By Lam Seng Fatt
The readers have voted and their choice is the Kronos Pro/Nagra preamp/Magnet power amps/Ocean Five Pacific Reference speakers system.
It was a neck and neck fight between AV Designs and Hifi Creations. After the first round of counting, AV Designs’ system comprising an all-Bryston set-up driving PMC Fact 12 speakers with WyWires cables received 19 votes.
The Hifi Creations’ room featuring the Kronos Pro with the Ocean Five Pacific Reference four-box speakers (designed by AV2day-certified Golden Ear James Chin and made by Victor Pheh of Hifi Creations) received 17 votes.
However, there were eight audiophiles who were not clear in their votes as they voted for Hifi Creations or the Kronos turntable. One even voted for the Kronos limited edition turntable when there is no such turntable as a limited edition Kronos.
To be fair, I shot off an e-mail to the eight audiophiles asking them to specify whether they voted for the Hifi Creations system comprising the Kronos Sparta turntable, Magnet amps and Victor Pheh’s own speakers or the other Hifi Creations system in the adjoining room featuring the Kronos Pro turntable, Nagra preamp, Magnet amps and the Ocean Five Pacific Reference speakers. I also attached photos of the two systems.
Three replied that they had voted for Victor Pheh’s system while five said their votes were for the Ocean Five system.
So the final result has Hifi Creations’ Kronos Pro, Nagra preamp, Magnet power amps and Ocean Five Pacific Reference speakers winning 22 votes while AV Designs had 19.
In the ‘Best Sound’ category, AV Designs surprisingly received one vote for its Dolby Atmos HT system.
Maxx received one vote for Best HT Sound even though there was no such category.
CMY received one vote for its Naim Statement pre and power amps driving the Dynaudio speakers while WTL Trading received three votes for its Devialet driving either the Franco Serblin Accordo or Estelon speakers.
Hifi Creations (Victor Pheh’s system) ended up with three votes.
In the “Best Picture” category, AV Designs was the runaway winner garnering 22 votes. Maxx received only one vote.
So the voters have spoken! And I can guarantee you that no phantom voter was detected…
