Videos of Acoustically-Coupled Audio Recordings

[PeterA]

Mine on vocals / tape not bad ( although i put in some absorption recently )
Plus they play Tiesto/Rock as well.

Id love to try your Lamm gear gear though

Andro, better than not bad. Quite good I would say. I listen mostly for overall balance/nothing calling attention to itself, energy level, and dynamics. Resolution is possible but hard. Spatial information is difficult. Your tape sounds like a good source.

This is one of the best videos I have heard of a system. Note the overall tonal balance and energy level and openness. On a video. In this case, it is easy to hear the high resolution and clarity.

 

[andromedaaudio]

This is one of the best videos I have heard of a system. Note the overall tonal balance and energy level and openness. On a video.

Sounds good , but you d have to agree being there is something completely different.
And for a good transducer judgement you gotta play all kinds of music off course

 

[PeterA]

You re talking vocal rendition only .
And on other music / more demanding music ?

To me, this is bright and a bit thin sounding. Those external crossovers are different from the ones on the speakers I heard. Also, I don't know what those spikes/disk footers are doing. The ones I heard didn't have those. Of course the rest of the systems are quite different too. I wonder what the source is for this. It lacks resolution too. Thanks for posting.

 

[PeterA]

Sounds good , but you d have to agree being there is something completely different.
And for a good transducer judgement you gotta play all kinds of music off course

No one ever said videos are a substitute for being there. Yes, quite different. Of course, different music too, but I know immediately the quality of the speakers Tang now has. He loves them and they are no comparison to what he had, that is clear. I'll never hear them, but this video tells me a lot because I know that system and this recording quite well. His system is similar.

 

[Ron Resnick]

To me, this is bright and a bit thin sounding. . . . It lacks resolution too.

Hi Peter,

Do you have this particular recording on vinyl?

 

[andromedaaudio]

Andro, better than not bad. Quite good I would say. I listen mostly for overall balance/nothing calling attention to itself, energy level, and dynamics. Resolution is possible but hard. Spatial information is difficult. Your tape sounds like a good source.

This is one of the best videos I have heard of a system. Note the overall tonal balance and energy level and openness. On a video. In this case, it is easy to hear the high resolution and clarity.

As soon as im back in belgium i ll make another vid with this tape ( this vid is an old one )
This time with my new CAT Legend SL1 pre and CAT JL5 BP on either the 4 or 8 ohms tap with improved room acoustics , see if i can hear a difference on video .

1 year ago a second hand Lamm ML2 went past in the local second hand market , i almost bought one.

By the way kudos for M Fremer to post the system video , i hope more reviewers will follow .
I think it would be a nice add on to a written review , lets standardize it.

 

[PeterA]

Hi Peter,

Do you have this particular recording on vinyl?

No

 

[Ron Resnick]

No

So against what reference are you concluding "bright and a bit thin sounding" and "lacks resolution"?

 

[PeterA]

So against what reference are you concluding "bright and a bit thin sounding" and "lacks resolution"?

I do not have this particular recording on vinyl. Does it exist or is it on digital? The reference is always live music for me, even when comparing two components or systems. I wrote about this in my Natural Sound system thread. I always ask "Which sounds more natural?" When judging the sound of a video, I ask how it sounds compared to live music.

Does one have to own the music in a particular format and play it at home? Does one need to know the music he hears on a video to comment on the sound? That seems a stretch to me. We have very different opinions about videos and references.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I do not have this particular recording on vinyl. Does it exist or is it on digital? The reference is always live music for me, even when comparing two components or systems. I wrote about this in my Natural Sound system thread. I always ask "Which sounds more natural?" When judging the sound of a video, I ask how it sounds compared to live music.

Does one have to own the music in a particular format and play it at home? Does one need to know the music he hears on a video to comment on the sound? That seems a stretch to me. We have very different opinions about videos and references.

Yes, we definitely have different opinions about videos and references.

I think it is nonsensical to hear through a cheap ADC and then a cheap DAC a digital recording of audio emitted by a system you have never heard in person composed of components you have never heard playing an analog recording you have never heard of a performance you have never heard and are not familiar with and conclude from the video that the analog audio components in the room are "bright and a bit thin sounding" and that the system "lacks resolution."

How do you know that that is not exactly how the recording sounds? (How do you know that you're not falsely attributing those sonic characteristics to the system when, in fact, that may be exactly how the recording sounds?)

 

[PeterA]

Yes, we definitely have different opinions about videos and references.

I think it is nonsensical to hear through a cheap ADC and then a cheap DAC a digital recording of audio emitted by a system you have never heard in person composed of components you have never heard playing an analog recording you have never heard of a performance you have never heard and are not familiar with and conclude from the video that the analog audio components in the room are "bright and a bit thin sounding" and that the system "lacks resolution."

How do you know that that is not exactly how the recording sounds? (How do you know that you're not falsely attributing those sonic characteristics to the system when, in fact, that may be exactly how the recording sounds?)

I was commenting on the sound, nothing more.

You have not answered my question about me needing to own the vinyl to have an opinion on a video. Do you think that is necessary? I haven’t seen anyone questioning that assertion which I find very unusual.

What is your reference when you listen to a video?

 

[Joe Cohen]

Here’s my take on recording and listening to High End systems via YouTube:

I record using Dolby On software on my iPhone 6s (I know, a dinosaur) with a Shure MV88 Microphone on a tripod at the listening position. I output the unmodified, pure wave file to Adobe Audition, where I convert it to an MP3. If I am recording video and audio simultaneously, I will output the MP4 file directly to YouTube, or edit it in Adobe Premier Pro and After Effects first. Uploading anything to YouTube seriously compromises the sound quality of the original recording. It’s worse than MP3. There’s no getting around that.

