Old Pa
Headphoneus Supremus
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- Dec 9, 2001
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Amateur optical digital sound recording has been available for years. While professional CD sound recording successfully employed analog and digital magnetic tape technology as an intermediate step to the highly successful CD consumer format, consumer DAT (digital audio tape) proved problematic and ultimately failed. Consumer optical audio recording, CDR and the like, had its origins in personal computing and thrived initially on download program material from the Internet. I know a number of people who bought all the hardware and software for this at MSRP, paid big bucks for DSL and cable internet connections, and are now surrounded with stacks of CDR recordings they have never listened to since recording because it was “free”. To these bold (and larcenous) individuals, we owe a debt of gratitude in sound recording. They paid for the research and development that evolved consumer optical audio recording. They showed us the audio formats that were good and bad. They did both with their own money.
While it is rare for a compulsive equipment junkie, perhaps there is that exquisite pleasure of discovering a piece of new equipment (which has evolved outside of your awareness) and is now available fully developed, especially when significant price breaks and other incentives now exist. Such a piece of audio recording equipment is the Alesis MasterLink 9600. It is no overstatement to say this VCR-sized component has capabilities that used to fill entire recording studios’ editing suites and that old guys like me would have literally killed to have had these capabilities thirty years ago. This unit has received many accolades from within the sound recording profession and the critical press. Readers are especially directed to Stereophile’s review of the unit in the June 2002 issue [http://www.stereophile.com/showarchives.cgi?605] and to the Alesis website [http://www.alesis.com/products/ml9600/index.html}. I will try to make my comments here supplementary to this excellent review.
Alesis MasterLink 9600 Overview
The Alesis MasterLink 9600 incorporates a CD player/CDR burner, 20GB hard drive, and suite of software driven editing and digital sound processing (DSP) tools in a single unit. It serves, essentially, as a digital recorder and mixdown unit. The unit reviewed is of later production and incorporates a larger 20GB hard drive and updated software which make it substantially superior to earlier units with 4.1GB hard drives and earlier software. Provisions are made for balanced and unbalanced analog and digital inputs and outputs that are all simultaneously active. The power cord is of the removable IEC type. The internal CD player can record directly to the internal hard drive. There is provision for headphone monitoring with separate volume control. The unit is shipped with a clear, well-written manual, although it does not provide as extensive a discussion of ML9600 options as some might desire.
In essence, The ML9600 allows its operator to record playlists of tracks from various audio sources and media to its hard drive at a variety of word lengths and sampling rates. Those recorded playlist tracks may then be ordered and edited on the hard drive and modified with extensive DSP (digital signal processing) tools. Edited and processed tracks may then be played at high resolution from the hard drive, and may be recorded as modified onto CDRs in either redbook (16bit/44Mhz) or CD24 format. All of these steps have considerable flexibility as to options; imagine this as a full audio recording toolbox limited primarily by the operator’s knowledge and creativity. Sound-on-sound and sound-over-sound techniques, however, remain beyond the capabilities of the unit.
The unit’s headphone output, despite its separate volume control pot, is essentially gutless and would not drive my Sennheiser HD600s satisfactorily. When used in standalone mode, I had to use my Sony MDR V6s with the 9600 to obtain satisfactory volume and detail. This is unfortunate, as headphone use is a necessary adjunct to audio editing and mixdown.
Initially, the MasterLink 9600 was used in stand alone mode, utilizing its internal CD player to transfer original CD tracks to the hard drive. Later testing pitted this internal hard drive against my Arcam and then from the Planar/Glider combination to look at archiving mechanics and sound quality. The MasterLink was inputted through the Bryston B25MC through balanced terminals and L.A.T. IC-200 Mk II interconnects to further test its performance. The Alesis analog output occupies one set of a Maxed Out Home Reference’s dual inputs for critical auditioning through my Cardas-corded HD600s and Etymotic 4S. My related audio equipment use in this test and review is detailed in my profile.
Operation
As noted in Stereophile, the Alesis owner’s manual for the MasterLink 9600 covers the high points of operation without substantive discussion of some useful operations (deleting a playlist, for example) or suggested DSP settings and specific uses. Since this is a creative tool, like a camera, perhaps “artistic” advice is beyond its scope. I would have appreciated some short discussion with each of the DSP tools of common applications and settings. In the end, the DSP tool I used principally in these test was normalization, which sets track’s levels individually after they are on the hard drive to provide full dynamic range for playback of a playlist and when a CD is eventually burned. In this function, the normalization DSP tool worked flawlessly. The 9600 has two basic operating modes; “HD” when recording to or playing from the internal hard disk or creating CDs from the hard disk and “CD” when playing back pre-recorded CDs or when copying CD tracks to the hard disk. HD has options as to word length and sampling rates that are superior to the “red book” CD standards. Word length and sampling rates were chosen on the 9600 to compliment the resolution of each track’s original source material. As CD tracks from the internal CD player are transferred to the hard drive (and then from the hard drive to the CDR being burned) as bit-streams and without digital-analog conversions, sequential layering of artifacts from multiple DACs is eliminated.
