Makiko Hirabayashi Trio: Makiko. Normally, I'm not a fan of Asian jazz musicians who attempt to play classic jazz. Often, this sounds like cold coffee. Meanwhile, there are musicians who go about it in a completely original way, in which the roots of their own culture are integrated into the music. This is so with the Japanese musician, Hirabayashi; this pianist has an exceptionally keen sense of harmony and her improvisations sometimes are reminiscent of Japanese Koto music. In addition it is relaxed, technically perfect playing, which she could have learned from Oscar Peterson. With classical and ethnic musical influences, changing from groove to lyrical passages, aggressive and floating sounds of the trio emanate an unusual feeling of excitement. In order to reproduce this, a hard to describe inner strength is required from the system. The MIPA does this extremely well. On top of that is the crystal-clear reproduction of the percussion instruments - whatever Marilyn Mazur uses in the way of little bells and other things that jingle. The ringing of these bells sometimes seem like mini explosions in space, afterward the sound then slowly fading out. Mazur performs here as a congenial partner, not just as rhythmic accompaniment.

To me, some transistor equipment sometimes sounds too much like hifi and too little like music. This is totally my personal opinion that you, of course, may disagree with. Here, however, a piece of equipment is only successful if it can really make music. And nowhere is a tube to be found! Its sound reproduction is very clear, especially in the upper frequencies. But also an acoustic bass is reproduced with a lot of color and nuance. Particularly for a "grandma", bass sounds are not a black hole, a clear distinction between open and fretted strings must be heard. When connected to speakers with the right efficiency, reproduction on the MIPA is tremendously exciting and fast. The music gets very intense – reading the newspaper at the same time is not possible!