Of course, music appreciation is important, just like driving with the family on occasions, but that is not what audio quality is just about. I, too, have known people who can listen to a symphony through a table model radio and get more from it than I ever will, but that is not the point here. We are trying to improve overall sound quality.
So you "approve" a stock Topping D90 as something listenable as long it has been "burned in" and has been switch on for a time?
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If signal out significantly differs from signal in its a tone control. In the case of most NOS DACs the distortion is horrendous (if pleasing).
I challenge you to listen to the whole of 'direct disco' without losing the will to live.
Well, even though modest "happiness" has been attained, we too want to continue discussing. There's always something to learn and if a simple mod or rearrangement makes things a little bit better, I dont mind moving up on the curve - without having to spend 10X what I have already in order to believe it.
"direct disco" - funniest one line comment I've read in a long time! 😛
I like the cover. I was surprised to see a 2015 re-release of the Charlie Byrd LP in dbx encoded format, talk about small audience.
There is a distinct difference between "listening appreciation" and engaging in a design process to "advance listening appreciation. Direct disc offerings, or other reference standards are useful for the purpose of "advancing listening appreciation" having no necessary immediate relevance to supporting a positive listening experience. This is to suggest that sounding good or bad is not necessarily relevant in a design process.
This is not unlike sound engineers using the Yamaha NS10's to evaluate the midrange. The NS10 was, and perhaps still is, one of the highest on the list ever in being used for that purpose, yet can be concluded unlistenable if used in a consumer audio system. Designers using source material as reference material are not necessarily suggesting that their finished product is restricted to reference material used in the creation.
I own numerous recordings by Sheffield Labs, Kronos, Reference recordings by Keith Johnson and others that are enjoyable. It isn't necessarily that performances or artists are great, rather that they can draw out more emotion from lesser artists and performers, as not unlike listening to a band of children singing off key and trying really hard. I enjoy hearing the trying.
My favorite of all time in that genre. YouTube Bill can you guess without peeking?
I heard NS-10's at the Yamaha listening room at the factory, yes unlistenable.
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Hierfi,
the change of the data to the frequency entails much more damage to the signal than the deviations from an absolute value. There is a direct relationship between energy, frequency, velocity and distortion.
The nearly forty years old TDA1541 is unsurpassed qualitatively. What a glorious "development"! The high internal resistance conveys small signal amplitudes, that is, a low output impedance. In order to minimize the signal losses, and reduce a variety of distortions and noise, a transistor in common base configuration with some capability to handle weak signals should be the appropriate choice. I cannot see any particular reason to expect "transient overload" in this position.
Opamps are good at regulating voltage while signal handling is a demanding and delicate task. Industrial technical solutions from which people largely derive their inspiration are not advantageously applicable to the audio field.
To me, the Hawksford paper is uninteresting, just a heap of mathematical rubbish.
the change of the data to the frequency entails much more damage to the signal than the deviations from an absolute value. There is a direct relationship between energy, frequency, velocity and distortion.
The nearly forty years old TDA1541 is unsurpassed qualitatively. What a glorious "development"! The high internal resistance conveys small signal amplitudes, that is, a low output impedance. In order to minimize the signal losses, and reduce a variety of distortions and noise, a transistor in common base configuration with some capability to handle weak signals should be the appropriate choice. I cannot see any particular reason to expect "transient overload" in this position.
Opamps are good at regulating voltage while signal handling is a demanding and delicate task. Industrial technical solutions from which people largely derive their inspiration are not advantageously applicable to the audio field.
To me, the Hawksford paper is uninteresting, just a heap of mathematical rubbish.
I know - hence the "" 😉
The performance of an electronic apparatus could change just after power on - thats not unheard of and also probable measurable (DC levels stabilising, oscillators warming up and thus, phase noise spectrum changing etc)
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The performance of an electronic apparatus could change just after power on - thats not unheard of and also probable measurable (DC levels stabilising, oscillators warming up and thus, phase noise spectrum changing etc)
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Back when the 'Direct Disco' record was released, I worked with Crystal Clear for future recordings, and I asked the boss if he could introduce me to the girl on the cover. He said that he never met her, that she was a model out of LA, and he had never seen the 'front' of her. Darn!
I think Malcolm Hawksford is great! I have known him for decades. He DARES to go outside the conventional wisdom with whatever works, and then tries to understand it with more measurements and math than I am usually comfortable with. (Somebody has to do it first!) The only other scholars that I feel were better than him with audio research were Richard Heyser and Michael Gerzon, alas both dead for decades.
I recognize that Malcolm Hawksford has been the recipient of silver/gold medals by the Audio Engineering Science ("AES") and I have read several articles that he has produced, having come to the irrevocable conclusion that I am not nearly as smart as he is.
As if we have not heard this before, at least Richard Heyser and Michael Gerzon didn't throw in some nonsense papers.