How can I tell music has been an MP3? Quantitative Measurement of Fidelity
 

"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:43:01 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:


Not as confusing as numbering 2-disc sets of LPs 1/4 and 2/3 for
public
performance - where the playing order goes/went as follows:

Stack the albums with sides in this order from the top: 1/4, 3/2

Play Side 1, flip both discs together

Play Side 2, flip top disc only

Play Side 3, remove top disc

Play Side 4, remove disc, take bow, bring up house lights....




Or for preference, have two decks, then: Play 1, cue up 2. Seamless
handover at end of 1. etc etc....

Take even deeper bow.



Doesn't quite work - with a 1/4 & 2/3 numbered set he'd have plenty of
time to flip the Sides 1/4 disc on one deck, but would have to flip the
Sides 2/3 disc *real time* on the other anyway and both discs 'real
time' in the case of 1/2 & 3/4 numbered sets!

(Those ole boys weren't so daft, back then - not to mention who TF had
the money for *two decks* in those days, also?! ;-)

Reminds me: There was a feature on BBC Look East some months back about
a DJ who uses 2 wind-up gramophones playing 78s - he is able to change
the record, wind the deck up and *change the needle* while the other
record is playing, apparently!

How can I tell music has been an MP3? Quantitative Measurement of Fidelity
 

On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:24:09 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:


"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 11:43:01 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:


Not as confusing as numbering 2-disc sets of LPs 1/4 and 2/3 for
public
performance - where the playing order goes/went as follows:

Stack the albums with sides in this order from the top: 1/4, 3/2

Play Side 1, flip both discs together

Play Side 2, flip top disc only

Play Side 3, remove top disc

Play Side 4, remove disc, take bow, bring up house lights....




Or for preference, have two decks, then: Play 1, cue up 2. Seamless
handover at end of 1. etc etc....

Take even deeper bow.



Doesn't quite work - with a 1/4 & 2/3 numbered set he'd have plenty of
time to flip the Sides 1/4 disc on one deck, but would have to flip the
Sides 2/3 disc *real time* on the other anyway and both discs 'real
time' in the case of 1/2 & 3/4 numbered sets!

(Those ole boys weren't so daft, back then - not to mention who TF had
the money for *two decks* in those days, also?! ;-)

Reminds me: There was a feature on BBC Look East some months back about
a DJ who uses 2 wind-up gramophones playing 78s - he is able to change
the record, wind the deck up and *change the needle* while the other
record is playing, apparently!



I was thinking about that - are you sure they weren't 1/3 and 2/4?

d
--
Pearce Consulting
http://www.pearce.uk.com

How can I tell music has been an MP3? Quantitative Measurement of Fidelity
 

"Don Pearce" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 26 Jun 2007 12:24:09 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:


Doesn't quite work - with a 1/4 & 2/3 numbered set he'd have plenty of
time to flip the Sides 1/4 disc on one deck, but would have to flip
the
Sides 2/3 disc *real time* on the other anyway and both discs 'real
time' in the case of 1/2 & 3/4 numbered sets!

(Those ole boys weren't so daft, back then - not to mention who TF had
the money for *two decks* in those days, also?! ;-)

Reminds me: There was a feature on BBC Look East some months back
about
a DJ who uses 2 wind-up gramophones playing 78s - he is able to change
the record, wind the deck up and *change the needle* while the other
record is playing, apparently!



I was thinking about that - are you sure they weren't 1/3 and 2/4?


No, I've never seen that numbering - I've got one or two sets numbered
1/4 & 2/3 and plenty numbered 1/2 & 3/4.

I got into a palaver taking photos to show the numbering - I realised
this pic:

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/MaVlast.JPG

*proved* nothing, so I had to take this pic:

http://www.apah69.dsl.pipex.com/show/MaVlast2.JPG

to leave you to deduce where Side 3 was, but of course the camera
battery ran out after the first pic so I had to use a second camera!!

(It's a bugger trying to get two record labels into the one shot! :-)

How can I tell music has been an MP3? Quantitative Measurement of Fidelity
 

"Keith G" wrote in
:

No, I've never seen that numbering - I've got one or two sets numbered
1/4 & 2/3 and plenty numbered 1/2 & 3/4.

1/4 & 2/3 is designed for automatic record changers. Put the stack on the
changer. 1 drops first, then 2. Flip the two-record stack and put it back
on the changer. 3 will drop, then 4.

How can I tell music has been an MP3? Quantitative Measurement of Fidelity
 

"Carey Carlan" wrote in message
...
"Keith G" wrote in
:

No, I've never seen that numbering - I've got one or two sets
numbered
1/4 & 2/3 and plenty numbered 1/2 & 3/4.

