I.C.E

When we are young, we all have hobbies and dreams of owning this and that. Only as we grow older and start to make a living for ourselves will we slowly live the dreams we once had.

I am an avid music listener. I love to listen to nice music, good music, music with good quality recording. I will spend money to buy CDs and keep them. When I was in Polytechnic, I would read about speakers and amplifiers and wished that I was able to afford them.

As I got older, I just became lazy and got down to listening to stuff like MP3, which is an inexpensive way to enjoy music. However, when I started driving to work, I hardly got to use my MP3 player except while I am jogging.

While driving, I would like to listen to my CDs and MP3. And found that there was something terrrible wrong with my sound system. It was reasonably audible but seriously lacking in quality. It was not even any where close to my iPod nano (on Pioneer Headphones).

So I decided that I would save up (bear with the quality) and have enough to get myself a new I.C.E (In Car Entertainment) system.

The happy day when I got back my car with my new system installed was 12 May 2007. After a month long of asking around and listening around. I settled on following set up below (meant for those who are interested):

Headunit: Pioneer P80
Front Component Speakers: Danish Acoustics Pristinum 6.1
Amplifier for Front Comp: Rockford Fosgate Power Mini T600-2
Sound Proofing: 2 Layer per door (front)
Door Structure: Rebuilt with solid hold for 6.5" woofer.
RCA cables: Ramm Audio Cables/Connects
Extras: Upgraded Car battery, Fuse holder with current readout, Electrical-grounding.



And the results are superb. I do not have a reference sound system setup at home to be a 'pro' to comment on a perfect sound system. But, when I was young, I was obsessed with sound and went to Adelphi (opposite Funan) and listen to the 'uncles' with their reference sound systems at their shops. From there, I learn a bit here and there. And I learn to appreciate that it is not that easy to produce good sound. With a good bass punch (for the very low frequencies ~10-50Hz), good bass hold/reverberation or Mid-bass (frequencies ~50-500Hz), strong Mid ranges for low keys in instruments and vocals' power (frequencies ~500-2kHz) and finally the Highs where most of the details from instruments and sopranos' vocals will emerge (frequencies ~2k- 20kHz). And further to that, a good sound system is able to blend them (all the above) nicely such that they feel like one solid voice in the centre where you should be sitting. The crispness of the strings' instruments, power and impact of horns' instruments, sensations from low key string instruments, and the vocals right in the middle where it will blow you hair standing from your neck.

Back to the setup up in the car.

To me, it sounds just right. Everything about the system sounds right (except for the sounds from the engine). It basically made the hair on the back of my neck stand up when I played the first song as I sat in. I was playing the 2nd track of Steve Vai's album, The 7th song. And I was speechless. I never ever expect that a car could sound good and from then on it changed the perception I had about music in cars. It even made me drive slower just so that I can enjoy the music in the car.

I then tried to put my MP3 CDs in for a try. It made me realized that the quality difference in CD and MP3 was extremely great. MP3 sounded so flat and bland. It is not that the qualtiy of the MP3 is lousy. I usually encode my MP3s at 192kHz which is High Quality. They still were no where near the quality of CDs. Something even more shocking happened after that. My mom loves to sings and is learning to sing as well. She has quite a collection and passed me one set of CDs which is a collection of nice singers titled, Essential Voices. It was recorded using the DSD (Direct Streaming Digital) format from Sony. And I was totally blown away and I had NEVER known CDs to sound that good, to be able to reproduce sounds that are so real, sounds that I thought I would only hear if they were singing live.


The first song from CD1 is evidence to that. Amigos Para Siempere by Sarah Brightman & Jose Carreras. If I remember correctly, its the theme song in one of the Olympics games. Though it may be a modern song with digital instruments being used, there is no denying that the vocals are at a level which is hard to achieve from these 2 singers as examples. The clarity of the song was beyond me and I was speechless enjoying the celestial music and heavenly voices. The system reproduced the bass thumps with vigour and power, the low-mid and mid ranges was carried so pleasantly through the song with the reverberations being felt that draws you into the mood, the highs from Sarah Brightman is a marvel to 'see' and the system was able to clear shine her highs with warmth and clarity without stretching or scratching the listening pleasure. And at the meantime, throwing the power of Jose Carreras voice to your attention with his very powerful vocal range all the way from the Mid-ranges.

This entirely changed my perceptions that all CD recordings sound the same. The fact is that they DON'T sound the same. That is why some CDs cost 19 bucks while some cost 50 - 100 bucks. And with that thought, I set out to find the CD that I have been wanting to own for so very long.

