Apogee mini dac or Benchmark DAC1
 

All it has to do is sound as *realistic* as possible for me - that's
*my* realistic, not anyone else's and it definitely helps if I can hear
*all* of the voices, *all* of the words (where applicable) and *all* of
the instruments. Keith.

Keith, you're definitely heading for one of my small-DHT preamps - I
can give you all the kit bits cheap and you can assemble it. Don't ask
me why, but these small DHTs have a clarity I don't find in any other
amplification stage. You have a little treat in store. Andy

Apogee mini dac or Benchmark DAC1
 

Eeyore wrote:

Are you saying that all "audio professionals" produce nothing but
peerless recordings which cannot be improved upon?

It's simply anyone's opinion as to whether the original recording was
peerless or not.

In case you're referring to a multitrack before mastering, I was meaning the
final stereo mix that one purchases from a record shop.


You can be pretty confident that those ppl doing the
job are better at it than you might be though.

How do you work that out?


As to improving on it - my opinion is quite simple. You can 'modify'
it to suit your taste but it is what it is, warts and all.

If it's anybody's guess whether the recording is peerless to begin with, I
put it to you that the notions 'improved upon' and 'modified' are not
neccessarily mutually exclusive.


Certainly no particular 'flavour' of circuitry will produce an
impeccable result everytime when fed with varying quality of source
material. The method I favour is to aim for neutrality in
reproduction and accept such flaws as exist as they are rather than
try to 'paint them out' and lose all the good bits in the process.

To hell with neutrality. I aim for what I like the sound of.

Answer this, Donkey Boy: What is music *for*?


--
Wally
www.wally.myby.co.uk
Stress: You wake up screaming and realise you haven't fallen asleep yet.

Apogee mini dac or Benchmark DAC1
 

Keith G wrote:

"Eeyore" wrote

Clipping *is* to be deprecated you know.

Tell that to the people who produced 80% of the last, say, 100 CDs I've
MP3'd to HDD.....

Bloody DJs and their ilk most likely.

The thorn in the flesh of pro-audio.

Graham

Apogee mini dac or Benchmark DAC1
 

Keith G wrote:

"Eeyore" wrote
Keith G wrote:

Eeyor, you got some catching up to do. I'm taking the **** out of Arny, I
don't consider 'legacy amps' and 70s transistor stuff to be crap

Plenty of both *are* though.

Sure, but not *all* simply by token of being old....

Not *all* for sure.


Have you ever tried say a well-designed mosfet amp for comparison ?

Not sure that I have - there's been a lot of stuff through here in the last
few years....

Recommend one and I'll see if I can get hold of one.

The best one I know is one I designed myself actually. I have a couple here in
need of 'refurbing'. It was in some respects close to a 'no-compromise' design
albeit 16 yrs old now but aimed at pros so has fan cooling which isn't ideal of
course for domestic use. 12 output mosfets per channel btw !

It's a stonking piece of kit for sure. I challenge anyone to be rude about it.

Graham

Apogee mini dac or Benchmark DAC1
 

Wally wrote:

Eeyore wrote:

Are you saying that all "audio professionals" produce nothing but
peerless recordings which cannot be improved upon?

It's simply anyone's opinion as to whether the original recording was
peerless or not.

In case you're referring to a multitrack before mastering, I was meaning the
final stereo mix that one purchases from a record shop.

It's good that you recognise the subtle difference.

The mastering engineer is indeed the final guy who gets to review it.

CD technology has meant that no compromises have to be made in producing a
master compared to the case in the days of vinyl. Nevertheless a mastering
engineer may well 'equalise for CD' ( whatever that means ) and normalise
listening levels to optimise the 'CD experience'. That's an 'artistic' decision.



You can be pretty confident that those ppl doing the
job are better at it than you might be though.

How do you work that out?

How does anyone get to work in that industry ? How familiar are you with it ?


As to improving on it - my opinion is quite simple. You can 'modify'
it to suit your taste but it is what it is, warts and all.

If it's anybody's guess whether the recording is peerless to begin with, I
put it to you that the notions 'improved upon' and 'modified' are not
neccessarily mutually exclusive.

Certainly no particular 'flavour' of circuitry will produce an
impeccable result everytime when fed with varying quality of source
material. The method I favour is to aim for neutrality in
reproduction and accept such flaws as exist as they are rather than
try to 'paint them out' and lose all the good bits in the process.

To hell with neutrality. I aim for what I like the sound of.

Answer this, Donkey Boy: What is music *for*?

It's for listening to of course !

If you like Daddy's Sauce on your steak let me be the last to criticise your
choice.

Graham

Apogee mini dac or Benchmark DAC1
 

Eeyore wrote:

How does anyone get to work in that industry ? How familiar are you
with it ?

If you have to ask that question, you were in no position to make the
previous statement.


It's for listening to of course !

Try again.


--
Wally
www.wally.myby.co.uk
You're unique - just like everybody else.

Apogee mini dac or Benchmark DAC1
 

Wally wrote:

Eeyore wrote:

How does anyone get to work in that industry ? How familiar are you
with it ?

If you have to ask that question, you were in no position to make the
previous statement.

It's for listening to of course !

Try again.

Troll.

Graham

Apogee mini dac or Benchmark DAC1
 

"Andy Evans" wrote in message
oups.com...
All it has to do is sound as *realistic* as possible for me - that's
*my* realistic, not anyone else's and it definitely helps if I can hear
*all* of the voices, *all* of the words (where applicable) and *all* of
the instruments. Keith.

Keith, you're definitely heading for one of my small-DHT preamps - I
can give you all the kit bits cheap and you can assemble it. Don't ask
me why, but these small DHTs have a clarity I don't find in any other
amplification stage. You have a little treat in store. Andy


Andy. That sounds like a temptation too great for Keith to resist:-)
Can you tell us more about DHT preamp valves, please.

A separate thread might be a good idea, as we seem to be quite a
long way off the original topic.

Regards
Iain

Apogee mini dac or Benchmark DAC1
 

"Eeyore" wrote in
message ...


Nevertheless a mastering
engineer may well 'equalise for CD' ( whatever that means ) and normalise
listening levels to optimise the 'CD experience'. That's an 'artistic'
decision.

Sorry Graham. Can't agree. I attend several CD mastering
sessions a month EQ and level "optimisation" (that's the correct
term) are used solely to make the finished CD sound as loud
as possible.This is a decision forced by commercial pressure,
to which only certain sectors of the market are subject. It has
nothing whatsoever to do with "art".

Regards
Iain

Apogee mini dac or Benchmark DAC1
 

"Wally" wrote in message
...
Eeyore wrote:

I really sometimes wonder what the audiophool nuts reckon audio
professionals do for a living ?

Maybe they missed the fact that it isn't audiophools who actually
make the recordings, mix them down, master them and press them ? Only
then do the terminally clueless get a chance to think they can
somehow make it better than the original, which may have passed
through a thousand well-designed op-amp stages on its way to its
destination !

Are you saying that all "audio professionals" produce nothing but peerless
recordings which cannot be improved upon?



I think it's pretty safe to say that we make a better job than the
"armchair experts" probably would:-)

It is interesting to sit such a person, who tells you he/she knows
*exactly how it should sound* at the console during a 24 track
mixdown (I have done this experiment several times) You tell them
not to worry about the tricky bits, EQ, compressors, limiters,
audio processing etc, just get the tracks roughly in balance.
After about twenty minutes of fader leapfrogging, all meters are
at +8dBFS, and all faders are open as far as they will go.
The balance is in chaos. Then comes the question;
" How do I get more drums?" :-))

Iain