Audiophilepure

This acoustic lends itself to capturing the direct timbre of the cello without too much of the hall’s sound influencing what is being played—thus avoiding a wetter presentation. The Tonda D was able to convey the realistic sound of the cello as heard at the microphone. The bowing motion and direction changes, fingering, and intricate sound of the action of playing were all startlingly apparent, if one chose to focus on those aspects. On the other hand, the listener could just immerse himself in the music, and enjoy the incredibly stark contrasts in Ligeti’s composition (and Rosselet’s playing) between the delicately flowing Dialogo and spritely, aggressive Capriccio, which was written several years later. The Tonda D captured it all, and delivered the goods as Frederic Rosselet poured his passion and skill into the performance.

In closing, the Tonda D has a sleek and refined appearance to match its sound. Like the lovely and refreshing feel of an early morning breeze in the heat of summer, the Tonda D reproduces music with a cooling, fresh, pure, and welcoming vibe. As a result, well-produced music sounds great, mediocre music sounds mediocre, and less than well-engineered music has no place to hide. The three different playback sources (digital, vinyl, and 15ips reel-to-reel tape) used in listening examples above show the Tonda D to be capable of revealing multiple delights and contrasts with different genres of music. While staying generally neutral in presentation, the influence of upstream components, room interaction, and the music itself are what the Tonda D most clearly presents to the listener. This level of transparency is often craved by listeners who value fidelity to sources. If that is you, the Tonda D should be on your audition list. 

Comments are closed.