Hell Freezes Over - Eagles


This album is like THE test album for most of the sounds systems in audiophile stores. And needless to say, those who have a bit of liking into rock music will know which song I am referring to. It is Hotel California, live version after 14 year vacation. I know, in theory, the reasons why a lot of people would choose this song as a test track for systems. But to physically hear the 'reasons' being displayed with such grace from a system is over-whelming (in a good way). This song covers a very wide dynamic range of the audible frequencies. (If I remember correctly) There is one bass drum which thumps the very powerful low thumps that you can actually feel the slight blowing wind from the thump. There are 2 Brazilian shakers (dun know the exact term for that instrument). There is at least one bass guitar player which plays the low bass strings with the so detail reverberations that you heard from the track. There are at least 3 main guitar players, one at Mid-low frequencies, another at Mid range frequencies and another at Mid-High frequencies. And of course there is lead singer, with his voice that matured over the years, the husky tonal from the voice makes the song 'feel' real and alive. And basically I can tell you that I can hear all that from the driver's seat of my car, feeling the kicks from the thumps onto my chest, feeling the guitar strings tingling my senses with each pluck, and all the details of the husky voices revealed. It is totally a heavenly feeling.

These days, I am cruising down the expressways with the accompaniment of great music. My colleagues even joke about the importance of a good sound system in the car to keep my dangerous driving at bay. So if you happen to spot a Wish cruising at the speed of <100km/h, before it gets on your nerves, remember that I have a good sound system.

There is surely better systems out there. And I would surely like the chance to hear them. I would also love to share my passion with my friends. If you are interested, do let me know and we shall see if we could arrange to meet up for coffee.

I will look out for more CDs to add to my collection.

Take care and Best Regards,
Ken

Ristorante Da Valentino @ Mayfair Park

Hi friends,

Recently, I visited the above Italian restaurant for my 1st year anniversary together with Joline. Both of us wanted to find out how good this restaurant was because there is much good reviews and hype on how good they are. So we decided to give it a go.

This place is surely popular. Its hard to even make a reservation especially on a public holiday. And I was told by the staff that its best to make a reservation about a week in advance.

The restaurant is situated at Mayfair Park. Its the first left turn after the Railway track when you get onto Dunearn Road, travel for about 2mins and you will reach Mayfair park. If you are driving, parking may be a problem as there are limited spaces there (max at 10 cars). But the velvet parking can sort it out for you for $4 dollars.

The surrounding is peaceful and somewhat 'rich' environment. You get the sense that people around here are loaded. The entrance of the restaurant is simple and looks like a family run setup. The staff ushered us to our table and a italian guy (probably) brought us the menu and explained the 'specials for the day'. We could hardly understand what he was saying as we are not use to that accent. But we thanked him anyway.

The menu is rather impressive for an Italian restaurant as you would find a number of dishes that would be rather uncommon in Singapore restaurants. Looks authentic enough as it reminded me of the time when I was in Italy dining in a family restaurant there as well.

We ordered a basic salad with smoked salmon, a squid-inked pasta with crabmeat, a steak in Gorgonzola cheese sauce and a mixed cheese pizza. First up was our salad, it was good. The ingredients were fresh and the vinegarette was soothing and a good starter. My only complaint is that it is a tad too oily for our liking, it had just a bit overdoes of olive oil.



Next up, it was the Pasta. And my god, it tasted fantastic. Some reviewers of this restaurant gave their 2-thumbs up for this. And I am going to do the same. Its 2-thumbs up for this dish. It was simply delicious. The pasta was fresh made and you could taste the difference as compared to those commercially packaged ones. The famous squid-inked sauce was really good. It didn't have the over-powering feeling that you would normally get when you order this dish. It was tasty with the hint of the ink's flavour but not covering the other tastes' of the dish. The crab meat was from real crab!! I must emphasize this because most of the time you would only either get crabsticks (which is gross) or frozen crabmeat. But in this, you can taste the crab meat straight from the first bite to the last piece of crab. Awesome.

Then came the steak. The first impression I had when I saw the dish was that 'hmm.. there is something not right or missing'... They served me with a tossed salad on the plate together with the steak which made it looked weird. But thats fine by me, I would just simply ignore the vegs and enjoy. I first ate the potatoes and I love it. It was those soft and sweet type of potatoes. It was boiled to perfection and tasted great with a pinch of pepper and salt. Everything about this dish is in the sauce. You could have the best beef in the world but if you can't bring out the intense feeling that this dish is supposed to give from the cheese used, then it would not be worth it. And I am happy to report that the sauce didn't disappoint. Just by using your fork and dab the sauce slight and tasting the sauce would make you feel good (if you are a cheese person). It had the flavour and complexity this sauce is suppose to give. Much could be improved on the steak though. The meat was rather tough though it was done to perfection (medium rare for my case).


