TIMEDOMAIN mini
Got my friend to buy the mini Timedomains and the Audio Technica ATHA35i digital ipod dock on her recent trip to Japan and bring them back to India, where we live and work for the moment.I was on the lookout for small but good sounding Audio, and bought the two based on reviews here on Amazon. I've had a lot of experience with hi-end audio, having owned equipment running into thousands of $$. I was looking for a clean, yet involving and non - sterile sound in a small package. And boy, did I hit the jackpot!
First, the negatives- The digital dock seems improperly earthed and the speakers picked up a slightly audible hum. I put this down to the cheapo ac/dc 100-240volt wall wart which usually have no earthing to speak of. The problem was easily solved by loosening one of the four metal screws on the back of the dock, jamming in one end of a length of electrical wire, tightening the screw and sticking the other end of the wire into the Earth socket of the wall outlet. Now don't try this at home if you're not sure of what you are doing. But sure enough, the hum disappeared.
The other bummer is that the wall wart which comes with the speakers, altho heavy duty, is a japan only thingy and needs a 100volt outlet. So I'm using a step down transformer, also bought at amazon. (No hum from this end of the works-I checked).
Speaker placement: After much experimentation I ended up placing the speakers on a couple of small flat barbell weights which in turn were placed on spikes, thus giving the speakers good isolation from the resonant wood of the antique table, upon which they were placed.
Litening tests: The first album I heard using my ipod nano connected thru the dock was a lossless rip of Miles Davis' kind of blue (remastered).
Well, to say the least I was shocked. Pleasantly so! An absolutely clean delivery, no metallic highs, a warm mid range, and an unbelievably low deep end. How the hell...?!!
Two weeks on, I'm still wondering at the beauty of this small package. Mind you, the AT digital dock has a lot to contribute to the finesse of the sound- without it the soundstage collapses quite a bit. Rock and classical also sound wonderful and the speakers go quite loud as well. Although, these speakers are made for LISTENING to the finer nuances and not for partying. (MP3s also sound a lot better with the AT dock).
You love LISTENING to music, use an ipod, want a small package---go ahead, just get this combo and you won't regret it.
Absolutely 5 stars for the Timedomain mini, 4 stars for the Audio Technica ATHA35i digital dock (one star less for that annoying lack of Earth....)
OK, time to get back to the music.........
商品モデル番号 | TIMEDOMAINMINI |
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メーカーにより製造中止になりました | いいえ |