Just stopping by to agree with appreciation for Nils Frahm - since I've built my first set of full range speakers I can't stop using them to listen to Frahm 🙂
https://youtu.be/izhGLGPmvIU?t=1957
https://youtu.be/izhGLGPmvIU?t=1957
If you look at the way he normally mics up his pianos ( and the odd pianos he sometimes uses like Klavins Pianos - Una Corda ) I am guessing solo was the same. But this is a case where its not something that was ever performed to an audience so only Nils knows how it should sound.
You might like this as well Arvo Pärt - Für Anna Maria by Jeroen van Veen - Brilliant Classics
The pianist went out of his way to chose a yamaha piano as he wanted the piano to have as little character as possible (i.e. be neutral). The big 3 piano makes all have a 'house sound'.
Aside. Strange but true. My daughter's piano teacher always dreamed of having a boesendorfer minigrand in her music room. She saved and saved and finally had the money. The week before it arrived, the company delivering it did this Dropping A Bösendorfer Model 275 Piano
I have to say, once (safely) installed it did sound wonderful.
You might like this as well Arvo Pärt - Für Anna Maria by Jeroen van Veen - Brilliant Classics
The pianist went out of his way to chose a yamaha piano as he wanted the piano to have as little character as possible (i.e. be neutral). The big 3 piano makes all have a 'house sound'.
Aside. Strange but true. My daughter's piano teacher always dreamed of having a boesendorfer minigrand in her music room. She saved and saved and finally had the money. The week before it arrived, the company delivering it did this Dropping A Bösendorfer Model 275 Piano
I have to say, once (safely) installed it did sound wonderful.
Okay, thanks for the clarification on your post.
We do seem to be writing across one another however. I'm on about electronic noise floor and you are on about speaker distortion.
As to "quiet", well with amp on and no source, there is NO sound at the speaker, even with ear up touching the speaker cone. It is same as if OFF.
Heh, I've been to one of Jeroen van Veen's performances of Canto Ostinato. Nice touch is people are encouraged to get as comfortable as they can - people lying on. The floor, bringing pillows and all 🙂
Canto is always magical to me.
Canto is always magical to me.
Although I have lived with a very noisy amplifier that had annoying hum and a poor phono stage (long story and not for here) my system is the same now. Silent. only the lights tell you it is on. But a £40 ebay denon minisystem does that. There is no excuse other than 107dB horns for having any noise from the speakers at idle and even then there are solutions.
But if you listen late at night with -20dBFS set around 50dBA so as not to wake dog/wife/child/neighbour you will perceive a lightness in the bass regions. At least if you are human. I get around it by chosing music where it doesn;t matter so much.
Do you have anything other than speculations?
Recording engineers do. Or at least they should. Ones I know do.
For speakers and room acoustics, yes. For DACs, preamps, amps and cables, such environment is not needed to figure out how accurately it produces output from input.
Hi,
Well you pretty much sidestepped my question to you with your long winded evasive non answer comeback.
You write as if SET amps are a dominant part of the amplifier marketplace. I'm sorry, but the amplifier marketplace is almost totally comprised of solid state amplifiers of various designs.
I don't read hifi magazines or pay attention to high end audio.
I follow things on Diyaudio, mostly the design/build forums. I make my own stuff which is why I follow Diyaudio. And I presume that is also why most people who post on Diyaudio follow Diyaudio, rather than to "wage war" on hifi magazines and high end audio.
I listen mostly to classical music and I have found that a good reference of the quality of a music system is how that system replicates the sound of a violin. I also find that classical music in general is a good definer of the quality of a music system. And when classical music sounds pretty good, well so do other music genres as well.
As to 60's criteria vs. more modern criteria.................
The recordings and playback of classical music in the 60's, and up to the age of digital recording, featured a lot of dynamic compression of the sound of the orchestra. With digital recording and playback there is no need for compression of dynamic range of the sound of the orchestra. This gets the playback sound much closer to the sound that the orchestra played at the recording.
This is a huge improvement!
I will look them up. Currently collecting a few things by manitas de platas. Guitar should not suffer too much at low levels so I can understand your points.
Hope you like it. I cover extremes so have Max Richter's 'Sleep' on the bedroom system regularly at night.
Pygmy: Thank you for the tip. Another new piece for me to discover 🙂. That's why I come here.
"it excludes quite a lot of 'high end' systems, most SET amps and almost anything which has been 'voiced' or 'designed by ear'.". I don't know about you but I see him talking about high end market, as in high end price.
Can you be more specific about what "a good reference of the quality of a music system" is?
You are excluding techno music, right?
Canto Ostinato is really a wonderful, living piece waiting to be discovered 🙂
What makes it special is the freedom given to the performers - it's a basic set of rules / patterns, but you're free to combine and change the pattern.
A performance of Canto can last from anywhere between 30 minutes and 24 hours, depending on the mindset of the performers..
And somehow I never get bored listening to it - even the longer versions.
Simeon Ten Holt's "Canto Ostinato" worked its way into the heart of many people, displayed in the dutch documentary "Over Canto" ("About Canto") showing how it influenced random people in their life.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KL-407H6vQ
1. Perhaps I tended to single out SET amps as they were specifically identified. I don't know of anything that has been "designed by ear", so perhaps something specifically could be identified. As I also mentioned in my post, I am not "at war" with high end audio. High end audio products can individually stand on their own merits.
2. Thanks for pointing out my poorly written sentence. I should have written "I find a good test of a system's fidelity is to reproduce the sound of a violin". Is that clearer?
Even better is what Billshurv posted about the music at the ballet and it's "natural" sound. That's so hard to come by in home audio.
3. I have never listened to techno music, and likely never will do so.
What would those merits be? The level of fidelity by any chance?
That's clearer but why violin? Why not vocal (something humans are accustomed to for much much longer) or drum?
Not very inclusive, eh.
What would those merits be? The level of fidelity by any chance?
That's clearer but why violin? Why not vocal (something humans are accustomed to for much much longer) or drum?
Not very inclusive, eh.
There are a lot of products that could be considered "high end". Are you familiar with Bruno Putzeys Mola Mola products? He is a degreed engineer. His products are high end all the way. His products could not be more different from SET amps in any way. High end is not all in the same basket except for price.
The whole existence of diyaudio seems to me to be the antithesis of high end audio in every way.
I like using the violin as a reference rather than voice because there is less variation in the sound of violins than there is in voices.
Yes, I don't listen to techno music. It's a matter of choice.
The same day you accused someone of "pretty much sidestepped my question to you with your long winded evasive non answer comeback.", you actually do that yourself. 🙄
No. I never suggested that. However, SET amps are a significant part of DIY discussion - there are some on this very forum who appear to believe that the distortions of a SET amp are somehow closer to the original sound than the smaller distortions of almost any other amplifier topology.stvnharr said:
CD and other digital recording techniques require less compression than LP. It is therefore most unfortunate that the loudness wars ensure that they get much more compression. Sadly, the same seems to happen on radio.
I must have misunderstood your question. I responded to what I thought you had said.
- Status
- Not open for further replies.