Having done quite a few high key window light portraits recently, I had the chance to try out during this rainy weather, a more subdued lighting for a more melancholic mood. This time I have only the side walls to bounce light and the dim indoor lightings as a small source of fill light. I did not bring my Nikon 50mm lens outdoors this time, but luckily the Nikon 85mm F1.8 I had was sufficient to do full body shots in the cramp conditions. Auto WB performed surprisingly alright here. Here is a sample shot, more to be added when I have the time. To be continued...
I listen to a wide range of music, from Bach to the Beatles, from Jamiroquai to Diana Krall, and even from Prodigy to Pantera, depending on the mood. My old Marantz amplifier of about 10 years finally sang its swan song recently and so I decided to update my system, which is almost a decade old. First up was the excellent Monitor Audio RS1 bookshelf speakers. These handsome speakers were in rosewood finish and they sound fantastic to my ears at their price level. Detailed and extended treble, a very transparent midrange and a wonderful tight bass, perfect for my smallish room. For the amplifier, I got the Creek Evolution 1 after auditioning a few amps that I shortlisted with in my budget. It trounced the other similarly priced amps that I considered, so it was a no brainer. With that I knew I have secured the engine of the system. Besides being rather long in the tooth, my Rotel RCD-951 is working fine after all these years, and I have no other reason to upgrade it, other than to make myself broke! Just kidding! But its a great piece of equipment to be able to last as long as it did. If it did break down, I probably would not hesitate to get another Rotel CD player! I also changed my corroded interconnects with the Van Den Hul Integration. I wonder how it would compare with my old resident interconnect. It gave my many years of musical enjoyment, and it was the best sounding interconnect I could afford at that time, some many years ago. I thought I would let the VDH Integration burn in a bit to have a fair comparison. The moment I plugged in the VDH Integration, it has stayed there ever since. There was absolutely no fight. A wealth of detail begain to swamth me, and the awesome yet precise soundstage seemed to extend way beyond the boundaries of the speakers and walls. I described the holographic images as "ghosts", so errie was the midrange presence and transparency. These holographic imaging, especially percussions at the foreground, gave me a few scares while listening to music late at night, so realistic was the reproduction! Tonal balance remained quite similar with the old interconnect, but with a slightly more powerful and tighter bass and a bit more forward presentation. But as far as soundstaging width and especially depth, detail levels and separation and layering of vocals and instruments, the VDH Integration is my new top dog. Isn't it great when you can enjoy your music to the next level, where every music you play is a sonic journey and you can have your live performance right in front of you in your room or hall? It makes every CD I have worth so much more. Music is Food for the Soul. With a budget hifi, you can have good food everyday! Haha! 
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