The State of High End Audio

[Blizzard]

That is more or less why I have shifted almost entirely to native hi rez recordings (most in Mch) for the past 8 years or so. I have not tried HQPlayer for further upsampling or conversion to DSD. I do not see or hear the urgent need. Also, I consider DSP Room EQ and bass management plus speaker distance compensation, all relying on PCM, absolutely indispensable. Stereo CD, while still huge in the marketplace, is just not something I am still interested in. I have plenty of enjoyable recordings - thousands - natively recorded in hi Rez Mch. So, fine tuning stereo CD audio performance is something I shrug my shoulders about.

Yeah it's something that you have to try to decide it it's worthwhile or not. Great part is it's a free 30 day trial. With most DAC's, redbook can even sound better than high rez PCM, without HQplayer, through HQplayer. It's really opened my eyes to a large reason why high rez sounds better. Simply because it lightens the load off of oversampling DAC chips as they don't need to internally upsample all the way from the lower resolutions. Now even with streaming services like Tidal, I can enjoy as good or better sound than my high rez PCM without it.

HQplayer can also do all of the upsampling/room correction/dsp for multichannel, even to DSD. It's the only program that can apply this to a DSD stream without conversion to PCM. But this does require a powerful computer if resampling the multichannel PCM to DSD. It puts my long time standby for many years, Jriver to shame.

When was the last time you heard the multichannel DSD version of Dark side of the moon "room corrected" and upsampled to quad DSD?

 

[FrantzM]

In hifi I am interested in the gear. Like I said my music comes from concert halls. One is a wife, another a mistress. They have some things in common, but I keep them separate.

Unusual view. Question: What then attract you in an Audio system?

 

[bonzo75]

Unusual view. Question: What then attract you in an Audio system?

I got in to improve music listening, but then got stuck in gear. Irrespective of what others say, I believe 90 percent of the people on this forum are in gear. No one needs to be in the discussions we do if not for a gear interest. A small CD player or basic TT and basic speakers are sufficient. Everything after that is a gear hobby, limited only by budget, time and space. I have no illusions I need to get on these OCD forums for musical reasons. There is one classical sub forum which very few people visit.

Also lucky enough to have concert halls on the way home from work, so separate the two hobbies. Led zep's best music is on bootlegs on YouTube and unplayable on hifi

 

[spazmatron]

I got in to improve music listening, but then got stuck in gear. Irrespective of what others say, I believe 90 percent of the people on this forum are in gear. No one needs to be in the discussions we do if not for a gear interest. A small CD player or basic TT and basic speakers are sufficient. Everything after that is a gear hobby, limited only by budget, time and space. I have no illusions I need to get on these OCD forums for musical reasons. There is one classical sub forum which very few people visit.

Also lucky enough to have concert halls on the way home from work, so separate the two hobbies. Led zep's best music is on bootlegs on YouTube and unplayable on hifi

Some truth in that I think, if I lived in London I would be at the live gigs like you but just have a simple dac at home with headphones... Spend my money on sculptures and interesting paintings and a like

 

[Rodney Gold]

No. He would have been considered the foremost expert in electron beams for many years. These days he's a bit old and not really too into it. I thought Rodney might know him/about him if he's into lasers. He's one of the guys that is responsible for how the world works today, from his multiple inventions. I've met him twice, about 27 years apart; and he's my uncle.

Dont know him folsom . Im more a user of lasers and cnc machines than a developer..sounds like a very interesting fellow tho

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

I got in to improve music listening, but then got stuck in gear. Irrespective of what others say, I believe 90 percent of the people on this forum are in gear. No one needs to be in the discussions we do if not for a gear interest. A small CD player or basic TT and basic speakers are sufficient. Everything after that is a gear hobby, limited only by budget, time and space. I have no illusions I need to get on these OCD forums for musical reasons. There is one classical sub forum which very few people visit.

Also lucky enough to have concert halls on the way home from work, so separate the two hobbies. Led zep's best music is on bootlegs on YouTube and unplayable on hifi

Agreed. I would make one slight alteration. For me, it is about music and recordings. The gear is just a means to accessing the recordings. But the two things, music and recordings, are very different things, and accepting that reality will set you free.

Tim

 

[Folsom]

Dont know him folsom . Im more a user of lasers and cnc machines than a developer..sounds like a very interesting fellow tho

Yes. When he graduated school he complained he got 100% on his test. The teacher had marked him wrong on one question. He went in to dispute the answer, and in front of them proved what they knew was wrong and he was right. He literally proved a new theory in front of their eyes.

Well, lasers are cool for all uses anyway

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

yep indeed I am free, free at last, well for several decades now.

I've mostly been free for decades as well. About 10 years or so ago, I stuck a testing, tentative toe into audiophile nervosa, then did some unsighted comparisons and backed away quickly. But then again, I don't gamble or day trade either.

Tim

 

[Rodney Gold]

Yeh , lasers and cncs are cool , made a lot of the stuff in my treated room with them, wall panels , edge lit artwork lamps, isolation tables , footers , plinths , edging for my bass traps and so on..

 

[Gregadd]

Sometimes we confuse being set free with being untethered . Certainly replicating real music in your home is a burdensome .endeavor. Most will camp out somewhere along the path. No problem the closer you get the better the view. Many a sirens song will temp you from the path. Just put on your headphones and push on. Nirvana awaits.

 

[DaveC]

Yeh , lasers and cncs are cool , made a lot of the stuff in my treated room with them, wall panels , edge lit artwork lamps, isolation tables , footers , plinths , edging for my bass traps and so on..

Yes, but do you mount lasers on sharks?* THAT would be cool...











*Austin Powers reference...

