High & Style

František Križanovič

Since my student days I have been interested in good music. Like perhaps every young person who grew up in the 1970s, I started out listening to pop and rock music. At that time the possibilities of playing music on hifi components were very limited. Perhaps in those days you couldn’t even talk about audio components, but I would rather characterize it as devices that somehow played music. There was no musical miracle. We were glad it played at all.

Gradually, as the years went by, my audio component lineups changed in direct proportion to the changing genres of music I enjoyed. Gradually I moved from pop and rock to jazz and classical music. I was also inclined to folk music to a considerable extent. However, I have never worked my way up to the so-called. high end.

It’s always just been a hifi category. I currently own a TESLA NC 470 turntable that I have had since 1983. It has undergone a slight tuning during this period and is fitted with an Ortofon OM 10 pickup. It is connected via a Schiit Mani preamplifier to an integrated amplifier from BV audio A 300 S designed and manufactured by Mr. Bunta. I play CDs through a Creek Evolution CD 50 CD player. This set-up is completed with a three-way F3ROY column-mounted loudspeaker array from BV audio. I have tried many types of signal and speaker cables from different manufacturers (e.g. X Symphony, Audioquest, etc.) to connect the setup. The prices of individual cables ranged from 50€ to 1300€. But sonically it still wasn’t that great. Until one day, a friend brought me a strange prism with a mains plug. It’s an AAI product. After plugging it into the socket, the sound cleared up and brightened. It amazed me in a good way. I got an even bigger shock when the guys from AAI wired me up with Grandioso signal, speaker and power cables of their own design. So it was a real shock for me. Up until now, I had an Audioquest Rockefeler speaker cable hooked up with an AAI Grandioso signal cable. There has been a tremendous change in the quality of the sound reproduced. The sound has been “cleaned”, brightened, the instruments and vocals have changed colour more to the reality of the real sound, previously hidden details in the recordings have been revealed. Musicians and musical instruments are now wedged exactly in place. The sound space has both widened and deepened and has gained in volume. Reverberations of instruments have been discovered and flaws of beauty, which were caused by the musicians’ mistakes during the recording of the songs, have been revealed.

But absolute satisfaction was still to come. It came about the moment the guys put their mains filter in my chain. There was nothing more to add here. A b s o l u t i o n a l satisfaction has come to me. My music setup, which was somewhere on the borderline of higher hifi with music reproduction, has moved up at least two notches in the imaginary ladder in the quality of reproduced sound. Thanks to AAI’s complete recabling, I got music reproduction of a quality I had never dreamed of before.

PS: I’ll come back to my old turntable. Despite the fact that I didn’t change any cabling on it, the sound changed markedly to a greater reality. You wouldn’t believe the impact that AAI products have had on the components that are part of the audio chain as well, with no change in the hardware.

This way I also want to express my gratitude to the guys from AAI who were willing to advise, whether with professional advice or on the spot installation of products without the need for deposits and similar tricks that other sellers apply.

I wish the entire AAI team every success in the development and application of their products on the market.

Marian V.

I started listening to music when I was 12 years old, in 1974. My first recordings were on my father’s “Tesla Sonet Duo” reel-to-reel tape recorder from TV and radio.
Later I bought a turntable, then a cassette deck and later a Grundig TK 244 Hifi reel-to-reel tape recorder. Such were my beginnings with hifi equipment. And so it went on and on over time and years
, both in technology and also in genres of music. Listening knowledge and also experience improved, and with that I started to gradually change my audiopark. I went through different brands of components, still looking for the right and natural sound that would at least partially approximate the real thing. As there were also various music and audio magazines coming out at the time, I tried to find out what else could help to improve the sound of my setup. Among other things, it was mentioned that the interconnection of the kit has a big influence on the sound. At the time I didn’t really believe it and didn’t attach any importance to it. But over time, I broached the subject among friends who were also interested in hifi and gradually started to try it out.

