I got information about this SACD from several car audio groups on the Internet. This “Are You Authentic?” or “AYA” label is really tempting. Stockfish put label as “Authentic Audio Check” which is definitely push my interest to the max to try this album.
I’m not into car audio stuff, but good music and recording should not limit where you should listen it to.
Order sent within minutes directly to Stockfish website (I’m amazed how easy life later these day to buy goods from oversea). Around two weeks later, the goods arrives in perfect condition. The plastic package also very good (it’s SACD type packaging).
Inside the booklet, we can find several detail guidance on each track. The booklet inside combines English and Deutsch.
The tracks inside might not be the music that you used to hear – unless you are Stockfish lover.
I believe Stockfish has cherry pick the tracks, so only the best are in this album. Allan Taylor and Sara K maybe two names that are no stranger in our life.
After first two tracks for testing (channel identification and pink noise level), the show is started with “Sharpening Your Knife” by Carl Cleves and Parissa Bouas. The combination between guitar and a low and vibrating low frequency (it reminds me of Yim Hok Man with “Poems of Chinese Drum”), but I think this track has more vibration and resolution.
Next few tracks, “Improvisation” and “A Hard Rains’ A-gonna Fall” Â still playing in low region, but combined with mid high frequency instrument and male vocal.
Continue with more tracks, we can see the focus now shifted to upper low, mid, then higher frequency and with wider bandwidth. The wider the bandwidth, the challenge is getting higher and higher for a system to reproduce with proper and balance tonality. Sometime you have a better low, but traded with less vocal or high frequency. Ideally, that kind of case should be minimized.
Track #13 “Easy to Love” and #14 “Sizzlin'” are two tracks which will require a very good and balance system to reproduce the complexity.
Some more guidance on the manual book about the staging/position of several instruments on the track #17 including the time stamp. Very good guidance to measure your own system on presenting the stage.
Finally, several top brand on the inside cover, behind the SACD. They are not new names for sure!
Track list:
- Intro & Left-Right Test
- Pinknoise Level Test
- CARL CLEVES & PARISSA BOUAS “Sharpening A Knife†– TIEFBASS
- Percussion-Ensemble (Improvisation) – TIEFBASS
- DAVID MUNYON “A Hard Rain’s A-gonna Fall†– BASS
- THE BASSFACE SWING TRIO “Oh, Lady Be Good†– BASS
- ALLAN TAYLOR “Scotty†– GRUNDTON
- MCKINLEY BLACK “Hunger†– GRUNDTON
- ANNE-MARIE JEAN & SEBASTIAN STERNAL “Les mains d’Elsa†– MITTELTON
- DENNIS KOLEN “For Cloud Dog And Jane†– MITTELTON
- Percussion-Ensemble (Improvisation) – HOCHTON
- ALLAN TAYLOR “Firefly†– HOCHTON
- BARBARA BÃœRKLE & THE BASSFACE SWING TRIO “Easy To Love†– BALANCE
- SARA K. “Sizzlin’ †– BALANCE
- Djembe Walk – BREITE & TIEFE
- THE TIPTONS (Saxophone Improvisation) – FOKUS
- JOHANNA SINGLE “Am Springbrunnen†– FEINDYNAMIK
- Percussion-Ensemble (Glockenspiel) – FEINDYNAMIK
- Drumset BONUS
- Fireworks BONUS
Conclusion:
This is well recorded album, sung by excellent artist, and released by excellent label. The tracks are enjoyable, not too complicated, but very good to measure a system. Maybe not all of the tracks are fun for repeatable day-to-day listening – I still prefer EASCA for day-to-day listening, though, but maybe just a matter of personal preference. This SACD, when used as measurement track, you can easily gauge and compare between one system and another. I think this is a must have SACD in my collection.
