Alan-san’s and Paula-san’s Total Impressions and Thoughts at Real Situation

We were so lucky to have our dear friend Yazaki-san visit with us in Texas last October.   It was a wonderful blessing for us, a splendid time sharing and catching up on our Adventures over these last few years along with the foundation of starting a New Adventure!

It was an amazing visit and fun-filled times trying a new source, trying NOS tubes and the redesign to the circuitries of both pairs of the Mono SET amplifiers that Yazaki-san so kindly built up for me several years ago … it seems like yesterday when we first met in person on our Fly Fishing and wonderful Japanese Tea Ceremony Adventures in the Colorado Rockies prior to a Rocky Mountain Audio Fest 2015. 

It was amazing to watch Yazaki-san magically and skillfully dive into the circuitry of the Hashimoto and Tango mono SET amplifiers, resetting the flow of energy through different checks and balances with his changes to capacitors and resistors.

The soldering gun was close at hand and it was thrilling to watch the master apply his skill and enthusiasm to the tasks at hand. The icing on the cake was his surprise of a mysterious RCA tube-driven USB DAC that found itself directly feeding music into the inputs of the mono SET amplifiers.

Most importantly, was the time we were able to spend together sharing about our histories and families' lives, the turns of fate over lifetimes and enjoying listening to new presentations of Real Sound.

I would like to share my listening experiences with the amplifier changes.   

These mono SET amplifiers have always been wonderful machines. I was really happily surprised with the new solutions that have continued to settle in after Yazaki-san’s visit. The sense of instruments and performers in the room has continued to become more palpable and feel just close enough to reach out and touch them both.

For example, the realism experienced while listening to Janos Starker’s interpretation and performance on Mercury Stereo SR3-9016 Johann Sebastian Bach, 'Suites for Unaccompanied Cello Complete’ was resonating into the core of my soul.

The timber and emotion presented were so tactile and floating throughout the listening space, leaving one sitting within the whole rather than participating as an observer on the edge of the energy.

This was a holistic journey from the JICO VN35MRB,Bassie Stylus + Shure V15 Type III cartridge into the phono stage of the modified Marantz Model 7 onto the newly changed mono SET amplifiers on the way to the Altec Corona speakers.   

We are very fortunate and grateful to have this system in our home. When listing with the mono SET Hashimoto transformers, the presentation is a little more youthful, forward and energetic flow. While listening to the mono SET with the Tango transformers, the presentation is more an old-soul orientation, at once, both a laidback and refined feel.

Additionally, here are thoughts with the newly improved “Douk Audio U4” by Shirokazu Yazaki for streaming solutions.

A few months after Yazaki-san returned home to Tokyo, he mentioned that there was success making circuit changes to the Douk Audio U4 and would I like to try this Shirokazu Yazaki modified version.

Of course, I was delighted to have this opportunity. This DAC can be fed via streaming directly through the USB input, or a virtually unlimited content Bluetooth feed through a phone, or tablet device.

This is a Real Sound solution, a front-end source that is so convenient; however, more importantly, very musical. Thank you my dear friend for your patience and friendship…

Warmest Regards, Alan