重劍無鋒

A second grinder for office use

I have a set of coffee machine in office, but the hand grinder is killing me (for espresso).  So I bought a second grinder for office use.  I dont want to spend too muuch on a second grinder, maybe around 3k, so the choice limited to Vario and Mignon.  Both are very well received machines, but the vario, judging from the reviews and comments in forums, seems a better choice as it has lesser retention and great for sungle dose usage.  I ordered the machine from an Italian online shop, and the machine arrived shortly.

The silent operation

The machine is simple and easy to use, the construction quality is a million miles from the Mazzer I used at home, but it is smaller and lighter, and much more quieter than the Mazzer.....just hope it is as reliable as the Mazzer.  As expected, the excellent retention performance impresses me right away,  I can almost get 100% of bean grind into even sized fuffy grounds.  I am happy with the performance.

To conclude, its a lovely little grinder.

I have the Gibson LP '60s Tribute for a few years, in fact I am not very fond of the noise/hum of P90 and always wanted to see how a humbucker sounds in it.  So I ordered a Lollar Mini Humbucker (bridge) and see if I like the sound or not.

The Lollar Mini humbucker is way more expensive than Gibson's.  But I heard good thing about the brand so I decided to give it a try.

The Lollar arrived promtly and nicely packed.   I immeidately install the new baby onto my LP. And its easy.

The sound, totally different animal.  The energy of the Lollar is overwhelming, and the brightness of the lollar on my LP is quite unexpected.  Regarding the noise and hum, the lollar is much better than the P90.  With this combination, the LP can produce more different sound than the original setting.  An interesting experiment.

自從入手GXR之後, 我去過一次旅遊,GXR配合Vario使用,十分滿意。但是我還是覺得意猶未盡,計劃買多了一支35mm,而且是大光圈的,因為用了支Biogon一段日子,發現f/2.8未能在某些時候造到我心目中的效果。

35mm的Summilux太貴了，但有一支日製褔倫達,光圈達到1.2,價錢只要Summilux的三分之一,而且質素十分不俗,上網看了又看,用家掛上在flickr的照片全部都十分高質素。那散景效果十分出色,而且解像力及鋭利度都相當出衆,我没有考慮很久,找相熟店家入了一支,高高興興的帶了解去泰國拍了四日。

縂括而言，此鏡頭造功高於一般日本產品,只是稍遜於我 的Leica 50 AA。手感一流。紥實重手,配合GXR略嫌頭重尾輕。對焦環十分柔順,力度合適。

拍出來的效果，我很滿意。f/1.2大光圈的驚人効果,加上細緻的描寫力,比Biogon更加吸引我!

Summilux 35呢？福仔這支充滿驚喜的鏡頭可以取代Summilux的地位？無可否認, VOIGTLANDER NORKTON 35/1.2又便宜又有個性但是要取代SUMMILUX 35成為35MM之皇,坦白講是不能夠的。但以其七千多元的身價來說,性價比是超級高的!

Getting the Summicron 50AA was an important/major investment.  Due to 50AA's high price, I am unable buying another Leica lense/body shortly.  I intended to wait and enjoy what I have for the moment....but I didn't.  Shortly after the purchase of 50AA, I bought a wide angle for my next trip (to Guam), this is totally unexpected.

I bought the Carl Zeiss Biogon T* 25mm f2.8.  MIJ by Cosina, on the GXR it will turn to 37.5mm, still a usable "wide" angle.  And most important of all, the biogon is only HK$6K+.  Very "Econimical".

So here we go:

I choose silver color, very good built quality!

And the picture quality is awesome!!

The Next step......

I have sucessfully acquired a GXR M mount module.  Now I can choose a M lense.

Which One should I choose?

The first I have to decide is whether I go for the classic old lenses or the new high tech products.  Same logic that I choose modern Tannoy speaker, I go for the new Leica lenses route.  And two focal length, namely, 50mm and 35mm interested me.  50 is my first ever SLR lense's focal length, 35 is the icon of Leica.  For a very long time research, I decided to go for the Summicron 50 APO ASPH.  

I didn't choose the 35 Summilux.........

As I said in the last essay about the X Vario, I love the little (relatively) camera, but it has its limitation.  For example, the famous Leica-style creamy bokeh.   If I want to have that legendary bokeh, I must use M lenses with larger aperture.  And before that, I must first buy a Leica body.  So the question is, which one?  

