General Discussion about Källa

[matthias]

very nice review - congratulation!

+1,
but in contrast to the members here on the forum who listened to Källa he seems not to get the same thrill.......
Interesting that he preferred Qobuz to Spotify like macrotech2.

Matt

[V.A.MKD]

Excellent review ...

[tokenbrit]

.. in contrast to the members here on the forum who listened to Källa he seems not to get the same thrill.......

He seems more analytical - not sure he's set up for [musical] "thrill"... :?

[FairPlayMotty]

I find his reviews less than useful. He's comparing a few streamers in the two reviews. I've still no idea which in which ranking order he puts the streamers.

[matthias]

He seems more analytical - not sure he's set up for [musical] "thrill"... :?

You might be right,
unfortunately he did not give Källa the best rack (for Källa) because (as he mentioned) the Källa’s feet release an oily substance that permeates the wood and cannot be removed...

Matt

[matthias]

I find his reviews less than useful. He's comparing a few streamers in the two reviews. I've still no idea which in which ranking order he puts the streamers.

Interestingly the Aqua streamer and DAC he seems to favor are also from Marco.

Matt

[Defender]

yes he obviously has a different focus thats why I said congratulations as he gave a more hifi/sound related review which I am o.k. with … that the Källa also performs great in that respect

why? because I trust its musically superior anyway

[tokenbrit]

why? because I trust its musically superior anyway

:)

[macrotech2]

You could go on forever doing comparative experiments with Källa rather than just listening to music, but here's a small update on my experiences with 006.

On control points, I'm now using an iPad Mini 6 and I would agree with the order reported in the separate topic, my experience being:
iPad Mini 6 > iPhone 11 Pro Max > iPhone 12 Pro Max >> iPad (2019)

There isn't a startling difference between the first three, but the improvement is worth having.
The iPad Mini 6 also is more convenient and user friendly.
The 2019 iPad was definitely the worst.

I've also done multiple comparisons between Qobuz and Spotify, sticking to the same versions on both (as far as I can tell).
My preference is still for Qobuz on every track. I'm not at all disappointed with Spotify, but Qobuz makes slightly more sense of the music overall plus voices and individual instruments have slightly more depth and nuance. Spotify sounds marginally out of focus and rounded at the edges in comparison.

I've also been comparing MConnect for NAS streaming, against Qobuz through its native app. I prefer Qobuz, but again I would not be at all disappointed if I could only ever use the NAS drive. The difference isn't massive for me.

[Tony Tune-age]

Congratulations on another fine review Fredrik, they are becoming common place now.

Cheers

[Discodave]

KALLA REVIEW
So last Wednesday night I high tailed it up the road from South Armagh to Lisburn, to John at Kantata Audio (who did a sterling job in hosting), to experience what all the fuss is about with Kalla. Anticipation and moist spring to mind.

On the off chance that my chum Derm might be interested in an evening of tune tasting I gave him a call and he agreed, and from Belfast he came. I had brought Derm along to John’s before; a few years back to meet Frederik and sample his latest Tundras at the time. So, he was familiar enough with my own enthusiasm for Lejonklou. I have to add that Derm is a player/songwriter/producer/engineer of the purest form of the blues. He should be called “Blind Derm” such is his fixation with all those early pioneers of the art. Do yourself a favour and check out his stuff under the alias of Gormacha on whatever streaming service you have. Nice!

I thought it would be an intriguing prospect to have Derm listen to his own recordings, which he obviously knows intimately, on Kalla. An unusual insight - where recording meets playback if you will.

1st there was the small matter in Room 1 where John introduced us to the Innuos streamer in certain combinations of power supplys/switches/reclockers. All very confusing to “this reviewer” but John makes a good fist at explaining it to the likes of little ol me. This was running through the latest Boazu 1.3 iteration (which you may know I do not own, but absolutely adore) and into Kudos Titan 606s. Beautifully crafted pieces of furniture they are too. A very enjoyable appetizer before the main course in room 2. I believe we listened to the Be Good Tanyas followed by an A/B of Gormacha’s “An Irish Funeral” from their 2nd album “Reparation”. Sounded fantastic to my ears. The switch or was it the reclocker (my head hurts just thinking about it), made a substantially positive difference to my experience with regards to sound although I can’t be sure on the improvement in musicality. I should have stated that the speakers were not fully run in and John hadn’t the chance to properly tunedem position, but having prior experience of his gift in this regard, well I knew they couldn’t be far off the mark where he had them. They sounded practically perfect to me.

I have to add at this point, for shits and giggles I brought along my own streamer….the mighty, mighty Majik DS/D/0. I love this wee machine. In my system it plays wonderfully. But I thought it would be funny just to see how it faired against Kalla. Also, I needed a reliable comparator. And so it was that poor John went about setting up the Majik, disregarding the Auralic Altair G2.1 streamer / dac / analogue pre, while myself and Derm munched on Rich Tea biscuits and Derm held court on why he is the superior poker player to me.

