No. 162 November 2017

• KRAKOW SONIC SOCIETY | Meeting No. 111: RE-MIX | POLAND
  
  
  
  he Polish word of English origin – ‘remiks’ – is not included in Słownik wyrazów obcych (Dictionary of Foreign Terms) published in 1980 by the Polish Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe (National Scientific Publisher). It appeared among the terms of the Polish language much later. Słownik wyrazów obcych (Dictionary of Foreign Terms) published in 2007 by Wydawnictwa Naukowe PWN (Polish Scientific Publishers PWN) as part of Biblioteka Gazety Wyborczej (the Library of Gazeta Wyborcza) defines it as “a new version of a musical recording, created as a result of electronic processing”. It is an “artistic” definition, i.e. one which refers to changes in the structure of a recording, leading to the creation of a new piece of music. | The artistic aspect of remixing The English version of Wikipedia mentions different aspects ...
  
  

No. 160 September 2017

• KRAKOW SONIC SOCIETY | Meeting No. 110: AYON AUDIO CD-35 HIGH FIDELITY EDITION – Super Audio CD player | AUSTRIA/POLAND
  
  
  
  WORLD PREMIERE hen, during one of his visits in Japan, at the Tokyo International Audio Show exhibition, Gerhard Hirt asked those who came to his presentation how many of them had over 10,000 Compact Discs at home, almost half of the participants raised their hands. It was supposed to be a joke – an introduction to the fact that the best time for that format was gone and that music lovers had two choices: either to return to vinyl or to jump into the unknown, i.e. hi-res files. That seemingly unimportant event gave the owner of the Ayon Audio company some food for thought. He is a man of the analog himself, but has been offering excellent CD players for many years and, thanks to his close cooperation with his friends from the Austrian StreamUnlimited Engineering company, he has had access to the latest technologies connected with CD (and SACD) transport control, as well as to digital ...
  
  

No. 159 August 2017

• KRAKOW SONIC SOCIETY | Meeting #109: Crystal Cable THE ULTIMATE DREAM | power cable Siltech TRIPLE CROWN POWER | power cable | POLAND
  
  
  
  ne of the most pleasant things about the job that I do – let me remind you, I am a specialist journalist who deals with the aspects of high-quality audio – is contact with people who share my passion for music and its best possible reproduction. These two poles of audio, i.e. music (art) and the method of its mechanical reproduction (technology) are inseparable and, I think, either does not exist without the other. However, in real life, constructors come close either to the former or the latter side of the equation, thus leaving their fingerprints in the product – something that makes them unique. Perhaps this is why people who manage to keep almost ideal balance between these two elements are so interesting and trustworthy. Our friends: Gabi van der Kley-Rijnveld and Edwin van der Kley, who have created the Crystal Cable and Siltech brands together as part of the ...
  
  

No. 154 March 2017

• KRAKOW SONIC SOCIETY | Meeting #108: Kondo ONGAKU - integrated amplifier | JAPAN
  
  
  
  t was clear from the moment I knew I would receive Kondo OnGaku amplifier for a review that I would also want to listen to it together with my friends from Krakow Sonic Society. These meetings give us not only a chance to meet, talk and listen to some music together but most of all to learn about different approaches to music reproduction. We don't necessarily agree with each of them but we surely learn from them. It also doesn't mean that we all „learn” the same things – each of us differs from the rest and when confronted with audio products we react differently on both, emotional, and rational level. Each of us uses his own experiences as reference what he hears and confronts it with his personal „absolute” sound. This type of devices requires some time to settle in – mostly the output transformers do. Janusz has a complete system and there ...
  
  

No. 153 February 2017

• KRAKOW SONIC SOCIETY, meeting #107: ESOTERIC SUPER AUDIO CD, “Master Sound Works” | JAPAN
  
  
  
  he Tokyo Television Acoustic Company was established in 1953. It was created to cater for the audio equipment needs of the newly set up national television NHK. Later, it changed its name to Tokyo Electro Acoustic Company, which is abbreviated to TEAC. The change of the name was connected with expanding the field of activity. Since that time, TEAC devices have been mainly associated with the audio domain. We can still find them in almost every recording or mastering studio. While I was working in the studio of Juliusz Słowacki Theatre in Cracow, there was a TEAC’s DAT tape recorder, cassette players and two half inch multitrack (analogue) recorders. In 1987, TEAC entered the market of consumer audio, creating the ESOTERIC brand. Next year, we will be celebrating its 30th anniversary. It now offers integrated and two-piece amplifiers, as well as Super Audio CD players. For many years, ...
  
  

No. 152 January 2017

• KRAKOW SONIC SOCIETY, Meeting # 106: AUDIO VIDEO SHOW 2016 - BEST OF THE BEST vol. 2 | POLAND
  
  
  
  I. I AM A WALRUS. OR AT LEAST I WISH I WERE, or a listening session with the first copy of the master tape of Magical Mystery Tour album by The Beatles lready more than a year has passed since my first ever meeting with the first copy of the master tape. It was the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band Beatles album (more HERE). It was one of the most important musical and audiophile events in my entire life. It turned out that this was the first time that I REALLY heard the album. Before that, listening numerous times to 24-bit files, then subsequent versions of the vinyl releases I only touched the surface, remaining completely unaware of how much I was loosing out. The sound of this tape played with a reel-to-reel Studer A807 was nothing short of phenomenal. Incredibly dynamic, with an overwhelming amount of details previously unknown to me, it turned it into an extremely deep and satisfying ...