[krikor]

 
I haven't touched itunes in years specifically because of how limited my control was over my library. I switched to JRiver and while it has a higher learning curve, the full control it grants me is vastly superior.
 
I'm unaware of what options are available for Mac however.

 
I'm a longtime JRiver user as well. They have a version for Mac as well now.

 

[Puma Cat]

   
I guess two words - Quality Control... 

Okay, time for me to put my Six Sigma Black Belt hat on here...

It's not quality control; it's quality. If you have a manufacturing process (e.g. a six sigma process) that has very high intrinsic quality (high Cp/Cpk), you don't need quality control.
 
Quality and quality control are not the same thing. Quality control is a way to ensure that non-conforming product doesn't ship and incur a Type 1 error, aka consumer's risk (and therefore  a warranty or replacement cost which results in Cost of Poor Quality or COPQ, which erodes profit), but it is not a substitute for quality, because quality control is basically an inspection process, and you can't "inspect in" quality. 
 
Honda Motor doesn't need much in the way of quality control for their motorcycles because the intrinsic product quality is so high. For example, the first time a motorcycle is inspected is when the complete motorcycle rolls off the assembly line and the bike is fired up on the dyno to check that it makes specified horsepower. That's it. 

 

[Puma Cat]

   
I'm a longtime JRiver user as well. They have a version for Mac as well now.

How is JRiver these days? When I tried it last summer, it was pretty flaky and buggy; kept crashing all the time. 

 

[johnjen]

JRiver 4 Mac is better than it was, but it still has 'ideosyncrasies'.
 
They seem more interested in features than robustness.
 
It works, don't get me wrong, but it's not very 'mac like' yet, nor fully stable in the sense that it isn't all that hard to get it to go sideways.
But it is useable and much better than itunes.
And yes there is a learning curve with scattered instructions.
They want you to use their forum to know how to setup and learn to use the program.
 
At it's core it's a pc program that is being ported to Mac and other OS's with what you'd expect to see as these sorts of ports can be quite complex.
 
Also their ethernet player is significantly handicapped, and it doesn't seem to be a priority in terms of development.
 
Overall it works well enough if all you want to do is play albums.  Beyond that I'm not sure how well it works.
 
JJ

 

[BackToAnalogue]

BackToAnalogue's Little Known Vinyl Factoids #1



Vinyl LPs are self repairing.

 



But I do so enjoy the exhilaration when a tweak opens up whole new avenues of sonic nuances and inner details.  It doesn't always happen but when it does its like getting money for nuth'n and yer chicks for free…  

JJ

 


I agree, messing around with stuff is what a lot of us blokes like doing. My recent 'messing around with stuff' has been all about trying to get an HD music and video streaming network running all over my house that is good enough to get 24/192 into every room. And to do it cheaply using standard kit and software. A lot of fun if you do it properly, but serious brain ache, and still WIP.

So here is a suggestion. I sometimes use Ebay as a cheap 'hire' service.

1) Sell the Linn (great Turntable, now superseded unless you really love it) and any other stuff like power supplies and all the other Linn bits that go with it, on Fleabay. Good HiFi keeps it's value and you will be pleasantly surprised at how much it raises. Keep the tone-arm, I don't recognise the name, but assume it is a good one. I don't believe these have improved as much and precision engineering was a lot better 20 years ago than it is now (that is my next upgrade). You will want a new Cartridge because, as someone else pointed out ,stylus designs have also improved a lot.

2) Then buy one of these, three choices, the middle one I have myself (the Acryl version which is clear transparent polymer), I haven't heard the other two. You will almost certainly choose something different, but these are a good start.

http://www.amazon.com/Rega-Turntable-Performance-Pack-Grey/dp/B004KSMV0U (lots of good alternatives)

A 'performance pack' always provides an additional glow of satisfaction, does it not? Jason - a free tip, get someone working on some 'performance packs'

http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Ject-Xperience-Classic-Point-Cartridge/dp/B002D83ALS

http://www.amazon.com/Roksan-Radius5-Turntable-Tonearm-Cartridge/dp/B00HNZO91Q

All 'plug and play' including an excellent factory fitted and aligned (plus the rake angle etc ) cartridge. All gorgeous designs. There isn't a wife in the world who could object to any of these beauties.