 

[Rodney Gold]

Well, my neighbours trees are overgrowing my property and blocking my views .. I had visions of putting my 3kw laser on my balcony and slicing the trees down...but luckily he allowed my garden service to prune his stuff....
I've been zapped a few times with some of the low powered (50w) lasers we have here...those lasers cut thru 15mm acrylic.. was a very ouch experience
In terms of your stuff..we have a cable manufacturer here in south africa that uses those wooden things each end of the cable..they are laser engraved

 

[Whatmore]

Yes, but do you mount lasers on sharks?* THAT would be cool...




*Austin Powers reference...

 

[spazmatron]

View attachment 25375

This matches up perfectly with my findings gained from my time traveling around Australia . I am glad my insight has been verified by a native.

Just how did you get hold of my map? I thought I only made one copy!

 

[Fitzcaraldo215]

Yeah it's something that you have to try to decide it it's worthwhile or not. Great part is it's a free 30 day trial. With most DAC's, redbook can even sound better than high rez PCM, without HQplayer, through HQplayer. It's really opened my eyes to a large reason why high rez sounds better. Simply because it lightens the load off of oversampling DAC chips as they don't need to internally upsample all the way from the lower resolutions. Now even with streaming services like Tidal, I can enjoy as good or better sound than my high rez PCM without it.

HQplayer can also do all of the upsampling/room correction/dsp for multichannel, even to DSD. It's the only program that can apply this to a DSD stream without conversion to PCM. But this does require a powerful computer if resampling the multichannel PCM to DSD. It puts my long time standby for many years, Jriver to shame.

When was the last time you heard the multichannel DSD version of Dark side of the moon "room corrected" and upsampled to quad DSD?

The room correction aspects of HQPlayer seem totally opaque to me. And, by the way, I also require digital bass management, speaker distance correction, and Blu-Ray lossless codec support plus BD video and cable TV. I do not think HQP can give me all that in easy to use fashion plus all the control functions I need to replace a Mch digital processor, as I have done using JRiver.

No, while I have the DOTSM SACD, I have not heard it up sampled and room corrected by HQPlayer in Mch. I have heard stereo test cuts of various remasterings of a top quality analog original, though, at DSD64, DSD128, PCM 192 and PCM 352. Huge difference? Excuse me while I yawn.

Ultra sampling rates are way overblown, in my opinion. The ear has its limits, and sharply diminishing returns to higher sampling are a fact of life. None of them sounded as good as DSD64 converted on the fly to 88k PCM with Dirac Room EQ and also bass management to my sub. An analogy is 4K video vs. 2k hi def. It is widely accepted in the industry that people really cannot see much difference, unless Hi Dynamic Range and UHD's bigger color space are added to the equation.

 

[TBone]

View attachment 25375

born an Aussie, so I can categorically state that everything on that map is true ... even the laser sharks, however the man eating Koala bears don't use or need lasers, they are the most dangerous and most deceitful predators on the island, simply because they're so damn cute ... the public walks right into their trap.

 

[Geardaddy]

Frantz, have you made any formal decisions or are you sticking with headphones?

 

[FrantzM]

Frantz, have you made any formal decisions or are you sticking with headphones?

Will begin auditioning a few systems and speakers. For now the candidates are many and at all kind of prices ..

The top contenders are very, very different speakers:

Magico S7
Magnepan 3.7
Magnepan 20.7
Vivid G2 or G3
JBL 4357
Vapor Audio Nimbus White (Very Curious about this one, the Buzz on Vapor Audio is strong )

Used Q3 or Q5 ( a beast to drive though) or a used TAD CR1
Will keep the headphones.

 

[nc42acc]

I hope you document your journey here as you listen and discover. Dynamic sound reproduction is more finicky than a great set of cans. Good luck.

Will begin auditioning a few systems and speakers. For now the candidates are many and at all kind of prices ..

The top contenders are very, very different speakers:

Magico S7
Magnepan 3.7
Magnepan 20.7
Vivid G2 or G3
JBL 4357
Vapor Audio Nimbus White (Very Curious about this one, the Buzz on Vapor Audio is strong )

Used Q3 or Q5 ( a beast to drive though) or a used TAD CR1
Will keep the headphones.

 

[DaveC]

Will begin auditioning a few systems and speakers. For now the candidates are many and at all kind of prices ..

The top contenders are very, very different speakers:

Magico S7
Magnepan 3.7
Magnepan 20.7
Vivid G2 or G3
JBL 4357
Vapor Audio Nimbus White (Very Curious about this one, the Buzz on Vapor Audio is strong )

Used Q3 or Q5 ( a beast to drive though) or a used TAD CR1
Will keep the headphones.

IMO, the black version of the Nimbus is better but there's plenty of personal preference involved. The crossover requirements are different with Accuton requiring a steeper slope to avoid the nasty breakup peaks while the Audiotechnology driver can use a shallower slope and it blends perfectly where the Accuton doesn't quite blend as smoothly. I know Ryan at Vapor would also agree, unless he's figured out how to get the Accutons to behave a bit better. They may have done so after developing the Perfect Storm, the Accutons used on the PS did sound quite a bit better than I remember in the Joule or Nimbus, so that may have trickled down... Also, many mfg'ers are figuring out the Accuton drivers are best modified with some damping material on the backside of the cones, so it's possible Vapor has also made some progress in that area.

If you go with Vapor you can customize quite a bit, I might go with the Joule's mid/tweeter arrangement on the Nimbus instead. But be prepared to wait...

For me it would come down to Vapor, JBL or TAD... and with TAD being so expensive, IDK... the CR-1s mid/tweeter is amazing but the Vapor and JBL have really nice 15" woofers. The TAD Ref-1 has plenty of woofer but it's double the price of the CR-1.