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Music quality?


JoeJoeThe3rd

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On 8/31/2020 at 12:57 PM, babadono said:

If a recording was made on analog equipment, transfer to digital at 24 bit 192kHz(Hi Res) is not going to sound better than a digital transfer to 16 bit 44.1kHz (CD) Similarly a transfer of CD quality to Hi Res is not going to make it better. The recording has to be done from the get go in Hi Res. The rest is hocus-pocus, smoke and mirrors.

Also I agree with all the others here that way to much manipulation is done to make things LOUDER many times at the sacrifice of sound quality. It is a crying shame. We lovers of high sound quality reproduction systems are a dying breed.

 

Sometimes the easiest way to get CD quality is to pop in a CD.  And better players do sound better.  A top of the line Blu-ray player will do a great job of playing CDs, audibly better than older models.

 

As for record mixing, some records used to be mixed to sound good through a low-end car audio.  To overcome wind and road noise, there would be lots of compression.  Some records would make you think they were mixed to sound good with the windows down and the volume cranked up.

 

As for us hi-fi lovers, we’re not a dying breed, but we’ve always been a small minority, so we’re usually not the customers/listeners that most recording engineers have in mind.  There are notable exceptions, of course.  Steely Dan and Garbage are two bands that come to mind for really good sound.  Leonard Cohen’s records usually sound pretty good, too.

 

Finally, when listening to a really well-recorded song, and hearing all kinds of subtle sounds that add to the experience, it makes me feel lucky to have a system that lets me hear everything the artist put into the recording, and thankful to the artists who put in the effort to include details in their records that only a minority of their fans will be able to hear.

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5 hours ago, Islander said:

 

Sometimes the easiest way to get CD quality is to pop in a CD.  And better players do sound better.  A top of the line Blu-ray player will do a great job of playing CDs, audibly better than older models.

 

As for record mixing, some records used to be mixed to sound good through a low-end car audio.  To overcome wind and road noise, there would be lots of compression.  Some records would make you think they were mixed to sound good with the windows down and the volume cranked up.

 

As for us hi-fi lovers, we’re not a dying breed, but we’ve always been a small minority, so we’re usually not the customers/listeners that most recording engineers have in mind.  There are notable exceptions, of course.  Steely Dan and Garbage are two bands that come to mind for really good sound.  Leonard Cohen’s records usually sound pretty good, too.

 

Finally, when listening to a really well-recorded song, and hearing all kinds of subtle sounds that add to the experience, it makes me feel lucky to have a system that lets me hear everything the artist put into the recording, and thankful to the artists who put in the effort to include details in their records that only a minority of their fans will be able to hear.

I’ve also heard of the lumen d2 which is suppose to be better than cd quality. I wonder if this statement is true. I should do some research on it. And YESSSSSA DUDDDE, I’ve said the exact same thing many times. You hear everything and I love it and also feel very lucky. Even hearing things that weren’t intended to be in the album, like say a bird from outside of a Beethoven song or a pianist breathing too hard Before an intense breakdown, or even bombs going off in the background outside of the building where they were recording the song from songs being recorded during world war 2. Well put kind sir, I concur full heartedly and like to hear someone else say what I’ve been saying to myself and other for years. 

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On 8/29/2020 at 12:43 AM, wuzzzer said:

Klipsch are very revealing.  Feed them music that's been recorded well and they'll sound fantastic.  Feed them anything less and you'll experience what you're describing. 

Exactly what I have found as well. The same can be said about amplifiers as well, some more unforgiving. Might be a reason many prefer a conventional speaker that is not so revealing. Most everything will sound alright on less revealing speakers but not spectacular like horns with good recordings. The better recording studios know this and use revealing speakers to know when something is off key. 

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On 8/29/2020 at 11:35 AM, artto said:

1E) hopefully the producer and mastering/remastering engineer are not someone like Jimmy Page, Iggy Pop or Pete Townsend - guys who are not quite completely deaf yet, but might as well be.

 

2) Then there is the room YOU are listening in. This is often the most overlooked, unacknowledged component. In my experience, when you finally get your "system" (including the room) properly balanced, unbiased, you will still notice all these differences from recording to recording (as you well should), but you'll also begin to notice that many of the irritating qualities of various recordings go away, or at least are substantially reduced. More of what you listen to will sound better.

I agree with 1E wholeheartedly. Someone needs to stop Jimmy Page from yet another remastering effort of old Led Zeppelin recordings, as they all sound worse than the oritinals in my reference system. The originals on CD or Vinyl were better!

