hi-fi style, but it did at least provide an opportunity to listen to plenty of speakers. The large comfortable chair in the middle spun easily to face the appropriate speakers.
The A3X was first on the list and almost immediately I started smiling as sound effortlessly wafted over me. I was sat maybe 3m away from the speakers and the clarity of mid-range and highs from the air motion tweeter was sublime. I have been a fan of ribbons for some time and have the Visaton’s on my big monitors, but these were a revelation. No harshness, no high frequency sparkle, just a clarity and openness I wasn’t expecting. Music was presented to me with incredible detail, precision and authority. I was quite taken aback. And where was all this bass coming from? A 4 ½” driver? Where’s the sub hidden? OK, it wasn’t subsonic deep bass, but it was precise and had serious punch.
It was at this point the sales man suggested listening to some alternatives. After all, it was a demo and comparison. Next up, a pair of Genelec 8020s. These were considerably more expensive than the Adams at £319 each and displayed a very grainy and gratey sound that I found quite offensive. These were turned off before the first track had finished. I also listened to a pair of Dynaudio BM5As these were much better and had even better bass, but at over 750 notes for a pair, they were spanking my available budget. They were also far too big to sit on my desk (phew). Before returning to the A3X, I requested a listen to the A5X, as I wanted to see what difference the larger driver made and I would forever want to know if I didn’t take the opportunity to listen. Suffice to say the A5X was superb, with more bass extension, but also, too big for (my) desk duty.
Having made up my mind on the baby Adams, I enquired as to any recommendations to control them. I was shown the Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 (http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/audio-interfaces/komplete-audio-6/). A very funky USB interface, (or Pre amp & DAC in Hi Fi parlance :)). This little beauty supports 4 x analogue inputs. Balanced outputs, headphone amp and a USB interface with a 24bit/96KHx Cirrus Logic DAC. This seemed ideal and the aesthetics and build quality were also superb. It appeared to be machined from a block of acrylic and wrapped in aluminium. It probably isn’t solid, but it certainly felt weighty and substantial. A try for 7 days and return it if you don’t like it offer sealed my fate. I handed over the credit card and went for another espresso whilst trying hard to conceal a big cheesy grin.:D
2 days later, a collection of boxes arrives at home and I spend a few hours pulling apart my desk, dusting fluff from under the computer and setting up the speakers and USB controller. I can confirm the Adams are very well packaged and feel substantial. Manufacturing quality is excellent and the satin finish does a super job of hiding sticky finger prints. The speakers were supplied as a deal which included a set of balanced audio leads and some weighty desk stands. The KA6 is a thing of beauty (in an industrial kind of way). It exudes quality and looks slick.
I do need to point out that you need to load drivers from the supplied CD to operate it. You also get free copies of Traktor and Cubase, a couple of music studio workstation programmes. The learning curve is a bit steep, but if you are interested, they are a lot of fun to play with. You also need to configure Windows volume control to recognise the KA6. It took me a while to figure out that one.:doh:
YAY!! It works. Quickly scurry off and fetch espresso & cinnamon bun. Turn phones off. Let there be music… after some deliberation I skipped through a few tracks from Pink Floyd’s Pulse & Echoes albums. Wow this is good, this is quite mad. Music is presented to and laid out in front of you. You aren’t listening to it, you’re immersed in it. Clarity detail and sound staging are quite spectacular. There’s no harshness or edginess with high frequencies and the mid is detailed open and articulate. But what really impresses is the bass. There is real power there, but it is tightly controlled and doesn’t bloom or sound bloated in any way. There also seems to be a better bass depth and lower extension here than I noticed in the shop. This is possibly due to how the speakers are situated; and being somewhat closer to them. Obviously it’s not in the 10” Volt territory, but none the less very noticeable and very impressive.
I followed this with Yello’s Essential album. I have always liked this. It has some wonderful tight drums and deep electronic bass. It is also a very dynamic album and makes full use of stereo sound. As the speakers had been on for a couple of hours, I decided to be a bit more generous with the gorgeous volume control on the KA6. In fact, I turned them up several times over the next 20 minutes. They do that wonderful trick of not sounding loud because they aren’t distorting in any way. But then you feel your brain resonating from the bass at certain parts of the album and sit there with a silly grin. This is very addictive, I want more of this.
