[HumanFly]

This Scott Kramer guy who drops by here from time to time has this modded ModiMB that accepts i2s from a raspberry.
So it is possible but it might be pointless from a vendor point of view.
He claims it is great btw so it probably sounds better than hemmoroidal ass
But that is what kinda got me curious about i2s and why nobody seems to use it.
I guess when it is adopted there will be just as much piss and vinegar about i2s as there is about optical and usb now.

And if you can build your own pc you will probably be able to connect a cable to some i2s pins as well.
I say probably.

 

[winders]

I'm having a hard time getting into classical. I turn up the quiet violin parts so I can hear all the little details and then bam the horns come in and blow my face off. I'm all for dynamic range but it's a bit too much in the classical that I've heard.

That's kind of the point....you know...to replicate the live experience. I remember buying a dbx 224 decoder and dbx encoded Classical vinyl back in the early 80's just to get the sound experience you are complaining about. The dbx hardware offered up to 120db of dynamic range compared to the measly 90db you can get with CDs. Many people would like more dynamic range in their music assuming they have the equipment and listening environment to take advantage of it.

 

[wingsounds13]

So I²S sounding like crap is based on early bastardized implementations of I²S that were not true to spec. That is understandable, and those should sound better than S/PDIF but worse than the three line implementation of I²S or BWD. I guess that for now we are stuck with the worst of the three schemes using the single line comprised of (and compromising) data with embedded clock because everybody uses this well established standard.

Oh Well... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

J.P.

 

[rkw]

when i want to cleanse my palate i listen to the complete haydn symphonies.

That's hardcore and you're in rare company. Even among classical enthusiasts, few have heard Haydn symphonies outside of the most popular dozen or so. The remaining 90% are rarely performed, recorded, or broadcast. This is similar even for Mozart symphonies.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

My Dorati cycle is quite pleasant, though for the London symphonies obviously Harnoncourt, Karajan, Böhm, Gardiner, etc. are going to give more interesting performances. Apparently Mr Hogwood has also done a cycle, as has Mr Fischer (the best deal rn it seems to be found here), and another group effort, but I haven't bothered to make the investment. For things like this (and even for Wagner, when I was a neophyte) I found that the best means of introduction was as background music. With Haydn, each symphony is so much like the last that putting them on for a long weekend at home while reading, or cleaning, or tinkering with the Mani 2 prototype, or whatever, let the overall aesthetic wash over you while not bothering you with particulars. Ditto with Tristan and Walkure and Parsifal: it takes a fair few hearings before the individual moments differentiate themselves from the sea of melody.

This is part of why I think that Wagner more than most was made for the era of recorded sound. Who but the composer and his coterie of eager devotees at Wahnfried would know that the redemption theme from the immolation scene is sung first by Sieglinde as she takes her leave of Brunnhilde? Who, indeed, realizes it today without it being pointed out by a critic? (Not me, certainly.)

That's kind of the point....you know...to replicate the live experience. I remember buying a dbx 224 decoder and dbx encoded Classical vinyl back in the early 80's just to get the sound experience you are complaining about. The dbx hardware offered up to 120db of dynamic range compared to the measly 90db you can get with CDs. Many people would like more dynamic range in their music assuming they have the equipment and listening environment to take advantage of it.

So according to Yale, 40 decibels is a suburban neighborhood at night, a decent instance of background. Pain begins some 80 db above that, and a jet engine at 100 feet is only 140, so why you'd need 160 is beyond me.

 

[Letmebefrank]

My listening environment must not be ideal then, because the quiet parts are too quiet once the volume is set to not melt my face off when the loud parts come in. Open headphones at a computer desk with a computer that has 7 case fans (with a custom fan curve they run very low RPM unless I'm gaming). With light PC multitasking ambient noise is 33db in my office.

I was listening to Reiner/Chicago Symphony Sheherazade (living stereo) last night and I could hear the violins after the opening horns, I would just really like it to be maybe 3-6db louder. I know it's probably blasphemous to classical fans to say that...

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Also is it just me or is Col Sorriso d'Innocenza from the end of Pirata basically just a "beta" of Casta Diva?

 

[FLTWS]

YES! (?)

 

[RCBinTN]

IMNSHO you're wrong.
Besides, Mozart really is famous for the ease of which the listener can hear his genius.

Personally, I always thought that Beethoven and Mozart were the two best composers, followed closely by a few others. I was pulled in by Tchaikovsky because his music was so inviting.
I think Mahler is the most complex and intriguing.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Rankings, barf. Musical genius is such a culturally determined characteristic I'm skeptical of any so-called objective ranking. The fact that most people can't listen to Schoenberg or Webern without cringing, despite their intellectual brilliance, seems to me an open and shut reason why we shouldn't try to pursue the goose-chase of who's the best. Like sure Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, sure, they're great, but who's to say that Schubert isn't subtler than Beethoven? That Haydn isn't sneakier and more humorous than Mozart?

We're all just looking around comparing lists with purported experts, trying to have the most respectable taste, the most clever judgment. I studied English under Bevington at Chicago, and he mentioned to me that at recent Chinese literature conferences, academics were sitting around debating who the best writers were in an utterly tedious, frivolous, and pointless exercise.

 

[DSNORD]

And there it is Gentlemen. Page 74 of TAS. Yggy gets Robert Harley's TAS Golden Ear award.

"But if the very best reproduction of PCM sources is your goal, the Yggdrasil is the ticket. It's a spectacular performer on an absolute level, and an out-of-the- world bargain."

And it's a pretty spectacular performer on an OBSOLETE level too!!!

Well done, Mike. Well done indeed!!!

 

[winders]

So according to Yale, 40 decibels is a suburban neighborhood at night, a decent instance of background. Pain begins some 80 db above that, and a jet engine at 100 feet is only 140, so why you'd need 160 is beyond me.

Where did I say 160db of dynamic range (DR)?

You want the silents parts of recordings to be silent, right? People would be very upset if the silence measured out at 40db. They want silence to be silent. Loud needs to be loud too. CDs at 90db of DR are pretty good but humans can hear 120db of DR.

 

[bosiemoncrieff]

Deleted

 

[winders]

I was taking a 40 db noise floor for the sake of argument and adding 120 db to that. Or can your magical ears hear below the ambient noise floor?

Why the hostility? Maybe it would be good for you to learn more about dynamic range before you attack me.

http://www.madronadigital.com/dynamic-range

 

[RCBinTN]

Rankings, barf. Musical genius is such a culturally determined characteristic I'm skeptical of any so-called objective ranking. The fact that most people can't listen to Schoenberg or Webern without cringing, despite their intellectual brilliance, seems to me an open and shut reason why we shouldn't try to pursue the goose-chase of who's the best. Like sure Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, sure, they're great, but who's to say that Schubert isn't subtler than Beethoven? That Haydn isn't sneakier and more humorous than Mozart?

We're all just looking around comparing lists with purported experts, trying to have the most respectable taste, the most clever judgment. I studied English under Bevington at Chicago, and he mentioned to me that at recent Chinese literature conferences, academics were sitting around debating who the best writers were in an utterly tedious, frivolous, and pointless exercise.

I can still like who I like.
It's my choice, mate.
Oh, and I love Schubert. His music is sublime!