1st up I wanted to hear Bo Selecta bearded wonder Craig David’s sublime garage pop tune “Fill Me In”. I’ve been listening to it a lot recently, as with moving house I’ve had to go through the whole speaker set up again (Dang!). Anyhews, I am very familiar with this tune at present and it’s a great indicator that everything is musically just as it should be. Unfortunately, we played it through Kalla first (into Satugans/Tundra into Kudos Titan 808s WOW) before going to the Majik DS. In hindsight perhaps the other way around would have been less humiliating for my own player. Within 10 seconds you were thinking “What the hell was that?”. Totally incomprehensible reading of the tune in comparison. Imagine Ali going up against Barry McGuigan or Maradonna against Robbie Keane and you can fill in the blanks yourselves. We quickly disregarded any further comparisons and let the Majik lick it’s wounds on Room 2’s carpet (It whimpered the whole way home to South Armagh). We went back to Be Good Tanyas and Gormacha. A stunning improvement on Room 1 but obviously not a fair test. Kalla was certainly starting to take hold of my heart. Derm, who holds very strong, and IMO justifiable views, was delighted with the playback presentation. His system differs considerably, one that he has expertly and painstakingly put together over 40 years to offer his most favoured fundamental – soul, emotion and a primitive essence of what music should mean in people’s lives. In this sense he shares a lot of commonalities with Mr. Lejonklou as far as I can see.

There was much discussion over the attributes of Streaming Vs CD/Vinyl with John navigating the explanation of streaming technicalities. Derm is a vinyl man primarily (as am I) but loves his CD playback. The rest of the evening was spent listening to Kalla play tracks such as “Fever” Ray Charles duet with Natalie Cole, Springsteen “Racing in the Street”, The Stones “Sympathy for the Devil”, John Martyn “Solid Air” and one of Derm’s brother’s tunes.

Let’s just say that in my unscientific and un-hi-fi like appraisal: Kalla is amazing. I have little comparative experience of other streamers so I won’t pretend that I can say with any authority that Kalla is a game changer. But…….I know what I heard, and what I experienced on the emotional connect. I have never heard “Solid Air” played like that before. It was a pure joy. Everything in “Sympathy for the Devil” was spot on musically (which is difficult seeing as I am convinced that there are discrepancies in timing on that recording – piano!!!). The Ray Charles track had me beaming ear to ear in it’s playfulness and beautiful recording. Indeed, we did one last quick A/B with the Altair G2.1 streamer over this track. A fantastic rendition on the Aurelic no doubt, but not when hearing it after Kalla. And certainly not when we played it again with Kalla after. It was musically inferior but more importantly I didn’t smile once. Evoking emotion anyone??

We finished with “Racing in the Street” where Bruce Frederick has never sounded so raw, bare and beautiful as he narrates his sublime tale of a broken American Dream through the medium of Chevy’s and Camaro’s racing Jersey’s strips. Beautiful.

We’d taken up a lot of John’s time even though I could have stayed listening for hours (days!) and so it was time to go. My Majik DS already had it’s coat on and was desperately trying to get out of John’s lovely home/showroom. A fantastic experience. I have started plotting a bank robbery to fund Kalla. Wishful thinking. Derm was effusive in his praise for Frederik’s achievement. Something that holds a lot of credibility for me when you consider the aforementioned Gormacha heartbeat he has and his undeniable expertise around a recording studio. I have none of his expertise. And fortunately, I do not need it to know what I like and love, when it comes to music. Kalla hit my head, heart and loins. The dopamine was firing on the long drive home as I swept past the midnight glory of the darkened Slieve Gullion mountains. The air was not solid, but light. I breathed with ease and contentment.

When I got home and regaled my wife on Kalla she cut up our credit card. Thank you Frederik. I doff my cap.

[Discodave]

Ooops, all tracks played via Qobuz.

[matthias]

Ooops, all tracks played via Qobuz.

Great review Discodave :-)
What did you use as control point?
Thanks

Matt

[Discodave]

Er, I think it was an iPad. Would need John to confirm.

Cheers :)

[Kantata Audio]

Er, I think it was an iPad. Would need John to confirm.

Cheers :)

Control point for the Källa was an iPhone XS Max.

[Defender]

At first let me thank Marco from Hexagon Audio for giving me the chance to try Källa in my home/system.
The service even included sending me a Netgear 108T which I didnt use because mine was already in use for a long time and I rather make sure that effects with new products dont influence the impression. But he was mindful to send it with the Källa because the next stop for Källa might doesnt have one.

