[Riboge]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graphicism /img/forum/go_quote.gif You're not going to get an accurate reading from the computer, too many problems come into play, such as your sound card, how do you know it's correctly rendering the Khz etc? In a similar thread some time ago this test was posted and people with really crappy sound cards could hear everything, even Khz that are supposed to be inaudible to the human ear.

As I described earlier, I am going usb to a usb dac of high quality. Also, how far could the frequencies be off--surely not enough to make the test useless. Also, the relative level at different frequency regions is enough to tell one where hearing is reduced. Accuracy of +/-15% would be good enough for this purpose.

BTW, I used foobar's equalizer to compensate for my hearing curve, especially at 12kHz to 16kHz and still don't hear hiss!

 

[Graphicism]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riboge /img/forum/go_quote.gif As I described earlier, I am going usb to a usb dac of high quality. Also, how far could the frequencies be off--surely not enough to make the test useless. Also, the relative level at different frequency regions is enough to tell one where hearing is reduced. Accuracy of +/-15% would be good enough for this purpose. BTW, I used foobar's equalizer to compensate for my hearing curve, especially at 12kHz to 16kHz and still don't hear hiss!

Well I don't want to argue with you, all I'm saying is if you go to an otologist they arn't going to use some 'online test' and foobar to test your hearing.

If you still don't hear hiss which the creator Bob even said quite prominently exists in these files that's not the only thing you are missing. In this region lays all the lush highs of any song, a lot of head stage and critical detail, IMO without this you are left with a rather dull flat sound.

 

[Nandro]

I cant even get the hiss out with the eq without totally destroying the music. I have even tried it on my PCDP and my mini disc as well with no removal of that hiss sound at the high end, although looking at his graph I did that hearing test and my ears are very suceptible to high freq sound, as well as low. I even hear "The Hum" if you know what that is. I thought I was going nuts my whole life because I always heard it and no one else does, turns out its just a product of good hearing.

 

[Solitary1]

I never heard the hiss either, can't recall if I was using the X-Can v3 or the CK2III. I still have the tracks in iTunes, I'll re-listen this evening.....

 

[Riboge]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Graphicism /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you still don't hear hiss which the creator Bob even said quite prominently exists in these files that's not the only thing you are missing. In this region lays all the lush highs of any song, a lot of head stage and critical detail, IMO without this you are left with a rather dull flat sound.

Fortunately for many of us, that is not so. While some harmonics go above 12kHz, no fundamental note in music gets anywhere near this. You might be interested to check this link for a list of various instruments frequency ranges: http://www.tnt-audio.com/topics/frequency_e.html. No instrument gets above 4.2kHz. Doubtless, loss of upper harmonics does affect the fullest quality of musical sound to some degree and in certain ways, but these are subtle ways. Nothing like dull and flat results or loss of detail, except in the exaggerated and over-techy sense in which a little hiss makes these bad recordings.

Bob did say that there is hiss, and others have pointed out that there always is in tape recordings, that is, in most recordings. He said it prominently, I suppose, but not that it was prominent. He tells me that it is not, and I, of course, can only agree.

 

[Nandro]

Makes you wonder how as people hear the sound so differently, how we see things differently as well. I am one of those that hears the hiss to the point that is annoying to hear. My wife can't hear it but I am not sure she's aware what she's trying to hear or if i can just hear something she cannot.

 

[Riboge]

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[lowmagnet]

Just re-listened on my new DAC1 USB in 24/96 mode and still hear hiss. It's tape hiss, and not necessarily a bad thing. I'm not too worried about it, and I may get some of these files and convert them to ALAC for listening.

Very nice DR, unlike most rock/etc that I listen to.

 

[Jon L]

I just downloaded the Dvorak Violin Concerto from HDTT. Great performance and sound; there is a bit of hiss, which is easy to ignore. Recommended.

Which other downloads have people tried and like it?

 

[smithy]

I'm not only impressed with these recordings, but I am impressed with HDTT's equipment! It's enough to make any major label recording engineer drool, case in point... check out the burner they use to write their cds/dvds:

http://www.sonicstudio.com/products/hw/cd1.html

 

[germanium]

It depends on thee program you use to play it. Tried the flac plugin for Windows Media player. Very very loud hiss & severely distoted music on windows vista WMP11. VLC almost no hiss at all, very clean sound on Windows Vista.

