This last December we went all the way to Tokyo Stella Inc offices to interview an Audio Legend : Mr Nishikawa himself. Passionate about High-End Audio for more than 30 years he has made a name for himself curating the most innovative luxury audio products to Japan as well as starting some of the most reputable brands in the HIFI world. Some of them challenging all norms in terms of High-End manufacturing like the legendary TechDAS company which makes some of the most sought after turntables on the planet turning each record player into a true piece of art. We are very proud to count him as a Trinnov User and supporter for many years now, and it was surely a privilege to listen to him talk about room correction software and HIFI audio in general.
Could you please first introduce yourself?
I started at a machine engineering company, now, we import high-end audio equipment. Also, I run a company which produces high-end record players named TechDAS. You could say I specialize in the design, planning and manufacture of analog players. I’ve been involved in this business for over 30 years, I think I have a fairly deep knowledge of the industry. The fact that we’re one of the leaders of high-end audio in Japan makes me very proud.
What did you think the first time you listened to a Trinnov product?
I first listened to a Trinnov product about 5 years ago at the high-end audio show in Munich and after just one day of listening : I decided I would have to deal in this product! That’s how brilliant of a product it was.
What was your first interpretation of room correction and speaker optimization, when you first discovered it? What did you think of it?
I actually use a Trinnov in my home and all audio I listened to is corrected via its microphone, that includes optimization and time alignment. When I first heard how the sound stage was I thought finally I could reproduce audio without any trouble at all : I think that is fantastic!
I wanted to ask you too : What makes Trinnov and the optimizer different from other products? And which of its tools do you really use?
Among the ones we listen to and adjust ourselves the most important is phase, also time alignment. These are the most important in my experience, Trinnov’s brilliance is that it allows us to perform these functions easily, that’s where I find Trinnov most useful.
What would you say to people who think that room correction and speaker optimization is like “over processing”?
People who do high-end audio always hold such opinions, well, they may hold old-fashioned views, we on the other hand would explain it differently, we’d use the example of recording studios, they do an incredible amount of processing, So from a recording engineer’s point of view they use products like Trinnov’s a lot, they would also use it for playback because using it improves performance and sound stage.
It also does phase management well, and I’m sure they’d agree after I let them hear the sound coming out of my speakers! I was won over when I listened to the sound coming from that processor. If analog users tried out Trinnov, they wouldn’t go back to analog.
Considering cultural and technological differences between Japan’s audio industry and Trinnov’s French technology can you give us your thoughts on Trinnov?
Japan is pretty much a leader in the Audio-Video industry, However, the great thing about Trinnov is its software, this company knows the professional and high-end user scene inside-out. A lot of planning goes into creating and maintaining it. Because of that : their software is excellent and to me, no one else in the world makes such superb software, not even in developed countries like America and Japan or in other European countries.
Therefore, I think that Trinnov have created outstanding software.