I want to hear realistic sounds

[bigshot]

There are two keys to realistic sound... one that you can't control, and one you can. The one you can't control is how the album was recorded and mixed. Microphone placement is an important part of a natural soundstage. But since the Beatles, overdubbing and close miking has muddled all that up. The best you can do is make sure your speakers are about eight feet apart and listen to music that is recorded naturally.

The part you can help with is frequency response. Too much bass or too much treble can make the sound imbalanced and can make natural acoustic instruments sound like synthesizers. Listen carefully to well-recorded acoustic music and try to adjust your tone controls or equalization so the instruments sound real to you. This can be quite a trick, but it makes a big difference. Better speakers will give you better results.

Hope this helps
Steve

[deadman_uk]

Originally Posted by bigshot

There are two keys to realistic sound... one that you can't control, and one you can. The one you can't control is how the album was recorded and mixed. Microphone placement is an important part of a natural soundstage. But since the Beatles, overdubbing and close miking has muddled all that up. The best you can do is make sure your speakers are about eight feet apart and listen to music that is recorded naturally.

The part you can help with is frequency response. Too much bass or too much treble can make the sound imbalanced and can make natural acoustic instruments sound like synthesizers. Listen carefully to well-recorded acoustic music and try to adjust your tone controls or equalization so the instruments sound real to you. This can be quite a trick, but it makes a big difference. Better speakers will give you better results.

Hope this helps
Steve

I understand what you are saying and thanks. I have a large collection of MP3's ranging from 128kbps to 320kbps and they are of different genres. Some are dance, some pop, some rock, some classical etc. I use winamp as my media player. How do I ensure my music is sounding the best it can?

I think the equalizer on winamp plays an important role in the sounding of my music but having so many different genres of music and having the equalizer remaining in the same static position can't be doing my music much good can it?

About realistic sounds, am I right in saying holoponic is the best type of audio I can download at the moment?

[bigshot]

Equalization has very little to do with genre. The setting for a good classical recording should be the same setting for a good rock recording. The problem comes in with poorly recorded or mixed material. There are two types of EQing... the first type is calibrating your system so you correct for imbalances in your speakers or room acoustics. The second is correcting for individual recordings.

If you want good sounding music, look for well recorded and mastered albums. Ask for recommendations in whatever genre you are looking for. But remember, the music is what matters, not the recording technique.

See ya
Steve

[poo]

I think it is worth noting that you have a variety of lossy file types. That in itself is not going to provide the 'realistic' sound you are chasing. The audio has been altered and is not the same as an original recording. How much influence this has on 'realisim' is up to you I guess, and depends on how you define realistic sound. I personally think that the sound of an album can be quite varied from one system to another, without any of those systems sounding 'unrealistic'.

I guess what I am driving at is that there seems to be a number of things you can achieve with your audio that won't cost you anything, and give you as much of a quality increase as an expensive component.

Try lossless audio formats, try ASIO output, and look at other simple things in your system that could be changed for the better, that won't cost much.

I would also advise that you reconsider what you are trying to achieve via your equalizer settings. I originally used EQs quite alot, but now prefer to steer well clear of them altogether, instead combining components whose sound is pleasing to me.

Holophonic sound is really just a marketing term. It doesn't really do anything different than any other sound recording. If you listen to the audio files you posted through a good 2 channel system, you get the same effect as headphones. I wouldn't invest too much time in it from a musical audio point of view.

[bigshot]

It's impossible to achieve balanced frequency response through component matching.

See ya
Steve

[deadman_uk]

Originally Posted by poo

I think it is worth noting that you have a variety of lossy file types. That in itself is not going to provide the 'realistic' sound you are chasing. The audio has been altered and is not the same as an original recording. How much influence this has on 'realisim' is up to you I guess, and depends on how you define realistic sound. I personally think that the sound of an album can be quite varied from one system to another, without any of those systems sounding 'unrealistic'.

I guess what I am driving at is that there seems to be a number of things you can achieve with your audio that won't cost you anything, and give you as much of a quality increase as an expensive component.

Try lossless audio formats, try ASIO output, and look at other simple things in your system that could be changed for the better, that won't cost much.

I would also advise that you reconsider what you are trying to achieve via your equalizer settings. I originally used EQs quite alot, but now prefer to steer well clear of them altogether, instead combining components whose sound is pleasing to me.

Can you explain to me what lossless audio means? I've heard of ASIO but I know nothing about it. Is it something I download and install? Once installed, what do I do? Is it a plugin for a media player? I don't really understand...

Are you recommending me to turn off my Equaliser in Winamp? What's the alternative to this? Not use an EQ at all? What do you mean by combining components? Can you give me an example?

Sorry for the all the questions but I am not very knowledgeable in this area.

Holophonic sound is really just a marketing term. It doesn't really do anything different than any other sound recording. If you listen to the audio files you posted through a good 2 channel system, you get the same effect as headphones. I wouldn't invest too much time in it from a musical audio point of view.

I actually haven't listened to these holophonic sounds through my speakers (I'm not home at the moment) but through my headphones, they sound amazing. I heard on many websites that holophonic sounds only work well with headphones but you are saying a good set of speakers will give the same result? From what I read, they only sound good close to your ears.

I'd be interested in hearing something sound just as impressive that's not holophonic.

Would you say my speakers were good? They are "Altec Lansing MX5021 2.1".

[jbloudg20]

Use the search function.

[ziplock]

Originally Posted by jbloudg20

go outside

I highly recommend this upgrade!

[audioengr]

Originally Posted by deadman_uk

I understand what you are saying and thanks. I have a large collection of MP3's ranging from 128kbps to 320kbps and they are of different genres. Some are dance, some pop, some rock, some classical etc. I use winamp as my media player. How do I ensure my music is sounding the best it can?

I think the equalizer on winamp plays an important role in the sounding of my music but having so many different genres of music and having the equalizer remaining in the same static position can't be doing my music much good can it?

About realistic sounds, am I right in saying holoponic is the best type of audio I can download at the moment?

MP3's

The first thing you should do is re-rip all of your CD's as .wav files or FLAC or download FLAC tracks, so that you have decent content to play. MP3 compression wrecks the content and there is no amount of DSP that will get it back for you.

Then you should consider an external computer converter, such as the UD-10. It is inexpensive and with some software mucking it can sound very good. Then you will need an inexpensive DAC, since the DAC-1 USB is probably out of range at $1K. I can recommend DAC's from dAck! http://www.ack-industries.com/dAck!.html, Hagerman Chime DAC kit http://www.hagtech.com/chime.html or CI audio http://www.ciaudio.com/.

The dAck2 is very good for the price and battery-powered. Maybe you can get a used one to work with the UD-10.

Steve N.

[LeonvB]

Instead of buying a DAC, amp or other things I'd recommend starting simple and cheap. Like Steve said, re-rip all your CD's using EAC to FLAC (you can find the latest versions of these programs using fi. Google). Modify your sound card using this link: Fs/t:Shure e2c iem
These steps will already give you quite an upgrade, and won't cost you a lot.