I just came here because an IEM reviewer keeps referring to Sweet Leaf from the 2:32 mark as a test track for resolution and speed, says it's difficult to get the track to play right So I wondered if it's just a bad mastering he's using or if the track really is like that... (Not a Black Sabbath fan personally so I didn't know the song)
"IEM"? In-ear monitors? "it's difficult to get the track to play right" - I admit I am not sure what that's supposed to mean in this context. CDs don't suddenly change their resolution in the middle of a song (or anywhere) - if it sounds like a CD does that, and it is not part of the music (in this case it surely is not), something must indeed be very wrong with the mastering it uses (probably tape damage, if speed and resolution fluctuate). And I would expect the same to be true for vinyl. Maybe my hearing isn't good enough - I don't hear anything out of order at 2:32 of Sweet Leaf on the SHM-SACD or the 2009 Sanctuary CD - which is here: We'll probably need more information in order to determine what might be his problem. Have you considered asking him which release he is listening to?
No, no, you misunderstood. It's not that there's a problem, he just uses the track to test various IEMs and headphones because there's a lot going on musically from that point on in the track and not every piece of headgear can pick out everything (true enough, my planar Tin P1 IEM has a really fast response and the track sounds amazing on it, while the other, dynamic driver IEM I have can't really pick up all the instruments through the distortion that's going on). The point is, obviously, that no matter which mastering you have, every headphone/earphone has its own unique frequency response, some being bass.focused, some mid-forward, some mid-recessed, etc, etc)
Aha, I see. Well, you can check it out yourself by listening to the Youtube upload I was referring to in my previous post: it contains the 2nd best of all available digital releases of the song.
Am I correct in understanding that if I ripped the Swedish Castle twofer (has SBS and also the self titled) to my computer and then transferred the lossless files to my IPod the pre-emphasis will cause the playback to be inferior? I ask because I did this and it still sounds quite nice albeit seems to be cut quite low. The SBS obviously sounds incredible played on my CD player.
It is this one. Same mastering as the other early Castle CD's. Black Sabbath – Sabbath Bloody Sabbath / Black Sabbath (1988, Fatbox, CD)
Aha, so not a twofer in the sense of putting two albums on once CD but in the sense of putting two CDs in one box. Thanks for clarifying! So these discs have pre-emphasis like the others, right?
I listened again in the car and it did rip properly, sounds bloody fantastic! I used a very cheap external CD drive (plugged in via USB) to rip it. The drive in my computer died awhile ago so I bought that thing as a solution and it's been a little workhorse. For some bizarre reason (I guess because I already had the Japanese SACD rip) I never transferred these to my Ipod. I also stupidly purchased individual Castle copies of these titles which I'll likely post here once I have them. I forgot I had the twofer with the fatboy case! Doh!
Yeah, if you ripped with iTunes then it likely took care of the pre-emphasis. There are probably others, but that's the only ripping software I know of which does that.
Thanks guys for your help! One off the wall question which I know has been previously discussed but what are the main differences between the Live Evil Deluxe set and the original WB 2cd. I only had the '96 Castle but wanted to search out the best sounding disc with all between song stage banter etc. I've read that is likely the original WB but that one is getting up there in price these days. Will I be happy with the Deluxe sound quality or should I spring the extra $10 or so to get the original? I guess the booklet/pictures on the new one might factor in on the decision as well.
dBpoweramp will handle de-emphasis. However, if the PE flag is in the subcode rather than TOC, you have to select the PE DSP manually in the program before hitting the rip button.
Go for the WB (or wait for a less expensive copy of it). The Deluxe has some kind of (tape?) problem on one stereo channel, it sounds rather dull. The WB is great.
You probably once told me, but I forgot: does iTunes, when ripping files from a pre-emphasized CD, produce permanently de-emphasized files? or does it only add some kind of tag and de-emphasize on-the-fly during playback?
It permanently alters the audio but also does de-emphasis on the fly when playing the actual CD in iTunes. It's an automatic thing with no settings and no indication to the user that anything is being done to their files. No way to turn it off and rip the actual CD audio.