Of course at first they were cheaper ones made of metrage and also home made, and as I had already picked up some changes in the sound my opinion suddenly changed.
Then I got my hands on Cardas network cables, and I was surprised at what I heard, in a good way of course. And so, gradually, and second hand, I eventually bought the speaker cables, and also the XLR signal cables. And I was happy for a few years, until
my good and long-time friend Peter C. offered me the opportunity to hear the cabling and other sound-enhancing
audio equipment products from a company in our district, AAI, right in my home. Of course I didn’t hesitate, after all, I wouldn’t give anything to try it out. The “D” day came and the guys from AAI came to visit me.

We started gradually. First we connected the power strip together with the power cable and some so-called prisms. And at the very first notes I was literally shocked, I couldn’t believe my ears.
The recording became incredibly clear, suddenly details started to appear that I hadn’t noticed at all before, the depth of the soundstage deepened, and it literally came roaring out at me. Gradually we added speakers and also signal cables. And by then I was completely blown away, the colours of the instruments, their separation, no hint of distortion and blending in the large ensembles, absolute naturalness, whether in the performers’ voices or in the expression of the individual instruments. It all breathes in the space and you don’t have to concentrate on listening at all to hear this and that in there, as many tests say. It creeps up on you at every moment of listening, sometimes to the point of making you wonder what the hell was there.
In a sentence, my lineup literally came back from the dead. Never played like this before, I’m thrilled, and I’m enjoying it to the fullest. Now I have no need or desire to change anything at all, it plays divinely and naturally. I only have one problem at the moment, and that is that I live in an apartment building where I can’t use the full potential of my setup, but I don’t think I can change that. You just can’t own everything, even a high-end kit, and still own a cottage.

The assembly on which I tested AAI products:

• B&W 802 MK I loudspeakers
• Octave RE 320 with external Black box
• Audio Research Ref 5 Preamplifier
• CD player Accuphase DP 67
• Michel Engineering GyroDeck turntable with SME V arm, Ortofon Cadenza Black cartridge, Gold Note preamplifier with its own mains power supply

Conclusion

I am extremely grateful to the guys at AAI for developing such products, and in doing so, allowing me to enjoy home listening on a whole different level in my lifetime.
I highly recommend these products to anyone who is serious about listening to music and has the God-given gift of hearing well to rent them, and then find out what they have been listening to so far.
And I should also note that those products of theirs will wake up not just expensive audio setups, but all of them from the ground up, it will completely change the nature of the sound.

Guys deep hats off and thank you.

Jaroslav K.

I am a hobbyist who would like to share with you my experience with AAI products.

I found out about AAI recently from a friend who knew I was looking for a speaker cable upgrade, and I also needed another quality LAN cable. The communication with AAI was very relaxed, the company representative also offered me other cabling “on trial” and that’s something a hifista usually can’t refuse, as every experience is enlightening. So I received a package with selected power, LAN and speaker cables, jumpers, as well as a power strip and “prisms”, which are devices used to “clean” the power network.

It must be said that my interconnection technology was not neglected and consisted of components from the “top tiers” of companies that clearly belonged to the recognized top in the field. And even to this state I have worked my way up over the years through gradual upgrades and financial losses…

My current basic hifi components are among those that are generally considered sound neutral, so the cabling shouldn’t “improve” the character of the sound in my case. Previously, for example, I have salvaged the poor treble reproduction of my speakers with some success with a speaker cable, which I then necessarily had to address after replacing the speakers.

For the first power-up, I left my power cords and power filter, which was an unquestionable certainty for me and the basis of all the sound of my system. The sound quality immediately increased significantly and I verified the effect of each component by partially swapping them. Then came another big surprise for me when I tested the power components (power cables, power strip and “prisms”), which further improved the overall sound quality in a significant way. This was really the biggest shock for me, given the quality of my power cabling and my satisfaction so far. In the end, I decided to completely replace all of my power, filter, and interconnect components with AAI products.

