SH Spotlight Wanna check how your CD player is doing? "Tigerlily" CD Natalie Merchant, how I compared CD players

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Steve Hoffman, Aug 15, 2022.

  1. qwerty

    qwerty A resident of the SH_Forums.

    My system sounds thin and horrible when it's first turned on. I put my TV audio through the hifi to watch movies, and will live with turning the hifi on and watching the movie, but it's not until 30mins when it stops sounding thin and is OK.
     
  2. COBill

    COBill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado, USA
    A used one missing an eject button is $400 and a parts-only one is at $450 on eBay, along with one priced at $880 (!).
     
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  3. idledreamer

    idledreamer Still idle

    Location:
    Boston, MA
    In the winter time, let it warm up until you can feel warm air coming out of the vents. Then before you drive off, punch the gas pedal--- the engine will rev super super high in the cold weather.
     
  4. olinko

    olinko Forum Resident

    Location:
    Zagreb
    I know that's not the point of your thread, just wanna chime in and say I absolutely love the 2007 MoFi CD of Tigerlily and I much prefer it to the original (not to mention no spitty S's :D )
     
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  5. mando_dan

    mando_dan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Beverly, MA
    Are we sure our ears and brains aren't warming up as opposed to the solid state circuitry which no manual says is needed? Serious question.
     
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  6. COBill

    COBill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado, USA
    (Emboldening mine)
    Note that both the Audio Note UK DAC 4.1X and Modwright Sony 9100ES tubed Platinum Signature Truth contain vacuum tubes which do require warm up.

    As far as solid-state, a number of audiophile components specifically discuss warm-up periods in their owner's manuals.

    For example (emboldening mine):
     
    Last edited: Aug 16, 2022
  7. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    Not only is it a great album, but I always thought it had good SQ back in the day. Now you have me curious though...
     
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  8. mr.datsun

    mr.datsun Incompletist

    Location:
    London
    I don't get annoyingly spitty 's's. And I can hear the difference in mixing mastering style between the three tracks. I'd have to say that I'm not sure what fake reverb sounds like, but I did not like the sound of track 2. So, I do not know whether identifying fake reverb there is a lack in my ears or my DAC.

    FLACs played on a Melco through the DAC in my Luxman D-03X CD player.
     
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  9. COBill

    COBill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado, USA
    Basically you can tell there's reverb but it sounds artificial in nature, maybe a touch electronic rather than natural as you would get from a stairway, for example.
     
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  10. Joy-of-radio

    Joy-of-radio Forum Resident

    Location:
    Central ME
    While I have not heard Tigerlily, the best upgrade I've made to my modest system was to adjust the volume level sensibly starting at 0 and slowly advancing it upward to the point where I can hear everything with comfort and detail. I may look for a copy of the suggested album on compact disc, but frankly I find pop music from the '90s and beyond unsettling in most instances. Would someone describe the album please?
     
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  11. ALAN SICHERMAN

    ALAN SICHERMAN Van Cortlandt Park, Bronx, NY

    Location:
    Cleveland, OH
    Just bought a used copy from Discogs!
     
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  12. mr.datsun

    mr.datsun Incompletist

    Location:
    London
    The track sounds hard and unnatural. I cannot particularly identify it as reverb sound.
     
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  13. COBill

    COBill Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado, USA
    You can hear it in the instruments more than her vocal at the beginning of the song, and then later in the song you can hear the same effect on her voice.

    It's really kind of interesting, before this I thought that producers usually tried to mix for a consistent sound throughout an album, but here all the songs cited definitely have unique mixes.
     
  14. PeanutButterParty

    PeanutButterParty Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York
    Can we do this with an album I like? Thanks.
     
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  15. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    Indeed, this CD player does go for big bucks.
     
  16. BradOlson

    BradOlson Country/Christian Music Maven

    Tigerlily - YouTube
     
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  17. River Flow

    River Flow Forum Resident

    Location:
    Texas
    Wow, nice little thread... thanks to our host for this. I was pretty uninformed about the differences in CD playback prior to reading this. Also like the focus on close listening. Just incidentally finished a great Miles Davis book where the author went to some length to emphasize Miles' epic capacity to listen (including quotes from bandmates and jazz legends about Miles' gift in this area). Also overlaps with some neat Zen / mindfulness philosophy too.

    I definitely don't have an audiophile setup but I like to geek out on comparing masterings in general. I have the MFSL gold disc for this album but want to go back to compare it to my original CD, if I still have it somewhere. I don't always prefer the MFSL mastering (e.g. for some of my Dylan and Miles hybrid SACDs). One of my hopes with this recent MoLie DigiStep scandal is that I hope more forum posters provide good faith comparisons in the future about what they hear (of course within the context of their ears, their listening preferences/biases, and their systems), and less of the "placebo" / blanket praise of anything by MFSL automatically being better than the non-audiophile or inexpensive alternatives.

    To Joy-of-radio (post #35), I'd be shocked if you found Tigerlily "unsettling." I've found some of the album to be uneven and even slow/boring at points, but I also haven't taken enough time to digest it properly. The strong tracks are timeless, pretty close to perfect, unbelievable voice and some nice musicality that I recall from my MFSL disc.
     
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  18. dasacco

    dasacco Senior Member

    Location:
    Massachussetts
    This is my exact experience. Smooth S's, definite differences in the tracks. As for the fake reverb, I just thought it sounded more compressed, almost like it was mixed to be a single or something.

    Full disclosure, I'm not sure I would have noticed the differences had they not been pointed out, but as others have said, these tests are so much fun to do!
     
  19. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Kevin Gray taught me about the beauty of solid state gear warm up, way back in the day. He warms everything up in his studio before cutting a record, at least an hour..

    On Ella Fitzgerald "Clap Hands, Here Comes Charlie" you can actually hear the gear warm up at Radio Recorders Studio from one song to the next. Grover Huffman pointed that out to me once. Having heard, cannot be unheard.

    So, turn your stuff on, enjoy the music but don't do any critical listening for at least 1/2 hour. If you keep your SS gear on all the time, that's different of course. I never leave anything on. SS gear takes much longer to warm up than tube gear. Trust Steve on this.
     
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  20. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    It's not supposed to bother you, it's simply a way to tell if your gear is working properly. S***, when they were mixing and mastering in the studio they couldn't hear the difference!
     
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  21. pronghorn

    pronghorn Forum Resident

    Location:
    Minnesota
    Thanks for this
     
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  22. Blair G.

    Blair G. Senior Member

    Location:
    Delta, BC, Canada
    The only version I have is the DVD Audio which, IIRC, lacks a 2 channel mix.
    But I’ll play around with it anyway, have 2 different players to try and a DAC.
    Good excuse to revisit this album, haven’t played it in a long time.
     
  23. jhw59

    jhw59 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Rehoboth Beach DE.
    Steve recommended that Ella cd a few years ago and I found a cheap copy so will check it out again. I remember how good it sounds. Much rather listen to her anyway!
     
  24. gonz

    gonz Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michiana
    FYI, every Goodwill in the US has a copy of Tigerlilly.
     
  25. gonz

    gonz Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michiana
    Never noticed how many essssses there are on Carnival. Love that song. Tasty guitar tones and licks.
     
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