The Audiophile Thread

[rcarlberg]

So is the information above 8kHz important? Yes it is very important, not to the appreciation of the music but in the perception of soundstaging and imaging. Of course, much more goes into that, like transparency and speaker set up and room treatment and more, but unless a system can reproduce those upper (unheard) signals you just won't get to that point.

You'll have to explain someday how frequencies WE CAN'T HEAR(!) could make a difference in our experience of music.

[Firth]

You'll have to explain someday how frequencies WE CAN'T HEAR(!) could make a difference in our experience of music.

I would like a bunch of people to listen to Trick of the Tail with a low pass filter (quality FIR) that rolls of after 8 KHz and tell me if they can’t tell the difference.

[Firth]

Polk Audio' SDA series (Stereo Dimensional Array) was great at presenting an immersive experience, given proper room dimensions and seating distance, i.e., sweet spot. I still have my Polk SDA CRS (compact reference speakers) or at least, my son has them.

I have the Polk LSi series, towers with subwoofers, center, and surrounds. My Pioneer Elite receiver time aligns and eqs via microphone based calibration to the sweet spot. The sound from these speakers is woven together seamlessly. The extended stereo mode creates a large accurate soundstage. I have good headphones and they are not as immersive as this experience. Sure it would be possible to record music in a binaural fashion (dummy with microphones in the ears) and playback with headphones on, but why go thru the trouble. There are some headphones that emulate multidirectionality.

[rcarlberg]

Sure it would be possible to record music in a binaural fashion (dummy with microphones in the ears) and playback with headphones on, but why go thru the trouble.

Um, because binaural recordings sound AMAZING?

[rcarlberg]

I would like a bunch of people to listen to Trick of the Tail with a low pass filter (quality FIR) that rolls of after 8 KHz and tell me if they can’t tell the difference.

I think BobM was referring to, and I KNOW I was, those claims that freqs above 20K are important. 8k probably even *I* could hear!

[Firth]

Um, because binaural recordings sound AMAZING?

More appropriately, who is going to produce binaural recordings. Certainly that would be cool, but I don’t think it’s happening in significant numbers.

[Firth]

In this article on holophonics, phase coherence is suggested as a requirement, read time alignment. Pink Floyd recorded the Final Cut in holophonics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holophonics

[Zeuhlmate]

Came home from vaccation.
Son (18 years) had held a party. Someone tried to find out how loud... a laptop could play...
Fuses blown in my Snell A II ... and the woofers...
Luckily tweeters and midranges seem to have survived.


Stupidity is the basic building block of the universe
FZ

Have to import fuses & new woofers from USA.
https://www.atomichifiandtv.com/snel...pricelist.html

[rcarlberg]

I have investigated a lot of binaural, dummy head, Kuntskopf recordings, and the Zuccarelli holophonics recordings are some of the weakest, almost as bad as the Chesky Records recordings. In fact, on headphones they don't even sound like real binaural. They just sound like close-recorded stereo.

There's a whole AMSR (autonomous sensory meridian response) scene out there where some people get very strong tingling sensations from wearing headphones and listening to close-recorded hair clippers, matchbox rattling, whispering in your ear, etc. I don't get it myself, but it's apparently a huge thing.

But that's totally different from binaural music.

The albums recorded with the Zuccarelli system -- The Final Cut, The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, Dreams Less Sweet -- sound NOTHING like real binaural, nor to my ears do the German Kunstkopf-remixed albums -- Aqua, Flow Motion, Blackdance, Golem. There ARE a few true binaural recordings available: Caves From the Iron Mountains, Explorations in Space and Time, Sessions from the 17th Ward, The Revenge -- but they're rarer than hen's teeth.

[Shadow]

Came home from vaccation.
Son (18 years) had held a party. Someone tried to find out how loud... a laptop could play...
Fuses blown in my Snell A II ... and the woofers...
Luckily tweeters and midranges seem to have survived.


Stupidity is the basic building block of the universe
FZ

Have to import fuses & new woofers from USA.
https://www.atomichifiandtv.com/snel...pricelist.html

How loud can a laptop play.

[Jerjo]

That is a special kind of stupid. And I assume with that kind of stupidity comes an inability to pay for your new woofers?

[Firth]

How loud can a laptop play.