Hold on a sec., I have a Ricoh GXR in my camera cabinet which I bought in 2012/13.  The GXR is a special camera, it's module exchange concept is actually quite good, but just didn't sell.  I remember Ricoh made a m-mount module for the GXR, aim for those M lenses owner, who could use their M lenses on a digital body (instead of buying ultra-expensive Leiac body).  I think this module would be a great choice for me. (no need to spend a fortune)

The module was expensive when it was introduced to the market, now, you can find a NOS in Taobao at arround HK$1400!  I sucessfully track one down in TB, after a few days, it arrived.

The module is extremely well built, even though it is MIC, no sign of cutting corners.  At APS-C size sensor, it has 12 MP pixel and usual Ricoh color, which is really special.  This mount module can take almost all M mount lenses, except some special design lenses with very deep rear lens.  Ricoh gives a adaptor for you to check whether a lense is suitable to mount or not before you actually mounting it on the module, which is very thoughtful.

It is a shame that the GXR series didnt last, I like Ricoh's camera, they are very special.  It would be perfect if Ricoh still making them and come out a new full frame module for M mount leses.  I would n't mind spend 10K to buy one.  Sadly this could only be a dream.

I have been a Nikon user for 20 years.  I was deeply addicted to the sharpness of Nikkor lenses, as well as the loud and solid shutter sound of Nikon body.  However, the passion for photography diminished in the last few years.  Especially in the last two two years, I used my iPhone more than the Nikon D800E.  99.9% of the time, the Nikon equipments were locked in the camera cabinet.

In June 2016, my family planned a trip to England in summer holiday.  Since I have hurt my back in early 2016, bringing the heavy Nikon D800E combo to England was not desirable.  Therefore I started to have an idea of buying a high quality DC for the trip.  For high quality DC, the obvious choice to me was the Fujifilm X100 seies.  I was a fan of Fujifilm since film era.  And used S2pro, S3pro and S5pro in my early digital years.  Going back to buy Fuji product at this moment seems like a good idea.  While researching which Fujifilm model to go for, I notice the Leica X Vario.

What? a true Leica under HK$15k? Not made by panasonic?

Leica was never a target for me, not that I don't like their camera, its because of the high price.  In the recent years, Leica partnered panasonic to make some Leica badged DC, which was a lot cheaper than the real deal.  But i was never interested.  Because it is only a panasonic camera under the skin.

X Vario is different.  It was true in-house Leica design, and manufactured in factory of Leica in Germany.  It is NOT a panasonic.  The zoom lens, despite being criticised having laughable small aperture at the long end (f/6.4!), is in fact extremely sharp and detailed.  The body is almost as well built as a M, and the control interface is simple and direct, similar to the control on the flagship M Type 240.  The APS-C sensor is super sharp and the color rendition is second to none!  In any standard, its a true Leica marvelous.

The Auditorium 23 step-up transformer for Denon DL103 MC Cartridge

The Auditorium 23 is a manufacturer in Germany who was famous in the audio circle in Euro.  The A23 SUT is one of those products of the company frequently talked about in english audio forum.  This SUT is tailor made for the Denon DL103, users swore that this is the best SUT you could find in the market.  At 975 USD, seems like a good investment if it is as good as people claimed.  After thorough research, I decided to try this SUT for my 103 collection.

The owner named Keith, excellent service and a real gentlemen to talk to.  The SUT shipped fast, well packed, and I imemdiately connected the SUT to my 103 mounted LP12.

Denon 103 in my system

My System at the moment was a Sound Smith ruby cantilever DL103r with UWE Malachite shell, Heed Audio Quasar MC/MM phono, ASR 6150 Integrated Amp, and Tannoy Turnberry 85 anniversary Limited Edition speaker.

This is my first BMW. I used to own a MR2 (AW11), Peugeot 205 GTI 1.9, Honda Accord SIR-T and Subaru Legacy Wagon(2.5i), all are fun to drive, X1?  a car for moms isn't it?

Not quite.  This is in fact a proper FR car, almost 50:50 front to rear weight ratio, share the chassis of last generation 3 series wagon, only taller. When it first came out, it was the first luxury small SUV(actually it is a very basic car, not much luxury items you could find on this car), immediately became one of BMW's best seller. In 2012, BMW gave X1 a facelift, refined the style, and added a very fine engine for the series.  This is the mighty 2.0 turbo in-line 4 engine, which produces 184bhp and 27.5kgm torque, matched with the excellent 8 speed transmission to drive the rears two wheels.  This almost sports car specification immediately caught my attention, and I bought one with sport line package in a car show in early 2012.  The package included 18" wheels and sport suspension, red leather interior and large sunroof.  It can corner quite well under this setting, I am very happy with this car.