Now I have everything “burnt”, I no longer have the need to follow the news in the field of “cabling”, so I just enjoy the beauty of music…

Peter Szabadoš

Sound engineer, musician, dobro player

Experience with AAI products

My first experience with AAI (Authentic Audio Image) products was accidental, I was recording in the concert hall of the Primary Art School in Považská Bystrica, the hall was made available to me by my friend, the school director. I needed to quickly record a demo song for the singer Lucia Briestenska, a native of Považská Bystrica. I recorded the vocals on an excellent tube microphone in the 3000 € price range.

When we finished recording, the school principal came to us and asked me to swap the power cord to the power supply to the tube microphone with the cord he brought. It wasn’t quite clear to me at the time what he was getting at. At the same time, he asked Lucia to sing the same song into the backing track one more time to a new track, for the sake of comparing the recordings. He explained to me briefly that the cable he needed to compare on the source to a quality tube microphone was a unique new product in a wide portfolio of specialty products. Peter had mentioned to me several times on the phone that they test specialty products as well as cables, but I didn’t take it too seriously. So I guess fate wanted me to get around to it eventually. So we changed the cable and recorded the vocals to the same song on a different track one more time. I really didn’t expect what I was about to witness. It was clear from the first second that the vocal recording was on a completely different quality level compared to the previous one. Her voice suddenly sounded much fuller, it was more present, there was much more information in it, I didn’t want to believe that something like this could be achieved by changing a single power cable to the tube microphone source. At that moment I didn’t know what to make of it, because this replacement of the power cord didn’t interfere with the signal path at all. What was even more incredible was that a high-end microphone with excellent parameters, used in the best studios in the world, can actually be taken to an even higher quality level by this, and in a fundamental way. The next day I listened to it carefully several times in my studio on studio monitors, the sound of which I have listened to very thoroughly over several years, and the difference between the recorded vocal tracks could be heard so clearly and distinctly that it was immediately clear to me at that moment which track I would use for the final recording.

Since then a few months have passed, I have borrowed several products from the guys from AAI, which I use and test in sound and recording in various spaces, concert halls, theatres, studios, and I can say that the sound of my equipment has reached a new quality level with the involvement of these products. The people I work with at concerts, artists, sound engineers, and ordinary listeners react to the sound of my equipment with undisguised surprise.

One of the last events we sounded was the Gypsy Jazz Festival at the Arena Theatre in Bratislava. It was marked as one of the best sounded editions. The local sound engineer Peter Kolar (drums) was surprised that his home-made L-acoustic equipment sounded several classes better, using a cheap Behringer X32Rack digital mixer. The hardware was powered by miracle products for me, cables (220V power, signal and mic XLR), and of course a power distribution strip from Authentic Audio Image.

I thank the guys for allowing me to be the first in the pro industry to test their perfect products, and I wish them much success in their future development, as I have been told that this is just the beginning.

Branislav Vrška

In the almost 30 years that I have been assembling high quality audio systems, including high quality cabling, many high quality cables have passed through my hands at prices up to 9500€ for interconnect cable, 18000€ for speaker cable and 6000€ for network cables.

After trying these cables, I realized practically immediately after replacing them that something extraordinary was going on in my audio system. In a positive way. The music began to flow somehow more naturally, more smoothly without any grain or audible distortion. Suddenly everything was much more natural and real than before. The sound remained more analogue, with natural, non-violent sounding detail. Amazing macro and micro dynamics dominate without losing the natural musicality. Even bad recordings sounded much more pleasant and natural than before.

Current lineup:
DAC: Lampizator Golden Gate
Preamp: Einstein The Tube
Monoblocks Classe CA M400
Network Scrubber: PS Audio P-10

Filip Strauch

Pianist Denmark

Based on my experience so far, I didn’t expect to be able to hear the sound of a concert grand in all its sonic shades and positions from speakers without reservation in the near future. Like many of my fellow concert artists, I have always viewed reproduced music as a pleasant diversion in my free time, but in a reserved way. Regardless of the price of the audio systems and setups I have had the opportunity to hear, I have always had significant reservations about reproduced sound, especially when it comes to acoustic instruments.

