[tonykaz]

Garbage in - Garbage out
 
We've always had this problem, it was a significant component of the Turntable debates starting 40 years ago.  Good Vinyl recordings were alway rare with Audiophile level Recordings numbering in the hundreds but not in the thousands.  We saw a ray of hope when Sheffield and Doug Sax created Direct to Disc and Reference Recording's Johnson gave us superb pressings.  
 
Music recorded for and to Audiophile sensibilities is being released, even by mainstream Studios and Distribution Systems like Clive Davis, and all the rest. We can (still) complain about R&B music created for Car Radio Drive Time Commutes being gawd-awful, however I just bought a Melody Gardot (2015) "Currency of Man" Verve thats A+. ( from a Headfier recommendation ), in fact I'd say that I'm not at all running into the Compressed problem that folks seem to be complaining about.  But, then again, maybe I've spent Decades suffering with crappy Vinyl and am delighted with the consistently B+ to A+ levels of music reproduction I get thru my basic Schiit / Sennheiser system.  I know what it's like to buy a Beatles or Dylan Vinyl new, only to discover total crappy sound from it.  New music was much more of a Crap Shoot than it is today.
 
Recording Industry News is that Mastering is improving. Have a look at the Bob Katz writings to learn more ( or even the AIX Record Guy that blogs and is a Recording Professor at UCLA).
 
Tony in Michigan

 

[ToTo Man]

  Garbage in - Garbage out
 
We've always had this problem, it was a significant component of the Turntable debates starting 40 years ago.  Good Vinyl recordings were alway rare with Audiophile level Recordings numbering in the hundreds but not in the thousands.  We saw a ray of hope when Sheffield and Doug Sax created Direct to Disc and Reference Recording's Johnson gave us superb pressings.  
 
Music recorded for and to Audiophile sensibilities is being released, even by mainstream Studios and Distribution Systems like Clive Davis, and all the rest. We can (still) complain about R&B music created for Car Radio Drive Time Commutes being gawd-awful, however I just bought a Melody Gardot (2015) "Currency of Man" Verve thats A+. ( from a Headfier recommendation ), in fact I'd say that I'm not at all running into the Compressed problem that folks seem to be complaining about.  But, then again, maybe I've spent Decades suffering with crappy Vinyl and am delighted with the consistently B+ to A+ levels of music reproduction I get thru my basic Schiit / Sennheiser system.  I know what it's like to buy a Beatles or Dylan Vinyl new, only to discover total crappy sound from it.  New music was much more of a Crap Shoot than it is today.
 
Recording Industry News is that Mastering is improving. Have a look at the Bob Katz writings to learn more ( or even the AIX Record Guy that blogs and is a Recording Professor at UCLA).
 
Tony in Michigan

I must be unlucky then that most of the music I want to buy still suffers from the gratuitous (over)use of DRC.  I now make a habit of checking the dr-loudness database to learn what I'm letting myself in for with a particular release, thus reducing the 'crapshoot' element somewhat.  
 
IME the labels currently releasing stuff in my favoured genres who I can 100% trust to master with no added DRC are MFSL and Audio Fidelity / Analogue Productions (Steve Hoffman & Kevin Gray).  I just wish they would add some more recent releases to their catalogues as there is only so much 70s and 80s stuff you can remaster(!).

 

[XenHeadFi]

  .... in fact I'd say that I'm not at all running into the Compressed problem that folks seem to be complaining about.  But, then again, maybe I've spent Decades suffering with crappy Vinyl and am delighted with the consistently B+ to A+ levels of music reproduction I get thru my basic Schiit / Sennheiser system.

This is from a 2000 recording of a pretty popular pop song from Japan. I own the CD, ripped to FLAC, then LAME VBR at ~256kbps. As you can see, it clips nearly everywhere. Also see if you can find the "quiet" bits... . Whoever engineered this tried to win the loudness wars.
 
Checkout what happened to Def Leppard's Hysteria when it was remastered: http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=def+leppard&album=hysteria
 
Compression is a major issue especially with "modern" music starting from the late 1990's and "remasters".

 

[madwolfa]

I avoid all sorts of remasters like a plague. Unless it's DCC or whatever from Steve Hoffman.

