Uniq Fidelity Sdn. Bhd.

Welcome 2024 - Quarter 1

Starting the year with quite a fair bit of distraction...and at time of this update it's April already and time indeed flew past without me realising it. This quarter is all about value...Holo Cyan 2 is very well received for its priced since February and I am blessed with the support from my client. Holo Red streamer continue to gain traction especially post the March update where it's officially Roon Ready. 

In March I welcomed another value proposition which is Galion TS-A75 power amplifier, I've been spending times with it driving various different speaker to decide if I need to get it into the Northern Show schudeled end-April. It gartnered some interested as soon as it arrived so I'm hoping I'll get some units going and makes Thomas happy :-)

Subwoofers...these had been what I busy with last few weeks, running measurement after measurement, testing to see how easy to integrate a subwoofer not just by ears, but need to be substantiated with an improvement in the measurement pre and post integration, the experience are mixed and I'll continue to spend more time to see how best to find a balance, but it distracted me from enjoying music, more of continously down the path of fine-tuning and re-measure, I'm sure when I get it right the rewarding will be handsomely paid, but let's see...

Meanwhile, it's all focusing on the end-April show in Penang, need to start to get things moving and plan...till then!

Wrapping up - December 2023

Last day in the year of 2023. This month I called it digital month, tinkers and sold units of switches, and assisted in setting up custom-Roon server. Rewarding experiences indeed. It's mind boggling how each RJ45, SFP cables change the sound, even more so when the Roon server powered by different power supply that's out of signal chain also changes the sound. These are subtle changes but if you sits down and critically look for it, it's reproducible. Mind boggling it was...it challenges one to be open enough to look at this, and may be not looking at this just ignore and enjoy the music...

In pursuits of one's desirable outcome, may be this is a path worth gather few friends, sharing some different power supplies and find out which is the best combination, more expensive doesn't mean it's always better, you can start with some good quality Meanwell Medical grade power supply, moving up to some reputable LPS, etc 

It's supposed to be 0 & 1 in digital form, but yet again may be its 0 & 1 or 0 & 1 or even 0 & 1

Uno Numero - November 2023

What's our uno numero system? I loves digital due to the convenience, I want to learn and love analog but it's a path that I'm warming myself up. There's no uno numero across the board; but we've to tie a context to it. For example, I'd love an almost fully digital system, with large floorstand multi-ways active speakers, that allows you to dynamically configure how the speaker should behave, with capability of strong eq / convolution / filters that shapes how the speaker should sound, imagine the future where the speaker is really just a platform, and the function and feature is by licenses or subscription? I think Buchardt (different crossover profiles can be loaded into their active offering, can turn a speaker into 2-way or 2.5way or 3way spekaer) & Dutch & Dutch (eq, or 3rd party DSP like Bacch Spatial Audio can be loaded and licensed for a fee) are few of the manufacturers that shown some glimpse into this, though still at infancy stage but nevertheless a fresh breathe of air, that can be my uno numero for a digital system, and hopefully with advancement of technology, it can be more room agnostic

I'll think about whats my uno numero when it comes to analog source, where integrity of the signal chain should not and must not be tampered with...i'll think it through

The best ever, really point-in-time - Sep 2023

It's not uncommon lots of us are already on this hobby/journey for years. I always like to ask my client what was/is the system that left them a great lasting impression. Again, it is not uncommon to hear from them the best ever system they've owned was something in the past. I thought about it at length, techically speaking, the more experiences you get, and slowly you're onto a better quality gears and more skilled at how to get the right synergy, the best system should be the best system you currently possesses, no? May be no, May be yes, that kept me pondering, may be it was the state in time that we remembered the older system, may be its nolstagic? may be its due to when we were younger back then and have less problem in life? May be... May be...

Continuous Improvement - June-August 2023

It's quiet June onwards, till now! There are request / appoitnment but it's much lower compared to says April or May. Looking at this positively, helped a few fellow client built their HQPlayer machine, as it's something on my to-do list for those are truly intrigued with HQPlayer upsampling, been asked multiple times but I eventually did that, as originally I was worried around how should I support it if there's an issue, but they are bunch of most understanding client and promised not to tinker with the machine except changing filters :-). I've been building Mini-ITX, Micro-ATX machines that ranges from RM9k upwards to RM15k depending on one's need. The paid back was really the smiles on their face when they managed to get the DSD Upsampling with good filters and modulator, and I'll let them continue down the rabbit hole to decide which filter/modulator works best for them, but one thing for sure, they are claiming the amount spent vs the positive differences it brought onto the streaming system indeed, was astonishing, and that's not always true when we are in this hobby, so I am glad :-)

Finite Elemente products started to get some momentum on requests, on isolation footer, racks etc, I hope the momentum will grow and truly eye-openers for me, at least, on the conversational topics when one shops for a high-end rack. Cerabase Compact and Ceraball are the moving products that most are interested with, with Ceraball setup as a 3 pointers below DAC/Preamp etc, while Cerabase Compact for the speaker isolation.

