Hopkins' System

[hopkins]

8, 32, 41 and 42 are pretty good.

I'll agree with those two, which are:
8=Rockport Technologies Lyra speakers (recorded with DPA-4011 microphones)
32=Gobel Divin Marquis speakers (does not mention the mics, but same channel as 8)

Less impressed by those, but still pretty good:
41=Kenrick Sound JBL 4320 (no mention of the mics, could be a phone recording) - could use a sub as someone mentioned in the comments
42=B&W Nautilus 805 - bookshelf speaker (iphone recording) - suprising amount of bass, good sound for what seems to be a pretty naked room

I like 29 as well - vinyl playback (not sure that makes a difference). The song stats around 3:27. Martin Logan Renaissance ESL 15A speakers. Zoom H6 recorder.

Others I liked/found amusing:
31 seems to have been recorded in a car.Its not that bad!
37 is pretty good for small desktop speakers (Elac BS312.2)

The dominant factor in all these videos are: the speakers, the room, the microphone/recorder. With the same speakers/room/mics, I doubt you could really hear differences in the other equipment used.

 

[morricab]

8, 32, 41 and 42 are pretty good.

sorry, meant 40 and 41...42 was not good.

 

[hopkins]

sorry, meant 40 and 41...42 was not good.

Agreed. 40 is very nice (and much better than 42...). Relaxed sound.
The room does look like a recording studio (and they have several thousand euros worth of recording equipment...)!

 

[hopkins]

Note: the manufacturer of 42 sells their speakers in kits. They are affordable. For example, the wooden horns demoed in the video sell for around 300€ in Japan:

Z503　woodhorn| 音工房Z

otokoubouz.com

Here is an interesting page from their website detailing how they developed some of their speakers:

Z1-LivornoS| 音工房Z

otokoubouz.com

The speaker they describe in that blog is a 2-way bookshelf with a very simple first order crossover.

Here is the youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@otokoubouz

 

[hopkins]

It took me a while to figure this one out - it's a system video of a system video! Sounds like someone's been reading too many of Rexp's posts on YouTube videos sounding better than digital, or something to that effect
I don't know what kind of speakers these are, but they sound pretty dreadful!

 

[hopkins]

Here's an addition to the "Birds" playlist.

This speaker has such a seductive sound. In nearfeld and mono the sound is crystal clear and very detailed.

I am curious to record it with that Rode microphone. I found a second hand NT1 model. That model is not as bright as the NT1A. I'll post a comparison.

 

[hopkins]

A thread on another forum, about Stevie Wonder, got me down the YouTube hole - I enjoyed this video of Stevie Wonder's "Live at Last" concert - on "Spain" his whole band takes turns at soloing - here are few clips of some of the best solos:

Errol Cooney - guitar

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtube.com

Nathan Watts - bass

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtube.com

And the maestro himself

- YouTube

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

youtube.com

Too bad they are so short...
YouTube is fun!

 

[hopkins]

Here's a fun video to watch: hifi explained to non-audiophiles.

I find it sums things up pretty well. They picked the uber expensive Wilson, but what they explain applies to many of our systems.

 

[hopkins]

Always exciting to see a new Mosaic Records release (which I just pre-ordered):

Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Sessions Limited Edition Box Set (#279 - 11 CDs) -

“Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Sessions” is a goldmine of traditional, swing and bop performances, recorded specifically for the V-Disc program, in a variety of solo piano and small group band settings from 1943-1949 on 11 CDs

www.mosaicrecords.com

The sound quality should be very good - they working with the same studio that did some of their more recent sets, which are all excellent:

"Once again, the team at Swan Studios, Andreas Meyer, Nancy Conforti and Shane Carroll, have worked magic. The process of taking older recordings and reducing the surface noise without sacrificing the quality of the music is exactly what was accomplished with our latest offering; Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Sessions.

