http://innovativeaudiovideo.com/2016/05/06/meet_the_innovators_spectral/
Anybody attended this demo?
Anybody attended this demo?
playing [compact discs] in a physical player and the physical medium will outperform any file or download.
Yeah, I've been saying the same for years.
Yeah, I've been saying the same for years.
But I clearly remember a demo of the Magico Q5 at Goodwins where they started with CD, then digital files, finishing with LPs. I, and it seemed everyone else at that demo, definitely preferred the files to the CD and the LP to the files.
Wouldn't it be funny if the physical CD starts to make a comeback?
Caution: RBCD files, or hi-rez files? big difference. If RBCD, then you have to make sure they are fed to same quality DAC as the RBCD player - almost impossible to assert. What we have been saying is that to get the most out of CD you need a player - but that doesn't mean ANY player will be better, only the proper implemented ones. As such, sure, even an RBCD file may sound better than a player, depending on the components involved. Effectively, apples and oranges, in most cases. The challenge for RBCD files is to beat the *properly* implemented players.
CD sales have declined but never seriously stopped. Just look at all the CDs available at Amazon. Classical is still practically almost all CDs as far as I know, not downloads/MP3s.
The demise of the CD has been exaggerated, in our little world also by audiophiles who are into hi-rez (talking about an agenda here, while hi-rez is a ridiculously low market share).
No comeback to be had here, as far as I am concerned.
Sure, quality of players matters and direct comparisons are difficult. I thought you were at that same demo at Goodwins. It was standard RBCD, physical disk (I think played through a Spectral CD player) then High Rez files of some sort (I think played through a Berkeley Alpha DAC and iPad interface). I remember it was "good", then "better", then "best" with LP. The others in the audience seemed to agree. But that was years ago, and I am sure much has changed since then.
I also agree the notion of "proper implementation." Much has been written about that in the analog forums about different drive types and by Al M. in the digital forums regarding dCS and digital playback.
Well, you just said it yourself: high rez files; so apples and oranges. Sure, hi rez will always beat RBCD. But I (as well as Fryer) have been talking about how to get the max out of *RBCD material*, and that's through a properly implemented player.
It is not clear to me that hi rez will always beat RBCD, especially today
Seriously? The best hi rez may not beat the best RBCD?????? So RBCD is as good or better than hi rez, therefore, RBCD is at least hi rez itself??? I don't think so. Simply feeding hi rez into my Alpha beats its RBCD performance quite obviously, in fact.
Richard Fryer words are challenging :
"Just as vinyl and turntables are supposed to be antique and obsolete, we know they are not," Fryer explained during his two-hour presentation. "If you know what is considered obsolete in digital—which is the compact disc—you have the option to rip it or download it. But I submit that this is the ultimate form in how you play a 44.1 recording. If you want to hear the best possible performance from a musical medium you go to its native format and [for digital] recordings that is compact disc and 44.1.We can show you why playing [compact discs] in a physical player and the physical medium will outperform any file or download."
I just assumed that "any file or download" includes hi rez, and perhaps the best hi rez. I'd like to do a direct comparison.
Nope, he doesn't mean hi rez. He's talking specifically about RBCD physical media in a player vs RBCD delivered any other way.
Thanks for that clarification, ack. It was obviously not clear to me what he meant. I would still like to hear some direct comparisons. The RBCD physical media through the Rossini and Vivaldi is still the best digital that I have ever heard. I'll be interested in hearing about your direct comparison of the new Spectral player to your heavily modified Berkeley Alpha DAC.
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