Take it from someone who has beet to Artto's Great Sound Room TWICE. He has the best sounding room I've ever experienced, was one of the first people to embrace modern Class D amplifiers, and has one of the best  2 channel sound setups I ever heard (2 channels+4 subs with Eight 15" drivers). I even bought one of his "extra extra" speakers from him! Plus he knows how to make his own recordings and plays BASS (no surprise that his bass sounds are superlative).

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11 minutes ago, ClaudeJ1 said:

Care to name a few of those?

Too old to remember. Only remember when studios favored horn speakers, Altec Lansing being one of the more popular ones. Probably read from the many audio rags I read many years ago when they were popular. Remember Stereo Review where all the reviews were favorable and depended on test more than listening? Fell in that trap myself when less informed. Bought an expensive pre amplifier with spectacular distortion numbers when tested. Lower than the test equipment being used. Found out many years later that specs do not tell the whole story. In reality it was centered around some not so good op-amps, but tested better than other pres that were reviewed. 

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20 minutes ago, henry4841 said:

Only remember when studios favored horn speakers, Altec Lansing being one of the more popular ones.

Led Zeppelin's first album was mixed on Voice of the Theater speakers with the 500 Hz. horn on top. Also, many hits were made on the Neve console and a whole movie made about it.

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On 8/30/2020 at 9:40 PM, MechEngVic said:

If you use a toslink to mini-toslink cable with a chromecast audio, you can stream up to 96k/24bit hi-res files. In other words, the 3.5mm out on the chromecast doubles as a fiber optic digital out. At 100% volume on the chromecast the stream is bit-perfect. Any streaming app that you can cast from will work, from your tablet, phone, or computer. The chromecast audio toslink out will connect to any receiver/DAC that has a toslink input.

 

17 hours ago, JoeJoeThe3rd said:

Like there  was a kind sir on here that gave a option that you could buy a device and you could listen to music wirelessly at the same listening quality as a HDMI would be.

 

I also use the add-on Chromecast audio with toslink to mini-toslink cable on one of my older stereos, and it works very well. I believe it is very similar in function as the Play-Fi on the Anthem (and other brand receivers), so there is probably no need to add that in @JoeJoeThe3rd's system if choosing wireless.

 

The pictures of your Tidal settings page look like everything should be good for you when using your computer as the music player and connected to the receiver with an optical cable.

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1 hour ago, henry4841 said:

I think these days studios are using the small what is called monitor speakers? Maybe they work as good as the big horns of yesterday but I am a skeptic.   

 

Small studio monitors have always been used additionally, here is an example from a analogue studio in the 1980s with passive Tannoy Fullrange and passive Yamaha

 

Tonstudio – Wikipedia

 

Today mainly active monitors are used, everything is controlled digitally, also the mixing desks

 

ISY B STUDIOS | Isy B Studios

 

 

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Hi @JoeJoeThe3ème

 

You can try out 2 or 3 Franck Zappa songs to listen to your system. Franck Zappa was a big fan of quality sound and he left us a superb legacy, let's take advantage of it. I advise you on Joe's Garage Act I. C&P 1979 the songs Catholic Girl followed by Crew Sl*t, or Why Does It Hurt When I Pee followed by Lucille Has Missed My Mind Up, The Central Scrutinizer will speak between songs, the dynamic is dyke.

If these Zappa songs are good on your system it is well balanced and if you have songs from other artists that sound bad it is poorly recorded.

 

Good listening 😉

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10 hours ago, mustang_flht said:

Hi @JoeJoeThe3ème

 

You can try out 2 or 3 Franck Zappa songs to listen to your system. Franck Zappa was a big fan of quality sound and he left us a superb legacy, let's take advantage of it. I advise you on Joe's Garage Act I. C&P 1979 the songs Catholic Girl followed by Crew Sl*t, or Why Does It Hurt When I Pee followed by Lucille Has Missed My Mind Up, The Central Scrutinizer will speak between songs, the dynamic is dyke.

If these Zappa songs are good on your system it is well balanced and if you have songs from other artists that sound bad it is poorly recorded.

 

Good listening 😉

Yep Definitely sounds great on my system thanks for the song suggestions. 