1/4 & 2/3 is designed for automatic record changers. Put the stack on
the
changer. 1 drops first, then 2. Flip the two-record stack and put it
back
on the changer. 3 will drop, then 4.


Lovely!

I had never thought about that - I had always been led to believe it was
to minimise *fumble* for the guy in the monkey suit and white gloves at
a 'Soiree Musicale'..!!

(I am beginning to change my mind about these crosspostings.... :-)

How can I tell music has been an MP3? Quantitative Measurement of Fidelity
 

"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"dizzy" wrote in crossposted message
...
Marc Wielage wrote:

For some odd reason, there are people who foolishly convert MP3 files to
FLAC
(or APE), perhaps in the mistaken belief that it will make the signal
"sound"
better.

Sounds like those who buy "tubed" CD players, thinking that the one
tube stage at the player's output will somehow "fix" all the "harm"
done to the signal by all the solid-state stuff.



Why? Doesn't it?


Not to mention all those nasty digits which disappear into the vacuum of the
tubes......

S.

--
http://audiopages.googlepages.com

How can I tell music has been an MP3? Quantitative Measurement of Fidelity
 

Mr.T MrT@home wrote:
"Paul Stamler" wrote in message
...
Some labels, including Pathe, did put out center-start records during the
78
era. Some radio transcriptions were done that way, too. And radio
transcriptions of long shows were sometimes done alternating center-start
and rim-start, so there would be no jarring change in sound quality as the
operator switched from disc to disc.

I can just imagine that operator sometimes got confused which way was next
then :-)
Even if they are well marked, it's surely a recipe for disaster.

No, it's easy to tell by where the blank space is.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

How can I tell music has been an MP3? Quantitative Measurement of Fidelity
 

"Serge Auckland" wrote in message
...


"Keith G" wrote in message
...

"dizzy" wrote in crossposted message
...
Marc Wielage wrote:

For some odd reason, there are people who foolishly convert MP3
files to FLAC
(or APE), perhaps in the mistaken belief that it will make the
signal "sound"
better.

Sounds like those who buy "tubed" CD players, thinking that the one
tube stage at the player's output will somehow "fix" all the "harm"
done to the signal by all the solid-state stuff.



Why? Doesn't it?


Not to mention all those nasty digits which disappear into the vacuum
of the tubes......


I wonder how many CDs you can play before the valves fill up with lost
digits?

But, on a more serious note, I have often wondered if 'tubed' CDPs sound
any better (I've never heard one myself) - having witnessed a vast
number* of people here being staggered backwards to hear CDs (including
their own) played through valve amps for the first time!!


*OK, maybe half a dozen or so...??

How can I tell music has been an MP3? Quantitative Measurement of Fidelity
 

Keith G wrote:

But, on a more serious note, I have often wondered if 'tubed' CDPs sound
any better (I've never heard one myself) - having witnessed a vast
number* of people here being staggered backwards to hear CDs (including
their own) played through valve amps for the first time!!

I use Sheldon Stokes' DAC, which has a 6DJ8 output stage. It sounds good.
It probably sounds good more because it's well-designed with careful layout
than because the output stage is a tube, but it's pretty clean.

He does the I/V stage on the output of the ladder (a PCM-63) just with a
shunt resistor to ground and then pulliing off into the high-Z input of
the tube grid. This gives comparatively poor S/N, much worse than an
active I/V stage, but I think it sounds better than a conventional active
I/V stage. You could do the same thing with a FET-input op-amp and it
would probably sound just as good, though.
--scott


--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."

How can I tell music has been an MP3? Quantitative Measurement of Fidelity
 

Dave wrote:
I have been disappointed with the audio quality of some CDs I have
bought recently. Is there a free program I can use to get an accepted
measurement of fidelity? (like a signal to noise ratio)

No, you can only listen.

I have my suspicious that some may have been stored an MP3s and then
"unripped" in the factory. So how can I tell for certain if my CD has
been an MP3, or other lossy format? I'd hope mp3 storage would leave
different markers than the original tape, for example.

This will never be the case for a major label release. However, as an
increasing number of records are issued by amateurs who don't necessarily
have a clue what they are doing, you may find this on some small releases.

More likely you are heaving the massive overcompression and limiting
which is currently fashionable. Everybody wants their recordings to be
louder, not necessarily to sound good.

To get a good measure I'd expect some Fourier transforms and signal
analysis to be done, so this should be relevant to sci.physics.

If you play back a recording made with a perceptual encoder like MP3
uses, and you look at the spectrum with an FFT (using a program like
SpectraFOO or some other free FFT application), it will be very obvious
that something goofy has been going on. You'll see these big square
blocks of spectrum popping in and out.

If, on the other hand, you play back a heavily limited recording on an
FFT application, you won't see much other than that the plot is a lot
denser than it otherwise would be.
--scott
--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."