Drove down to Tidal dealer today. A rather "outback" kind of place in Bangkok, well away from the recent political clashes in upper class shopping malls. For speakers that carry such a hefty price this dealer seems out of place. As we entered the building, we realized it's basically a townhouse with a couple of sound rooms one still under construction. The room housing Contriva Diacera was upstairs, and we had to walk past boxes and a kitchen and some more boxes before getting there. Inside, we saw a pair of rather unobtrusive pair of black shinny speakers. Sandwiched between them was a handsome Esoteric X-03 sitting on top of a McIntosh integrated amp. Pairing each speaker was a 1201 McIntosh monobloc. Linking all these items were massive cables, one of which was not too different in thickness to my own biceps (of which I'm rather proud of with regular workout). We brought 3 discs with us: Carpenters Reflections (a Blue Spec disc made in Japan), Dr Hook Greatest Hits (very ordinary disc with some tracks as flat as they come), and Dire Straits Brothers In Arms 20th Anniversay Edition SACD. Without as much as a conversation or even a quick marvel at the gears on display I passed Carpenters over to the polite dealer. He handed over the remote and off we went.
In summary:
I weep now that I'm back home trying to re-create any semblance of the sound we heard at the dealership with my Cremona M + Naim Electronics + Marantz SA7-S1.
Clearly every component (barring perhaps disc spinner) is outclassed. I suspect cables were not a small contribution to the dealer's sound. And the totality of the gains was impressive.
My wife (who clearly has superior hearing) immediately said after 1 track of Carpenters that this music was emotional. Kind of odd (not), since Tidal's slogan is "we build emotion", of which she had no idea as I dragged her along last minute. I was massively impressed too with this track (I Need To Be In Love). For me emotions are often lost and so a waste there of Contriva's talent. What stood out instead for me was the lucid vocal so natural and dominant yet without crowding out everything else that was there, which was a lot - particularly the gorgeous piano notes with each strike clearly audible and wonderful together with powerful but coarse drum beats far from polite and so close to what must be live sound. However what impressed me most was Dr Hook's Sylvia's Mother, as I was expecting next to nothing from this flattest of flat discs. My god, the layers of sound that I heard! The horn-like echos (akin to what you often hear in a Western movie during a gun fight) that went far left and so far right all across the room that I had barely noticed before became very meaningful 3-D special effects. I felt for some odd reason like I was sitting by a lake on another Dr Hook's track surrounded by forest trees. Maybe the emotion did get me. On Dire Straits, So Far Away, the beats were astounding on the metal discs. I could go on and on...
Overall conclusion:
We also listened to Carpenters and Dire Straits on Scala. Perhaps I'm artificial, as I like analytical sound and I adore scale, of which Scala created a larger musical landscape. My wife however had no doubt Contriva was her pick. On Dire Straits, I would have to give it to Contriva, particularly track 9 Brothers In Arms. The thunder at the start of the track that I test almost on all systems I audition was truly thunderous and there was no equal that I could remember. As amazing as these speakers were, I would most likely opt for Scala but am wary of the different electronics used - and I believe the Chord gears that partnered Scala were more expensive. The more realistic price of Scala certainly plays a part. But if not anything, I think this audition reminds me that perhaps I could up my electronics before getting in line for my final pair of speakers. My gears at home no matter how hard I crank up does not produce what I heard and shows up significant fidelity weaknesses. I will also head back to listen to Piano in a couple of months when it arrives. At a more sensible price, you never know...
