Listening Sessions
Talk Talk: The Color of Spring (Remastered)
Some readers may only recall the earliest version of this band as an 80's new wave synthesizer band, but much like the moths and butterflies that populate the album's cover, this band went through a complete metamorphosis starting with this album. Acoustic instruments, strings, and choral arrangements abound on a road to music that has more to do with experimental ambient jazz than with anything else.
Acoustic instruments in the upper register, such as the guitar, had a natural timbre.
Throughout the album, the XLS340's revealed detail, inner parts, and the various instruments had clear separation. Treble was open and airy and the midrange warm with acoustic instruments such as guitars, percussion, cymbals, vocals, and choral parts sounding distinct and full. Mark Hollis's vocals do not always seem to have articulation as a priority; he often uses his vocals more as another instrument in the arrangement to support the emotions conveyed by the music. Using the XLS340's, the vocal clarity was noticeably more distinct than I typical find with many speakers and ambient cues contained in the recording were also very clear.
The album opens with "Happiness is Easy" which utilizes a children choir. The choir parts were clear and well imaged; the overall sound was smooth and airy with instruments clearly separated. Acoustic instruments in the upper register, such as the guitar, had a natural timbre. Drums and double bass were detailed, but somewhat over present at the upper bass. During "IDon't Believe In You", the instrumental separation was again good; case in point was an often-buried harp part before the bridge that was distinguishable with the XLS340's. "Time It's Time" also features choral arrangements supporting the lead vocals along with layers of synthesizers, acoustic and electric guitars, percussion, and piano occurring simultaneously. Many lesser speakers will often make mush out of such a full arrangement, homogenizing the sound into one mass, but here all the parts were distinct with the sound once again both smooth and open.
Radiohead: Kid A
Radiohead always makes for a good test of transient response with the multitude of crisp, ever changing electronic sounds that populate their albums. Throughout, the XLS340's presented an open sound with crisp transients and the subtleties of inner parts within layers of electronics audibly dissected. Sound occurring in the treble and upper midrange was well projected and the imaging conveyed a wide soundstage. Vocals were palpable and well centered with the sundry layers of overdubs distinct.
Listening to the title track, the XLS340's presentation was smooth with ample detail; every sound had its own space. Subtle details in the synthesized bells sounds were distinct and well projected beyond the separation of the speakers. Vocals were focused in the center with percussion behind and the midrange presentation was full. Individual wind instruments in "The National Anthem" were distinct but overall sound was weighted towards the upper bass, with little depth. Multiple acoustic guitar parts in "How to Disappear Completely" were well separated, conveying a sense of space between them. Vocals during "Optimistic"were palpable and resolution of the various guitar parts was high enough to clearly distinguish all the notes within the chord structures.
XTC: Apple Venus
Apple Venus is perhaps the artistic highlight of XTC's creative musical career. The typical cleverness of XTC's song writing is complimented with lush arrangements that transcend typical rock music fare.
Open and airy treble, warm midrange, considerable detail, but exaggerated upper bass define the character of the XLS340's musical presentation with this album. Instruments were well separated with good sound stage width, but this width was volume dependent. While this was generally true for all the albums I auditioned, this album seemed particularly sensitive to the XLS340's in this respect. The reduced three dimensionality also impacted the overall dynamic presentation leaving this well recorded album somewhat flat sounding.
"River of Orchids" is a piece that grows and evolves into a fugue with pizzicato violin over layers of vocal harmonies, synthesizers, with a muted trumpet part soaring over the top, all of which the XLS340's presented as distinct sonically and spatially. "Knights in Shining Karma" displayed the strengths of the tweeter array: percussion, such as the wood blocks and cymbals, and the electric guitar had that sense of air, of space at the upper end and inner parts of the vocal harmonies were distinct. Subtleties in the processing and playing of the electric guitar were evident with these speakers. "Greenman" was thick at the upper bass, but detail and instrumental separation between the bassoon, strings, and mandolins was handled cleanly. Also of note was the flugel horn part on "The Last Balloon"which was quite realistic sounding.
