SH Spotlight CD & Digital flaws: Our technique for finding A/D & D/A converters for DCC Golds in 1992

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, Jun 6, 2008.

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  1. Chooke

    Chooke Forum Resident

    Location:
    Perth, Australia
    Steve

    Just wondering if you believe that the improvements in digital production over the years - particularly from the mid 90s are largely due to implementation, rather than the physical ADC chain? The reason I ask is that with vinyl production (which in my view is a lot more challenging in terms of required skill and experience) has had decades of learning evoloution with people such as yourself having decades of accumulated knowledge, whereas digital was still in its infancy. It is an art which is slowly being lost with many talented producers retiring or passing away. It also depends on the type of music as the classical genre seems to have largely got it right even from the very early days. I haven't been involved with any studios for a long time but still keep in touch with some friends in the industry. These days none of us can tell the difference between a well implemented digital copy from either an analogue or digital reference, though with the former you can sometimes hear more of the hiss and the mixing sounds more pronounced.
     
  2. krlpuretone

    krlpuretone Forum Resident

    Location:
    Grantham, NH
    Interesting old thread.

    I've found the same to hold true for digital guitar amps (like Line 6, etc.) - the note decay is completely unrealistic and the tone gets lost in the mix when the band is playing (but generally they sound good by themselves at room volume)
     
  3. Espen R

    Espen R Senior Member

    Location:
    Norway
    This summer a friend of mine played new Riverton 78 Lp's of new recorded music (2012). These are strictly limited esitions. It was amazing how good it sounded, better than my best SACDs. Second best to analog tapes, Imo.

    Now we shall play the CD version that followed the 78 record, he said: the music was dull, lifeless, dead and most of all: true dynamics in music was killed. Truly shocking played side by side!

    Mr Person of Opus 3 records has served David Robinson of Positive Feedback magazine several 4xDSD files of analogue tapes. These 11,2Mhz DSD files are said to mirror analogue tapes pretty close.

    So the conclusion for both analogue and digital is: You need speed! :)
     
    Last edited: Oct 20, 2015
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  4. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Improvements? Not enough to suit me. Same old issues, better disguised.
     
  5. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Reopened by request. Here you go!
     
  6. GreenDrazi

    GreenDrazi Truth is beauty

    Location:
    Atlanta, GA
    Great thread.
     
  7. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    This is stuff I wish would be discussed more again. We have no idea how these more recent AF CDs are made now, unless it's all proprietary info.
     
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  8. tommylion

    tommylion Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Burlington, VT
    Has anyone made an NOS, multibit, discrete resistor ladder A/D? The closest thing I've seen is the Altmann Creation ADC:

    The Altmann Creation ADC

    I think Audio Note has been/is working on something like this, but I don't have any details.
     
  9. Bytor Snowdog

    Bytor Snowdog Forum Resident

    Location:
    Texas
    Can you elaborate?

    Do you still test DAC's and do you have a favorite(s)?
     
  10. Trevor_Bartram

    Trevor_Bartram Senior Member

    Location:
    Boylston, MA, USA
    I learned to listen to CD players early on. My first player, a Philips front loader brought from the U.K. in 1985, sounded pretty good. That was stolen from my U.S. house in 1986 along with some nice Snells and a NAD amplifier. With the insurance money I went listening to U.S. CD players and ended up with a Denon DCD1500. It was an expensive player but lasted ten years of hard use. Eventually the laser got weak and it started skipping. So off I went again listening to CD players, this time I preferred the sound of NAD with Burr-Brown DACs. That lasted another ten years before the laser got weak. This time I didn't have to search far, I had a Panasonic DVD-A110 player with 24bit DACs (that had started to skip on DVDs) that sounded very similar to the NAD. It's still in use today but is getting a little fussy, it needs clean CDs and the laser needs cleaning every few months. I have compared the Panasonic with other DVD and Blu-ray players and still prefer the Panasonic. Most DVD and Blu-ray players have dual lasers, so when the main laser is weak, the other laser is still usable on lesser formats. The moral of the story is, don't throw old DVD/Blu-ray players out until you've listened to them!
     
  11. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Yes, we were crazy..
     
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  12. Ham Sandwich

    Ham Sandwich Senior Member

    Location:
    Sherwood, OR, USA
    The Pacific Microsonics is crazy too.
    It's something that I keep seeking out recordings that were done using it. It has a sonic signature that I like. It's a sonic signature that comes through with different mastering engineers. When I listen with headphones it is a sonic signature that can put my head in the room with the recording if the recording is done well. And that is awesome. I don't know whether that is due to the way the Pacific Microsonics captures reverb or due to other factors. I suspect it is a mix of factors. It also has a way of enhancing and filling in the sound in the center of the imaging when I listen on headphones. Whatever the magic is the Pacific Microsonics has been able to create many recordings that transport my headphone wearing head into the recording space.
     
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