Disparity In Audio/Sonic Opinions. How can we calibrate?

Disparity In Audio/Sonic Opinion

For some time now I've noticed that there is a rather consistent disparity In Audio/Sonic opinion of some of the recordings we discuss in this group. I know that one of the ideas was to list our systems to give others an idea of "where we are coming from" but, that doesn't always jibe with the the comments made.

It would be interesting to set up an experiment with all those interested where all of us who have access to a couple of the same recordings (specially ones that there has been some disparity about in the past), sit down over a set period of time (maybe a week or two) and listen to the same cuts and describe the sonic faults and attributes that we hear. We could then compare notes and maybe learn a bit about our own systems specially if our experience differs in a negative/positive way from the consensus. IMO we could all benefit from this.

Anybody interested? No rush, better to take time and set this thing up right.

 

Count me in Sounds like an excellent learning opportunity

All the best - Andrew

 

Khorn, excellent idea. Could you give examples of recordings that you might want to see in this "test"? Which ones have you seen debated most heavily? I think Steely Dan Aja is a good candidate. The only problem there is that there are a few different versions that people have cited as being best. When you start comparing more than two discs, it can get a bit hairy.

 

There is no question it would have to be the identical CD issues. I was thinking of the MCA gold Steely Dan 'Deacade' but maybe there are others that are more widely available. It might take a bit of time to find a couple of discs that most of us have, and that would be suitable subjects due to contentious reviews but, given a bit of time I'm sure we will.

 

One point I would like to bring up right away. This has absolutely nothing to do with the "cost" of your system. You can have a poor or great sounding $1500 system as well as a poor or great sounding $15000 system. It's how the system is "matched" that counts also, the space that it is "loaded" into is a prime contributing factor to the ultimate sound. The again some of us might have "cloth ears" and nothin' will help So don't be put off joining in if you feel your system is modest, everyone can benefit from this.

 

I concur.

I might suggest the SACD issue of Willie Nelson's "Stardust" as a candidate for this event, as there have been differing opinions on the sound of this disc.

Chris

 

Although I agree with you about the choice of the Willie SACD, we don't want to exclude those who are not into Hi-Rez as of yet. The main subjects should be CDs as I would think everyone has that playback capability.

I do believe that we can also discuss SACDs in the same manner maybe after the first session is done with. I would be anxious to do so as with something like the Nelson SACD I am perplexed with some of the reports and want to know exactly what others are hearing/not hearing.

 

Tricky yes, but worthwhile. Nobody says it's gonna be easy but, those who try and 'play by the rules' so to speak have much to gain as well as participating in an enjoyable experiment.

 

Khorn & Friends,

I'm game!

Bob

 

Deal me in! I'm also curious as to the results!

 

I guess the next step is to compile a selection of CD titles that have been contentious. These have to be very popular titles that have had widely varying opinions as to the sound quality. I think we should give this a few days so people who have not had the chance to see this thread can "get on board" if they want to.

We sould then select either a couple of titles or cuts from the same and describe in sonic terms (to the best of our abilities) what we hear, like and/or dislike about them and see if any pattern develops.

I do hope this gets off the ground as it would be great fun as well as informative and, the ground rules shouldn't be too hard to establish.

 

Good idea Khorn! You could start a thread to take title suggestions for a week or so and then make a poll to get the global agreement on which title. Then the same could be done by poll for the tune selection.

 

I would very much like to know how so many of you experience ear-splitting brightness, while I *usually* don't.

 

I agree that the trick is to come up with discs that many of us have. While there has been a lot of debate about Aja, some of those discs are relatively uncommon. A Decade of Steely Dan would be interesting, though I don't have the gold version (just the original and standard remaster).

 

How about Taxman from Revolver as the base-line ?

All the best - Andrew

 

aashton is on the right track with the Beatles here/hear; there apparently aren't sonic differences from country to country with the Beatles catalog, the Fabs garner a lot of interest from the bulk of the posters judging by Beatle threads - pick some of the non remixed things and go from there...

 

For the first disc may I suggest: Beatles 'Abbey Road'

The copy I have is as follows: On The Label:

CDP 7 46446 2

DIDX 2249 Stereo

UK: CD-PCS 7088

Manufactured By
Capitol Records INC

MADE IN USA

(P) 1969 ORIGINAL SOUND
RECORDINGS MADE BY
EMI RECORDS LTD

DIGITALLY RE-MASTERED
(P) 1987 BY EMI RECORDS LTD

(C) 1969 EMI RECORDS LTD

This info appears directly under the last cut title # 17 on the lower right center portion of the label.


Do most of you have this version? If so we can use this as disc #1 and pick the cuts to audition in the near future.

 

There ya go! Count me in. Maybe someone could start a poll for which recording to use. I like Steve's idea of nobody post until a certain time so we don't influence each other.

Didn't we do something kinda like this with Dark Side of the Moon in various UDI vs. UDII vs. SACD madness?

 

This is a great idea; count me in too. I noticed that Steve did something like this not too long ago with a forum member named Joe by asking him for notes on various tracks on "Past Masters." Steve described it as getting the listening notes "in sync."

Anything that can make audio anarchy a little less anarchic is great by me.

 

I am almost afraid to find out.

 

Heh - those drums make my speakers sing - they sound like the percussive blasts of a cannon (which I guess was Mr. Fogerty's intention) - yahoo, I can play!!!