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On 8/29/2020 at 12:27 AM, JoeJoeThe3rd said:

I’m confused. When I listen to say Sarah McLachlan angel on my rf-7III the sound is impeccable and so beautiful it could bring me to tears. But then I go to David grey sail away on tidal and it just seems to all fall apart, I mean it’s not horrible but from angel to sail away I just don’t know how there’s such a drastic change in overall quality and depth and Fidelity and clarity And both are so called hifi quality. I don’t understand how it can be both “hifi”  music and I’m sure both well recorded but yet the sound quality on my end is so different. And this happens with many songs sometimes. Why does this happen? And like it’s kinda loud but Not too loud only at around -33 and it seems about 2 times close to when the songs almost over when Sara is singing the tweeter starts ringing or distorting for just a split second or so and it seems like its only coming from my right rf7iii. Probably has to do with the crossover or the horn? I’ve noticed klipsch speakers don’t like certain tones. Does anyone else get or notice things like this from Angel or any other songs?

 

It's the software not the speakers. I'm driving Heresy 4's with a 2 watt 45 amp. I use Tidal, wifi connected, with a discontinued Arcam rPlay and a MHDT Labs Orchid DAC. Sounds great. 

 

Do you use the Anthem for movies or only music? Are you streaming Tidal throught the DAC in your amp? Wifi or Bluetooth?

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On 9/4/2020 at 1:00 PM, Les Lammers said:

 

It's the software not the speakers. I'm driving Heresy 4's with a 2 watt 45 amp. I use Tidal, wifi connected, with a discontinued Arcam rPlay and a MHDT Labs Orchid DAC. Sounds great. 

 

Do you use the Anthem for movies or only music? Are you streaming Tidal throught the DAC in your amp? Wifi or Bluetooth?

I thought I already said but. I listen to tidal on my computer via optical cord directly plugged into the internet. With a parasound a31 for power amp. And yes using the anthem as of right now for music as well. Sounds beautiful, Since theyRe such high quality speakers tho if the recording isn’t top notch my ears are like ewww. I think I’m gonna get a CD player. Also tidal is lile 27$ over the app so I’m gonna cancel that subscription and get the desktop one, that one is only 20$. Kinda ridiculous how expensive it. Idk if the master quality is worth or not. Gonna have to do some more detailed tests. Thanks for the reply les. 

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I’m confused. When I listen to say Sarah McLachlan angel on my rf-7III the sound is impeccable and so beautiful it could bring me to tears. But then I go to David grey sail away on tidal and it just seems to all fall apart, I mean it’s not horrible but from angel to sail away I just don’t know how there’s such a drastic change in overall quality and depth and Fidelity and clarity And both are so called hifi quality. I don’t understand how it can be both “hifi”  music and I’m sure both well recorded but yet the sound quality on my end is so different. And this happens with many songs sometimes. Why does this happen? And like it’s kinda loud but Not too loud only at around -33 and it seems about 2 times close to when the songs almost over when Sara is singing the tweeter starts ringing or distorting for just a split second or so and it seems like its only coming from my right rf7iii. Probably has to do with the crossover or the horn? I’ve noticed klipsch speakers don’t like certain tones. Does anyone else get or notice things like this from Angel or any other songs?

Difference in recordings. Some engineers are just better than others. Everybody is not a George Matin or Alan Psrsons


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
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On 9/2/2020 at 9:15 PM, Islander said:

As for record mixing, some records used to be mixed to sound good through a low-end car audio.  To overcome wind and road noise, there would be lots of compression.  Some records would make you think they were mixed to sound good with the windows down and the volume cranked up.

 

They did different mixes for the 45s,done for radio release. Was a time when albums were pretty much the domain of FM stations. A 45 could actually be higher fidelity than the 33 1/3, with the higher rotational speed and more linear space for a single song. I probably still have a couple stereo 45s in a box somewhere.

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On 9/3/2020 at 10:32 AM, ClaudeJ1 said:

Also, many hits were made on the Neve console

 

There were lots of different models. The better ones were flat out to 50kHz. A lot were done on Harrison consoles, still built in Nashville. Harrison's MPC series (Motion Picture Console) is pretty common for mixing for film and TV, this on is in a studio in Paris. Eighty faders and 288 channels...

 

 

 

Harrison_MPC5D.jpg

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5 minutes ago, Marvel said:

 

There were lots of different models. The better ones were flat out to 50kHz. A lot were done on Harrison consoles, still built in Nashville. Harrison's MPC series (Motion Picture Console) is pretty common for mixing for film and TV, this on is in a studio in Paris. Eighty faders and 288 channels...

 

 

 

 

Yep, and the best sounding recordings are the live ones with only 2 spaced omni microphones with no compression or limiters...............like the Klipsch Tapes from the 1950's. I heard several of PWK's recordings at his house. They were impressive, and he told me that's how they were done. I heard the master tapes and there's no reason why the DVD transfers of a few of them wouldn't be indistinguishable. I own those.

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