Bonjour les amis,
Cela fait deux semaines que j’ai reçu mon LFD HR, dans sa version « Signature ».
Marc m’avait prêté son NCSE MKIII plusieurs semaines.
Le Signature est loin d’être rodé. Voici la copie du mail que j’ai adressé au concepteur R. Bews et à mon revendeur Marc de High End Audio :
« Here are my impressions after one week with the NCSE Signature.
Sonically, the amp is a bit more refined than the MKIII. It sounds more natural with more “luxury” timbres. We get closer to great tube amps for this matter of truth and richness of timbre and texture.
But, it seems to me that we lost some degrees of “attack” compared to the MKIII. It seems less “sharp” or acute. In french I would say less “incisif” but that has not the same sense as incisive in english.
But this may due to a subjective bias : when an amplifier gets more refined, it most often sounds more “peaceful” and this is probably what I am hearing concerning the differences between the MKIII and the Sig.
The sound may be less “exciting” and extraverted, but it is surely more “mature” and peaceful. It seems also to me that the Sig sounds a bit more dark than the MKIII. Especially in the treble that could be a bit more bright with the MKIII.
Anyway these remarks may not be worthy at all. Obviously the Sig is not broken in at all compared to your Mk3 Marc, which has been used for several years.
On the long term, we can get bored of a sound too extraverted. But we never get bored of a peaceful sound.
Both of them are stunning products.
As I told Marc already, the NCSE cannot beat my Kondo Ongaku in terms of naturalness and richness of timbre. But on some recordings, especially rock and modern music, it may sound sometimes more involving than the Ongaku with a superior listening pleasure.
Last point is that I finally do agree on the superior esthetics. It looks magnificent in the room. Very similar to the beautiful Air Tight products.
Congratulations Dr Bews on a wonderful unit. »
Et la réponse du Dr Bews :
« Dear sir,
thank you for comments regarding the NCSE signature. As a general observation the signature has more more bass weight and slightly less grain than the mark III, which might make the listener think the signature is a little less exciting (and darker) at times. Low grain is probably what you are describing as "peaceful" (i.e NO aggression), which is what i try and achieve with LFD products, since i feel it helps with sound reproduction. All LFD products are cable sensitive, so an appropriate cable choice is often important ».
Cela fait deux semaines que j’ai reçu mon LFD HR, dans sa version « Signature ».
Marc m’avait prêté son NCSE MKIII plusieurs semaines.
Le Signature est loin d’être rodé. Voici la copie du mail que j’ai adressé au concepteur R. Bews et à mon revendeur Marc de High End Audio :
« Here are my impressions after one week with the NCSE Signature.
Sonically, the amp is a bit more refined than the MKIII. It sounds more natural with more “luxury” timbres. We get closer to great tube amps for this matter of truth and richness of timbre and texture.
But, it seems to me that we lost some degrees of “attack” compared to the MKIII. It seems less “sharp” or acute. In french I would say less “incisif” but that has not the same sense as incisive in english.
But this may due to a subjective bias : when an amplifier gets more refined, it most often sounds more “peaceful” and this is probably what I am hearing concerning the differences between the MKIII and the Sig.
The sound may be less “exciting” and extraverted, but it is surely more “mature” and peaceful. It seems also to me that the Sig sounds a bit more dark than the MKIII. Especially in the treble that could be a bit more bright with the MKIII.
Anyway these remarks may not be worthy at all. Obviously the Sig is not broken in at all compared to your Mk3 Marc, which has been used for several years.
On the long term, we can get bored of a sound too extraverted. But we never get bored of a peaceful sound.
Both of them are stunning products.
As I told Marc already, the NCSE cannot beat my Kondo Ongaku in terms of naturalness and richness of timbre. But on some recordings, especially rock and modern music, it may sound sometimes more involving than the Ongaku with a superior listening pleasure.
Last point is that I finally do agree on the superior esthetics. It looks magnificent in the room. Very similar to the beautiful Air Tight products.
Congratulations Dr Bews on a wonderful unit. »
Et la réponse du Dr Bews :
« Dear sir,
thank you for comments regarding the NCSE signature. As a general observation the signature has more more bass weight and slightly less grain than the mark III, which might make the listener think the signature is a little less exciting (and darker) at times. Low grain is probably what you are describing as "peaceful" (i.e NO aggression), which is what i try and achieve with LFD products, since i feel it helps with sound reproduction. All LFD products are cable sensitive, so an appropriate cable choice is often important ».