Operation of the 9600 is through front panel and remote mounted pushbuttons and a large custom front panel display. I thought user interface was intuitive, and quickly transferred from reading the manual to operating the controls. The manual’s organization clarity and (relative) brevity made it most useful as an operational reference. You could quickly find the “cookbook” instructions for each basic operation. Many common operations required only singe keystrokes, all multiple keystroke operations user interface were intuitive with appropriate display prompts. I was quickly making playlist from CDs, manipulating track order, applying normalization DSP, and burning excellent redbook CDs.
Sound Quality
The owner of a MasterLink 9600 can expect to produce redbook CDs essentially indistinguishable from their source CDs. My CD test sample for the HeadRoom Tour stop locally was 65 minutes worth of 9 varied tracks transferred, DSPed, and burned onto a CD in an hour’s time on the 9600 the afternoon of the show. This is also my sampler for auditioning new equipment at local shops. While there are subtle distinctions between my Arcam FMJ and the 9600’s internal CD player, the 9600’s performance is fully capable to uncovering distinctions between source software of any tested format and front-end components. I would say, however, that the 9600’s CD performance is a bit more analytic/harder/brighter than the Arcam without being in any way unpleasant, and the 9600 CD player’s bass response was slightly less warm and round. Both differences were rather along the line of DACs (digital analog converters) of the Burr-Brown type.
The performance of the Alesis MasterLink 9600 was equally as rewarding through headphones as it was through speakers. Headphones are clearly the choice for assembling the playlists, editing and parsing individual tracks recorded from analog sources, and selecting and sampling the DSP tool that compliment each playlist track.
Archiving – How to love vinyl and tape to “bits”
A primary domestic application of the MasterLink 9600 will be to archive analogue software (vinyl and tape) to CD form for convenience and to avoid playing wear to the original sources. Testing this function occasioned major delay as it arose while I was in the midst of interconnect revisions and everything had to “settle” to give my tests their best shot. I was delighted with the results. While the 9600 allows creation of both red book CDs and CD24 CDs; these formats are not playback compatible, but CD24 allows word lengths up to 24-bit and sampling rates up to 96 kHz. Needless to say, CD24 CDs necessarily have less recording space with this increased informational density. Redbook CDs have up to 80 minutes of space while the CD24 process reduces this to 69.6 to 21.3 minutes depending on the bit and rate parameters selected; it could take you one CD to archive each vinyl LP side at 24 bit 96kHz resolution.
Once copied to the MasterLink’s hard disk, the full range of the 9600’s editing and DSP toolbox may be applied to analog source track selections. These include track cropping, splitting, and joining, and compression, parametric equalization, look-ahead peak limiting, and normalizing. For the purposes of these initial tests, clean unmodified tracks were copied for redbook and CD24 transfer.
My overall impression of analog source transfers utilizing the MasterLink 9600 is that the chief limiting factor is the final CD playback mechanism; How do you like the sound of your CD transport/DAC? To my ears, the sound quality and resolution of red book CDs was significantly better through my Arcam FMJ 23 than through the MasterLink’s internal CD player. Differences included more detail, less fatiguing, and no grain or brightness. Make no mistake, the MasterLink is capable to recording analog sources with such resolution that individual analog component trains may be differentiated; the cartridge, pre-amp (or tape deck electronics) and interconnect differences are all faithfully recorded and reproduced. Performance of the 9600’s CD section was more similar to my Denon 3700 and Ahh! 4000 (that share its Burr-Brown DAC design). The choice then becomes one of preference of audio values in the CD transport/DAC chosen for playing the archived analog copy.
Conclusions
With the Alesis MasterLink 9600 I was able to take the proverbial “rock from my shoe” of going from cassette to optical mixdown and mastering and do it ENTIRELY WITHOUT BUYER’S REMORSE! This second part is so rare that it is especially noteworthy. If you have the available funds (and even if you don’t, if your interests are similar to mine in this area), purchase of the Alesis MasterLink 9600 for $999.99 with free shipping and 150 free CDRs in a “no brainer”. A word of warning, however: be prepared to lose large amounts of time akin to when you started web surfing. Many a night, I was up two or three hours longer than necessary to commune with my 9600. The MasterLink 9600 is a powerful, flexible audio tool that will make you think you are rubbing elbows with the recording professionals who have already clasped it to their collective bosoms. It also proved a jealous mistress to me, leading to rediscovery from my music collection and revitalization of the audio hardware assemblage, not to mention effecting a quantum leap in my car audio performance and flexibility. HDCD processing and alternate format (SACD/DVD-A) compatibility would have been appreciated, in the end that’s the worst that can be said about the MasterLink 9600.