I always recommend that people listen via headphones only as we are listening to the recording of the room the sound has been played back into. Listening again into yet another room via speakers adds one variable too many, in my opinion.

I won’t say that any of my recordings is “representative” of the system. Rather I would say that online videos of systems will give you hints of their nature. The microphone does capture certain elements of sound well and others not so well In this context. You have to factor in the room first. It might take a little time to sort that out. You can’t expect reproduction of the sound stage or the finest elements of texture and decay, but you can get tantalizing indicators of what is going on.

I don’t know anything about live high bitrate audio transmission, but, it seems to me, that broadcasting live, using microphones in a binaural dummy head in the listening position, in high resolution format to listeners tuning in on headphones would be a cool way to do this.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I was commenting on the sound, nothing more.

You have not answered my question about me needing to own the vinyl to have an opinion on a video. Do you think that is necessary?

In this specific context, what is the point of commenting on the sound, other than to pass the time?

Merely to have an opinion about the sound of a digitally recorded video (as is the case about having an opinion about anything under the sun) one does not need to have anything. One does not need to have a copy of the record to have an opinion. One does not need to have anything to have an opinion. One does not need to know anything to have an opinion.

To have a logically valid and analytically meaningful opinion about the sound of a digitally recorded video I think one needs far more than merely to have the record.

Last week I recorded on my iPhone the very same Eva Cassidy recording and song I heard in real life played at a friend's house. I am familiar with the sound of his system in real life. I am familiar with the sound of my system in real life.

I think there can be value in comparing the sound of digitally recorded videos of the exact same pressing of the exact same record played in the exact same format on two familiar systems which are familiar because you have heard both of them in real life.

Literally none of these conditions is satisfied in this particular instance.

 

[Ron Resnick]

What is your reference when you listen to a video?

Honestly, in this context of hearing through a cheap ADC and then a cheap DAC a digital recording of audio emitted by a system I have never heard in person composed of components I have never heard playing an analog recording I have never heard of a performance I have never heard and I am not familiar with the question of reference literally does not make any sense to me. In this context, there is no valid reference.

You could argue that your reference even here is the sound of live acoustic instrument music-making, but this just does not make any sense to me. In my opinion, the sound on the digitally recorded video you are hearing remotely is so adulterated and so far removed from sitting in front of the stereo and comparing it to your composite memory of the sound of live music that to me there is no reference.

Semantically, I have no problem agreeing that the sound of live music is a reference, but I think in this context the sound and the "reference" are so incomparable as to render the "reference" useless as any sort of valid reference.

Sitting in real life in front of a stereo system playing acoustic instrument music my reference is the composite sound of live acoustic instrument music-making I have heard in person previously. Sitting in front of a stereo system playing vocals my reference is the sound of the human voice.

 

[PeterA]

In this specific context, what is the point of commenting on the sound, other than to pass the time?

Merely to have an opinion about the sound of a digitally recorded video (as is the case about having an opinion about anything under the sun) one does not need to have anything. One does not need to have a copy of the record to have an opinion. One does not need to have anything to have an opinion. One does not need to know anything to have an opinion.

To have a logically valid and analytically meaningful opinion about the sound of a digitally recorded video I think one needs far more than merely to have the record.

Last week I recorded on my iPhone the very same Eva Cassidy recording and song I heard in real life played at a friend's house. I am familiar with the sound of his system in real life. I am familiar with the sound of my system in real life.

I think there can be value in comparing the sound of digitally recorded videos of the exact same pressing of the exact same record played in the exact same format on two familiar systems which are familiar because you have heard both of them in real life.

Literally none of these conditions is satisfied in this particular instance.

Andro posted this comment: “People can bombard me with 150000 good sounding videos of a JBL M9500 transducer but i m never gonna buy it.” I then asked him if he ever heard a video of the speakers and he posted one. I then commented on the sound. We were having a discussion about the speakers. That is the context and that is the point of my commenting on it.

You can comment on videos or not for whatever reasons you choose. This is an audio discussion forum, not a high school debating competition. I was simply having an exchange with Andromeda. You don’t have to understand or agree with why I commented.

 

[PeterA]

A recent video from Tang's system:

 

[Scott Naylor]

A recent video from Tang's system:

Is the slight pervasive schwa coloration to the singer's vowels a room acoustic issue or endemic to that speaker? Tough to tell from a YouTube video but then I liked Tang's old speakers much better. They didn’t seem like they were trying to make a presentation
(”natural”?) but instead solely let what was on the recording through.

 

[PeterA]

Tang tells me he much prefers his new speakers. It's a different sound entirely. People have different tastes and ideas about what sounds more lifelike. He used to hear the system and think about its sound. Now he just plays music and enjoys it, no longer being distracted by the sound of the system.

 

[Scott Naylor]

Petera, he must have thought about the sound of this system at least once to determine it's a different sound entirely?

Also, I miss Tang.

 

[PeterA]

Petera, he must have thought about the sound of this system at least once to determine it's a different sound entirely?

Also, I miss Tang.

yes of course Scott. I’m just saying that he told me when he puts on a record now it’s all about the music and he doesn’t hear the system the way he used to. He doesn’t hear it and he doesn’t think about it. This is a fairly major shift as far as I’m concerned, especially considering these speakers are new. It’s an indication that they are set up properly and presenting the music to the listener. It’s easy to tell when hearing the language he uses.

All these guys are still available. They’re just not here anymore.