Arya Airblade Signature

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• Arya Airblade Signature

Resolution of Singing Diction Left me Breathless

The Air Blade invented by Arthur Marker took my breath away two years ago. It still does as of today. Aaron Kwok, Asia’s mega star, got a pair for his system after auditioning them for 15 minutes. Ever since its inception, all showrooms of Audio Exotics in Hong Kong and Singapore permanently feature it. Without them, the picturesque experience is instantly reduced to 2D from 3D. Real instruments radiate more than 180 degree independent of frequency range. On the contrary, behaviour of conventional tweeter’s dispersion angle (max around 60 degree) narrows rapidly as frequency goes up higher.

The Air Blade is often misunderstood as a super tweeter, but it is NOT. It is a tweeter with 180-degree dispersion with minimal roll-off even at very high frequency ranges. Skepticism often arises because human eyes easily conclude it is an unnecessary add-on, usually referencing the presence of tweeters (diamond, ceramic, beryllium, etc.) in main speakers reaching stratospheric ranges of 30kHz–40kHz, albeit with very narrow dispersion angles. Dispersion is different from extension. The Air Blade thus augments the tremendous deficiency of all conventional tweeters regardless of their frequency extension or build materials. Physical placement of the Air Blade matters for integration with the main speakers, along with level (0dB, -3, -6, -9, -12) and crossover frequency range (3.5k, 2.4k, 1.6k, and 1.0k).

Never would I imagine Arthur Marker had been quietly pushing the envelope further — the Air Blade Signature Edition. It has the most advanced diaphragm material of any driver complemented by WBT pure silver binding posts, Mundorf silver foil capacitors, and ELMA Switzerland rotary switches. The chassis is manufactured using advanced Metal Injection Molding (MIM) technique finished with top-notch PVD gunmetal coating. The acoustically optimised cabinet is made of 12mm thick aluminium slabs (the chassis of the first generation Air Blade was made of wood), which adds significant mass and grounding because aluminium is an efficient electrical conductor. The inserts of the chassis are beautifully crafted. The whole object is simply an industrial art of the highest calibre.

The foil (diaphragm) is made of amorphous material, which has a chaotic molecular structure preventing resonance modes from developing. This aspect may seem negligible to most, but research must start at the molecular level to distil perfection. It has to be very thin and yet highly resistant mechanically. For example, Kapton is good for PCB but not the most ideal choice for speakers because its crystalline structure is vulnerable to resonance buildup. The material of the foil is specially designed for the Signature Edition.

Meticulous engineering feat and artisanal craftsmanship lead to staggering measurement results. The company who made the measurements for the Air Blade Signature mistook their system for being out of order upon witnessing the first directivity plot. The technicians repeated the test three times before they were convinced. Measurements proved it is the first ever driver achieving the widest and most uniform dispersion independent of frequency range! Though the scale is not exactly the same, the directivity charts clearly illustrate the improvement of the Signature Edition over the normal edition.

I received the first pair in the world three weeks ago and went through many intensive listening sessions in order to comprehend its technical mastery thoroughly. I wondered why Arthur would make a signature version when the stocks of the normal version cannot keep up with demand from connoisseurs. It took me two weeks to integrate the Signature with the Goebel Divin Majestic speakers alongside acoustic adjustments. I also made a decision to adjust the physical position of the gigantic speakers by moving both channels away from the side wall by 4.5 inches, maintaining the toe-in angle unchanged. Such labour was all meant to do justice to Arthur’s magnum opus.

The realism of any type of vocal, regardless of genre, is staggeringly akin to a human singing inside the room. The most indiscriminating test was to record a few audio clips with an iPhone 13 and send them to a sample of non-audiophile listeners — professional vocalists, recital musicians, a pop singer, and students studying performing arts at a music institute. Fifteen out of eighteen responded similarly: “Did you record this next to the singer inside a studio? Because I can feel his palate moving and tongue twisting so clearly. I could easily visualise how the singer shapes the vowels and articulates consonants with energy.” Consistent feedback drove me to the study of diction in singing so that I can share my experiences professionally