I spent most of the day randomly playing tracks and running through whole albums. The smile never left my face. When the missus came home later, she promptly sat down and didn’t move for an hour. Normally she detests little speakers and anything that doesn’t have KT series valves. High praise indeed.
It’s been probably three weeks since these little marvels arrived and they just seem to be getting better all the time. It’s not all roses though and I feel it only fair to mention the following points.
These were designed as near field monitors. You really do need to sit in the sweet spot. Fortunately, its easy to to achieve at a desk and the sweet spot it just soooo good.:D
I haven’t turned my main hi fi on for 3 weeks. :eek:These are that addictive.
Productivity and work on the PC has suffered. I keep getting sucked into the music. But isn’t that what it’s all about?
Adam have definitely got something right with their speakers. They are seriously good and highly addictive, and well priced. Go and have a listen. Go and be amazed.
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg116/sillystuff99/Hi%20Fi/1.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg116/sillystuff99/Hi%20Fi/2.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg116/sillystuff99/Hi%20Fi/3.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg116/sillystuff99/Hi%20Fi/4.jpg
However not all is lost. Dismissing the Artists, lead me on to the A3X. A more business like incarnation designed for studio use and to be worked for a living. The finger print magnet piano black is substituted with a more durable (less cleaning required) satin finish, the DAC has been dumped and 200 notes has been pocketed.:) Some research around various pro music forums reveals pretty much all the Adams to be held in high regard. Coming from a pro music background myself, I tend to be a bit "anti hi-fi" in so much as I don’t generally do hype and a lot of my gear in the past has come from a more studio, or pro based direction than hi-fi shops. I find people who use kit for work as opposed to pleasure are a bit more forthright with their opinions and less susceptible to marketing trends.
The more I read, the more my desire for the Adams was growing. I could see this ending nastily for my wallet and there would need to be some kind of domestic appeasement in recompense. My only course of action was to try and find a demo and convince myself they were crap and I didn’t want them. Fortunately, I managed to find a stockist not a million miles away from the local Triumph dealer, so while the bike was getting serviced; I took advantage of the new Bonneville they leant me and went off in search of musical nirvana.
I have no connection with Absolute Music (http://www.absolutemusic.co.uk/), but upon entering their store I couldn’t help grinning at the display of shiny high tech and geeky electronics on display. Rooms full of guitars and Marshall amps were just bonus eye candy. I grabbed myself a nice espresso from their on-site café and went in search of a sales person. After a brief chat, I was lead to their speaker demo room (http://66c02cd7531f2538496d-2699e8c95559034be19c2e3b3367d4e1.r53.cf3.rackcdn.c om/slideshow/superstore/slideshow_CAPTION8.jpg?1399416666267). Definitely not hi-fi style, but it did at least provide an opportunity to listen to plenty of speakers. The large comfortable chair in the middle spun easily to face the appropriate speakers.
The A3X was first on the list and almost immediately I started smiling as sound effortlessly wafted over me. I was sat maybe 3m away from the speakers and the clarity of mid-range and highs from the air motion tweeter was sublime. I have been a fan of ribbons for some time and have the Visaton’s on my big monitors, but these were a revelation. No harshness, no high frequency sparkle, just a clarity and openness I wasn’t expecting. Music was presented to me with incredible detail, precision and authority. I was quite taken aback. And where was all this bass coming from? A 4 ½” driver? Where’s the sub hidden? OK, it wasn’t subsonic deep bass, but it was precise and had serious punch.
It was at this point the sales man suggested listening to some alternatives. After all, it was a demo and comparison. Next up, a pair of Genelec 8020s. These were considerably more expensive than the Adams at £319 each and displayed a very grainy and gratey sound that I found quite offensive. These were turned off before the first track had finished. I also listened to a pair of Dynaudio BM5As these were much better and had even better bass, but at over 750 notes for a pair, they were spanking my available budget. They were also far too big to sit on my desk (phew). Before returning to the A3X, I requested a listen to the A5X, as I wanted to see what difference the larger driver made and I would forever want to know if I didn’t take the opportunity to listen. Suffice to say the A5X was superb, with more bass extension, but also, too big for (my) desk duty.