Alexandria Audio Legatus Monoblock also entered my den, it has since breaking in with good few hundreds of hours and it's coming together really well pairing with the Alexandria Audio Monitor loudspeaker. I'm still switching between the feedback on/off and trying to evaluate which one I prefer more, one thing for sure, it droves all the speakers I tried with it gloriously. The tube front-end is a mu-follower with voltage gain, pair of 5687 tubes per monoblock, mated with the most recent Hypex NCx500 Ncore module, I loves the efficiency, the harmonics brought by the tube front-end, and the ultra flexibility of it against any speaker I tested it against. All these are driven by Holo Audio Serene KTE preamplifier, with source from Holo Audio May KTE / Holo Audio Red streaming device.

Galion, and other New Products - May 2023

Galion is officially in the house, and ready stock. Only brought in the Special Edition together with the tube cage which I personally do not think it's an optional item to begin with. It has seen through 70ish hours running with the PSVane KT88C tubes, it sounded great with Alexandria Monitor, and my other SB Acoustics speakers in the line up, that's what I managed to test through.

Helped to introduce digital streaming into few client of mine that's purely on CD playback for years, standard formula for them, Holo Red + DAC of their choice, with Tidal Connect and UPNP, some more adventurous eventually went with Roon to coat a super nice UI on top of the digital streaming front-end which to date, I still without a doubt, believed the price I paid for the Roon lifetime license was super worth it.

Hqplayer in the house, with the latest hqplayer v5, I've started to leverage on the superb MGa filter for both the PCM and DSD upsampling, that came in nicely to tap into the new LHY switch i introduced into the digital chain, the LHY SW-8 replacing my old trusted Zyxel 5 ports 100Mbps switch that served me well over the past 2 years.

May is a quieter month, but that allows me to work on some other stuff in my office, looking forward to June

Busy Month, key take aways - April 2023

Barely into mid-April, and I was busy like a bee, good kind of busy though. Blessing enough to close few more sales (thank for those that really laid their trust on me, some from afar and we've not even meet each other but rather via text messaging); took some really construstive feedbacks on how to improve the business further to ensure an almost seamless experience for client, I'm chewing on those feedback and will try my best.

Some sales made me run into familiar faces, or face that connected to my friend's circle, that's very nice and we realise world at times is not as large a place we imagined.

Sending Alexandria Audio The Monitor for a media review, post the setting up process, and i sat down for a good 3 hours listening to the Monitor, driven by a good amplification, and most important of all, full vinyl experience, the realism of the reproduction put a wide grin on my face, and the gentlemen that I met was a true music connoisseur, one day if I'm crazy enough I think I might....might just get myself a turntable and see what that leads me to.

Received some real crazy enquiries on Finite Elemente flagship racks, while this is still work in progress, I'm happy Uniq Fidelity got featured in the German's manufacturer's website as an authorised dealer in Malaysia, and that's how the prospect found my contact.

Lots to do, lots to learn, lots of fun, lots of blessing, couldn't really ask for more. Till then

Anything, Anywhere - March 2023

Met some really really interesting people through the journey; some with the grasp of musical listening that saying I'm impressed going to be an understatement. Everytime I met this gentlemen the conversation goes purely just on the music (admittedly still some on equipment as he's going through some tidying up his setup), the thought of what equipment is powering the speaker, what is the transport and DAC playing, which cables are in used became secondary, listening to a Trio and how the 3 pieces instruments stitches the music together, how the piece responses to each other to make the music flows, it's like a conversational piece but without speech....wow, I am very humbled and blessed to have opportunities to run into such interesting conversation and got so much out of it.

Equipment wise, run into comparison of isolation feets, run into grounding box (of all kinds)...it makes a difference, but the important part is whether it makes a "good" difference, I am jumping into that rabbit hole and trying to figure out what's best for my system, and it's a path that leads you down deep without the sight of where the spot the land, that's where this hobby gets interesting

Software wise, I'm all into a digital streaming, I admires the conveniences, and having the world of musics at the fingertips, going down the path of HQplayer upsampling and I'm expecting an interesting journey to hear what it's going to do in my system.