2009 Soraya CB105 Impressions

gaetan8888 · « **Reply #80 on:** 17 Mar 2010, 01:17 am »

Quote from: LM on 17 Mar 2010, 01:08 am

I think that one of Hugh’s shortfalls on forums, even his own, is that he is pretty self-deprecating in the typical Australian manner about his skills and abilities. I hope no-one really thinks that he and his colleagues such as Colin don’t put in the hard yards on painstaking topology, circuit board design, spice simulations and measurement etc. that underpin a truly great design. The Soraya 09 is not the product of a crap shoot. Nothing that sounds this good possibly could be – it’s just that Hugh values the ear above all else to fine tune the end result that takes it far beyond the initial maths only design.

Hello

I know Hugh and never I would think that Aksa, LF55 and Soraya 09 would be the product of a crap shoot.

I know that wen he talk about his math weekness it's not because of a math ingnorance, it's more because he is quite humble and a bit because of the math maniacs in the others forum who mock him quite often and mostly doubt of his designer knowledge.

Bye

Gaetan

LM · « **Reply #81 on:** 17 Mar 2010, 01:31 am »

Quote

it's more because he is quite humble

Exactly.

gerald porzio · « **Reply #82 on:** 17 Mar 2010, 01:39 am »

There are probably as many bad amps designed by simulation as scientific complexity. All generalizations, including this one,.........................

AKSA · « **Reply #83 on:** 17 Mar 2010, 02:12 am »

Quote

There are probably as many bad amps designed by simulation as scientific complexity. All generalizations, including this one,...

Which may indicate that most designs, particularly those with a strong engineering bent focussing on low THD, are on the wrong track. Witness the THD wars of the eighties, and later the slew rate wars, which erupted with the advent of the AP1. One conclusion might be that designers, mostly engineering teams, are failing to properly apprehend the actual problem, namely that this is a man/machine interface, and all along, through wilful ignorance of the psychoacoustic issues (aided and abetted by the psychology of numerical appraisal) they are concentrating solely on the machine aspect to the detriment of the musical purpose of the amplifier. And none of this is rocket science, cellphone technology is far more complex.

All of which gives some credence to the 'golden eared set', some of whom have good grounding in math and physics, me included. These guys just want a musical amp which rolls the tear down the cheek.

No more on the matter from me, however. This is a foolish debate, leading nowhere but acrimony.

daredevil_kk · « **Reply #84 on:** 22 Mar 2010, 08:42 am »

Hi guys,

Guess it is time for me to give my intial impression. The Sorayas have been in my setup for the 48hrs of playing.

Overall, there is a better control over the bass, the strings are beautifully and naturally reproduced. You can hear the vibration of each strings when puck or strummed. There is a good layering of the instruments and they have their own individual space. The presentation of the vocal is more laid back when compared with the gaincard.

The gaincard has a slight advantage over clarity but the Soraya adds a more nature tone to presentation.

Well that all for the moment, back to listening.

Cheers,

KK

AKSA · « **Reply #85 on:** 22 Mar 2010, 09:21 am »

Thanks KK,

I'm pleased you like the presentation, we hope to hear of your long term impressions too!!

Again, my apologies for the long delay on those pesky front panels.......

Cheers,

Hugh

daredevil_kk · « **Reply #86 on:** 15 May 2010, 07:47 am »

Hi guys,

I think enough is said about the Soraya. I have only one phrase: " It is rockingthe house!!!"

Here are some pix of the amps in my setup.

KK

AKSA · « **Reply #87 on:** 15 May 2010, 08:10 am »

Hi KK,

That is a beautiful system, with huge feng shui, looks very neat and elegant! WOW!!

I had Lyn's (LM) Soraya in today, it had blown a fuse, and we compared it to the Maya, the 150W latest.

The differences were actually smaller than we'd suspected. The resolution was almost identical, only the decay of the Maya was slightly longer, but the differences were subtle.

That pleased me very much, because uniform quality is a personal goal, regardless of output power.

Lovely setup, KK. What speakers are those? Interesting cone material, metal?

See you 3-5th June!

Cheers,

Hugh

daredevil_kk · « **Reply #88 on:** 15 May 2010, 08:30 am »

Hi Hugh,

That is good news for me, otherwise I will be bugging you to build me a new one.

Those speakers are my diy Accuton speakers. The cones are ceramics for it's stiffness and lightness. Very reveiling. Couldn't affort their top end models, those drivers are made of "girls best friends". Right diamonds!!!

Looking forward to catch up with you again, maybe I can meet up with Lyn And Russ too.

Cheers and got to go back to ~~Listerning~~ enjoying the music.

KK

LM · « **Reply #89 on:** 16 May 2010, 06:21 am »

Quote

maybe I can meet up with Lyn And Russ too

For my part, that would be great. Love the silver face plate as an alternative though all my own stereo gear is black.

Yes, nice to know I won't have to change/upgrade tomorrow as well though I have this nagging suspicion about Hugh (and Colin for that matter) that his brain has not decided to call it a day on the Maya final spec just yet and there are still a few refinements lurking around the corner even if he hasn't thought of them yet. Besides, the Soraya is just so darned good as it is that any future Soraya or Maya improvements can't possibly render the current model poor, merely a fraction off the latest Aspen pace.

Regardless, the Maya is a corker though.

VYnuhl.Addict · « **Reply #90 on:** 24 May 2010, 12:40 am »

Hi Lyn,

I agree on the Soraya, the quality is very very good, and is a tough one to beat.. With the last couple of years of designs, the bar seems to have been set incredibly high, but thats always a good thing and if anything,it makes you work harder to try and better the design prior. At this stage it seems we get into a territory of not neccessarily better as much as "different", and really getting to the bottom of what gives a great presentation with audio, funny enough, Thd has very little to do with it as Hugh and I have learned, though its distribution does factor in.