Thirdly, came our mixed cheese pizza. As expected, the aroma of the cheese filled the air. This was it first test and it passed. And for cheese lovers, this pizza would tingle your senses because of the strong Gorgonzola cheese.

This restaurant was also famous for its deserts which they claimed to be their own creations. So we could not leave without trying some even though we were already full. The lady staff pushed a desert cart to our table showing the cakes and pastries for the day. She explained the difference of each and recommended 2 to us. One was the White sponge cake with a hint of rum and the other was the Dark Chocolate cake. I must emphasis that we are already very full at this point. But when we took our first bite on the white sponge cake, we were very glad that we had ordered them. It was simply yummy. The sponge cake was very very soft and the cream used was not thick at all. This made is a very light and fluffy cake for a after meal enjoyment. The hint of rum was good enough to tingle and made the cake extra special. The chocolate cake was a different feeling altogether. It was thick and rich, filled with bittersweet dark chocolate bits on the top and cream of the cake was also made from bittersweet chocolate. Dark choco fans would sure love this. But we were too full to finish up this cake though.

The prices are reasonable for a well-known restaurant like this one. The pasta and mains would range from 17 to 30 dollars. Of course, there are certain dishes which are more expensive.

I would say that, all in all, this restaurant is quite good. But I have expected much more from them as the media have given them very high scores. In my personal opinion, this 'family restaurant' isn't very family actually as you would get a sense that the people around came here because of its name and have a certain 'air' in them. In terms of food quality, it is good no doubt, when you compare to 'typical' eateries that serve Italian food. But in my own personal opinion again, only their signature dish which is the 'Squid-inked pasta with crab meat' lived up to the hype from the reviews. On the 2 other mains which I tried, the mixed cheese pizza and the steak in Gorgonzola sauce, I was expecting them to beat my expectations as compared to the other Italian eateries I have tried; but sadly, no, it didn't.

From this point onwards it would be my own critical opinions.. The pizza came as expected, flat and thin crusted like a Italian pizza should but the aroma was lacking in punch. This pizza is supposed to be heavy and strong with its different cheeses filling the air and making non-cheese lovers 'eee' at the scent of it. But that was present. In my view, what makes Italian pizzas stand out from the rest would be the quality of their crust. It should give the feeling that it is flaky and light, blend in with the other ingredients seamlessly making the crust taste simple, strikingly simple. It should make you feel that you want to have more and allowing to savour the flavours of the toppings without telling you that you are feeling full because of the crust. I am not sure if you could understand my feelings, so in short, I want to say that this pizza's crust is not perfect and was a tad hard when it cooled down.

The steak in Gorgonzola sauce. First up, I want to point out that I love this dish (regardless of restaurant) and would taste this dish in whichever Italian restaurant I write about. One reason I love this dish so much is because of my first encounter with it. It was just sheer chance that I have ordered it from another restaurant and I was pleasantly stunned by its sauce. It is something beyond what I can describe. (Those who know me would know that I usually would describe the ingredients used in different dishes, if I can figure them out.) I could not figure the ingredients of this sauce and my mind just tells me to ignore it and enjoy all the pleasure of the Gorgonzola cheese sauce.

Okay. Back to the subject. The steak in Gorgonzola sauce. The steak was done to perfection (medium rare) as ordered but it was just a tad too tough. As a beef lover, I would expect some quality from the beef chosen for a steak to be served. But I can forgo that for this dish as the most important thing here is the sauce. (Having said that, I would still be looking out for the 'perfect' steak in Gorgonzola sauce.) At first tasting, the sauce was good. It had the feel of Gorgonzola in it and the aroma was there. But as I go along, I felt that something is missing. The sauce didn't draw out the feeling I had above when I ate it at that restaurant mentioned above. It lacks the finesse and detail which I had expected. And basically, serving tossed salad on a steak plate is plain weird to me.

I came to this restaurant expecting their main dishes to blow me away. But only the pasta managed to impress. I didn't expect much from their deserts so that was a pleasant surprise. If you are planning to visit them in future, remember to make a reservation early and one important point, ask for ICED WATER or they would serve you with STILL WATER which cost 8 bucks when ICED WATER is free.

In my opinion, food is a very personal thing and you would only know it when you try it. Like I would always say, try it for yourself.

Happy dining,
Ken

P.S. I am collecting more photos first before I post my detailed review on 'that restaurant' I mentioned above. Look out for it. :)