Basics of Diction in Singing

Diction is the distinctiveness of speech. In singing, it means enunciation of a vocalist’s expression. The clarity in pronunciation of lyrics is the soul bridge between the singer and the audience. The lyrics must be clear so that listeners can comprehend the meaning of the song. Excellent articulation of vowels (A, E, I, O, U) in turn improves the pronunciation of syllables — a unit of pronunciation with one vowel, with or without consonants. (For instance, there are two syllables in water and three in inferno.) Projection of vowels opens the mouth with airflow going out. On the contrary, diction of consonants (b, d, f, h, s, t, v, m, z) requires closing the mouth, and airflow is trapped inside. Consonants also tense the tongue, which ought to be relaxed during singing. Research has proven that consonants average 0.058 seconds each in speech and 0.108 in song. The semi-vowels (l, m, n, r) average 0.145 in speech and 0.354 in song. Vowels average 0.280 seconds in speech and 0.797 in song.

Singing flourishes only when beautiful tone radiates from the singer’s throat and illuminates the meaning behind the lyrics. Yet consonants that convey meaning often pollute tonal beauty to a certain degree. The two contradictory forces are: the musical element of the voice (accurate, sustained vowels) and the expressive communication of speech (well-defined consonants). The musical use of voice necessitates knowledge of maintaining beautiful tone constantly. In contrast, the communicative use of the voice requires command of ever-fluctuating symbolic sounds. Singers must manage both elements to deliver beautiful tone in real time.

Digesting reading materials on singing diction is a serious wake-up call. At the highest end, we should demand much more than solid, stable imaging in front of us. Resolution of diction is never an element of evaluation in high-end audio. On the contrary, tonality dominates most evaluation criteria. Descriptions of neutrality are usually expressed in relative terms such as “warmer side” or “cooler side.” The perspective shared here, however, is unprecedented.

I am completely blown away because it is so much easier to discern the diction of the world’s greatest vocalists telling their stories. For example, Bob Dylan is the most identifiable pop vocalist with the most exaggerated emphasis on vowel sounds ever. Other pop singers with clear diction include Kevin Cronin (REO Speedwagon), Mariah Carey, Frank Sinatra, Karen Carpenter, and Don McLean. Julie Andrews (Sound of Music) is another great example. The presence of the Air Blade Signature rewards me with the discovery of her excellent enunciation of consonants at the beginnings and ends of her words. She also utilised vibrato at the end of her phrases to avoid breathiness.

Joan Sutherland, one of the most acclaimed sopranos of the 20th century, had an extraordinary tone but was often criticised by experts (including German baritone Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau) for poor diction. I didn’t understand why critics said so until now. On the other hand, the diction of Dietrich is renowned for its clarity despite the abundance of consonants in the German language. Yet each of his words radiated energy clearly, even though airflow of singing consonants is trapped inside the mouth. The skill is to execute consonants fast with energy — that requires decades of training. I am also extremely touched by the voice of Wong Ka Kui (黃家駒), the lead vocal of BEYOND (a local band in HK in the 90s), who could deliver powerful consonants defining his style.

The vividness of diction brought about by the Air Blade Signature transcends the listening experience of vocals because its dispersion capability amplifies the contrasting elements in singing. It makes me appreciate much more the power of language.

The Signature Edition develops the proprietary merits of the normal version to the extreme. That triggered me and my crew to spend five hours physically repositioning the Goebel Divin Majestic speakers, which weigh 530 kg per channel, in order to achieve seamless integration between the main speakers and the Air Blade Signature. The contextual backdrop of reviewing them is holistically complicated. Simple comparisons between the normal and the Signature Edition do not make sense given the change of parameters involved. Reporting subjective listening impressions of different pieces of music does not make solid reference. I rather focus in depth on one subject of established discipline with voluminous literature for cross-reference.

The famous German philosopher Hegel once said, “The forms of human thoughts are displayed and stored in human language.” The lyrics of Texas Sky by Lori Liberman summarise the role of Air Blade Signature in Divin Lab:

“You were like the Texas sky, born with lightning in your eyes.
You left me breathless. And when you said good-bye,
You stole the clouds and took the sky.
And left me breathless. Like the endless Texas sky.”

Chris Leung