Krakow Sonic Society, meeting #80: Gerhard Hirt and his S-3 (Ayon Audio) Contact: Ayon Audio | Hart 18 A-8101 Gratkorn | Austria tel.: +43 3124 24954 fax: +43 3124 24955 Polish Distributor: Eter Audio Country of origin: Austria WWW: Ayon Audio Text: Wojciech Pacuła Pictures: Wojciech Pacuła Translation: Krzysztof Kalinkowski Report published in Polish on: 16th November 2011, No. 91 |
I do not know if you remember the interview with Gerhard Hirt, the owner of Ayon Audio, which was published in the August edition of “High Fidelity” (No. 88) – if not, I encourage you to read it HERE. To one of the questions, namely: “What is your hierarchy of sources: CD, LP, HDD, SACD?” Gerhard responded “LP, CD. That’s it.” This is a bit unusual for somebody whose company has a new product, quite revolutionary at that, and who told us a year ago, during a training for dealers in Krakow, that the company StreamUnlimited is preparing a file player for him. S-3, as it was called, was presented in Munich, during the High End 2011. The S-3, costing 22000zl, is a file player, in the company nomenclature called a “Network Player”, which indicates its primary source of data – network drives. It is also a complete DAC and analog preamplifier. Its presence in the catalog of a tube amplifier manufacturer, as this is what Ayon really is, may be surprising. But such changes will be more and more popular. According to Gerhard the presence of digital products in the company portfolio was literally forced upon him by the distributors who wanted to offer their customers complete systems, complete thought-through, coherent sets. As it turned out, this cooperation was growing. When many file players appeared on the market, and Ayon owners also started asking for such a player, Gerhard decided to prepare something that could satisfy them and would be guided by his views on digital devices. It was the year 2009. Then why did designing of the S-3 take almost two years? Although preparing a competent player, yet not much different from many others available on the market, is quite easy and can be done quickly, similar to the CD-1, Gerhard and Ayon were already in a different place. They needed something that would not be worse than their CD players – and they spent the last five years in bettering their sound. What was the goal of this meeting, besides the obvious, social one? Well, we wanted to know how the sound of the S-3 fares against the CD-5s. We scheduled the meeting at Tomek’s house, one of the Krakow Sonic Society members who owns the CD-5s Special – (previous meeting at Tomek’s HERE).
This was an A/B/A comparison with both sources identified. Each recording was played for 2 minutes. Impressions (opinions) of the listeners were recorded after each piece. The opinions below were prepared in two ways: during the CD quality session they are a compilation of all impressions of a given listener; with high res files those are split into individual sessions. This was done because the differences between CDs and files ripped from CDs were always similar, so one pattern could be discerned, differentiating the two players. So those could be summarized in one statement. It was different with hi-res files. I will return to this in the summary. Besides us, the participants in the listening session were Irene Hirt, Gerhard’s wife and co-worker, and Gerhard himself. Other guests were Marcin Ostapowicz, one of the authors of the software player JPLAY, and two representatives of the Polish Ayon Audio distributors – Robert and Mariusz. SOUND Part I: CD VS RIPY 16/44,1
Tomek: For me the difference between the recordings was not big. The CD had higher resolution and slightly better timbre. But in my opinion, this was not a big difference. Now I regret that I made the rips in the computer, and not using the network disc from Linn, RipNAS, because the latter are much better. I think I could replace the CD-5s with the S-3 to have all the discs on the hard disk. Part II: CD VS HI-RES
Tomek: There were differences between those versions. But from my sitting place it was not clear what it was – here they sounded very similar. Maybe the S-3 sounded more free? But I am not 100% sure. |
Krzysztof: For me the CD had better resolution. The sound from S-3 seemed smoother for me, softer, which made it more pleasant.
Irene: With this recording the S-3 sounded better, in a more dynamic, natural way. It seems that the CD played louder – despite the fact that we matched levels. I perceived it as a slight pushiness, aggression. Tomek: With the S-3 we could hear more air between the instruments and behind them. With the CD there was a lot of treble, but the control of bass was also better, and bass was deeper. Despite that the S-3 seemed more pleasant, better. Marcin: Well: the S-3 is better. Without any doubts. The CD was more fluent, people can like that. Krzysztof: The S-3 means smoothness, but the CD sounded with more power. There were big differences in sound stage setup and stereo basis – both items were shown better with the S-3. Also bass was better. Mariusz: For me the sound was very similar. If I had to choose, the CD would sound better, more dynamic, stronger. The CD had more treble, but it did not bother me. Robert: The CD sounded more dynamic. Space was, for me, better from the CD. However in general the differences were not big. With the S-3 everything was more detailed. But the CD sounded better!
Irene: The sound from the CD was nice, more dynamic, more “to the front”. But the differences were not big. If I had to choose I would choose the CD. Marcin: The S-3 is now better. Full stop. More breath, better microdynamics, nicer. Krzysztof: I definitely liked the CD better. I cannot understand why the others would find the S-3 better. Maybe because the sound of the CD is more natural for me, I am used to it. For me the saxophone sounded much better from CD, it played with bravado. Janusz: The CD sounded with a more open, stronger sound. The S-3 sounded in a more fluent, more natural way. It was not as harsh as the CD. Even if the S-3 didn’t have such a good attack of the sound, its definition, yet it was more “on-site”. For me the S-3 played this material significantly better, probably best to date. Mariusz: In my opinion the difference was not as big as expressed by Janusz, but the CD sounded in a more open way, as if there were more sounds. Despite that, I was not able to point to the winner. Gerhard: No, the differences were not big. The CD was more dynamic, more “rock like”. But the S-3 sounded more musical, smoother, more fluent, more “analog”, whatever that should mean. It was a more natural sound, closer to a good LP. Robert: Small difference. For me the CD was still better – more dynamic. In the S-3 there was more music, but at the expense of details. Tomek: For me, with this recording the difference was bigger – in the CD bass was more extended, voices stronger. Space was better in the S-3, much better.
Irene: The CD was more open, more dynamic. I choose Compact Disc. Marcin: I do not agree – the S-3 sounded fuller, with much longer reverb, which has colossal meaning with the piano. Visitor: In the S-3 there is a much better volume of the piano, depth, resolution and reverb – it is just much better! Janusz: Of course I am for the S-3. Better reverb, the sound was darker and more natural. Better. Nautilus: Yes, the S-3 sounded in a more natural way, the piano was aggressive on the CD, and with the S-3 it was smooth and yet dynamic. Robert: I place my bet on the S-3: better space, lower aggression. Gerhard: Besides dynamics, which was better from the CD, everything else you said about the S-3 is true. Smoothness, fluency, lack of aggression are the assets of the S-3. But the dynamics of the CD was closer to what I know about this disc from vinyl. Tomek: The S-3 is much better. Presentation was relaxed, smooth, better.
I will not split this session into parts. When the first notes of the guitar sounded in the 24/96 version, when the percussion entered, everybody laughed – the CD version sounded as if it was played from a toy player: shallow, aggressive, and unpleasant. The hi-res version, from which the 45rpm vinyl version was cut, is a few classes better. If somebody likes this band he should have the 24/96 version; if he has not heard it yet, he has not heard how Metallica really sounds. CONCLUSION The first of the goals of this meeting was to get acquainted with the new Ayon product. Gerhard introduced it brilliantly, not in a hyper optimistic way, as he could have done it, and he honestly noticed that for him no digital source sounds as good as vinyl. Even the S-3. Previous meetings of the Krakow Sonic Society: Distribution in Poland: |
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