 

[Starchild1]

Getting back to the Garbage in Garbage out article on DAR.  Since purchasing my Gumby I have been amazed at the fidelity available through standard resolution digital.  My purchases of hi-res files have dropped significantly  (though I still buy them).  I would agree that the quality of the recording is paramount, the quality of the renderer has to be the next most important variable.  I'm hearing stuff through my Gumby that I've never heard before on disks I've had for years.  Needless to say, I'm a very satisfiesd customer. Thank you Schiit Audio!! May you always have the wind in the your sails!

 

[Ableza]

  I avoid all sorts of remasters like a plague. Unless it's DCC or whatever from Steve Hoffman.

I'm the opposite: I buy every remaster I can.  Often they are much better than the originals, especially if the original was mastered for vinyl.  Sometimes not, but that's the way it goes.  ​

 

[tonykaz]

Garbage cont. 
 
I think all of us are pretty close to correct in our estimate.  
 
Maybe I can say that plenty of oldsters remember when everything was rather horrible and the good pressing was rare.  I buy reissued remastered Classical ( mostly ) to find it delightful and interesting beyond what it was like as new vinyl from Harmony House outlets ( back in the day).  Which has me wondering what success the new youth are having when they buy older garage-sale vinyl to play on one of Roy Hall's cheapo record players but, then again, it will give them a Context to work from, when they advance to a nice digital playback system, after-all they're following in our footsteps and will pick-up where and when we leave off. 
 
I encounter compressed music that I delete within 5 to 15 of the first seconds playback.  I rate unknown music by the first few seconds of playing which is a technique useful for exploring thru a few thousand songs in a short period of time. 
 
The dynamic range site dr.loudness, that Mr.XenHeadFi refers to, is wonderful and kinda shows that the need for 24 Bit is overstated and difficult to support since the actual dynamic range of recordings is well below the abilities of 16 bit.  ( I'm a dyed in the wool Red-Book 16/44 man ).  My claim is that 24/96 is 16/44 delivered in a much larger box requiring significantly larger storage capacities.  Maybe when we have internal memory in the 10 Terabyte range we can justify using packaging the size of 24-192 ( or greater ).
 
I'm not a Metal man so I don't have that nightmare.
 
Tony in Michigan

 

[FrivolsListener]

  I avoid all sorts of remasters like a plague. Unless it's DCC or whatever from Steve Hoffman.

 

  I'm the opposite: I buy every remaster I can.  Often they are much better than the originals, especially if the original was mastered for vinyl.  Sometimes not, but that's the way it goes.  ​

 
I'm with madwolfa.  I've been burned by too many butchered remasters.  I really need to find a place that sells used (and not too beat-up) CDs from the first 15 years of them.

 

[valiant66]

  I'm with madwolfa.  I've been burned by too many butchered remasters.  I really need to find a place that sells used (and not too beat-up) CDs from the first 15 years of them.

 
Come to Calgary. Recordland has eleventy ka-million CDs of all kinds and eras. And for those that swing that way, even more LPs. No website, of course, but here's their Yelp page.
 
http://www.yelp.ca/biz/recordland-calgary
 
Sadly, they're located within easy walking distance of my house... my wallet suffers, oh how it suffers.

 

[tonykaz]

Local Libraries have been buying Music CDs for the last couple of Decades, they will loan to anyone with a Library Card and represent a vast treasure trove, purchased by one of the staff delegated for that purpose ( usually the librarian with a nice Home Music System ).   My City has two fabulous Libraries that work in unison.  My neighboring City, Jude's home town, has 6 interlinked Libraries ( which I am registered as a Patron ).  The other surrounding Cities all have wonderful Libraries.  
 
Can't beat the price since you the Citizen already own these CDs and if you get to know the staff may even be able to influence purchases.  You might get yourself a Volunteer slot where influencing and access are enhanced.   My Library has the budget for and buys 10 to 30 new CDs per Month!, they even have a well designed storage, Catalog and maintenance system plus staffing.   
 
Tony in Michigan
 
ps.  Tyll just reviewed the Dharma headphones

 

[tonykaz]

Mr. Valiant66,
 
Where is Calgary?  that isn't up there in the frozen North, is it?, I see Snow in the pix.
 