Nine Horses: Snow Borne Sorrow
Nine Horses is the latest musical venture from David Sylvian and many of his frequent collaborators. It is an eclectic mix of atmospheric, world music, and jazz. The album brims with detail and subtlety within the layers of vocals and instrumentation.
David Sylvian's generous baritone both benefited and suffered from the sonic character of the XLS340's: vocals were simultaneously rich but chesty. The palpability of the vocal presentation gave a definite quality of presence to Sylvian. The sonics on this album were smooth with these speakers, the multitude of instruments used imaged well, instrumental timbres were realistic, and they were all well separated. Bass and percussion displayed some looseness at the midrange/bass boundary.
The album opens with "Wonderful World". Vocals were smooth and had presence, but were heavy. Individual singers in the background chorus were also clearly defined. The XLS340's were able to unentwine the musical tapestry of electric and acoustic piano, strings, winds, bells, and keyboards allowing them to image properly while maintaining warmth. The saxophone part in "The Banality of Evil" was presented with exceptional realism, both in space and detail. Movements of the player's embouchure were audible in subtleties of the performance and a slight vibrato in the playing. "Snow Borne Sorrow" received due attention from the XLS340's with crisp transient response through all of the layers of electronic sounds that are built up to form this song, but the sound was also somewhat heavy at the upper bass. Vocals, overdubs, and background singers were separated and distinct, but Sylvian was again rendered as chesty. The trumpet and other wind instruments in this piece had a solid presence with subtleties of performance well defined.
Frank Zappa: Hot Rats
Hot Rats is probably the best known of Frank Zappa's exploits in jazz composition; the album is the original home to "Peaches en Regalia" which found its way into performance often. The goal of owning high-end gear is to make every recording sound live, to be able to separate every sound from all the others, and to hear every nuance of each sound; a much taller order with older recordings. I choose this album because older recordings are sometimes more sensitive to equipment quality; I personally have found that good quality gear can find buried strengths in a recording that never have a chance to surfaces with run of the mill equipment. As an older recording, quality is actually good, considering its era, but it still suffers of sounds that blur together, some brightness in the treble, and a bit of looseness in the bass.
In the upper register, the XLS340's did well: they were able to pull presence and space out of the individual instruments while minimizing some of the brightness and smooth out the overall sound of this recording. Instruments were more distinct and detailed that I have heard on some gear. On "Willie the Pimp" Captain Beefheart sounded as smooth as one can expect him to sound. The guitar and violin unison was sonically separable, and inner parts of chords during the guitar solo were also clearer than typical. On "Son of Mr. Green Genes", upper treble was open, the baritone sax was given life and made present, and inner wind parts were distinguishable.
Prokofiev: Scythian Suite; Stravinsky: Le Sacre Du Printemps (The Rite of Spring) Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Eduardo Mata (Dorian Records)
Both of these pieces were challenging musical composition for their time. The 1913 premiere of "Le Sacre Du Printemps" at Sergey Diaghilev's Ballets Russes prompted a riot and much controversy. Not to be outdone, Prokofiev attempted the same feat the following year with "Ala and Lolli", the original version of the "Scythian Suite" for ballet. Perhaps fearing that Prokofiev could repeat the previous years incident, Diaghilev asked Prokofiev to abandon the piece and commissioned another. While the ballet was not performed, Prokofiev did not abandon the piece that premiered in its revised form for orchestra in 1916.
These pieces careen suddenly between furioso and dolce. I selected them because they are both dynamic and challenging in terms of reproduction. It was an afterthought on my part that these masterworks of the twentieth century are case in point for music not being inherently harmonious as was intended by the composers.
Once again, treble was clear and free of any graininess with the XLS340's. In this register, the sound was crisp and exposed detail. Instrumental separation between upper strings, brass, and woodwinds revealed details within the inner parts. Hall ambiance was well reproduced by the speakers presentation, but sounded somewhat recessed during quieter passages. I associate this with my observation about the speakers requiring a certain amount of push that would not be present in quiet orchestral passages. The midrange had its typical fullness, but again at the bass boundary, while detailed, there was some looseness at the upper end. In particular, I noted bass drum parts that were less controlled than my expectations during both pieces.