Here is the setup I have.
Fritzbox 7590 as wifi router
Ethernet cable to the living room CAT6 no special unfortunately against text
Blue Jeans to Netgear 108T - Blue Jeans to Källa
Sources
Källa
LP12 Akurate Radikal, Cirkus, Greenstreet Audio which is a Keel clone, Ekos 2, Krystal
Entity
Sagatun Monos
Tundra Stereo
Dynaudio Contour
Control Points IPad Pro 10,5 which is probably gen 4
IPhone 8

The licence to Kill
You all know the James Bond movies and that 007 did hold the licence to kill but 007 lives in the UK now. What I dont know if 003 also had the licence to kill but we will find that out soon. 003 got a nice review from Hifi-Advice.com but when you read it you get the feeling he was more talking about the Hifi side of sound and less about musicality.

So at least 003 had some run in when it arrived.
Setting up was easy and changing to a fixed IP address was done in seconds. The user interface is straight forward but with some nice features which you might like (like the possibility to play test tones).
I used it with Spotify as there is now a chance to get Spotify Premium for 3 months for free in case you have PayPal.
Spotify did annoy me at fist as it usually starts an album on random mix if you just hit play … which I dont like as I am used to the melody of the next title especially on albums I like.
One time Spotify had an issue for 30minutes I could not access it but since than no issues anymore. I really like the availability of so many new and old stuff of music to explore.
Airplay can get stubborn if you walk out of your wifi zone in case you just put your phone into your pocket but how often does that happen in your home.

But how does Killa sound (sorry Fredrik I know I shouldnt play with the name but it is just like that).
Källa is probably going to kill a lot of ideas you have about digital music.
Källa is probably going to kill what you think the LP12 stands for.
Källa is probably going to kill a lot of competition and finally Källa might kill the one or other plan you might have.

If I would be a dealer I would demo everything with Källa as a front end (probably except LP12 in comparison).
What does the Källa make differently to what you know about digital music? At first the emotion you hear with womans and mans voices is exceptional. That is something which I always thought digital is not able to do and LP12 is wonderfull at that … only Källa does it better than the LP12.
Than I always got annoyed with digital music which used trumpets or other blow instruments or violines or a grand piano and I thought the LP12 is just better on those … only Källa does it better than the LP12.
Than I thought digital music can never flow or is lacking a structured way of presentation - it always somehow blends complex music so you are loosing track what is going on and your mind can not make sense of it.
The LP12 was always better in that category but not with Källa.
With Källa I was able the first time to really understand what Talk Talks lead singer Mark Hollis was singing and not only shreds(parts) of it. Its like you sit in the studio and you hear the the band playing.
I am a Depeche Mode fan and I always liked to follow the almost unnoted melodies which are supporting the song in the background - with Källa you hear melodies which you have never noticed and it feels „Ah now the song makes even more sense.“
This is one of the best qualities of Källa to give you a presentation which just makes sense and is very structured and calm in a way which I thought was unavailable through a digital source. Even small detail at an intro of a song or at the end of the song flow in and out smoothly where I usually at a certain low volume start to hear volume steps with digital music.
Have you ever thought your hearing is compromised because you found the music too complex or too much blended into different tones or that the lead voice is mumbling (Bruce Springsteen anyone?) even with the LP12?
Dont worry Källa will take your worries away.

So who wins what Källa vs. LP12
Musicality: Källa
Structured presentation of complex music: Källa
Voices/Emotion: Källa
Value for money: Källa
Cost of ownership: Källa
Availability of different varieties of music: Källa (especially music you can only buy used for unreal prices)
Prestige and coolness factor: LP12
Drive/Rhythm: LP12 (might depend on your phono stage)
Body/Weight/Pressure of music presentation: LP12 (might depend on your phono stage)

One advice - if you cant afford it - dont demo it!
This Killa will inevitably make you look around in your house what you dont need and what you can sell to make you get closer owning this Killa machine.

Do I need a Radikal or do I strip my LP12 down back to Lingo 2? Do I need an Ekos SE/1 or can I live with my Ekos 2. What else is in the house what I can sell. Do I even still need an LP12?
If you dont like those questions - dont demo it because they will come.

This brings me to wishes: the presentation of the Källa is emotional, exceptionally musical, transparent, calm and detailed (all of those better experienced than with any other source) however I have a tiny wish if I might: if Källa would have just … a tiny … little bit more weight and pressure. That doesnt mean bass - its more how you experience a kickdrum.
Maybe it has to do with my system - Källa doesnt play as loud as Entity. Maybe next Tundra would be able to accept 5db more input solves the topic. I would even trade in some musicality of the Källa for it (because there is plenty).

I probably need the next 2 weeks to think about where I go from here. Because the question is really: am I ready to sell the LP12 to fund the Källa - its that plain „simple“. Without the last wish it wouldnt even be a question. Neither it would be if I would only own a different digital front end (i.e. Klimax DS/3) and never heard an LP12. Neither it would be if I can afford both Källa and LP12.

