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. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    It really depends on your system and your speakers. I bet in the studio on the typical studio monitors those esssssses were not obvious.
     
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  2. jojopuppyfish

    jojopuppyfish Senior Member

    Location:
    Maryland
    Honestly Tigerlily is one of the few DVD-A that sounds really good IMO.
    I bought the cd because this forum said it was good, but I hardly play it.

    I'd be curious to hear if the MFSL cd is much better than the common cd.
     
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  3. mBen989

    mBen989 Senior Member

    Location:
    Scranton, PA
    I'll say it'll be an apples to apples affair, depending on what WEA sent to MoFi.
     
  4. Kristofa

    Kristofa Enthusiast of small convenient sound carrier units

    Location:
    usa
    The DVD-A is multichannel only, correct? I read that the case was mislabeled as having a stereo only layer included.
     
  5. gonz

    gonz Forum Resident

    Location:
    Michiana
    Do you think it's due to the double tracked vocals?
     
  6. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    Nah, wonky studio monitors, you know, 15" woofer, horn tweeter that starts rolling off around 8k? Can't hear the stuff way up top.
     
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  7. seanw

    seanw Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto
    SQ aside, the MFSL includes a lovely piano coda on Wonder that's faded out on the original CD. Running times are 4:41 vs. 4:28. In that way I would suggest it's better. :)
     
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  8. speedracer

    speedracer Forum Resident

    Location:
    Cascadia
    Sounded like a good player - just checked Ebay , they are 400$ up to 800$.
     
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  9. Freddie Freeloader

    Freddie Freeloader Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    A fun little experiment! On my new speakers, just a few weeks old, the esses on Carnival sound a bit too pronounced, like Natalie has a bit of a lisp. On headphones the lisp is gone and the esses sound natural. Interesting!

    On both speakers and headphones the difference between 5 en 9 is pretty big indeed.

    The reverb on 2 sounds overdone to me, not particularly fake, but definitely not good. :)

    I'm going to use this test to compare the cd with (high res) streaming in the coming days. I haven't really noticed much difference between these two types of sources before, but maybe this test will reveal something...
     
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  10. Steve Hoffman

    Steve Hoffman Your host Your Host Thread Starter

    I guess your speakers are a bit bright up there. Might smooth out a bit with break in though..
     
    Last edited: Aug 17, 2022
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  11. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Track 5 - Yes, some spit on the S, but not excessive.

    Track 9 - Huge drop in midrange and overall SQ.

    Track 2 - I hear some of the reverb in the guitar, but not so much otherwise.

    Have you heard the MFSL CD, Steve? On the MFSL, all of the above improves, no spit on the S on Track 5 and more dynamic overall.
     
  12. Blair G.

    Blair G. Senior Member

    Location:
    Delta, BC, Canada
    That describes my copy : multichannel only.
    I have my player downmix it ( not ideal ) if I want to play it in 2.0
    Contemplated buying the MoFi for 2.0 but decided I don’t like the album enough to bother
     
  13. jazzsurfer

    jazzsurfer Forum Resident

    Location:
    new york
    I hear the sound of a Neve in these recordings. That solid thick bottom end.
     
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  14. Freddie Freeloader

    Freddie Freeloader Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Netherlands
    Yeah, the 24/96 stream on Qobuz sounds like AM radio! Weird. The 16/44.1 stream sounds like the cd.
     
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  15. Professor Batty

    Professor Batty Forum Resident

    Location:
    Anoka Mn
    After reading this thread I went out to my local Goodwill to get Tigerlily and they had TWO copies!
    I could definitely hear differences in the reverb tails between different players on track Wonder, but my poor old ears couldn't hear any sibilant esses on Carnival.
     
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  16. scotti

    scotti Forum Resident

    Location:
    Atlanta GA
    I thought why not try this. Never really listened to any other songs from it except Carnival. My wife likes that song as well and play it every now and then. I have my original promo I got when I was still working. I always though it sounded pretty good for a CD with decent lower end and such. The "S" sounds come across okay on my system, but could hear how it might sound a bit off on different setups. When I listened to Jealousy and paid close attention, the midrange sounded hollow compared to Carnival. Never really listened to "Wonder" but I'm sure I heard what you were referring to. Interesting exercise.

    I actually had the Annie Lennox "Medusa" CD filed next to the Merchant as my wife likes to follow up "Carnival" with "Thin Live Between Love and Hate" which I played directly after. Talk about one amazing sounding song. This was my original promo as well and if anyone else has the original 1995 of that, does that song not have one awesome soundstage/clarity to it allowing the vocals to almost drip right out of my speakers. Sorry for the sidebar there...
     
  17. jazzsurfer

    jazzsurfer Forum Resident

    Location:
    new york
    This is a great sounding CD overall
     
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  18. Tom Favata

    Tom Favata tbuick6

    Location:
    New York
    Just picked up a copy in a used bin for $4.99 in Binghamton, NY while dropping my girl back to school for her sophomore year. Looking forward to ripping it to my jRiver server and hearing how my DAC and system handle it.
     
  19. Static

    Static Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY
    Ok so this is entertaining. One of my favorite sounding discs from the 90s.
    Listening with my 2007 Rega Apollo w/display off-Silver Dragon Cables/Then switched to my Sony x303es cd player 1994/display off same cables. I also compared both to my 2021 dac setup.
    But I want to compare my cd players.
    Both did a really good job - the Rega seemed to tone down the irregularites. The sony - which I still enjoy as a cd player- seemed to show the issues with more detail. The dac crushed both.
    This was a great test ...thank you!

    I just turn on my system when I get home (when Im out working etc) or when I am home I just keep it on. There are so many schools of thought. I will say my solid state/tube bass amp sounds WAY better after it warms up for a while.
     
  20. Static

    Static Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY
    BTW. Was this even recorded in true hi res? Or is the hi res probably an up sample?
     
  21. rcsrich

    rcsrich Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    Agree- and this is one that often pops up in the thrift store/discount used bins, at least around here, so no reason not to pick up a copy!
     
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  22. rcsrich

    rcsrich Forum Resident

    Location:
    Virginia
    And can I just say how excellent it would be if a thread posted by Steve resulted in a reversal if this situation…sounds like it’s already spurred a bunch of Goodwill purchases!
     
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  23. Tim Lookingbill

    Tim Lookingbill Alfalfa Male

    Location:
    New Braunfels, TX
    Ok, how about YouTube of Carnival? I don't have the CD but the Youtube does indicate Natalie's 'S' sounds aren't too spity (quite soft overall) but I can here an intermittent high frequency around 12kHz that just might be part of YT SQ differences. Can you hear this high frequency in her 'S' sound especially where she says "Seem to Me"? close to the beginning.

     
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  24. JeffMo

    JeffMo Format Agnostic

    Location:
    New England
    eBay prices soar!! :laugh::laugh:
     
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  25. Static

    Static Forum Resident

    Location:
    NY
    I like the sizzle on her vocals...it adds some edge to her mellow tone. It helps her vocals cut thru the mix. Without that extra tone her voice would be too muffled. IMO. I prefer this live also as it helped my vocals cut thru the instruments (when I used to perform).
     
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