"Rob" wrote in message

On 08/04/2010 18:42, Arny Krueger wrote:
wrote in message


Rule number one is that when you do comparisons like
this, you take the high sample rate file and downsample
it yourself, which is easy to do with free software
that can downloaded from the web.

Why's that - are Naim not to be trusted?

Nothing specific about Naim, just that major producers
sometimes produce different technical renderings or
masterings of the same basic music work in different
formats. They may sound very similar, but never exactly
alike because they were slightly or significantly
different (it varies by work and format) prior to being
recorded in the various audio formats. It is common to
re-master musical works for distribution in a new
format.

I would have thought it was recorded in one, 'hig def'
format, and then downsampled.

While we cannot determine the exact pedigre of every recording as listeners,
there is abundant technical proof that while the procedure you suggest makes
a lot of sense, it is simply not always the case.

Just wondered if there were any examples of distributors
meddling with the two versions.

The meddling is usually done by the producers.

What gets me is that they're charging more for something
that's actually taken more work to produce.

Not necessarily.

Similarly, I recently discovered that the early 'core
solo' processors were actually dual core, with one core
disabled.

That wouldn't surprise me. Low clock rate processors are often high clock
rate processors with the lower clock speed simply enforced. Take a laser and
zap a link on the chip, or simpler yet take a bonding wire and jumper two
pads on the chip.

Then you compare the two using a software ABX DBT
comparator.

Do you happen to know of a Mac variant?

I suspect that the Java ABX comparator will run on a Mac
using the Sun Mac Run Time Environment (JRE) for the
Mac. It will if Macs are comparable to PCs. ;-)

http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp is the
general source of Sun JRE for all hardware platforms but
that page suggests that Macs with OS/X come loaded with
this software pre-loaded. Just make sure you have the
latest-greatest version. The JAVA ABX comparator can be downloaded from:

http://www.hydrogenaudio.org/forums/...e=post&id=5692

Just do a "save as" on the above Link and you should be
offered a download of

abchr_java_0.53a_bin.zip

Inside abchr_java_0.53a_bin.zip file are two files, one
of which is abchr.jar .

Extract and open the abchr.jar file, and after a few
seconds you should see the opening menu for the ABC/hr -
ABX comparator. Select ABX and plug in the names of the
two audio files you want to compare. Post any questions
here.

Great - thanks for that, I'll give it a go.

I will be interested in hearing how it goes for you.