It seems that after the experience with the products from “AAI” I will have to reconsider my critical attitude towards reproduced music as such, because after the experience with these products it must be clear to any artist, especially to a player of an acoustic instrument, that this is something absolutely extraordinary.

Using these products puts sound in a category of its own. Not only does the source of the sound become the reflection of the musical instrument placed in the space, but also the timbre of the sound of the instruments is incredibly natural, in all positions of the acoustic instruments. The sound is alive, not flat, it breathes, it is possible to perceive even the subtlest microdynamic changes and colour shades in the sound of individual instruments in an unrecognised way, which will be appreciated not only by the listener, but especially by the artist, the performer, because in this way the recording of the performance takes on a new dimension and quality. What is also extraordinary, the sound of acoustic instruments “does not suffer” from synthetic colouration “even in extreme positions and dynamic contrasts.

To achieve such a significant and fundamental shift in sound reproduction by replacing the cabling and power distribution strip is something that is difficult to report on vicariously in this case, it is something that everyone simply has to hear about!

Filip Strauch,
Pianist, Denmark

Maroš Didi

I have had the opportunity to hear the effectiveness of AAI’s products with my own ears on several occasions, as the director of the art school where I teach has these products at his disposal.

I admit that as I am a player in a professional orchestra, I don’t have much time to listen to reproduced music, you could say that my job is to listen to the sound of acoustic instruments and opera singers, but in this case I am always happy to find the time, because it is a really special listening experience. I am regularly invited to present, I am told, mainly because it is my job to listen to the sound of acoustic instruments on a daily basis. My job is to say which sound sample I think comes closest to reality after replacing certain cables and components.

I can say that in this case I don’t have the slightest problem with it, because with AAI products it’s very simple. It is impossible not to hear. It’s unbelievable, but as soon as cables or other AAI products were plugged into the system, it was heard immediately as a benefit, especially in terms of tonality, fidelity and naturalness of the sound. Regardless of what was plugged in prior to swapping to an AAI product.

The sound of stringed instruments reaches a completely different quality level, personally I have never heard such a natural and faithful sounding violin from the speakers. I don’t know how this is possible, how it works, but these products have a special ability, to bring absolute naturalness to the sound and the listener gets the feeling of being in the space with the performers.

I am very happy to be able to participate in these events and contribute at least in this way!

Jozef Forgáč

I’m a listener and fan of good, quality music. I mainly listen to music from the 50s, 60s and 70s (jazz, jazz-rock, rock). As a listener, I also care about quality sound and listening. I bought my first CD player in 1985. And now I would like to write about the signal and speaker cables that I have the opportunity to listen to and test. The cables are manufactured by AAI (Authentic Audio Image). When I plugged them into my setup and successively played CD, SACD and DVD AUDIO recordings, I was blown away. The sound was spatial and detailed. Then I also connected the mains cables from the cd player and tube amp to my rail. The sound has changed again, for the better of course. And then I put the network cables in the AAI rails. And the imaginary sonic Olympus came for me. I highly recommend this combination from AAI.

Peter Čvirik

Audio Equipment Technician
https://sepeaaudio.com/

In my lifetime I’ve replaced many different audio devices, usually one at a time. I started with speakers and ended with cables. The “last” change was about a year ago, when, as usual, I changed speaker sets for the “last” time. Of course, in order to play well, the whole system has to be connected with cables of adequate quality. No one who is seriously involved in audio technology doubts this anymore. But here I have always been rather skeptical, especially about the “cosmic” materials and superpurity of metals from which the cables are made, and for which the manufacturers charge outrageous money. After all, I have some experience in electrical engineering and a professional education in this direction, which somehow “doesn’t allow” me to mystify the subject too much. I dealt with it mostly pragmatically, I didn’t use cheap “shoelaces” of course, but I didn’t use super expensive cables either. The sonic differences between, say, mid-range cables and the super-expensive ones were too small for me to be willing to invest huge sums for such a tiny benefit.