rjp
100+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 6, 2008
- Posts
- 182
- Likes
- 1
I've come across a little recording that will bring out the worst in your setup.
It's a performance of Mahler's Second Symphony at the University of Chicago, and the acid test comes in the final minutes of the last movement, as the entire chorus kicks into overdrive. With one and only one exception, everything I've tried that's available to me has severe distortion in the sopranos, at about 30:02, 30:40, 31:08, and 31:39, if I turn the sound up to match what I directly heard in the live performance (FYI, I was a tenor in the chorus). If I lower the volume, the distortion goes away - but then the quiet parts are too quiet.
The only combination that has worked for me is: burn the FLAC file to a CD, pop it into an ancient Technics FF-1, and plug an even more ancient pair of Koss Pro-4AAA vise grips directly into the player. Anything else (speakers, computers, car stereo, etc.) is either too quiet or gets the distortion.
This performance has a great deal of dynamic range, to the point that I feel it pushes the limits of 44.1 kHz 16-bit audio. The only mics I saw were up near the ceiling, with the chorus split in the balcony boxes (all sections on both sides). Mandel Hall is a rather small venue as well.
This is the one and only recording that I have which gives me any trouble... anything else is handled beautifully by my MDR-NC60 phones, which are vastly more comfortable and have better bass.
It's a performance of Mahler's Second Symphony at the University of Chicago, and the acid test comes in the final minutes of the last movement, as the entire chorus kicks into overdrive. With one and only one exception, everything I've tried that's available to me has severe distortion in the sopranos, at about 30:02, 30:40, 31:08, and 31:39, if I turn the sound up to match what I directly heard in the live performance (FYI, I was a tenor in the chorus). If I lower the volume, the distortion goes away - but then the quiet parts are too quiet.
The only combination that has worked for me is: burn the FLAC file to a CD, pop it into an ancient Technics FF-1, and plug an even more ancient pair of Koss Pro-4AAA vise grips directly into the player. Anything else (speakers, computers, car stereo, etc.) is either too quiet or gets the distortion.
This performance has a great deal of dynamic range, to the point that I feel it pushes the limits of 44.1 kHz 16-bit audio. The only mics I saw were up near the ceiling, with the chorus split in the balcony boxes (all sections on both sides). Mandel Hall is a rather small venue as well.
This is the one and only recording that I have which gives me any trouble... anything else is handled beautifully by my MDR-NC60 phones, which are vastly more comfortable and have better bass.