+1. I also find it difficult to make quality subjective judgements based on short sessions.
In high quality, or SOTA, audio gear, everything counts.
The same goes for setting up high quality, or very 'musical', audio setup – everything count. It can be known only by experimenting, by trying various options.
It looks to me unwise to spend a lot of money on the gear itself and no money at all on electricity treatment to the setup, or acoustic treatment, or vibration absorption and so on.
Audio design is like taking a trip. All the fun is in the travel to the destination not the destination itself. If JC gave full plans to build a Blowtorch then there would be no travel just destination.
Sycophantic enough for you MR Wood?
I didn't find that the least bit sycophantic Robert.
Really? Do you mean everything that you heard with AD chips inside was not good, including records that were made using designed by Scott Wurcer ICs?
I referred to the gear I have at home, or playback gear I heard in various places. I have no idea what gear was used in the recording/mixing/mastering.
Anybody who claims that they can hear a pre amp looses me instantly.
The only pre amp I have ever heard was one that featured a 47k resistor directly in series with the phono input, and very poor psrr, so it both hissed and hummed.
I remember an audio pundit popular at the time saying that if you, "listened through", the hiss you could hear the superior quality of the design.
I being a simple sort of a person, asked why should one do that? why just not have them there in the first place.
Another pre amp did have hiss that was caused by a Zener used in the power supply. Replacing the Zener with a led referenced two transistor regulator fixed that.
Since then I have built several pre amps, and using the simple rule not to put high value resistors in series with the signal and to use a quiet power supply and a circuit with good psrr I haven't heard the difference in one since.
rcw
The only pre amp I have ever heard was one that featured a 47k resistor directly in series with the phono input, and very poor psrr, so it both hissed and hummed.
I remember an audio pundit popular at the time saying that if you, "listened through", the hiss you could hear the superior quality of the design.
I being a simple sort of a person, asked why should one do that? why just not have them there in the first place.
Another pre amp did have hiss that was caused by a Zener used in the power supply. Replacing the Zener with a led referenced two transistor regulator fixed that.
Since then I have built several pre amps, and using the simple rule not to put high value resistors in series with the signal and to use a quiet power supply and a circuit with good psrr I haven't heard the difference in one since.
rcw
I don't know either, my JC-80 schematic has old Fairchild VPN something VFET's essentially unobtainium (though I have 10 or so of each). EUVL is good at tracking discretes.
He wouldn't know and neither would I in most cases. The only one I know for sure is that Bruce Jackson (founder of Apogee) built a mixing board with AD744's for Fleetwood Mac that was used in their HBO special. No need to go there in any case, maybe we need a group update with available components of the JC-80 and see what folks think. My schematic has a phono stage too, not unlike the three FET pair circuit John posted last week.
Can I post the JC-80 phono section? I won't if it's not OK. It would have to wait till Tuesday anyway.
I remind everyone a lot of DIY'ers are very happy with their Pacific-Pre (1 IC).
So, you actually don't know if you heard designs of "John's critics", or not. Also, you said that you did not hear John's design. But anyway, I really don't understand how somebody can "hear" line level preamp. For example, any recording console have several of them, one by one in the chain, in addition to microphone preamps, summing amps, output amps, and other things like EQs that can be bypassed by switches. If they are "heard" they should be horrible.
What is really hard to make of real high-end quality, are microphone and power amps, that have maximal power gain in the chain, and interact with sources and loads of complex, often resonant, impedances. Here you can organize listening tests, but I agree with SY, it is impossible to distinguish one properly made line level preamp from another one in listening-only tests.
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A thing that always puzzles me is that how come a recording that in many cases went through as many as a dozen 741 type op amps in its production, is then rendered un- listenable by going through one more with far better performance.
The sort of nonsense spouted by some in this thread, to do with the sound of capacitors and of hook up wire is the reason why I did not wish to take part in the first place, because I can't help but point out what arrant nonsense this sort of stuff is, and will be accused of being all manner of unpleasant things by the faithful.
So I was tempted just to stick to my other pointless pass time of farting against thunder because this has better chance of success, but every now and again I do make a foray against the forces of darkness, and this has been one of them.
rcw
The sort of nonsense spouted by some in this thread, to do with the sound of capacitors and of hook up wire is the reason why I did not wish to take part in the first place, because I can't help but point out what arrant nonsense this sort of stuff is, and will be accused of being all manner of unpleasant things by the faithful.
So I was tempted just to stick to my other pointless pass time of farting against thunder because this has better chance of success, but every now and again I do make a foray against the forces of darkness, and this has been one of them.
rcw
If I poke you in the eye a dozen times, do not think the 13th poke might hurt even more? Or blind you?
And how do you know that a recording has been thru a dozen op amps? Have you counted them - or can you tell by listening?
Yes bcarso, my school is the same one the little boy who pointed out that the emperor was naked went to, many seem to be still admiring his new clothes and seem not to notice this minor point.
I do know people in the industry who have built and maintained many mixing desks that were so equipped, and have told me about these recordings being much admired by some in the op amps are evil brigade who swear that they can hear the superiority of there pet, valve discrete capacitor less creations.
In fact not long ago there was a meeting here in Sydney of such types, and they were using just such a recording to demonstrate the superiority of some over priced audiophile gadget or other, and I am told it was made in the early eighties on just such a mixing desk
rcw
I do know people in the industry who have built and maintained many mixing desks that were so equipped, and have told me about these recordings being much admired by some in the op amps are evil brigade who swear that they can hear the superiority of there pet, valve discrete capacitor less creations.
In fact not long ago there was a meeting here in Sydney of such types, and they were using just such a recording to demonstrate the superiority of some over priced audiophile gadget or other, and I am told it was made in the early eighties on just such a mixing desk
rcw
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