Zu Druids MKIV....to answer some questions.

Some of my friends keep asking about Zu Druids performances and I told them it's all depends on individuals. Some comparing with LS3/5A, Pro Ac or PMC...but here's some text for you to read...

"Zu Audio is a group of young music lovers dedicated to finding answers to questions most people don’t want to ask -- questions that challenge the status quo, tweak old-timers’ most cherished beliefs, and rock the foundations of what are supposed to be audio verities: Why can’t we have a full-range cone driver? Don’t we need big drivers to make realistic bass? Can a 12" cube reproduce the deep, rocking bass you hear live?

They’ve answered the first question brilliantly with the Zu Druid loudspeaker ($3400 USD per pair), which has lately been showing up in recording studios. The reason: real dynamic range. The Druid has claimed 101dB efficiency, is rated to play to 125dB in a room, has low frequencies that extend below the lowest note of a standup bass, and has the coherence of full-range drivers. I corresponded with the owner of a recording studio who’d replaced his very-high-end monitors, made by the British firm PMC, with Zu Druids because his clients could feel the music’s impact through the Druids, whether a softly plucked guitar string or a slamming bass drum. He loved the fact that a single driver could reproduce 98% of the music, augmented by only a single super tweeter, for the ultra-high-frequency response. No 6dB crossover is needed to try to emulate point-source coherence. The Druid is a point source".

http://www.soundstageav.com/onhometheater/20071001.htm 

People at Zu are music lovers /musicians too and if you can read on "reviewing own system", my finding are the same as described on the above. To review, to rate music / equipments...IMHO knowledge in music is essential, not by only listening to various setup...so what's the benchmark or reference?...again, you can read "stereotype audiophile" in earlier post.

Computer Audio System anyone?....

Digital edge has really taking us in the fast lane in every aspects of our life and this also has an effect to our hobby, listening to music.

There are various format of hi-res audio and they are all look promising and for me to venture into CAS is alright...but, I'd like so see the stability of the format and availability of recorded hi-res music.

I don't like the idea of getting the material from cds to HDD/SSD and if that the case, I'd rather stick to cds...period. No doubt there is an improvement over upsampling etc. But I just don't buy the idea, it just like copy a vinyl into a cd for convenient reason. I have to agree that less moving parts in player will further enhance the playback and I 'll say SSD is the best.

In future I hope to see shops selling maybe a code (download over internet), or maybe a flash drive contain music material which you can transfer to music server/SSD. Buying online is more likely for digital music and in the future we can see closing down of music shops...

The CAS is okay in technology advancement...but I'd rather wait or perhaps enjoy this archaic format while I can...