Concert-Fidelity (Japan)
Masataka Tsuda's valve electronics are designed and built by Tsuda-san's own hands in Japan, in the best artisan traditions of that country. With a perfectionist’s fanatic attention to detail and the pure pursuit of optimized simplicity, he achieves an almost magical result. I consider him among one of the few living masters of the esoteric art of traditional valve design, and he has brought this art into the modern age.
"Masa" has been a dear friend of mine for quite a long time, but we had only seen each other at audio shows. While I was still living in Japan, I took the opportunity to ride the bullet train and visit him in his home town of Karuizawa, where we sat down and talked over coffee about his remarkable work. His philosophy is quite elegant, and reminiscent of Hippocrates’ philosophy: First, do no harm:
"There is no way that an audio circuit can improve upon an incoming signal in the course of amplification.
The signal can only be degraded, and the less the degradation, the better the circuit. Whenever a good part is discovered, and a good sonic result is produced, my next goal is to figure out how that part might be eliminated, which will, without fail, make the sound even better! Concert Fidelity’s philosophy is to add absolutely nothing superfluous to the circuit; to transmit neither more nor less than the original recorded signal." ~ Masataka Tsuda