Much of my source material (uncompressed CD track rips; no SACDs or vinyl), are 60s pop, r&b and soundtracks, which were often victims of excessively applied compression. And some tracks during multi-vocal passages and when orchestrations get busy sound “congested”; possibly due to poor miking/baffling (??), other acoustical and/or electronic causes. So, while not outright crappy (??), much of my music was certainly less than pristinely recorded and/or mastered, even though almost all were issued by major labels.
Further complicating matters was that I had originally attempted to wed this superb midwoofers with cone HF and MF drivers.
Luckily, I caught that mistake before wasting time and funds. Troy Crowe and I are now deciding among horn drivers to finish this build. The trouble is that no matter which drivers are chosen I might end up not smiling so much while those speakers are playing anything but my tip-top quality CDs. No doubt that’s one reason why so many horn speaker owners prefer SACDs and even less than high quality vinyl over most music released only on CD.
Thus, while I do have some well recorded and well mastered CDs, perhaps the only way to make most of my stuff sound more pleasing is through careful preamp selection-and/or, where possible, tube rolling and “voicing”, as Aikido owner PierreQuiRoule suggested.
To this end, I’ve heard the Aikido described as very neutral sounding. Whether this is true and/or is the same as transparent sounding, while either may be an asset for playing high resolution source material, how would such a preamp feeding my First Watt F4 power amp driving my >94db/m/watt horn speakers present my more sonically troubled CD tracks?
I’m hoping that the Aikido, built with high quality parts and using the right tubes would somehow behave friendlier towards most of my CDs. If yes, please suggest the best caps, even some of more costly Jupiter models. If the values are too big to fit on John Broskie’s updated Noval board, I might elect to ask John and Phil Marchand about the tradeoffs of redesigning the board to accommodate them.
John also mentions here that he suspects tighter bass can be realized with an electrolytic-free power supply. https://tubecad.com/2018/03/og0415.htm
Also important to know is which are the tubes known to create the most lifelike imaging and largest sound stage?
But which are the tubes which may be too revealing for my more crappier sounding CDs?
Alternately, is there another preamp which would be altogether better for my situation, such the Nelson Pass B1 Korg Triode, or others?
Further complicating matters was that I had originally attempted to wed this superb midwoofers with cone HF and MF drivers.
Luckily, I caught that mistake before wasting time and funds. Troy Crowe and I are now deciding among horn drivers to finish this build. The trouble is that no matter which drivers are chosen I might end up not smiling so much while those speakers are playing anything but my tip-top quality CDs. No doubt that’s one reason why so many horn speaker owners prefer SACDs and even less than high quality vinyl over most music released only on CD.
Thus, while I do have some well recorded and well mastered CDs, perhaps the only way to make most of my stuff sound more pleasing is through careful preamp selection-and/or, where possible, tube rolling and “voicing”, as Aikido owner PierreQuiRoule suggested.
To this end, I’ve heard the Aikido described as very neutral sounding. Whether this is true and/or is the same as transparent sounding, while either may be an asset for playing high resolution source material, how would such a preamp feeding my First Watt F4 power amp driving my >94db/m/watt horn speakers present my more sonically troubled CD tracks?
I’m hoping that the Aikido, built with high quality parts and using the right tubes would somehow behave friendlier towards most of my CDs. If yes, please suggest the best caps, even some of more costly Jupiter models. If the values are too big to fit on John Broskie’s updated Noval board, I might elect to ask John and Phil Marchand about the tradeoffs of redesigning the board to accommodate them.
John also mentions here that he suspects tighter bass can be realized with an electrolytic-free power supply. https://tubecad.com/2018/03/og0415.htm
Also important to know is which are the tubes known to create the most lifelike imaging and largest sound stage?
But which are the tubes which may be too revealing for my more crappier sounding CDs?
Alternately, is there another preamp which would be altogether better for my situation, such the Nelson Pass B1 Korg Triode, or others?
What you should be looking at is the source rather than the preamp. If your focus is strictly on preamp, than it should not be too transparent, its all a balancing act between average & well recorded CDs.
When a system can convey a lot of detail it will point out differences in recordings.
I toy with the idea of a pre amp with tone controls.
One could keep crossovers outside of speaker boxes and roll different caps / resistors to tune sound for each CD/ source.
I normally have 2 cd players and 3 dacs in my system. Each with different "sound signatures." To suit mood or music.
I toy with the idea of a pre amp with tone controls.
One could keep crossovers outside of speaker boxes and roll different caps / resistors to tune sound for each CD/ source.
I normally have 2 cd players and 3 dacs in my system. Each with different "sound signatures." To suit mood or music.
In my experience, the Aikido is honest, and exceedingly easy to listen to, but it's not analytical. It is "neutral," but in a very natural way, especially the 6SN7 version. Film caps in the power supply will tend to smooth things out even more. I also think it's a much better preamp than the stock Korg.