Or if you insist on being patriotic, VPI are very good as well, just not as 'pretty' to my eyes.

So then you have a new state-of-the-art Turntable which requires no fiddling, just sensibly following the rules (there are a few more but I didn't want to over egg it for people who are put off) and you should also still have a nice wad of 'folding' left in your wallet. A good days work.

You can then either spend this new found wealth on taking your wife (or whatever you have, one doesn't like to presume these days) out for a nice meal, or, you can spend it on fast women and dangerous drugs. Again, the choice is yours.


I will be very surprised if any of the above sound sub-standard compared to the Linn. But I haven't heard a really top end Linn set-up for decades so could be wrong on that.

It will definitely sound considerably 'better' than CDs on quite a few things but probably by no means all things.

It may or may not sound better than 24/192 recordings if you have some good ones. The 24/192 versions of the 2009 remixes of the first 4 REM LPs sound awesome to my ears. I don't bother with all that ABX stuff. I don't have the time or the inclination and, since I am not claiming anything absolute, it doesn't matter. Like PumaCat, my mind is still open on 24/192 but I have been very impressed with about 75% of the recordings I have heard (maybe 25).

If you decide you don't like the Turntable and it is too much hassle then you can sell it on Ebay and you will get at least 50% back, sometimes 75%. If you can find one to buy second hand on Ebay that is close enough to drive to pick up, then you may even get most of your money back or just be $1-200 out of pocket.

And now a small, on topic, Sciiterism.

Some Bifrost Ubers have just arrived in the UK, and my name is on one of them. I am looking forward to finding out what a 'good' DAC sounds like because I have only heard a £30 ES9023 through my HiFi so far, and that blew my socks off with 24/192, which was entirely unexpected.

I also learned a lot about Phono stages from Jason's chapter. I had always assumed they were a simple box that had been invented by the HiFi industry to squeeze a bit more cash out of us. All Amplifiers used to have a Phono stage until the late 80s (guess). As fortune would have it my old Musical Fidelity phono stage packed up a week ago. So now I have another fun filled HiFi buying opportunity to look forward to, informed by all that extra knowledge. Whoopee.

BackToAnalogues's Little Known Vinyl Factoids #2

Do not even think about buying a USB turntable. If this sounds odd to you then think about what it is actually doing.

Same time, same channel - Static Electricity.

 

[BackToAnalogue]

 
Gawd, I hate vinyl.  Sure, a prestine record can sound wonderful on a precisely-calibrated system.  But once I hear the clicks and pops, I'm done with it.



I have recently discovered the radio stations collection CDs of live band recordings off of their morning drive shows, that they produce annually for charity, foodbanks, etc.  Straight pristine reproductions of their favorite songs from the various visiting groups or artists on tour around the country that year.


 


Just as performed; no congesting, mixing or remastering.  Simple, pure and faithful to the performance, and actually imparting a sense of being there.  Sweet.  With the proper conversion equipment, digital is coming right around...   

 

 



Have you heard the recent CSNY 74 new release which Graham Nash spent 2 years putting together from 9 really excellent 8 track recordings they had made and carefully stored in a protective environment. Only available on CD unless you fell like spending $1000 on a vinyl boxset. That is the best demonstration I have heard of this very important fact. The less you mess around with it the better it sounds.

Anyone who says CDs always sound crap should listen to this through a good modern DAC.

The second best demonstration of this is to listen to a good first pressing of Electric Ladyland all the way through. I can tell which tracks were recorded in London more or less live onto 4-track with a handful of overdubs and those which were recorded in the new Electric Ladyland 8-track studio in NY and then messed around with to add all of the psychedelic stuff and soundscapes etc. No surprise which I prefer, though I enjoy them all.