Having made up my mind on the baby Adams, I enquired as to any recommendations to control them. I was shown the Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 (http://www.native-instruments.com/en/products/komplete/audio-interfaces/komplete-audio-6/). A very funky USB interface, (or Pre amp & DAC in Hi Fi parlance :)). This little beauty supports 4 x analogue inputs. Balanced outputs, headphone amp and a USB interface with a 24bit/96KHx Cirrus Logic DAC. This seemed ideal and the aesthetics and build quality were also superb. It appeared to be machined from a block of acrylic and wrapped in aluminium. It probably isn’t solid, but it certainly felt weighty and substantial. A try for 7 days and return it if you don’t like it offer sealed my fate. I handed over the credit card and went for another espresso whilst trying hard to conceal a big cheesy grin.:D
2 days later, a collection of boxes arrives at home and I spend a few hours pulling apart my desk, dusting fluff from under the computer and setting up the speakers and USB controller. I can confirm the Adams are very well packaged and feel substantial. Manufacturing quality is excellent and the satin finish does a super job of hiding sticky finger prints. The speakers were supplied as a deal which included a set of balanced audio leads and some weighty desk stands. The KA6 is a thing of beauty (in an industrial kind of way). It exudes quality and looks slick.
I do need to point out that you need to load drivers from the supplied CD to operate it. You also get free copies of Traktor and Cubase, a couple of music studio workstation programmes. The learning curve is a bit steep, but if you are interested, they are a lot of fun to play with. You also need to configure Windows volume control to recognise the KA6. It took me a while to figure out that one.:doh:
YAY!! It works. Quickly scurry off and fetch espresso & cinnamon bun. Turn phones off. Let there be music… after some deliberation I skipped through a few tracks from Pink Floyd’s Pulse & Echoes albums. Wow this is good, this is quite mad. Music is presented to and laid out in front of you. You aren’t listening to it, you’re immersed in it. Clarity detail and sound staging are quite spectacular. There’s no harshness or edginess with high frequencies and the mid is detailed open and articulate. But what really impresses is the bass. There is real power there, but it is tightly controlled and doesn’t bloom or sound bloated in any way. There also seems to be a better bass depth and lower extension here than I noticed in the shop. This is possibly due to how the speakers are situated; and being somewhat closer to them. Obviously it’s not in the 10” Volt territory, but none the less very noticeable and very impressive.
I followed this with Yello’s Essential album. I have always liked this. It has some wonderful tight drums and deep electronic bass. It is also a very dynamic album and makes full use of stereo sound. As the speakers had been on for a couple of hours, I decided to be a bit more generous with the gorgeous volume control on the KA6. In fact, I turned them up several times over the next 20 minutes. They do that wonderful trick of not sounding loud because they aren’t distorting in any way. But then you feel your brain resonating from the bass at certain parts of the album and sit there with a silly grin. This is very addictive, I want more of this.
I spent most of the day randomly playing tracks and running through whole albums. The smile never left my face. When the missus came home later, she promptly sat down and didn’t move for an hour. Normally she detests little speakers and anything that doesn’t have KT series valves. High praise indeed.
It’s been probably three weeks since these little marvels arrived and they just seem to be getting better all the time. It’s not all roses though and I feel it only fair to mention the following points.
These were designed as near field monitors. You really do need to sit in the sweet spot. Fortunately, its easy to to achieve at a desk and the sweet spot it just soooo good.:D
I haven’t turned my main hi fi on for 3 weeks. :eek:These are that addictive.
Productivity and work on the PC has suffered. I keep getting sucked into the music. But isn’t that what it’s all about?
Adam have definitely got something right with their speakers. They are seriously good and highly addictive, and well priced. Go and have a listen. Go and be amazed.
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg116/sillystuff99/Hi%20Fi/1.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg116/sillystuff99/Hi%20Fi/2.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg116/sillystuff99/Hi%20Fi/3.jpg
http://i246.photobucket.com/albums/gg116/sillystuff99/Hi%20Fi/4.jpg