Brrrrrrr, the place looks cold.
 
Hmm, a record store in the middle of the Vastness, who'd thought. Maybe theres hope that someone will open one here.   
 
Tony down in Michigan

 

[swannie007]

Tony, those folks in the frozen wastelands need to have some sort of indoor distraction once the physical activities have taken their toll on the body, hence the location of these treasure troves of recorded musical ecstasy to while away the hours whilst stuck indoors.

 

[bixby]

  iPhone developments 
 
The iPhone has changed everything.  Today, a person needs a Car and an iPhone to achieve any level of Career Success.  Family life flows thru their Phone devices, it connects everything that everyone does and it does it Globally & instantly.  I could show up at a meeting in Brussels with mis-matched shoes and people will chuckle, if I show up without my connectivity device my Bosses will tear my head off.  
 
The Schiit people seem to being doing well in the shipping department, they seem able to keep enough built to handle the demand ( I keep thinking they're gonna get too far behind but it hasn't seemed to happen ).  UPS, the Postal Service and FedEx are superb compared with what the rest of the entire world copes with ( even Canada takes waaaaaay longer ).  
 
Business folks that I encounter feel the Recovery ( here in the USA ) is nearly finished, we're about to see 10 years since the Mortgage Crash of 2007 and the Bubble bursting, ( it's always taken a decade to recover from a Bubble busting ), we seem to be coming out a bit early. I'm even hearing about the FED raising interest rates ( I hope they hold off a bit longer ).  Anyway, I think we'll see investment money flowing into the Personal Audio categories which will be focused on Phone devices: the next two to three years are gonna get fascinating devices, wonderful applications and expanded personal capabilities.  iPhone stuff is gonna go on a Tear!   ( according to Tony ). 
 
As an Audiophile I think we can thank Schiit for making Digital Music as prestigious and musical as the Glossy Press touts Vinyl to be.
Now, a humble headphone owner can think that his 16/44 music and a Multibit DAC equals or betters a Custom Pressed 33 ( for $50 ), he can stand tall against those Acid Spitting Turntable Guru set-up people the Glossy Press foist on us. Superb Digital Audio for Everyman has arrived!
We could use a nice Black Multibit T-shirt say'n "I'm Stand'n Tall & Proud" , "I got good Schiit" 
 
Tony in Michigan 

WOW Tony, a new record, 317 posts in a 600+ page thread.  And about 50% of all your posts.  I think Mr. Stoddard is going to have to credit you on the unabridged version of his book.  

 

 

[tonykaz]

Mr. Bixby in Colorado 
 
Thanks for the details of my keyboard scribbling.
 
I started out watching Schiit as part of a Business Group interested in the Internet Sales Channel, we're Automotive and concerned that our Dealer Networks might suddenly try a  shift into doing Internet distribution of New as they already do with Used Cars. 
 
Jason Stoddard's descriptions of his Company interested us, so I purchased a few Schiit items ( 4 or 5 that my wife knows about ) thereby investing and feeling like I have a stake in how Shiit progresses.   This Schiit Start-up thread feels like a good old-fashioned Campfire where folks can open up a lawn chair and say a few words to a group of kindred spirits. I feel like I'm just chatting away to all y'all fellow travelers not like I'm blogging ( feels more like Pen-Pals with a near instant quality ).  Anyway, this is a nice place to "hang-out" as Mr.Stoddard lets us "off the leash",  free to go places far off-topic ( like we're doing now ).   
 
I took a quick glimpse at your Site ( which I'll return to for a further look-see ).
 
Tony in Michigan

 

[Don Hills]

... I'm not a Metal man so I don't have that nightmare. ...

 
There is hope.
 
http://www.metal-fi.com/
 
Review of the Vali 2 on the front page...
http://www.metal-fi.com/the-schiit-wont-stop/
 
A signature I use sometimes:
You know something's wrong when a heavy metal album ends up less compressed than a semi-acoustic soul/blues album. (Iron Maiden, "The Final Frontier" versus Tom Jones, "Praise And Blame". Both mastered by Bob Ludwig.)