Fredrik maximum respect! It is really a new era in digital music reproduction which you started. The Linn Katalyst series sounds like joke agains your Källa. I dont know about the Organik but I know I wouldnt like to be an Organik standing next to Källa when tune dem starts.

[Discodave]

Very enjoyable and insightful.
I concur with the LP12 DILEMMA.

[matthias]

Great impressions Defender, I appreciate your honesty.
Slam and weight are very important for me as well and I am sure Fredrik will address these points.
Thank you

Matt

[Defender]

the transfer of digital data is sensitive - maybe it is in my setup
I know that ethernet cables running too close to power cables eat up weight and pressure thats why that is already addressed where I could address it.
Maybe that is part of run in - I know that expensive circuit board material sometimes need more than 200hours to be finished.

But keep in mind … my experience in my setup … and my taste with respect to sound (not musicality)
maybe you say „Du spinnst ja“ when you hear it in your setup.

[matthias]

Your "weak" points were the same CP from hifi-advice found among strong points only.
Maybe after 1000 hours of burn-in these are gone.......

Matt

[Defender]

best is to hear the clips from Thomas for comparison - he has the best setup of LP12 and Källa.
I dont even know if my LP12 setup is set up close to optimum and maybe emphasizing the wrong things.

[lejonklou]

To all of you who have shared your impressions of Källa:

Thank you!

I have honestly felt too embarrassed to make any comments to your reviews. But I have been happily overwhelmed.

Airplay can get stubborn if you walk out of your wifi zone in case you just put your phone into your pocket but how often does that happen in your home.

Yes. That's why I keep my iPad mini 6 on the living room table, blank except for various streaming services and foobar2000 for possible NAS replay.

Maybe it has to do with my system - Källa doesnt play as loud as Entity. Maybe next Tundra would be able to accept 5db more input solves the topic. I would even trade in some musicality of the Källa for it (because there is plenty).

I don't quite understand this detail, Defender. Entity has a very high output level (therefore suited only to low level MC cartridges). Källa has a slightly lower output level compared to most digital sources. This is because the DAC part of it performs best that way.

Background:
Any normal HiFi company would require all their products to sound equally loud, as that is convenient for the customer. They don't have to change the volume when switching from, for instance, vinyl to a digital streaming service. But I don't run a normal HiFi company. I optimize every unit to perform at its peak. And the output level is unfortunately one of the parameters that are a part of the final result. This is because there is a lot of gain available in the amplifying circuits, often a hundred thousand times or more. Negative feedback brings it down to the desired level - the volume that you hear. Now either one can choose to set the negative feedback to an output level that is identical to all the other products. Nearly all companies do that, because it's convenient, for them and their customers. Or one can choose to play with the many parameters involved; raw gain, cutoff frequencies and shelves, negative feedback, locally and universally. And then you'll find that the most musical combination of all these parameters will result in a varying output level between different circuits. Entity and Källa are completely different circuits and they are both delivering at the volume level where they each perform the best, musically.

The only difference to the user is that you have to change the volume. So when you say that Källa has a lower volume than Entity (correct!), the solution is just to increase the volume when listening to Källa. The limit of Tundra will be the same no matter what source you use - it's the output level that counts. When using Källa, you can go higher than the standard limit of volume 78 on Sagatun and Boazu - it was added just to make sure people don't accidentally start playing a track when their child had pressed the volume up to 100. On the very loudest of songs, regardless of whether it's from Spotify or Tidal or Qobuz or a NAS, Tundra will be fine at level 80. Some songs are recorded lower (on Spotify you MUST disable the "Volume Normalization" option that is in the settings, it's a digital recalculation of every track that makes them sound equally loud and it's really bad for the music) and on the lower recorded songs, you might have to increase your volume several steps beyond 80 (orange).

So please just remove that volume limit and play as loud as you want.

[Defender]

thank you for the prompt feedback
yes Volume Normalization is off
I will try the rest tomo - yes that was what I also realised most of the digital recordings dont even use the 0db limit that makes them even sound less loud.
Maybe its also subjective because of the real clean and unhaloed, undistorted sound of Källa the subjective feeling is its less loud. But I have the feeling its sometimes 13db difference between Entity and Källa. Lets see I will try tomo.

[lejonklou]

Yes, the clean sound and emotional connection makes you want to turn it UP.

I regularly do, to my neighbor's absolute delight.

[matthias]

Yes, the clean sound and emotional connection makes you want to turn it UP.
I regularly do, to my neighbor's absolute delight.

I do as well. I listen usually with my preamp on 9 o'clock setting of the potentiometer, very loud with the 3677.
So there is much headroom left to turn the volume up.

Matt