Sometimes when a customer wants a demonstration of a hi-fi component we don’t normally stock, it can create a disturbance in our store equilibrium. Regular visitors will be well aware that our ground floor demo suite has an all but permanent Rega and Audio Note system installed within. A Rega Planar 10/Apheta3 turntable, the Aura phono stage, Audio Note CD3.1X/ii CD player, Meishu Phono Tonmeister amplifier and AN-E SPE HE loudspeakers.

We’ve got it set up exactly how we like it, it took us some time to get there, the gods are in Valhalla and all’s right with the world.

Our customer wanted to hear the very lovely, but altogether very-different-to-AudioNote Dynaudio Contour 20i speakers, “in a smaller room than your 1st floor suite” and “can I hear them with the Chord Ultimas?” We had some changes to make.

We marked the floor with masking tape so Nic didn’t have to repeat the three-hour(!) speaker position setup when normal service is resumed and humped the Audio Note gear off the Italian-chic, SolidSteel HY4L rack, and onto the shop floor IKEA Lack table. I’m almost positive the Tonmeister gave us the side-eye; the IKEA table certainly groaned.

Connecting up the Chord Electronics Dave DAC, Ultima Pre3 and Ultima 5 Power with our favourite Black Rhodium Concerto XLR interconnects and Quickstep S speaker cables is always a clicky, snicky pleasure.

No, I never pretend to be Angus Young plugging in to an enormous amp stack at Stadio River Plate on a warm Argentinian evening. That would be juvenile.

Firing up the Chords and watching them settle into their reassuring teal green gleam is always an event, the punched steel grilles allowing a view of the perfectly populated circuit boards mounted inside. Is it at once a nod to valve amplifiers with their orange glowing tubes and a deliberate contrast to have the Ultimas glitter a cool water-green?

The difference in audio presentation is as stark. The full-bodied, lush, Phil Spector-esque wall of sound we’re used to from the AudioNote, has been replaced with an open, airy soundstage with instruments etched exactly in a 3D space. A drier style, with the emphasis on accuracy, speed and a spotlighting of the performers.

That’s not to say the AudioNote is sluggish, vague or is attuned to a particular style of music – electronica and rock are thoroughly enjoyable, the huge scale of a live Metallica performance is reproduced to jaw-dropping effect, the giant slabs of bass on the American Beauty soundtrack pressurise the room and frequently have customers asking where we’ve hidden the subwoofers.

The Ultima and Contour system is equally capable and thoroughly enjoyable, but sounds very different. A forensic rendition that allows the listener to see directly into the recording and what each artist brings to the performance.

A good recording sounds amazing; the vocal track on Dominique Fils-Aime’s ‘Birds’ from her album ‘Nameless’ stands out. Not only can we hear Dominique’s vox, but also all the other sounds that she makes at the same time; the involuntary sounds of her chest, tongue, lips and teeth. We hear the human making the sound, it’s a person inhabiting the space. We hear far more than simply air over vocal chords.

Less well-produced audio sounds great but a not-so-well engineered one will be shown up for what it is. This is not a fault of the system, but of the recording. The AudioNote glosses over such foibles to a certain extent, adding some much-needed colour to a poor recording. You may prefer this sympathetic treatment, or you may prefer the honesty of the Chord and Dynaudio.

Rock music fizzes out of the Contour 20i’s, full of attack and vigour. Jane’s Addiction ‘Just Because’ off the 2003 album ‘Strays’ is taut with excitement and hard charging guitar riffs that never seem to stray (sorry) into harshness, even at quite inadvisable volumes.

It’s with acoustic instruments and vocals in particular, that the Chord Electronics show their mettle. The very finest detail of and around a plucked string, the resonance of an instrument body and the decay of notes. Micro-dynamics are revealed, from the different weight a pianist might put into their key strikes, through the variable textures of drum skin available to a percussionist, to the visceral sensation of fresh rosin on a cellist’s bow. It’s impressive and very, very pretty stuff.

What of the A-N system? We’ve set it up on the shop floor so we (and you) can enjoy it in a really big room. We’re not sulking about it. Why don’t you pop on over and see?

Damn but Miles Davis’ trumpet sounds mighty fine….

Thanks for reading

Ade, Andy & Nic – Audio T Swansea

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