In the past 5 years, I had my car maintained by BMW Service Centre in HK, no mod, all original.  Recently, a service light went on and BMW told me that I have to change all 4 brake discs and pads.  It is a bit too soon I reckoned as I only drove 60000km.  What really shocked me was not the short life span of these parts, it was the cost: HK$15xxx.00 for 4 odinary brake discs and pads.  I was not really fond of the original brake anyway, so I search for replacement, and finally fixed my target at AP racing.  (I just dont like brembo, dont know why)

There are some shops in HK selling sets of AP Racing front braking system (pair calipers, disc, steel hose, pads, and oil) for as little as HK$10k, but the adaptor(bridge) and hubs are chinese made, not AP Racing factory product. So cheap?  any thing I missed?  I kept searching and discovered that there were some cases of bad installation, problematic setup and use of suspicious/counterfeit goods...etc about these shops.  These are not exactly concret accusations but its hard to tell what is true or is simply attacks from business competitors.  While there are no first hand experience from my friends/reliable source, and very little real-life cases sharing in the internet, I had to take the risk to find/choose one reliable shop to do the replacement job.  At last I discovered a small garage, located at Mongkok, which seems less controversial.

I first established whatsapp communication. The contact person of the garage was very informative and replied resonably prompt.  The quotation is a bit higher than the cheapest shop in the market but the difference is not much. I got a quotation on AP Racing's CP9440 (4 pistols) racing series caliper (special edition in silver color), new AP J-Hook disc, GB stainess steel brake hoses, Ferodo DS2500 pads and AP brake oil for HK$14100.00 (labour inclusive). Then I went to the shop and let them make a preliminary measurement.  Which was quick and I had chance to observe the garage and the mechanics.  I found that it is actually a garage not only provide performance mod but also normal car services, repairing.  This is a good sign as their mechanics should be more professional and be able to setup things more professionally.  After the preliminary check confirmed the size, they asked for HK$3K deposit and they said they would order the set at HK Distributor PRS.  I did what they asked and wait. 

IKEA bamboo board

IKEA 竹板，其實是用來切菜煮餸，為什麼同 Hi-Fi 器材連上關係呢？原因是「竹」，近年興起用「竹」此環保材料，因為牠生長得快，且產量大，故「竹」材越來越多應用在 Hi-Fi 架、墊材、甚至黑膠盤 plinth 等等，而且效果更被發燒友給予好評。圖中的化震系統更是領我O咀，吾講仲以為屋主養鬼仔...哈哈！不過看起來都幾有藝術氣息！

本著成本底，一試無妨的精神，我買入了第一塊 ikea 竹板（厚版本）作為墊材試用，目的是希望有更佳的化震/減震效果；我作為一個小學鷄研究生，買回來就一定學人整色整水，在竹板4角貼上4粒軟身圓膠腳，

之後就放上系統的控制中心（前級），當晚試聽幾首熟到爛的曲目，用後變化（聽感）都算是容易分辨的，大概是音樂輕快一點、整體分析力似好一點、超低亦明顯好一點，第二日再聽多些其他音樂，感覺似有不上不落，有點兒 trade off，於是我就把竹板卸下，還原基本步，音樂的平衡度回歸了！最後結果係我的前級不愛熊貓食品。

成功登陸

After getting the Sennheiser IE80 in ear at an amazing price, I started to observe the special offer in the same on line shop.

The one that caught my attention is the 4xx euro  Sennheiser HD700, after deducting the VAT and adding the shipping cost, the price is only 3xxx HKD!!

The same model is still selling 7k in HK!

The HD700 has different reviews in the internet, I am not quite sure if this is exactly what I want.  But judging from the sound of the IE80, buying Sennheiser is always a safe investment.

One of the character, according to the comments in the internet, is that the HD700 is more forward and lean compare to dark sounding 650.  But the soundatge is not as wide as the HD800, the flagship.  To conclude, the HD700 is something in between, old and new, striking a balance.

I have used the La Pavoni Europiccola for quite a while, I think I am capable top make consistence coffee out of it.

But the real test is using an open bottom portafilter to make the coffee.  If  I did anything wrong, the open bottom portafilter will let me know clearly.

Finally, I decided to buy this bottomless protafilter (recommeded by John)

Expensive?  Yes.  Very expensive.

But since I don't wanna cut the original portafilter, so I have to spend more to buy one extra.