[Roy G. Biv]

It's funny because it's true…

Impossible.

You can't fix the destruction of dynamic range compression with an equalizer. Music that sounds congested, bloated, and lacks treble and detail is simply ruined.

There are CDs that I purchased having high hopes for that I simply dropped in the trash can after one listen.

I find this discussion interesting. I'm of the opinion that some (most?) new music is mastered to sound good on bad equipment. It has to be intentional. I also find this to be true of remasters of older albums. (Exceptions are plentiful, Steven Wilson's remasters of Jethro Tull and Yes come to mind.)

Think about it, many listeners get their music from lossy music services (Spotify) that they play through whatever player is available (iPhone, Android phones), through lossy codecs (OGG, AAC, MP3) through lossy wireless protocols (Bluetooth) into pods/HPs that are, at best, designed to a price point.

It brings into question the topic of "what the artist intended". Which "artist" is being discussed? The band? Recording engineer? Producer? Or is it the marketing department that insists that their music sound louder and more compressed to make it stand out from the others?

I'm not an audiophile. I'm a music lover that finds geeking out over stereo gear to be a fun pastime.

Finding music that sounds good on my 'good system' is much harder than finding music that sounds good on my 'other system'.

It's a paradox that is constantly frustrating.

 

[bcowen]

Better than a graphical user interface would be punched cards. Especially for Loki - you could have several decks for various settings. Read your deck in and then watch the knobs rotate to the correct positions! Punched card look and feel has not changed in decades.

And my wife thought she had issues with a VPI record cleaning machine in the living room...

 

[axle11]

Vandersteen 2CE Signature

I ran some Vandersteen 2CE Signatures with 2 Vidars as well. I’m now running Vandersteen Treos with the Vidars. Both produce great results.

 

[DennisLL]

I had a pair of 2C's years ago, and I run mono Vidar's in my system currently. I can appreciate how the Vandy's love the power that twin Vidar's provide.

And since you've never had a dedicated DAC before the real fun will start when you get your new Bifrost 2/64 tomorrow. I look forward to reading your impressions. Congrats on the upgrades!

I'm using 2 Aegirs with Vandersteen 2CE Signature III's. Really enjoying the them.

Do you find that the 2 Aegirs have enough power for your needs?

My loudspeakers have similar sensitivity to yours.
I would love to have a pair of Tyrs, but a pair of Aegirs might be more practical and easier to handle (financially and physically).

Yes, plenty loud for me using a Freya+ (tube stage) and peaks of 75db using a hand held meter. NIOSH SLM is available for free for iPhone. Room approx 12' x 18'.
Volume at 12-1 o'clock. And yes to trying the Tyr's too! I'm just really satisfied with setup now.
IIRC, I think Richard Vandersteen says his speakers sound best with tube amps.
Plus the Vandy Shoes worked good for my speakers. They are only available from their dealers.

 

[Odin412]

I'm not an audiophile. I'm a music lover that finds geeking out over stereo gear to be a fun pastime.

Finding music that sounds good on my 'good system' is much harder than finding music that sounds good on my 'other system'.

It's a paradox that is constantly frustrating.

Well said! Agree 100%.

 

[33na3rd]

I'm using 2 Aegirs with Vandersteen 2CE Signature III's. Really enjoying the them.

Yes, plenty loud for me using a Freya+ (tube stage) and peaks of 75db using a hand held meter. NIOSH SLM is available for free for iPhone. Room approx 12' x 18'.
Volume at 12-1 o'clock. And yes to trying the Tyr's too! I'm just really satisfied with setup now.
IIRC, I think Richard Vandersteen says his speakers sound best with tube amps.
Plus the Vandy Shoes worked good for my speakers. They are only available from their dealers.

Thank You!

 

[EricDH]

Here's a whacky idea for Jason and Mike:
As a spiritual sibling to the Buy Better Gear light, I'd really like to have a Your Gear's Too Damned F#@&ing Good button. Once pressed, the DAC toggles into Schiitty Source Mode that magically filters out all the crap and makes your bad recordings somewhat enjoyable again. Should be easy enough, right?!? I'm sure Mike can figure something out.

That will be THE GADGET rev.2 (as what you describe requires a music processor).

 

[Les Strat]

I find this discussion interesting. I'm of the opinion that some (most?) new music is mastered to sound good on bad equipment. It has to be intentional. I also find this to be true of remasters of older albums. (Exceptions are plentiful, Steven Wilson's remasters of Jethro Tull and Yes come to mind.)

Think about it, many listeners get their music from lossy music services (Spotify) that they play through whatever player is available (iPhone, Android phones), through lossy codecs (OGG, AAC, MP3) through lossy wireless protocols (Bluetooth) into pods/HPs that are, at best, designed to a price point.

It brings into question the topic of "what the artist intended". Which "artist" is being discussed? The band? Recording engineer? Producer? Or is it the marketing department that insists that their music sound louder and more compressed to make it stand out from the others?