 

[yay101]

Eh, i'm yet to hear a vinyl system that can beat an odac and a nice recording. Doesn't matter if it's $100 or $20000, I've never been impressed.

For $4000 more you can have one less click or crackle per song! Yay!

 

[BirdManOfCT]

 

 

  Gawd, I hate vinyl.  Sure, a prestine record can sound wonderful on a precisely-calibrated system.  But once I hear the clicks and pops, I'm done with it.
   
  My first CD was Graceland back in about '87.  It sounded screechy and horrible.  But I loved it because there was no "wow and flutter" or tracking errors, or static, or...
   
  Thankfully, digital is beginning to live up to its promise.  There is no excuse for the crappy masters inflicted on us in the 80's, and thankfully, even though a bunch of people (rightly) bemoan the loudness wars, there is truly excellent material being produced on CD, and even DVD-A and blu-ray.

   
  I have recently discovered the radio stations collection CDs of live band recordings off of their morning drive shows, that they produce annually for charity, foodbanks, etc.  Straight pristine reproductions of their favorite songs from the various visiting groups or artists on tour around the country that year.
   
  Just as performed; no congesting, mixing or remastering.  Simple, pure and faithful to the performance, and actually imparting a sense of being there.  Sweet.  With the proper conversion equipment, digital is coming right around...   

 



Have you heard the recent CSNY 74 new release which Graham Nash spent 2 years putting together from 9 really excellent 8 track recordings they had made and carefully stored in a protective environment. Only available on CD unless you fell like spending $1000 on a vinyl boxset. That is the best demonstration I have heard of this very important fact. The less you mess around with it the better it sounds.
 

 
Which CD is that?

 

[BackToAnalogue]

Originally Posted by jacal01 /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I have recently discovered the radio stations collection CDs of live band recordings off of their morning drive shows, that they produce annually for charity, foodbanks, etc.  Straight pristine reproductions of their favorite songs from the various visiting groups or artists on tour around the country that year.

Just as performed; no congesting, mixing or remastering.  Simple, pure and faithful to the performance, and actually imparting a sense of being there.  Sweet.  With the proper conversion equipment, digital is coming right around...   

I lived in the UK back in the day, and I read the hi-fi (what they called it before someone invented "audiophile") magazines. Some highly respected bespectacled boffin opined (and I believed him, based on personal experimentation) that the highest fidelity musical experience available to the house-bound was live FM.


Yes, frequency-modulated over-the-air radio.

The BBC used to send their very best out to broadcast classical music. They would mic up a concert hall, then sit out in their broadcast trucks and send the live results out the world - minimal compression, no processing, just careful mic placement and gain riding. This is the environment that the BBC LS3/5a was spawned in - a speaker design that's about to have its 40th anniversary and is still used as a comparison for modern mini-monitors (read any review of the KEF LS50 speaker, a current well-deserved darling).

I dropped as much as I could on a Magnum-Dynalab tuner and paid some yobbo to put a decent FM ariel on the roof of my rental flat.


Oh. My. God.


Talk about the nearest thing to live music!

But recording it lost the magic, even with dbx on top-notch tape decks. Most of it wasn't actually "recorded" by the BBC, especially with regard to re-broadcast (or re-production) - it was just logged in case someone called in with a language complaint.


 


I've come close to that experience with some of the NPR broadcasts, but nothing has matched those old BBC live shows. Nobody in the world believes in FM any more, for a start. And as we've complained many times, most recorded music is over-produced and over-compressed.

 


That is a very interesting observation and has answered a question I have had for over 40 years.

It was common back then for HiFi mags to say that FM was the best quality source available and I could never understand this because to me it was clearly inferior. You only have to listen to one of the old European live FM concert recordings which are being released semi-legally on Vinyl by some small labels . You won't play it more than once. The one I bought just has that 'flat' sound which is so familiar.

My Dad (who introduced me to all this) always listened to all of these broadcasts and used to rave about them, but I never understood why, and often argued with him about it. Because I never got Opera or most Classical, I didn't listen to them properly myself.