While it is rare for a compulsive equipment junkie, perhaps there is that exquisite pleasure of discovering a piece of new equipment (which has evolved outside of your awareness) and is now available fully developed, especially when significant price breaks and other incentives now exist. Such a piece of audio recording equipment is the Alesis MasterLink 9600. It is no overstatement to say this VCR-sized component has capabilities that used to fill entire recording studios’ editing suites and that old guys like me would have literally killed to have had these capabilities thirty years ago. This unit has received many accolades from within the sound recording profession and the critical press. Readers are especially directed to Stereophile’s review of the unit in the June 2002 issue [http://www.stereophile.com/showarchives.cgi?605] and to the Alesis website [http://www.alesis.com/products/ml9600/index.html}. I will try to make my comments here supplementary to this excellent review.
Alesis MasterLink 9600 Overview
The Alesis MasterLink 9600 incorporates a CD player/CDR burner, 20GB hard drive, and suite of software driven editing and digital sound processing (DSP) tools in a single unit. It serves, essentially, as a digital recorder and mixdown unit. The unit reviewed is of later production and incorporates a larger 20GB hard drive and updated software which make it substantially superior to earlier units with 4.1GB hard drives and earlier software. Provisions are made for balanced and unbalanced analog and digital inputs and outputs that are all simultaneously active. The power cord is of the removable IEC type. The internal CD player can record directly to the internal hard drive. There is provision for headphone monitoring with separate volume control. The unit is shipped with a clear, well-written manual, although it does not provide as extensive a discussion of ML9600 options as some might desire.
In essence, The ML9600 allows its operator to record playlists of tracks from various audio sources and media to its hard drive at a variety of word lengths and sampling rates. Those recorded playlist tracks may then be ordered and edited on the hard drive and modified with extensive DSP (digital signal processing) tools. Edited and processed tracks may then be played at high resolution from the hard drive, and may be recorded as modified onto CDRs in either redbook (16bit/44Mhz) or CD24 format. All of these steps have considerable flexibility as to options; imagine this as a full audio recording toolbox limited primarily by the operator’s knowledge and creativity. Sound-on-sound and sound-over-sound techniques, however, remain beyond the capabilities of the unit.
The unit’s headphone output, despite its separate volume control pot, is essentially gutless and would not drive my Sennheiser HD600s satisfactorily. When used in standalone mode, I had to use my Sony MDR V6s with the 9600 to obtain satisfactory volume and detail. This is unfortunate, as headphone use is a necessary adjunct to audio editing and mixdown.
Initially, the MasterLink 9600 was used in stand alone mode, utilizing its internal CD player to transfer original CD tracks to the hard drive. Later testing pitted this internal hard drive against my Arcam and then from the Planar/Glider combination to look at archiving mechanics and sound quality. The MasterLink was inputted through the Bryston B25MC through balanced terminals and L.A.T. IC-200 Mk II interconnects to further test its performance. The Alesis analog output occupies one set of a Maxed Out Home Reference’s dual inputs for critical auditioning through my Cardas-corded HD600s and Etymotic 4S. My related audio equipment use in this test and review is detailed in my profile.
Operation
As noted in Stereophile, the Alesis owner’s manual for the MasterLink 9600 covers the high points of operation without substantive discussion of some useful operations (deleting a playlist, for example) or suggested DSP settings and specific uses. Since this is a creative tool, like a camera, perhaps “artistic” advice is beyond its scope. I would have appreciated some short discussion with each of the DSP tools of common applications and settings. In the end, the DSP tool I used principally in these test was normalization, which sets track’s levels individually after they are on the hard drive to provide full dynamic range for playback of a playlist and when a CD is eventually burned. In this function, the normalization DSP tool worked flawlessly. The 9600 has two basic operating modes; “HD” when recording to or playing from the internal hard disk or creating CDs from the hard disk and “CD” when playing back pre-recorded CDs or when copying CD tracks to the hard disk. HD has options as to word length and sampling rates that are superior to the “red book” CD standards. Word length and sampling rates were chosen on the 9600 to compliment the resolution of each track’s original source material. As CD tracks from the internal CD player are transferred to the hard drive (and then from the hard drive to the CDR being burned) as bit-streams and without digital-analog conversions, sequential layering of artifacts from multiple DACs is eliminated.