I'm not an audiophile. I'm a music lover that finds geeking out over stereo gear to be a fun pastime.

Finding music that sounds good on my 'good system' is much harder than finding music that sounds good on my 'other system'.

It's a paradox that is constantly frustrating.

Nicely put @Roy G. Biv

I am also a music fan first and gear geek second

I have a few CDs which nearly ended up in the bin, as they sound so poor on what I consider to be a 'good' system.

I find Qobuz can be quite useful for seeking out different versions of albums- the variation in quality between remixes/remasters of the same album can be huge, and in my opinion, it is often far more significant than any 'tweaks' or upgrades to audio gear.

I am about to enter another expensive rabbit hole- vinyl- so it will be interesting to find out what my old albums sound like compared with later CD releases.
My vinyl albums have been boxed for over 20 years, but most are in very good condition.

All of them are original pressings, mainly from the 70s.

Several vinyl 'aficionados' who I have spoken to, believe that the sound quality of many new releases of old albums is terrible.
They are also very expensive!

These vinyl fans recommended that I seek out good quality, used copies of original pressings, especially for 70s music.

The only brand-new vinyl albums which I have bought (but have not yet tried) are Steven Wilson's Yes remixes and his 50th anniversary remix of Tull's 'Thick as a Brick'.
The Thick as a Brick vinyl is a half-speed master of his 2012 remix.
Whether 'half-speed mastering' is all hype, I have yet to find out..
In theory, it sounds a good idea.

I believe Mobile Fidelity Labs used this technology.

I thought this article, explaining the process, was quite interesting:
https://www.udiscovermusic.com/halfspeed/

Apologies to the many forum members who, I am sure, are already familiar with this process.

 

[ThanatosVI]

When will the LISST 6SN7 be available for purchase?

 

[lemp]

I find this discussion interesting. I'm of the opinion that some (most?) new music is mastered to sound good on bad equipment. It has to be intentional. I also find this to be true of remasters of older albums. (Exceptions are plentiful, Steven Wilson's remasters of Jethro Tull and Yes come to mind.)

Think about it, many listeners get their music from lossy music services (Spotify) that they play through whatever player is available (iPhone, Android phones), through lossy codecs (OGG, AAC, MP3) through lossy wireless protocols (Bluetooth) into pods/HPs that are, at best, designed to a price point.

It brings into question the topic of "what the artist intended". Which "artist" is being discussed? The band? Recording engineer? Producer? Or is it the marketing department that insists that their music sound louder and more compressed to make it stand out from the others?

I'm not an audiophile. I'm a music lover that finds geeking out over stereo gear to be a fun pastime.

Finding music that sounds good on my 'good system' is much harder than finding music that sounds good on my 'other system'.

It's a paradox that is constantly frustrating.

Not that I'm a professional musician.......
It is very common mixing advice to test out your mix on various systems. What does your target audience listen with? "Smart" speakers? IEMs or headphones that teens can afford? Car systems? Bluetooth speakers from your laptop or phone?

 

[wout31]

believe Mobile Fidelity Labs used this technology.

I thought this article, explaining the process, was quite interesting:

The half speed mastering was first used by Decca UK on their FFRR and FFSS releases in the fifties.
Decca UK was a pioneer in high quality audio registration.

Playing their early FFRR FFSS registrations with Decca London cartridge and a Decca uni-pivot arm (like Sol) are still marvelous to experience.

 

[porchwizard]

I think the 8086 is one of the most under-rated of Intel chips.

I have a different perspective on the 8086. Back in the day I did assembly language programming on 8086 zilog z8000 and motorola 68000 (custom OS and unix).
The 8086 was hobbled with backward compatability to the 8088 with limited instruction set, difficult and limited registers and no memory management to speak of. This bled forward into the 286, 386 and 486. For most, though, compilers and operating systems kept this all behind the curtain so to speak. It's primary feature was that it was part of the DOS / Windows juggernaut that we still have to live with.
It wasn't really until the Pentium, 15 years later (and really the Pentium III five years after that), that intel processors were really competitive on their own merits.

 

[artur9]

Not that I'm a professional musician.......
It is very common mixing advice to test out your mix on various systems. What does your target audience listen with? "Smart" speakers? IEMs or headphones that teens can afford? Car systems? Bluetooth speakers from your laptop or phone?

Why? Can't the device make the appropriate adjustments to a good mix?

 

[Ableza]

Hmm, I wonder if they have a good stock of 6SN7's and EL34's?

 

[artur9]

...
The 8086 was hobbled with ... limited instruction set, difficult and limited registers and no memory management to speak of. This bled forward into the 286, 386 and 486. ...

Having coded for the MC68K (a pleasure) then having to do the same for the 8x86 (nightmare) made me decide to avoid assembly language for the rest of my career.