Why do you visit audio forums?

Philips? Is that Haitink & the Concertgebouw?

 

Colin Davis and the Concertgebouw

 

Oh dear, .... CD is a replay format, ........... not a 'recording' format .......

... a 'CD' is merely the name for a plastic holder for a digital file which has been encoded from a PCM digital file in 16 bit 44.1kHz sample rate format, and then laid out in a specific file format to be readable by equipment from 30 years ago. Don't confuse CD's with digital recording formats.

Of course I am, .... most new vinyl releases of new recordings are made from digital masters, and the vinyl record will be significantly inferior to the master simply because of the limitations and distortions inherent in the vinyl record technology, and the fact that it is an 'analogue' of the original with generic degradation, not a 'clone' as is a digital copy.

24/96 or perhaps 24/192 is the preferred digital recording format, but this is not necessary for re-play only. The requirements are quite different. 16/44 is fully capable of being entirely satisfactory for re-play only purposes, and generally it's possible to use lossy compression as well without anyone being able to tell the difference just by listening.

Although I would add that the use of lossy compression is mostly un-necessary these days except for specific requirements needing a small file size.

You just haven't tried hard enough yet then, .. or with a sufficiently open mind

Amplifiers are easy ... just compare the input to the output and look for the distortions with a good audio analyser, ......... if your ears tell you differently, you are fooling yourself, or you pretend that you like the distortion that you are hearing.

Personally I use AVI equipment, but I am told that Cambridge Audio amps as sold by Richer sounds (840A, I think) are excellent. So are lots of others. I don't use valve amps because generally they have too little power for correct peak response, inherent distortions, and too high an output impedance for matching to modern loudspeakers.

All really good amps sound the same, and so they should, ... if they sound different then one or all of them is wrong. QED.

By far the most important quality of a 'good recording' is the expertise of the original engineer, - microphone placement, mod levels, etc. This is followed by appropriate source mixing and master compilation, - then it must not be ruined by over use of 'effects' such as audio compression for sales impact and other dubious commercial practises.

24/96 is the norm for recording because of the requirements for dynamic range and other required facilities in the digital production arena. These requirements are not present in the re-play scenario, but if you have made a 24/96 master, then why not just use a clone of that for re-play, - particularly if you don't need a 'CD', - which of course no-one does nowadays, - if only they would realise that.

A 'good recording' is mostly due to the skill of the engineer making the recording, and of course a captivating performance from the original artistes.

Good digital recording equipment merely provides the equipment necessary to avoid ruining it.

As soon as you put it on vinyl though, it buggers it up to some extent

JC

 

It's been a very long time since I've played any of my classical lps, I have a 3lp box with Haitink conducting the three Ballets Russes: The Firebird, Petrushka & The Rite of Spring with the London Philharmonic.

I prefer Pierre Boulez on DG CD by quite a margin.

 

JC,

That rug really ties the room together.

Joe

 

:d

 

Excellent. Let's have an amplifier bake-off.

My Coincident Frankenstein SET's vs AVI or Cambridge Audio 840A amps.

With your choice of speakers plus my choice of speakers (which would be EV Sentry III's).

 

Thanks Joe, ... I knew you'd think that.

JC

 

????? How the hell are we gonna do that !!!!

Both of us have speakers systems which are too big to get even one of a stereo pair into a car.





.... and don't suggest we use those car-booter epos 14 thingies ...


JC

 

JC,

Yeah, I think I have a few 180-g CDs. They should put a warning sticker on those records — Caution: You may be paying more for less.

But original pressings of '50s and '60s jazz and classical, and the best current LP reissues thereof, are a different matter.

Joe

 

You're an AVI chap aren't you? LOL...no need for me to say anymore then.

 

What are you ?? ........ a Malcolm Steward fan ? ...... or some other kind of misguided audio-phool ??


Go back and listen to your mains sockets .................. LOL

No need for me to say any more then.

 

Malcolm and I have agreed and disagreed on many occasions. Regardless of the SATA thing (which I've not tested), his track record is far better than yours.

 

My EV Sentrys fit in the back of my car. That's how I got them up from London.

I'll be taking them down to the Halloween bake-off. I'll be taking them to a Wigwam bake-off in Warrington on October 23rd.

It's the Lindsayt SET and horn hybrid hi-fi forum bake-off roadshow.

 

Oh dear, you have scored zero points.

 

Andrew,

Don't get worked up over JC's dissing of your speakers. Whenever he takes a shot of my Tannoys, I picture him as that Klingon in Trouble with Tribbles.



JC: I didn't mean to say that the GRFs should be hauling garbage. I meant to say that they should be hauled away as garbage.

Joe: Laddie, don't you think you should rephrase that?

You know how the scene ends.

Joe

 

Hmmmmm, to be derided and ridiculed on a world-wide scale for his silly claims, ......

...... - Some track record !!






.

 

Ha ha, .... it's the epos 14's that score zero points they never were any good, and the passage of time in the 40 years since they were designed hasn't been kind to them.

Horrible screechy metal tweeters and a mid-driver used for a woofer but with no bass extension .... a crossover consisting of one capacitor ..... you couldn't make them more cheaply if you tried.

Due to their lack of success the company went out of business within 5 years, and Creek, who took over the sorry mess promptly stopped making them.

If you feed them with a modern full range signal from a digital source, all their horrible colourations and inadequacies are revealed.

No wonder you use them with a crappy old belt drive vinyl source and naim-derived diy style amps to deaden the sound.

But, like Joe says, don't take it personally, .... you just got left behind when the rest of the world moved on.

JC

 

Edit:

Why am I encouraging a shill?

I won't anymore.

 

Well why don't you challenge jcbrum to an amp and speaker bake-off Andrew?

I've heard your ZAP250. It's a good amp. I think it has better bass than my SET's.