Agreed, but it can take the edge off, especially if it has tone controls (as mentioned by another member).
Poor source material is the bane of hi-fi audio. It sounds worse as your system gets better.
My approach is to always find the absolute best version/release of any music that I really want to enjoy. The DR Database https://dr.loudness-war.info/ (which is currently not working for me, but usually is) is an extremely helpful tool for this purpose.
Search for your album and sometimes you will be amazed how different the dynamic range varies from one release to the next. I have repeatedly noticed that "re-mastered" albums are very often worse. Also keep in mind that much of the "hi-res" stuff that is out there is taken from these abysmal "re-mastered" sources.
Honestly, it can make a massive difference. In the end, however, I have to admit that my musical taste has changed significantly over the years due to this issue. I tend to listen to music that sounds amazing on my system, more than music that doesn't. I never listen to music I dislike, simply because it sounds good on my system. However, within the realm of music I enjoy, I almost always choose material that sounds good. All the DR-compressed crap gets played on a stock car stereo or other lo-fi devices when the only thing that matters is that I can hum along and tap my foot.
Loud and bad is unbearable. I'd rather listen to my thoughts (and that's pretty scary).
Here's an example of what I mentioned earlier. Not an extreme example, but nevertheless... https://dr.loudness-war.info/?artist=U2&album=Joshua+Tree
All the remasters and special 30th Anniversary stuff is worse than the bog standard original. This isn't an isolated example, it is basically the rule, not the exception.
All the remasters and special 30th Anniversary stuff is worse than the bog standard original. This isn't an isolated example, it is basically the rule, not the exception.
An extreme example, 40th Anniversary release of Thriller. Abysmal compared to the original https://dr.loudness-war.info/?artist=Michael+Jackson&album=Thriller
Build it with tone controls, or leave the lousy sounding CDs on the shelf.
Or rip the CDs into the computer and EQ them.
jeff
This is one use of AI that I can get behind. If AI could take crap source material and magically increase the dynamic range (not just remove hiss, pops, etc.) in a psychoacoustically pleasant way, that would be great.
The "you can't get something from nothing" argument (which I have relied on in the past) is becoming less true these days.
For me music recording is like food. If I have the best and freshest ingredients then I don't have to do too much to enjoy them and allow their natural flavor to come through. But in less than ideal situation, I don't mind adding some salt and seasoning. This obsession with "neutrality" has lead many audiophiles into listening only to "audiophile approved" recordings even the music sucks out loud. Kenny G over Charlie Parker?! 
I will catch some flack for this, but to warm something up I like the little nobsound ns-08e. Get better (NOS US or European) tubes and it is warm enough to round out bad recordings and if you change the tubes and possibly the 5532 opamp you may get something in the Goldilocks regime. It is also a pretty cheap thrill and an OK headphone amplifier for a laptop as well. It may well also be too warm and smeary for what you would like.
Another alternative if you can score one cheap would be a Parasound PHP-850. Stock it has AD712 opamps which are musical and warm. In college I hot rodded one to make it much more detailed and transparent but stock may be the ticket for you.
Another alternative if you can score one cheap would be a Parasound PHP-850. Stock it has AD712 opamps which are musical and warm. In college I hot rodded one to make it much more detailed and transparent but stock may be the ticket for you.
So that's the cause of that horrible garbage. But isn't that more likely to happen if record levels are tweaked towards nearly overload? But with headphones I don't recall hearing anything like clipping during those orchestral passages, at least not like anything approaching hard clipping.This is distortion due to tape saturation.
My solution to bad recordings is not to play them loudly. At least they won't sound loud and bad.
Ed
With these horn speakers in my 2880 cu ft room, even with a 11 ft slanted ceiling, I'm not likely to play anything much above 4 sones, or 60 phons at 1kHz. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phon
So much trouble here. Trouble is I do mind adding more salt to make a unsavory dish more palatable. But when my speakers are ready I'm praying that I get lucky and won't have to want to do any compensatory "voicing" via tube and cable rolling-or dial in any EQ-assuming there's much of any difference doing either.But in less than ideal situation, I don't mind adding some salt and seasoning. This obsession with "neutrality" has lead many audiophiles into listening only to "audiophile approved" recordings even the music sucks out loud. Kenny G over Charlie Parker?!
insisted insisted that his engineers (e.g. Reggie Dozier) record their hits "hot"-and even pin the meters, as Dozier once revealed during and REC E/P interview. Lots of pop and rock producers and/or artists stooped to this for marketing to the record buying age bracket. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudness_war#History
Worse is that some of my most treasured soundtracks and other late 60s orchestral jazz/latin recordings are also marred by this sonic crud, where several musical instruments sound mashed together (congestion).
Worse is that some of my most treasured soundtracks and other late 60s orchestral jazz/latin recordings are also marred by this sonic crud, where several musical instruments sound mashed together (congestion).