There have been a number of changes made on the Maya, another couple of leaps in performance, but at this stage it awaits Hugh's stamp of approval!

...

Colin

AKSA · « **Reply #91 on:** 24 May 2010, 01:02 am »

Colin,

Quote

but at this stage it awaits Hugh's stamp of approval! ...

You can be confident you have that!!!

Warm regards,

Hugh

Afterimage · « **Reply #92 on:** 31 May 2010, 06:55 pm »

Hi guys. I have been reading up on this one. One thing that really caught my attention is the couple of reports so far that the Soraya seems to be able to make music out of not so good recordings. I have a lot of rock and pop in my collection, and yes some of that stuff is brutal on high end systems (sounds good on cars and boom boxes though). However, I have heard some gear make some music of these type of recordings. I mean, there was air, some warmth, good spacing and some life. So, can the Soraya really play in that game? I am interested in this amp, but living in the States, I won't really get a chance to hear it. Systems synergy, room acoustics and other variables aside, anyone know how the Soraya compares to some of the other well know brands such as Conrad Johnson, Ayre, The ModWright KWA 150, Sim Audio, Macintosh, Pass Labs, ect....

AKSA · « **Reply #93 on:** 31 May 2010, 10:25 pm »

AI

These are good questions, tricky to answer from downunder. Fact is, there are very, very few of the products you mention here, ours is a small market and high end is dying rapidly in Oz with only a few enthusiasts willing to buy such amps, which are up to double the price in AUD once imported (we have high taxes and very big markups).

This has led me more than once to wish I was resident in the US, where such a large market is easily accessed.

I have Soraya's locally, Singapore, and Czech Republic, and a 2007 Soraya in Omaha, but none of the present 2009 configuration in the US. Shipping one to you would cost around $USD220, shipping it back if you failed to buy would be the same, and we are in a quandary!! If I were to appoint a distributor and reseller in the US the price would near on double, and this just adds to the problems. It is expensive to produce, some exceptional quality components inside.

Perhaps a safer option would be for you to consider my upcoming New AKSA, the NAKSA, a module amplifier, 70W per channel, sold fully assembled and tested with a heatsink. This is realtively cheap to ship and represents a much lesser investment risk at $USD705. All you need to get it going is a single 300VA trafo, a case, a couple of binding posts, switch and IEC cable entry module. This amp, while not up to the exalted Soraya standard, is very, very good and does indeed make poor recordings sound good!

Thank you for your interest and goodwill, I hope we can do business. I will be releasing the NAKSA within one month, watch the website.

Cheers,

Hugh

Afterimage · « **Reply #94 on:** 31 May 2010, 10:32 pm »

Thanks for the reply. Omaha, I only live 120 miles from Omaha. That is only an hour and 1/2 drive. Thats nothing! For an investment like an amp, I wouldn't mind at all paying the 220 dollars or so shipping if the product was the right fit and I doubt it would be a deal breaker for a lot of US customers if again, it was something that made their systems sound so good. Well, if anyone has any relative experience with this amp compared to similar priced or even higher prices amps please post. Thanks.

Afterimage · « **Reply #95 on:** 31 May 2010, 10:54 pm »

oh, I forgot to ask, isn't there another amp getting released this year, The Maya. What is this in relation to the Soraya? A new design or more like a Soraya with more power?

daredevil_kk · « **Reply #96 on:** 31 May 2010, 11:00 pm »

Hi Afterimage,

Maybe I can chip in a little, the Soraya 2009 is a polite but powerful guy. It would sound similar to a gaincard clone(that was what I had) with a good tube pre in the front but with a much better bass control. But mind you, a compressed disc will still sound worse than a well recorded disc. But one of my concert sound engineer friend said that he haven't heard the foo fighter there is nothing left to lose album sound so good on a hifi.

Anyway, (Hugh will kill me for saying this) you can tweak the warmness (2nd harmonics) easily to your taste with 2 resistors.

Hopes that helped.

Cheers,

KK

AKSA · « **Reply #97 on:** 31 May 2010, 11:04 pm »

AI,

The Omaha contact is David Ellis, who may have recently moved, so I will email him to respectfully ask if you could have a listen.

The Maya will be my flagship. It has been a long, long gestation together with a Canadian friend. It is a 150W//8R amp with no global feedback, a la Charles Hansen's Ayre. I auditioned one in front of 110 people at the Melbourne Audio Club recently and received standing ovations on Copeland's 'Fanfare for the Common Man' and a Leonard Cohen song. It will also be costly, of course, it's a powerful, large amp and the R&D behind it was stupendous. However, I have none of them out there just yet, as relatively few will be sold, and I'm paranoid about getting it exactly right!!

The Maya, like the Soraya of lesser power, is designed to engage with the music. My essential quest is to have the listener look into the music, become a part of it, and forget the electronics and speakers, in short, a musician's sensibility. Getting the engineering dead right is only the first step; after this the long term tweaking and listening begins. It's a slow, torturous process and focusses as much on the psychoacoustic perceptions of hearing as it does on the distortion artefacts.

Cheers,

Hugh

stvnharr · « **Reply #98 on:** 1 Jun 2010, 02:17 am »

Quote from: AKSA on 31 May 2010, 11:04 pm

AI,

The Omaha contact is David Ellis, who may have recently moved, so I will email him to respectfully ask if you could have a listen.

Dave moved to Minneapolis nearly a year ago now.

AKSA · « **Reply #99 on:** 1 Jun 2010, 04:18 am »

Hi Steve,

Ah, thanks, are you still in touch with him? I will PM him......

How far from Omaha to Minneapolis? At least 500 miles?

Ulp......

Hugh