Yeah we are somewhat orthogonal. My view is that there was good, bad and carp in every decade that recorded music has been available. But I buy 10x classical to anything else and 2017 has been a bumper year for good stuff. The November sale at da capo put me on to the really wacky stuff the Danes produce 🙂.
Well, I did get this. The original is just too expensive, it's silly. ($1k+)
And it's an actual good remaster. Maybe better?
And it's an actual good remaster. Maybe better?
Possibly better. I collect full Ballet recordings. This year was the first in a while I haven't been to the Ballet for Christmas. Next year will do again.
Anyone here recall an article on a 1,000 Watt amplifier and metal cone speakers (who'd have thunk such things were pretty common-place now?), published in April 1972 (I think) Wireless World? Maybe 1974? Obviously an April Fool's Day prank.
It was hysterical. The amplifier was directly powered from the (240VAC) mains and used capacitor coupling to the speakers (nonsensically lethal, of course). The author claimed that acoustic feedback was a problem, so the turntable was housed in an adjacent building. Unfortunately, in his haste to lower the stylus onto the LP, he did so too quickly, which required substantial re-plastering of the listening room.
The author's name (is etched into my brain):
George Izzard O'Veering.
🙂
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John, the 9038 will be a tricky DAC to get absolute best sound from. There are quite a few issues to deal with that you may or may not be aware of.
9038 has an internal ASRC, so OP is clocked off an independent clock, usually 100MHz. You can play with the internal digital PLL jitter rejection corner freq but IME, the 100MHz clock itself will also have a big impact on sound. Finding a decent one can be quite a challenge.
Ultimately you are better off using a DAC chip that can run synchronously off a 22/24MHz clock (for up to 192k SR). Much better clocks are available at these frequencies. Also running synchronously gets the ASRC / DPLL out of the equation altogether.
Looking at the specs of 9038 are certainly VG, but these specs come as a product of many paralleled unity weighted OP resistors. The net result is a *very* low OP impedance with huge current swing. If you want to design a decent I-V it will have to have very high current capability.
One option is to just ditch the I-V and run the 9038 in 'voltage' mode straight into a VHQ 1:1 or 1:2 transformer. The DAC makes a little bit more distortion in voltatge OP mode due to the current modulation on cmos OP resistor switches but it's still very low. Also the very low OP Z of 9038 is ideal for driving a transformer.
Good luck.
Terry
We hooked our Bofors up to a Goalkeeper radar/C^3 shelter so we could stay inside 😉
Jan
Thank you Zaphod. A bit of digging and here it is (say Thanks to Elliot for hosting it)
Dynamic Range Vs. Ambient Noise
George
In my opinion, you would have to be nuts to spend all that money on an ES9038 and use it in voltage mode or "ruin it" by using a transformer. I say that because the only reason this DAC exists is to beat all competitors with it's DNR and THD specs, which you would be instantly compromising.
You would be better off using an ES9028 for stereo use. The output current of the ES9038 is stupidly high in "quad" stereo mode, but it's well suited for 8 channel mode.
I prefer the AK4497. You don't need to sign a pointless NDA to get an iffy datasheet and you can buy them at Digikey.
John isn't going to like it anyway, because it's digital and he knows ahead of time. Even if he could get past that, the ES9038 eval board uses a lot of evil op-amps (still AD797s?).
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Multi dimensions or orthogonality needed.... I don't happen to like any of the things Destroyer listed, and listen to very little classical. I did seem to me that while we wrangle about subjective vs objective issues, comparing what we listen to might illuminate the discussion a bit. And I agree - there's good bad and ugly in all mastering situations. I have CDs where the original vinyl is awful, but the re-mastered CD is brilliant. There's a lot of excellent re-masters on digital to be had, at least in what I listen to!
Strangely, I started a thread to discuss this, but it's been deleted without comment overnight!
I said much the same thing to Markw4 about the Benchmark DAC on another thread but he seems to reject the idea from me - hope he's reading?
Agreed. The old adage about QUAD ESL 57s being perfect for string quartets and Jazz springs to mind. AR-A at SME I think used 12 at one stage to be able to play opera!
It's also a good way of discovering new music.
Hi Zaphod......I recall looking at the "O'Veering" article many moons ago. I am not sure if the real author is known but I thought John Linsley Hood was a likely candidate. It reflected his sense of humour and there was a similarity to his distinctive sentence structure etc.
Just a thought.
Just a thought.
Ping John Curl.
Can you give me your thoughts on balanced vs. unbalanced systems in domestic applications please?
Obviously, the response would include the two possible types:
1) Inherently balanced equipment.
2) Equipment that employs unbalanced topology, but uses OP amps or transformers to balance inputs and outputs.
No 'gotchas' here. Someone on another forum has made a claim about your opinion on such things. I would like to clarify.
TIA
Can you give me your thoughts on balanced vs. unbalanced systems in domestic applications please?
Obviously, the response would include the two possible types:
1) Inherently balanced equipment.
2) Equipment that employs unbalanced topology, but uses OP amps or transformers to balance inputs and outputs.
No 'gotchas' here. Someone on another forum has made a claim about your opinion on such things. I would like to clarify.
TIA
Currently listening to this which I picked up on special offer Bach: Angela Hewitt plays Bach - CDS44421/35 - Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) - Hyperion Records - MP3 and Lossless downloads . £45 for 15CDs worth as a FLAC download is at the top end of what I pay per hour for a box set, but this is seriously worth it. Won't stop me trying to complete my Glenn Gould collection though, as you can't have too much Bach.
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