Going from the output of my SACD player into a "Inverse RIAA" filter, then into the Paradise phono stage and back to the amplifier, I will admit I heard the "Paradise" sound.... But it may have been wishful thinking..... Sounded very nice, though 😀
Well, the original design is not totally neutral.
There was a version by Ricardo that is.
Anyway, we mostly hear tonal balance as the most important thing.
This is one reason i hate a lot of modern speakers that have a presence hole.
There was a version by Ricardo that is.
Anyway, we mostly hear tonal balance as the most important thing.
This is one reason i hate a lot of modern speakers that have a presence hole.
Sure you're not hearing distortion? The lower treble is where the most damage is done, subjectively, especially from digital playback - the highly prevalent "dead" quality to the sound is the giveaway symptom of misbehaving electronics, not speakers - sort out the problems earlier in the chain, and then listen to that same speaker come to life ...
Many modern speakers are flawed in the presence, lower treble.
I can show you many responses that have this tuning.
I asked several designer why they do it but i did not get a satisfying answer.
From " Blauert Bands " to " compensating unpleasantness that older customers experience " i was not convinced about the arguments.
I think one guy started it, was successful selling and then the others followed.
Same with headphones. New ones are less linear then they where, say 10 years ago.
High fidelity in a strict sense is out of fashion.
I can show you many responses that have this tuning.
I asked several designer why they do it but i did not get a satisfying answer.
From " Blauert Bands " to " compensating unpleasantness that older customers experience " i was not convinced about the arguments.
I think one guy started it, was successful selling and then the others followed.
Same with headphones. New ones are less linear then they where, say 10 years ago.
High fidelity in a strict sense is out of fashion.
Attachments
This is starting to make some sense ... what they are doing is compensating, or attempting to do so, for the inadequacies, the flaws earlier in the chain, the ones I just referred to. Since they have no control, as speaker manufacturers, of the problems earlier on, they attempt to mitigate them by de-emphasising the distortion being fed to them - the easiest tack is to simply EQ it to lower levels.
No, not really smart, but until people start looking at the big picture the problems will remain ... if a producer needs to sell product - strange concept, 😀 - then having a component that "sounds nicer" with conventionally used equipment is the way for him to go ...
No, not really smart, but until people start looking at the big picture the problems will remain ... if a producer needs to sell product - strange concept, 😀 - then having a component that "sounds nicer" with conventionally used equipment is the way for him to go ...
Last edited:
Mr. Gerhard I have just received your Linear Audio article about high quality phono stage. Is it a workable circuit? What is the working voltage?
Stupid article, Vinyl can do something that digital cannot. The signal starts as movement of a coil in a magnet gap, exactly as it ends in a coil in a magnet gap. Maybe this is the (one) reason why vinyl simply sounds more natural.
Even with a medium quality TT with a good cart/arm and a "special" phono, I find it difficult for digital to come close. Good lossless files are quite good if used with a nice DAC and I can also listen to some SACD but analog (the good ones) are unbeatable in the highs, spatiality and "trueness".
Reel to reel tapes are even better than vinyl IMO.
I always feel digital recordings to render quite good bass but the highs seem "grainy" in normal CD.... The higher spec digital are better but do not recreate soundstage as it should.... I believe the fault is not in the hardware but in the software.... Lowdness war killed digital IMO
The fault lies in the quality of the reproduction chain, with digital - it's as simple as that. Analogue is sufficiently "sloppy", such that relatively "flawed" playback is still very easy on the ears - digital plays hard ball, it has be exactly right - otherwise often it just isn't pleasant to be in the presence of, no matter what the spec's say.
That's the downside of digital - the upside is that if you do get it exactly right, as it's meant to be, then it is staggeringly good ... the terminology used in these posts, about "grainy", lack of spatiality, "trueness", unnatural - these are the audible markers of less than optimum playback, exactly equivalent to hearing hiss on tape, or pops and crackles of a vinyl recording.
That's the downside of digital - the upside is that if you do get it exactly right, as it's meant to be, then it is staggeringly good ... the terminology used in these posts, about "grainy", lack of spatiality, "trueness", unnatural - these are the audible markers of less than optimum playback, exactly equivalent to hearing hiss on tape, or pops and crackles of a vinyl recording.
I take it you know exactly how to get it right...?
I my book claiming something like that is as silly as claiming that you've head it all.
I my book claiming something like that is as silly as claiming that you've head it all.
A very simple process took place, for me - I was listening to conventional quality level audio 30 years ago, and became enthused about trying various tweaks that occurred to me as worth trying. Without at all intending for it to happen, one day I just managed to get enough correct for the digital playback to "snap right" - it was an amazing, "Woww!!" moment, which still is easy to recall, to this day.
This demonstrated what was possible, and I have never looked back from that experience - it always makes it easy for me to "hear" the usual faults in digital playback, to know that something has still to be sorted out in the particular system.
In terms of knowing exactly how to get it right, that is not easy - I've spent a good chunk of time over the last decades trying to determine exactly what needs to be "fixed", with much frustration at times in not having enough understanding. If it was that simple to do, all digital playback would be sounding brilliant these days - because everyone would have all the answers at their fingertips ...
This demonstrated what was possible, and I have never looked back from that experience - it always makes it easy for me to "hear" the usual faults in digital playback, to know that something has still to be sorted out in the particular system.
In terms of knowing exactly how to get it right, that is not easy - I've spent a good chunk of time over the last decades trying to determine exactly what needs to be "fixed", with much frustration at times in not having enough understanding. If it was that simple to do, all digital playback would be sounding brilliant these days - because everyone would have all the answers at their fingertips ...
Last edited:
I was in Rainbow Studio and asked Jan Eric was is the most important.
He said the tuning of the piano and the microphones.
I think it is not digital or analog per se but how the music is recorded and processed.
I also have a very particular view how speakers should be set up.
He said the tuning of the piano and the microphones.
I think it is not digital or analog per se but how the music is recorded and processed.
I also have a very particular view how speakers should be set up.
And on the latter issue I'm very "sloppy" - the speakers go where it's convenient to put them, end of story. The one thing I do worry about, is that the structure of the speaker is locked in place as solidly as is reasonable - concreted into the ground under the house is perhaps a mite extreme, 😉, but gives an idea of what I'm after ....
Speaker placement is fundamental IMO.... so your idea is not so good.... Some people here really know about speakers.... And some decouple them from environment....
Yes, a lot of people know far more than I do about speakers - but I know a lot about achieving realistic sound, and IME speaker placement plays an extremely minor role in getting that ... so, it all depends upon precisely what one is after ...
That would make me a millionaire : a world class speaker that does not require particular setup.
Dream on....
Dream on....
Yes, that's a total fantasy - a speaker that can always compensate for the deficiencies elsewhere in the system ... ain't gonna happen!
I prefer to to take the easy way out, 😉 - make the rest of the system "bulletproof"; and then I'll be able to stick any sort of reasonable speaker on the end, and "magic" sound will come out ...
I don't believe in making life hard - too short, and all that 😀 ...
I prefer to to take the easy way out, 😉 - make the rest of the system "bulletproof"; and then I'll be able to stick any sort of reasonable speaker on the end, and "magic" sound will come out ...
I don't believe in making life hard - too short, and all that 😀 ...