 

[germanium]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LFF /img/forum/go_quote.gif I think Bob has some good points. Tape hiss is a good thing. There should always at least a small level of tape hiss when transferring from tapes. If there is no tape hiss - then something is wrong. If there is too much - then something is wrong. I have remastered a few things and the hiss always helps - I see it as a guiding point. However, vinyl will not always be noisy. When transfered properly (ie, good record source, in mint condition, with good calibrated needle and turntable, etc) vinyl will always sound superior to other formats. BLASPHEMY! No. Just ask the headfiers who have heard my transfers. Warm, true audiophile sound. No brickwall mastering and no, I do not use No-Noise. So why do some tapes sound bad? Well, tapes are meant to sound good. That is why artists record to tape. The problem with tape comes with the pre-recorded reels of yesteryears gone by. Often they were recorded at a faster speed (think bad 80's cassettes). When transferred properly using good equipment, a nice mint reel will sound very nice on speakers and even on headphones. Case in point - The Beatles released their albums on Ampex tape reels. I have mint transfers of these and the sound is indeed good and a hell of a lot better than the retail CDs but it in no way compares to a good high quality vinyl transfer. Anyway, I know I am going on and on. My point is, prerecorded tapes had their limits and transferring them is no easy task. From the sample I just heard, it seems Bob and his crew have done a FANTASTIC job transferring these tapes. I have yet to listen to all the samples. And yes - if your going to be listening to transfers on headphones, you are bound to hear more of the imperfections from the source. My suggestion would be to play it on speakers and enjoy the music. I'll post after I listen to the samples critically so I can give a better opinion.

Tape hiss actually can perform a function to improve digtal sound as it keeps the lower bits moving & this can reduce distortion & allow digital to reproduce sound below its own bit floor which without an artificialy higher noise flooor it cannot record below it's bit floor.

It wasn't untill they discovered this & started adding dither to fully digital recordings that fully digital recordings started sounding even half way decent in any wide dynamic range music.

Before dither was added to digital recordings any music softer than -60db was severely distorted & there was no sounds recorded below -90db. Dither allowed them to record down as low as -115db & still be reasonably low in distortion even though the signal was almost buried in noise. This dither is a random noise digitally added at between -90db & -84db, it was also in some cases noise shaped to push most of the noise out of hearing range for the average human. This allowed them to activate more bits & improve the sound even more.

Of coarse 24 bit systems don't need dither like the 16 bit systems did but dither & tape noise can still benefit 24 bit audio as more bits are kept moving by the added noise. The reason I say 24 bit audio doesn't really need dither is that the thermal noise of most input amps is sufficient to dither the lowest 1 or 2 bits in a 24 bit system & that alone is the reason you may very rarely see dynamic range of digital systems exceeding the 20 bit level I.E. 120db.

 

[Icarium]

I definitely hear the hiss on my system... my EMU 0404 usb isn't the highestly quality of DAC for sure... but let's make sure I have settings right on output I have it set to 24 bit in foobar and my EMU autodetected the 96 kHz and set itself to that.

On soft parts like usually in the beginning of songs and soft sections its pretty pronounced. When a multitude of instruments are playing it vanishes.

 

[Icarium]

Just swapped to my HD650s.. lots of hiss on the first track. A bit less on the second... next to none on the 3rd and none of the fourth.

I think overall the hiss is a lot less noticeable on my HD650s (Unbalanced btw).

 

[rb67]

Does anyone know when Symphonie Fantastique will be available for DL?

I must say, it was the sample of Symphonie Fantastique this site offered that started me off on my classical journey. I never seriously listened to classical and it was that Symphonie Fantastique recording that got me into it! I immediately went to the used CD store and bought it along with some other classical recommendations, and have been trying new things every week. I would really like to purchase Symphonie Fantastique as a notion of thanks.

Thanks Bob for getting me into classical.

Oh and yes I hear hiss, but what's so bad about that?! These recordings are recordings that you find anywhere else. They are excellent recordings! I wish I had enough money to purchase all of them. Removing the hiss would remove other details! Plus it makes my computer system sound analog

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