That explains it. So thanks, another mystery solved.

 

[BackToAnalogue]

   

 

 
Which CD is that?

This one
 

 
I don't often find myself saying that a new CD Box set is brilliant value for money. This is not only great sound and great music (nearly 4 hours worth) throughout, but the package is great as well. The booklet has loads of info and good photos. Graham Nash should be given some kind of music industry award for this. He has done a fabulous job. If like me you are a fan of 'Mr Shaky' then you will know that this was recorded during his 'golden period' and this CD does not disappoint if you are. There is a lot of material from On The Beach and I think 4 or possibly 5 previously unreleased songs a couple of which have never made it onto a bootleg either.
 
I do have to confess an ulterior motive. I would love one of those $1000 limited edition vinyl boxsets and I am hoping that nice man from Manchester may read this if he does get an award and will then feel generously inclined to send me a free one lol.

 

[judmarc]

Love my digital system, but no reason to give up a couple thousand LPs of great music. Even if most of it made it to CD or computer files, why re-buy what you already have? My inexpensive turntable and 45 year old copy of Tommy will raise every hair on the back of your neck when that first electric guitar chord from Pinball Wizard comes crashing in.

 

[johnjen]

 

 
 

BackToAnalogue's Little Known Vinyl Factoids #1



Vinyl LPs are self repairing.

 


  That’s good to hear.  :thumb
  I still have my Lynn with unipivot arm and I don't remember which cart is in it…
  I spent many many hrs tweaking it, which was a necessary part of the fun at the time.
  I too have many many albums some of which still aren't (and may never be) available in any other format.
  I really miss not being able to hear some of them.
  Perhaps, at least for me anyway, the state of the tweak is a 'necessary' part of the hobby.
  But I do so enjoy the exhilaration when a tweak opens up whole new avenues of sonic nuances and inner details.  It doesn't always happen but when it does its like getting money for nuth'n and yer chicks for free…  

  JJ

 


I agree, messing around with stuff is what a lot of us blokes like doing. My recent 'messing around with stuff' has been all about trying to get an HD music and video streaming network running all over my house that is good enough to get 24/192 into every room. And to do it cheaply using standard kit and software. A lot of fun if you do it properly, but serious brain ache, and still WIP.

snip

Same time, same channel - Static Electricity.

 
Thanks for all of that.  :thumb
Which leads me to the next question what is a comparable front end for these choices?
And the only requirement I have is, it must have balanced outputs… (once I went balanced, SE just doesn't quite measure up anymore)
 
JJ

 

[BackToAnalogue]

I have absolutely no idea. But someone else might suggest something Schiit.

 

[davidsh]

It seems to me schiit has grown rather fond of feedback in their latest amp alteration. One hears many opinion for and against feedback.
Jason or anyone else, can you perhaps sum up the pros and cons of feedback?

 

[Chris J]

Love my digital system, but no reason to give up a couple thousand LPs of great music. Even if most of it made it to CD or computer files, why re-buy what you already have? My inexpensive turntable and 45 year old copy of Tommy will raise every hair on the back of your neck when that first electric guitar chord from Pinball Wizard comes crashing in.

There actually is a middle ground!
Sir, I fully agree, there is a place for both formats.
Thank you!

It seems to me schiit has grown rather fond of feedback in their latest amp alteration. One hears many opinion for and against feedback.
Jason or anyone else, can you perhaps sum up the pros and cons of feedback?

Are you actually serious?
Practically speaking, you'll already gone thru more than a few amplifying stages with high feedback amplifiers in the recording, mixing and mastering stages, even if you are using a fully digital recording mixing mastering process, before you even get to the replay process.

For example:
Mic pre-amp
Analog to digital converter.

The ugly truth is feedback is everywhere, it's impossible to build an amplifier without feedback.
It may be global, it may be local, show me an amplifying stage and I'll show you feedback, some is actually inherent to the amplifying device, you can't get rid of it.