I’m assuming that it was bass party with the bass cranked up to 100% square wave. Square waves can be deadly.

[Firth]

I have investigated a lot of binaural, dummy head, Kuntskopf recordings, and the Zuccarelli holophonics recordings are some of the weakest, almost as bad as the Chesky Records recordings. In fact, on headphones they don't even sound like real binaural. They just sound like close-recorded stereo.

There's a whole AMSR (autonomous sensory meridian response) scene out there where some people get very strong tingling sensations from wearing headphones and listening to close-recorded hair clippers, matchbox rattling, whispering in your ear, etc. I don't get it myself, but it's apparently a huge thing.

But that's totally different from binaural music.

The albums recorded with the Zuccarelli system -- The Final Cut, The Pros and Cons of Hitchhiking, Dreams Less Sweet -- sound NOTHING like real binaural, nor to my ears do the German Kunstkopf-remixed albums -- Aqua, Flow Motion, Blackdance, Golem. There ARE a few true binaural recordings available: Caves From the Iron Mountains, Explorations in Space and Time, Sessions from the 17th Ward, The Revenge -- but they're rarer than hen's teeth.

“Contrary opinion here. Headphones are generally GREAT at reproducing room spaces. One reason is that they usually consist of single drivers”


Well then, for the most part there is no way headphones are going to be as immersive as a multi-dimensional speaker system including Dolby Atmos (with room correction). Maybe headphones aren’t that great at emulating space after all, because there is little or no material that could benefit from them.

[Zeuhlmate]

That is a special kind of stupid. And I assume with that kind of stupidity comes an inability to pay for your new woofers?

Exactly.
My son was not in the room at the moment, and the others couldn't later agree on who touched the volume knob as the last person.
I can't understand the fun, especially with a laptop it sounds horrible long time before it gets critical.

[Zeuhlmate]

I’m assuming that it was bass party with the bass cranked up to 100% square wave. Square waves can be deadly.

Its through a Exposure 17 preamp and a Parasound HA 2200 mk II (400 w in 4 ohm), so...

[progmatist]

I would like a bunch of people to listen to Trick of the Tail with a low pass filter (quality FIR) that rolls of after 8 KHz and tell me if they can’t tell the difference.

If one listens to classical records made in the mid 1950s, when the RIAA curve maxed out at 15KHz, they sound quite muddy.

[rcarlberg]

Well then, for the most part there is no way headphones are going to be as immersive as a multi-dimensional speaker system including Dolby Atmos (with room correction). Maybe headphones aren’t that great at emulating space after all, because there is little or no material that could benefit from them.

Not sure what you were trying to say here, but what you wrong makes precisely 0 sense.

[Firth]

Not sure what you were trying to say here, but what you wrong makes precisely 0 sense.

Maybe another beer would help

[rcarlberg]

Touché

[Shadow]

Audiophile Steve McQueen

[Jerjo]

And then there's the Chairman's three channel reel-to-reel rig

[Dave (in MA)]

Audiophile Steve McQueen

Dave's audio tip:
Always make sure to wipe your feet on the doormat before stepping on your vinyl.

I spotted Crown of Creation, In A Silent Way, Sketches, At Jazz Inn, and I could swear I recognize the sleeve just past the LP lying in the foreground.

[simon moon]

Here is Frank's system in his Palm Springs home. The house with the piano shaped pool.

They rent this house out, and I stayed there about 5 years ago. This system is still there, but not working.

[rcarlberg]

I spotted Crown of Creation, Kind of Blue, Sketches of Spain, MJQ At Music Inn, and I could swear I recognize the sleeve just past the LP lying in the foreground.

Yes, and Sinatra-Basie, John Coltrane "My Favorite Things," Miles Davis "Seven Steps to Heaven," Chet Baker Quartet, and a couple others I can't quite make out.

And hey? If you're Steve McQueen you can step all over your records.

[Dave (in MA)]

Yes, and Sinatra-Basie, John Coltrane "My Favorite Things," Miles Davis "Seven Steps to Heaven," Chet Baker Quartet, and a couple others I can't quite make out.

Good eye.

I did a google image search and found a little bigger copy and rotated it 90 degrees so I could see it better... The Jazztet-Art Farmer/Benny Golson