Ronan Keating's vocals drive this song, escalating in pitch and intensity as the composition progresses. But that didn't phase the Morels. They simply handled the vocals like Schumacher would handle a Ferrari - exacting with nary a mistake. Keating's voice just seemed to transpire naturally, with a serene airiness to his voice through the quieter passages and a raspy athleticism at full stride. His image equally good, narrowly focused just a tick to the left of center stage throughout his broad range.
The instruments played through with great poise. The electric guitar stood its ground to the far left with pristine composure, while the right side placed the piano and acoustic guitar, which were easily distinguished from each other. Each of these instruments sounded real, but it was the reproduction of the drums that captured my interest. At high volume they were seriously lifelike, particularly through the delicate taps of the toms in the quiet passages.
As I do with this track, I cranked up the volume level in small increments. The Morel Supremo 6 just sucked up the power and never gave into distortion until it was at an intolerable listening level. Another impressive performance.
Score: 9.5/10
Jazz
Sara K. "If I Could Sing Your Blues"
The recording notes for "If I Could Sing Your Blues" by Sara K. state that the opening trumpet was recorded 10' from the microphone. This was done in order to provoke a "natural" depth to the soundstage without having to resort to DSP. While the trumpet is deep in the stage, Sara K. should be very close as the reverberation of her voice fills the studio, conveying the overall setting to the listener. The guitar should sound intimate and have a nice, warm tonality to it, while the subtle details of the plucks should be coherent.
Playback rendered the studio setting proper from the get-go, with the trumpet easy to locate to the far right. Its depth seemed genuine and consistent with the record label's notes for this song. The reverb of Sara K.'s voice controlled much of the room boundaries, which was executed wider and deeper than I noted in past speaker auditions. And, Sara K.'s guitar was dazzling, subtle and defined with the gentlest of plucks.
As the song develops to a short-lived full stride about halfway through, the jazz infusion of percussions, bass and piano takes hold. The piano and standup bass were well balanced, but one of the percussive instruments caught my ear. Although they should have been rendered on the same layer, the brushing of the left cymbal seemed to be a bit forward than the rest of the set. A trivial detail that I can only chock up to being, well, odd.
Vocally, the Supremo 6 did a fine job. Sara K. imaged fairly focused with a relatively natural presence. I noticed a bit of roughness in her voice toward the song's end as she gets too close to the microphone in the recording. At lower levels playback is well controlled, but moderate to high volume resulted in mild midrange breakup.
Score: 8.5/10
Jazz (Instrumental)
Monte Alexander "Sweet Georgia Brown"
With an array of instruments, the soundstage, transient response and system dynamics can be easily compromised in this instrumental version of "Sweet Georgia Brown." But the Supremos strutted their stuff and reigned, err, supreme. They didn't seem to falter anywhere with this recording, even at high-volume levels. I found their transient response spectacular and the projected soundstage to exhibit a decent amount of transparency, layering the instruments nicely across the stage plain.
The details of this track go like this: Two sets of percussionists duel it out in the intro and play intermittently throughout the song. Each set was distinct and very accurate in its reproduction, while every tom, snare and cymbal never transpired from a single origin. This attention to detail was also evident in the brass section, where the typically elusive mechanical noises of the keys of the far left horn were crystal clear. I also was blown away by the distinct "rasp" of the reeds that couldn't have been more tonally correct - a character that often sounds compressed in cheaper sets.
If there is anything negative to say about the Supremo 6 in relation to this track, it would have to be the low-frequency response. It certainly could have used a little more gusto to fill in the fundamental of the drums and the standup bass. That's pretty minor considering the demands of this track.
Score: 9/10