NJAS Wall Posting

NJAS Member Wall Postings and Comments

The Who live at Leeds (half-speed mastered 3LP 2016 reissue - FULL CONCERT)
I have 2 copies of the Original LP. But that had the abbreviated concert. Now for all you Rock fans that have thrown out your turntables and are just left to your digital devices. Here is the entire concert with 1/2 speed mastering and it is for FREE on YouTube. For those so inclined enjoy!

John
Comments:
§ John thank you I love this album!!!!

Mike
⤷ posted Mar 4, 2018
§ Not available anymore
⤷ posted Apr 18, 2018

DSD Versus PCM: Myth Versus Truth Article By Benjamin Zwickel Of Mojo Audio
The article does a nice job of summarizing the issues with digital format wars, but can be vague about sound quality issues and makes some factual errors. As usual, the NJAS is not endorsing the author's products, or any products.

Whether MQA really takes off is an open issue. The largest music streaming service is YouTube and they use MP4, which is just a container for MP3. Higher resolution streaming isn't very popular and Tidal is nearly out of business. MQA is in many ways just an updated form of MP3 that again can be either lossy or lossless, but can go above 48kHz sampling rate.

The number of things stacked against the audiophile consumer in terms of sound quality is staggering--from compressions wars, to format issues, to close-mic'ing and mixing--the odds of achieving any consistent sound quality from one format or one system is dim.
Comments:
§ Good point, Jim. I like this article by Michael L. which gives us hope that other high-res streaming services will step up. Apparently Qobuz is one of them.

https://www.audiostream.com/content/q-do-we-own-downloads-we-buy-no
⤷ posted Feb 1, 2018
§ Jim,

Extremely intelligent response about this article. I like the article but Michael definitely has skin in the game. Most articles that are written are slanted by way of the manufacturer so that they can promote their products, rather than tell the truth.

The article also misses a critical point about DSD formats. DELTA modulation requires a feedback loop at the D/A and A/D. What we hear as a result is a lack of ability to track fast- moving leading and trailing edges of musical waveforms. It is that deficiency which robs the music of its vital excitement, even in DSD 512.

The author approaches his argument from the perspective of the frequency domain when he tries to explain differences we hear in comparing DSD with PCM. That's a major limitation when discussing music as affected by jitter. I think he would arrive at more accurate conclusions if he approached the problem from the time domain.

For example, he concludes that accurate clocks are the answer to jitter. There are many other sources of jitter that degrade music much more than clock accuracy. Especially jitter correlated with the music. One example is the SPDIF transformer used by too many high end manufacturers to couple the output signal from source to DAC. Transformers degrade the music because they produce jitter in relation to the low frequency content of the music. You can hear a major improvement when you remove the SPDIF transformer(s). A brilliant French engineer RÃ©my FourrÃ© showed why the transformer must produce correlated jitter using purely mathematical analysis. He wrote an article on this, which was published in October 1993 Stereophile Magazine. One of the very few examples where this type of analysis can actually predict what you will hear.

Mike
⤷ posted Feb 19, 2018

wait, can we do that here?

Murfie HiFi streaming
This is an interesting service. They offer cheap downloads as well as Red Book quality streaming. They have a promotion going on that gets you a year of streaming for $49 along with other discounts. I have not tried this service, but if I had the ability to stream it to my system, I might have.
Comments:
§ their website says $99, NOT $49. BIG difference! Is there a code or special link to get the $49 price, or is it just a mistake?
⤷ posted Dec 29, 2017

Native of New Jersey
Pat DiNizio, R.I.P.
I am a big fan of The Smithereens, sad loss.
Comments:
§ I worked with his mother one summer at Adidas. She was very proud of him.
⤷ posted Dec 13, 2017 by JimOfAllTrades

I reported the reactions to the demonstration of the Sweetvinyl SC-2 at John Pluta's to the team at Sweetvinyl, including the reaction from a few members that the processed signal seemed a bit different than the unprocessed. Specifically, a few listeners heard reduced treble energy and a less forward sound in the midrange.

Here is the reply from Dan Eakins of Sweetvinyl (the Leo referred to below is one of the developers of the Sugarcube software and hardware):

"Interesting about your comment regarding the comments from the two listeners. We have had a similar experience with one person â€“ we canâ€™t hear it but he claims to be able to hear something similar.

"It caused Leo to go back and look into the D-A code and he thinks he found something which he has been experimenting as an improvement. We should be able to update the code on your AD-DA subsystem to try it â€“ if you are interested in asking these two to try it again at some point.

"Letâ€™s make a note to look into trying this."

Best,
-Dan

Amazing dedication to their products, if you ask me. I replied that once these changes and other updates to the software are made (probably a few months away), I would try to schedule another audition.

Phil

Or, two guys have managed a monopoly on hit song writing.
NY Post Article
Hard as it is to believe...

Here's more

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2015/10/hit-charade/403192/

https://mic.com/articles/81511/one-man-has-written-virtually-every-pop-song-of-the-last-10-years#.h9LHkK1Gm

http://www.cracked.com/article_21660_5-unknown-people-who-secretly-made-all-your-favorite-music.html

I just wanted to comment on the Ohm Acoustics room at the New York Audio Show last weekend. I thought John Strohbeen at Ohm put together a really good sounding system for about $4500, a fraction of what most other rooms were displaying. The Ohm Walsh 2000s (which I have owned since 2009) were fed by an Outlaw Audio 2160 stereo receiver ($800), an older Oppo universal player (~$200), and a Blue Sound Node 2 Streamer ($500). I thought the system sounded great (yes, I am biased). Good extension in the bass and treble, excellent clarity and detail, Goldilocks trnasients, and a wonderful holographic soundstage. The real surprise was the dynamic slam offered by this modest rig. On both of my visits to this room, showgoers sat quietly(!) and listened, always a good sign. Was there better sound at the show? Sure, but only from systems with price tags orders of magnitude higher.
Comments:
§ What are Goldilocks transients? Illegals with blond hair?
⤷ posted Nov 19, 2017
§ HA! Goldilocks is a way of saying "just right", not too hot, not too cold. For audio, Goldilocks transients are present, but not overbearing.
⤷ posted Nov 20, 2017

I just saw some stills in Wired magazine from Bladerunner 2049, and a few of the electronic doodads being used by the characters prominently feature vacuum tubes! Cool!!!!

I've never heard of these Line Rider videos before, but here's a cute example. Not sure what the rules are.

WQXR Now Playable Works
This was a great article in the WQXR blog. I don't play an instrument or read music, but even I can recognize how dense the writing is and how difficult they would be to play. I was already familiar with the Sorabji piece and it makes Iberia sound like finger exercises!

Wow those Rogue amps that Ross Wagner is selling is a terrific way to get into tubes. Plus being able to buy tubes from Rogue at a discount is just icing on the cake.

John P.