Operation of the 9600 is through front panel and remote mounted pushbuttons and a large custom front panel display. I thought user interface was intuitive, and quickly transferred from reading the manual to operating the controls. The manual’s organization clarity and (relative) brevity made it most useful as an operational reference. You could quickly find the “cookbook” instructions for each basic operation. Many common operations required only singe keystrokes, all multiple keystroke operations user interface were intuitive with appropriate display prompts. I was quickly making playlist from CDs, manipulating track order, applying normalization DSP, and burning excellent redbook CDs.
Sound Quality
The owner of a MasterLink 9600 can expect to produce redbook CDs essentially indistinguishable from their source CDs. My CD test sample for the HeadRoom Tour stop locally was 65 minutes worth of 9 varied tracks transferred, DSPed, and burned onto a CD in an hour’s time on the 9600 the afternoon of the show. This is also my sampler for auditioning new equipment at local shops. While there are subtle distinctions between my Arcam FMJ and the 9600’s internal CD player, the 9600’s performance is fully capable to uncovering distinctions between source software of any tested format and front-end components. I would say, however, that the 9600’s CD performance is a bit more analytic/harder/brighter than the Arcam without being in any way unpleasant, and the 9600 CD player’s bass response was slightly less warm and round. Both differences were rather along the line of DACs (digital analog converters) of the Burr-Brown type.
The performance of the Alesis MasterLink 9600 was equally as rewarding through headphones as it was through speakers. Headphones are clearly the choice for assembling the playlists, editing and parsing individual tracks recorded from analog sources, and selecting and sampling the DSP tool that compliment each playlist track.
Archiving – How to love vinyl and tape to “bits”
A primary domestic application of the MasterLink 9600 will be to archive analogue software (vinyl and tape) to CD form for convenience and to avoid playing wear to the original sources. Testing this function occasioned major delay as it arose while I was in the midst of interconnect revisions and everything had to “settle” to give my tests their best shot. I was delighted with the results. While the 9600 allows creation of both red book CDs and CD24 CDs; these formats are not playback compatible, but CD24 allows word lengths up to 24-bit and sampling rates up to 96 kHz. Needless to say, CD24 CDs necessarily have less recording space with this increased informational density. Redbook CDs have up to 80 minutes of space while the CD24 process reduces this to 69.6 to 21.3 minutes depending on the bit and rate parameters selected; it could take you one CD to archive each vinyl LP side at 24 bit 96kHz resolution.
Once copied to the MasterLink’s hard disk, the full range of the 9600’s editing and DSP toolbox may be applied to analog source track selections. These include track cropping, splitting, and joining, and compression, parametric equalization, look-ahead peak limiting, and normalizing. For the purposes of these initial tests, clean unmodified tracks were copied for redbook and CD24 transfer.
My overall impression of analog source transfers utilizing the MasterLink 9600 is that the chief limiting factor is the final CD playback mechanism; How do you like the sound of your CD transport/DAC? To my ears, the sound quality and resolution of red book CDs was significantly better through my Arcam FMJ 23 than through the MasterLink’s internal CD player. Differences included more detail, less fatiguing, and no grain or brightness. Make no mistake, the MasterLink is capable to recording analog sources with such resolution that individual analog component trains may be differentiated; the cartridge, pre-amp (or tape deck electronics) and interconnect differences are all faithfully recorded and reproduced. Performance of the 9600’s CD section was more similar to my Denon 3700 and Ahh! 4000 (that share its Burr-Brown DAC design). The choice then becomes one of preference of audio values in the CD transport/DAC chosen for playing the archived analog copy.
Conclusions
With the Alesis MasterLink 9600 I was able to take the proverbial “rock from my shoe” of going from cassette to optical mixdown and mastering and do it ENTIRELY WITHOUT BUYER’S REMORSE! This second part is so rare that it is especially noteworthy. If you have the available funds (and even if you don’t, if your interests are similar to mine in this area), purchase of the Alesis MasterLink 9600 for $999.99 with free shipping and 150 free CDRs in a “no brainer”. A word of warning, however: be prepared to lose large amounts of time akin to when you started web surfing. Many a night, I was up two or three hours longer than necessary to commune with my 9600. The MasterLink 9600 is a powerful, flexible audio tool that will make you think you are rubbing elbows with the recording professionals who have already clasped it to their collective bosoms. It also proved a jealous mistress to me, leading to rediscovery from my music collection and revitalization of the audio hardware assemblage, not to mention effecting a quantum leap in my car audio performance and flexibility. HDCD processing and alternate format (SACD/DVD-A) compatibility would have been appreciated, in the end that’s the worst that can be said about the MasterLink 9600.