The process begins with finding the cleanest copies of the original 78 rpm records and even the original glass master discs to be transferred. Mosaic Records obtained these by throwing out a large net to be cast out to collectors all over the world who came to lend their gems out to us. Once received, the discs are professionally cleaned (via a Keith Monk machine) and then a collection of various styli (needles), each one varied in depth to capture the most signal from the walls of the grooves. They also center the recordings, make sure the pitch is correct and then once the transfer is made, Andreas and the team restore the music from the electronic file captured from the transfer."

You can listen to some samples on that web page linked above.

 

[morricab]

Always exciting to see a new Mosaic Records release (which I just pre-ordered):

Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Sessions Limited Edition Box Set (#279 - 11 CDs) -

“Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Sessions” is a goldmine of traditional, swing and bop performances, recorded specifically for the V-Disc program, in a variety of solo piano and small group band settings from 1943-1949 on 11 CDs

www.mosaicrecords.com

The sound quality should be very good - they working with the same studio that did some of their more recent sets, which are all excellent:

"Once again, the team at Swan Studios, Andreas Meyer, Nancy Conforti and Shane Carroll, have worked magic. The process of taking older recordings and reducing the surface noise without sacrificing the quality of the music is exactly what was accomplished with our latest offering; Classic V-Disc Small Group Jazz Sessions.

The process begins with finding the cleanest copies of the original 78 rpm records and even the original glass master discs to be transferred. Mosaic Records obtained these by throwing out a large net to be cast out to collectors all over the world who came to lend their gems out to us. Once received, the discs are professionally cleaned (via a Keith Monk machine) and then a collection of various styli (needles), each one varied in depth to capture the most signal from the walls of the grooves. They also center the recordings, make sure the pitch is correct and then once the transfer is made, Andreas and the team restore the music from the electronic file captured from the transfer."

You can listen to some samples on that web page linked above.

No, sorry it's digital...can't be good...

 

[hopkins]

Speaking of digital...it doesn't get much smaller than this:



Raspberrypi Pico microcontroller.
I want to see if I can turn this into an audio streamer! In theory, low power = less noise. This little thing has interesting features - some dedicated processors (PIO) that can work independently (undisturbed) from the main processor and could be used to generate a digital output (spdif).

 

[hopkins]

Following a brief discussions about Direct-to-disc on another thread, I learned about Sheffield Records from a YouYube channel and saw that some of their albums are available on Quboz. Here's an example:

Listen to the release I've Got the Music in Me by Thelma Houston on Qobuz https://open.qobuz.com/album/akomiwbcrx3qb

If you subscribe to Qobuz, you may want to check out their small album selection, which cover a wide variety of genres.

The recording quality is good. There is not really anything I would listen to regularly, but still find it interesting to see how they play on my system. The sound quality is sometimes impressive, but I end up listening to the sound rather than the music.I have ve so many albums that I find more exciting or captivating to listen to...

I assume they have issued LPs as well. I have not checked.

Here's the video that mentioned the label:

The host has a pretty good setup. He lists his gear in the video's description. He's got Kindel PLS-A speakers (reminds me if my open baffle speakers):

 

[hopkins]

Here's a recording of the same song on a CD and LP version. The LP dates from 1985. I believe that this recording was first issued in 1980. It's a mono track (both on LP and CD).

The session was originally recorded in 1954. It's a quartet. Ellington was a "studio rat" and often took a few of his band members to the studios. These are part of what were referred to as his "stockpile"...

Duke Ellington – piano
Paul Gonsalves - tenor saxophone
Jimmy Woode - bass
Sam Woodyard - drums

Both videos were recorded on my single Altec 755A speaker with a Rode NT1 microphone placed close to the speaker. The volume is not precisely matched between the two (it's impossible unless you have an LP with a fixed frequency played). The digital version is streamed with my WiiM Pro. I could repeat the operation with a better streamer but I am not convinced the recording would be noticeably different, but I'll hold on to that idea and get back to it later.

In neither case does the recorded sound, heard with headphones, come really close to the sound heard "in room", which is much smoother, detailed, and open. How could it be otherwise? So what is the point of these recordings? I don't know you tell me.

