Ron’s New System

[Ron Resnick]

I saw this. I tried to research more, but I could not figure out anything about the recording process.

 

[Ron Resnick]

I went to the symphony last night for the first time since since Covid to re-calibrate my ears, and there was absolutely no dryness to the sound.

Isn't it wonderful to go to the symphony concert hall and to recalibrate your ears?

 

[Ron Resnick]

Ron, you seem to be implying here that you think there is a limit to just how good or natural a digital recording can sound. Is that correct? Do all digital recordings sound dry to you? I would suspect that many people who listen primarily or only to digital would disagree.

First, I think it is a mistake to speak in absolutes. So I will answer your question referring only to my ears and only to my personal preferences and only to my sensitivities.

I stipulate that I cannot reliably determine whether a vinyl record I am listening to was originally digitally recorded or has some intermediate digital step. Honestly, I personally believe I can probably tell most of the time, but I would not want to bet too much money on it.

I truly believe that I (and probably many others) have a sensitivity to digitization of the analog waveform that many other people -- including people who listen mostly or exclusively to digital -- simply do not have. (Just like some people are sensitive to the DLP projector "rainbow effect," and some people aren't.)

I don't know if to my ears a digital recording will ever sound more natural than a vocalist singing into a vintage Neumann U47 microphone and recorded to a Studer A820 or direct-to-disc. I certainly do not see how digital recording can improve upon the sonic naturalness of this analog recording process.

 

[Ron Resnick]

Do you think the dryness you describe a result of the recording being made in a studio or because it is digital?

I attribute the dryness to the digital recording process and to the digital playback process, and not to the studio.

 

[Ron Resnick]

are the speakers broken in now or are they still changing?

I think they are substantially broken in now. They might continue to change at a slower rate.

 

[Gregadd]

Soon they will become your standard. Small changes will become readily apparent.

 

[crosswind]

I saw this. I tried to research more, but I could not figure out anything about the recording process.

I just sent Vidar Lunden at Musikkloftet an e-mail asking about the recording process. Hopefully he will be back with an answer and a clarification.

 

[KeithR]

I think they are substantially broken in now. They might continue to change at a slower rate.

So time to nail speaker positioning? Have you considered hiring the setup expert up north?

 

[Ron Resnick]

So time to nail speaker positioning? Have you considered hiring the setup expert up north?

I know this is going to be puzzling to you, but I'm just not in the mood to move the towers around right now. I don't even feel like playing with ribbon panel toe-in.

I just want to listen to music, and enjoy some interesting vinyl versus vinyl and vinyl versus tape comparisons.

I am looking forward to the PSI AVAA demo.

i put a bunch of NOS tubes in the Baltic 4. But I can't tell if it changed the sound, because I'm not really listening carefully to digital right now.

I have about 40 tapes on pancakes that need to be mounted on reels. These 40 tapes have not even been in any of my prior tape inventory reports.

In the input stage of the amps I'm curious to compare the Telefunken ECC801S there presently with some fancy Mullard 6060s I just purchased from Brent Jesse. I really am a bit puzzled at the seeming non-tube-ish neutrality of a system festooned with tubes. Of course someone accustomed to listening to Boulder or CH or Solution might come over ask how I clean all the bourbon and molasses off the electronics?

I'm also going to get two pairs of 12BH7s for the driver tubes in the amps.

That's all I'm finding to be fun right now.

After I chop a lot more wood on these aspects and various other aspects of the system I am sure I will return to the very basic speaker positioning work I just don't feel like doing right now.

I have spoken with Jim Smith, and I would love for him to visit and to perform his full listening positioning and speaker positioning process.

 

[Alrainbow]

Reg tubes in the Baltic 4 since you play analog and stream to the dac I doubt your anywhere near the analog just saying. the tubes made changes but as above might not be worth the effort
you have very good ears and also very honest a tough combo in these forums
has god or any of his disciples visited you yet
I don’t own a Baltic but Lampi is a very good dac way above its price point but does need a valid source to get there in my experience.

 

[PeterA]

you have very good ears and also very honest a tough combo in these forums
has god or any of his disciples visited you yet

God also has very good ears and is very honest. He is not worried about them being a tough combination on these forums. Ron’s room is blessed by the Godess of music.

 

[Alrainbow]

In analog it sure seems so

 

[Gregadd]

God also has very good ears and is very honest. He is not worried about them being a tough combination on these forums. Ron’s room is blessed by the Godess of music.

I am pretty sure God listens to live music.

 

[microstrip]

This suggests I am correct that it is not a great recording, because it is a studio recording (not in a club), and presumably no amplified system for voice. So if it sounded like a club recording with amplification then it is not a great studio recording.

We will have to agree to disagree because I hear the telltale dryness of digital recording. I think the recording is as good as it can be given that it is a digital recording.

You are forgetting the capabilities and objectives of sound reproduction. The producer and sound engineer create a sound that can be very different from what was listened life in the studio.

IMO recording techniques and studio acoustics matter a lot more than the capture formats. And sorry, general conclusions about digital carried from a few recordings, particularly girl with guitar type, have little value.

 

[PeterA]

I am pretty sure God listens to live muus9c.

and he surely does not spend time on these forums.

 

[Alrainbow]

You are forgetting the capabilities and objectives of sound reproduction. The producer and sound engineer create a sound that can be very different from what was listened life in the studio.

IMO recording techniques and studio acoustics matter a lot more than the capture formats. And sorry, general conclusions about digital carried from a few recordings, particularly girl with guitar type, have little value.

Now that’s honesty lol

 

[Ron Resnick]

IMO recording techniques and studio acoustics matter a lot more than the capture formats.

Each of us is entitled to our opinion.

 

[Ron Resnick]

And sorry, general conclusions about digital carried from a few recordings, particularly girl with guitar type, have little value.

For some reason you're assuming my conclusion is based on only a few recordings, particularly girl with guitar type.

I have not heard a single classical digital recording which sounds more convincing, and achieves a greater suspension of disbelief, than my best classical analog recording.

I have not heard a single jazz digital recording which sounds more convincing, and achieves a greater suspension of disbelief, than my best jazz analog recording.

 

[cjfrbw]

horns sound great but don’t scale as well as panels and line sources.

Hmm. First time I have heard that opinion. I always thought most 'philes might regard it as vice versa, but I suppose one's mileage can vary.

 

[thomask]

Anette Askvik "Liberty," recorded in 2011. I have not been able to find any evidence or even suggestion that this track was not recorded digitally.

Recorded on iPhone using Qobuz --> iPad as streamer --> Baltic 4.

I think this sounds a little dry and menthol and digitally. But considering I am using iPad a streamer here, it sounds better than I was expecting.

I actually think it may sound less dry and less menthol and less digitally than times I have heard it at shows. I think the Baltic 4 is doing some heavy lifting here to make this tolerable to listen to at all directly off an iPad.

Nice and pleasing sound!

After being back to my home in Washington State, I recorded same song.

I got the feeling that as good as Baltic is, Horizon will give more details with transparent soundstage.