Here's the track on Qobuz:

Open Qobuz

open.qobuz.com

Not sure it is exactly the same CD. Close enough.

 

[hopkins]

Here's another recording of the Altec 755A with the same microphone:

Original track (also available on Qobuz):

The track is quasi mono.

There may be some clipping on a few of the louder segments, but overall I think the recording level is good.

 

[hopkins]

Here is an interesting video:

The description has chapters on the different topics. The context is studio acoustics, but many points are relevant for home hi-fi.

 

[hopkins]

I have moved my speakers to face the length of the room, and prefer the sound. With my open baffle speaker, it was the opposite. As mentioned by Jesco in the above video, different speakers interact differently with the room and you can't anticipate what will work, you need to try.




Some of the furniture has yet to be "upgraded"...

This placement makes more sense when listening to music throughout the living room and adjacent open kitchen.

The sound is not optimal from my couch, but I have confortable chairs I can sit in as well if I want to face the speakers in a perfect equilateral triangle. I also often listen at night in mono through a single speaker (so the one facing the couch on the right corner in the picture). There's no perfect setup.

The WiiM pro is helpful when moving speakers around. The following app features are useful:

- you can easily turn off a single channel, and quickly compare, on a mono track, the sound of the left and right speakers.



- there is a room correction feature, which can be used to measure the frequency response from your phone, and generate some eq. I don't use the resulting EQ, but seing the frequency response graph is interesting. Obviously, measurements with a phone are not as precise as those done with a proper microphone (and REW) but the results are still useful especially to compare different placements and the two channels.



Facing the room, there is more symmetry. The bass response of the speakers in the corners is actually quite good. I did place pet felt inside the two back firing ports of each speaker to reduce the bass level.

Regarding sound quality, the WiiM pro through its Toslink output is somewhat inferior to my other streaming solutions with ECDesigns' ElectroTos cable (which has lower jitter than Toslink cables). Subtle differences...

 

[hopkins]

I enjoyed watching this interesting documentary about Lena Horne:

It ends with a stirring performance of "Stormy Weather".

 

[hopkins]

Here's an interesting video published yesterday by Loren Schoenberg (music critic, and senior scholar of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem):

Here is the original track, recorded in 1941:

So he managed to remove the vocals (by Una Mae Carlisle) so that we can hear clearly Young in the background. He explains in his video's description:

"Lester Young reached a peak in 1941 as he started his career as a bandleader; it was a peak in terms of tone, melodic invention, and sheer other-worldly beauty.

Sadly, something kept him out of the recording studios at that point (obscure hint: possibly The Bringdown). No session for his own band, but just this date where they backed up vocalist Ina Mae Carlisle, a last pre-war session with Billie Holiday (without the opportunity for obbligatos), and finally, a rag-tagish date with blues pianist Sammy Price.

Every note Lester played is precious, and especially those from this period.Here is [his] quiet but soulful obbligati to Carlisle's vocals, heard for the first time out in the open."

So how did he do it? At the time, recordings were still made with a single track, I believe.

Well, the answer is: with an AI program he bought online!

He explains this in a follow up video:

Note for Lester Young fans: there are actually two recordings of Lester Young and his band performing live in 1941. I think I may have already posted this link, but here it is again - it bears repeated listening!

His solo starts at 3:08.

In 2024, we've got AI, but no longer Lester Young

 

[hopkins]

In this video he first removes Billie Holiday's vocal, then in the second half removes the band so we can listen to Billie Holiday singing (practically) acapella:

Fascinating to listen to.

 

[hopkins]

After weeks of rain, summer is making a welcome, but probably short, comeback in Paris today Coincidentally I just received this LP - My Way - 1970s Soul-Jazz with Gene Ammons!

This album is poorly rated on AllMusic, but it would be a mistake to dismiss any of Gene Ammons' recordings. As far as I know, little has been written about Ammons - no complete discography, no biography, interviews, and little live footage. It's a shame.