Hi - Fi buffs ?

[gus3049]

(I assume you know how to set this???)

Gordon , No I don't

Or, it has further occurred to me.......if you have lots of room on your hard disk, you could just import the music as AIFFs (choice in the same place as lossless)

This basically, will store a full size digital copy of a CD or whatever so, in theory at least, there should be no drop in quality at all. I just did a test with a bit of Bob Marley. No woman no cry AIFF - 40.9mB / Lossless - 26.5mB so it will use quite a bit more space.

If you use the Mac's drive however, you are still dependent on that for the ultimate quality as well as the internal DAC. I tend to import straight from my CD player or record player and use Audacity to split it all up and make any adjustments..

 

[gus3049]

And.... I have just had a listen to both!! Lossless is really very good but there is definitely an improvement in the air around the performers and a naturalness in the treble with AIFF. Probably marginal though. It always seems to be the treble that suffers most with compression. My wife just can't listen to MP3's but manages to put up with Lossless if she can't grab the record player for those weird groups she listens to ('to which she listens' to be correct), you know, the sort that eat chickens on stage an' stuff and use Dickens' characters as names.

I am training her to like Bach. We have reached Vivaldi with success but she thinks that Mozart is a lightweight and Beethoven just throws notes up in the air and when they come down there is no meaning. Its interesting because she has no preconceived ideas about classical or baroque music and so listens with 'innocent' ears. I, having been lumbered with all the baggage of being classically trained tend to accept the traditional view of what's good and bad or indifferent. I am tending to go back to the music I started with ie. guitar and baroque, the latter because it is generally 'like jazz man'. The classical and romantic periods are fading from my consciousness.

And its all her fault.

But then.....



.......what isn't? :lol:

 

[Blister]

OK

done that

Do I have to do it every time I download something or does it stay in that format

Thanks

 

[gus3049]

OK

done that

Do I have to do it every time I download something or does it stay in that format

Thanks

It'll stay like that from now on. Anything downloaded from iTunes direct will have whatever Apple used but when you do it from CD it will use your settings.

 

[gus3049]

After listening to the bits on the Mac, I then went into the other room.......


....it was like being at the concert instead of hearing it on the radio!! Some tweaking went on today to the SIR turntable I use - a new motor housing in beech instead of the old MDF one, bigger, heavier and more stable. The bass is slightly firmer I think but then, in this case, I did it as it looks better than the old one!

 

[Blister]

Rather neat Gordon :mrgreen:

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Gordon - Beethoven is Beethoven, Mozart is the world.
Bach is the universe.
(I forget where I read that)

 

[gus3049]

Gordon - Beethoven is Beethoven, Mozart is the world.
Bach is the universe.
(I forget where I read that)

Hmmm, I hadn't heard that one.

For me Bach is the father, Clapton the son and Ron Carter the Holy Ghost!! But I do allow a few others to the services. I seem to have missed out on Ronnie's heavy metal stuff though. She dragged me along to a Judas Priest concert when we were still in the UK and I can still hear the ringing in my ears. The treble shrieked like banshees, I'm not surprised that she finds my electrostatics a bit laid back at the top end!!

If she really need a fix, we keep her old system upstairs. Giant JBL's and 200 watts per channel (RMS) of Pioneer amplification. The neighbours love it. I'll stick to my 8 watts and Bach.

 

[gus3049]

Rather neat Gordon :mrgreen:

Well, I'm a turner ain't I. Its round so its in my comfort zone. Dead easy to make your own - ish

Like everything though, its very easy to make a bad one. Making a good one is a little more difficult. We have been using this one instead of the old Garrard 301 (you should see the silly money they go for these days), so I reckon its not too bad.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Garrards are way overpriced.

The ones in the Beeb used to rumble horribly (all idler drives do), yet you still see them go for daft amounts (they have grey crackle finish, rather than cream).

I'm a Technics/Sugden person: SP10II aand BD2a.

What are you using for bearings and how is it damped overall?

E.

PS: I'd rather be EMT if the budget would ever stretch, but not these days!

 

[Racers]

Hi,

BOSE, Better Off with Something Else.

Lots of storys about just how cheap the drivers are, some thing like 50 cents.

B&O nice to look at.

Pete

 

[gus3049]

Garrards are way overpriced.

The ones in the Beeb used to rumble horribly (all idler drives do), yet you still see them go for daft amounts (they have grey crackle finish, rather than cream).

I'm a Technics/Sugden person: SP10II aand BD2a.

What are you using for bearings and how is it damped overall?

E.

PS: I'd rather be EMT if the budget would ever stretch, but not these days!

I used to have a BD2a, not bad at all for the dosh. I do like the Direct Drives though, because they were Japanese, the hi-fi snobs wrote them off.

The basis of my deck is the Origin Live kit. Just the platter and the bearing remain of that, all the other bits are turned out of cherry or MDF (Now the motor is in Beech). The motor is out of an old AR deck that was particularly speed stable. The layer holding the bearing is on spikes located on specially made metal plates sitting on rubber grommets. The bottom section has sorbothane feet. I do apologize Maam but the special plates are 5p coins with a dimple drilled in them - defacing the Queens dosh, I'm sure its an offense of some kind. I have suffered no feedback problems at all. The bass is particularly clean and it really make the Quads sing - very tuneful, the whole system. Hopefully the pic will show how it fits together.

The deck has the approval of my wife's ears which, as I'm sure I may have mentioned before, bear an incredible likeness to those of a bat. (In sensitivity terms you understand) She is only coming up to 60 so we can't call her an 'old' one can we?

I had the Garrard built into a huge marble plinth which did a lot toward curing the rumble but I can still hear it on some of the CD transfers I made. I spent a year transferring all the vinyl to CD as I was having trouble justifying the space taken up in the cupboard we used to occupy in the UK. Out here in France, space is the least of our problems so I now have two complete sets of music plus probably about 30% of it on the Mac as well :shock: I still play the vinyl more than the CDs though.

 

[Modernist]

Excuse me if I am deviating from the OP but I have a problem.

I use a Cambridge DACMagic to interface the PC with my Naim system. I store the CD's as FLAC files which I gather is lossless and all is well. I playback using VLC Media player.

Ripping CD's I use DBPoweramp and the converter to make any MP3's etc for the car (B & O Audi which is excellent and much better than the Bose).

So far so good. The problem is ripping from Internet sources, most notably iPlayer. but also any internet radio source. At the moment I record onto MiniDisc from the PC via a Digital/Optical converter (Sony) then via an analogue/USB converter which came with Audacity to the PC. Audacity saves as WMA so this is also virtually lossless I believe. That seems a sledgehammer to crack the proverbial when the signal is digital in the PC in the first place. Am I missing something? I do use Station Ripper but this seems to be limited to particular sources.

 

[nev]

Excuse me if I am deviating from the OP but I have a problem.

I use a Cambridge DACMagic to interface the PC with my Naim system. I store the CD's as FLAC files which I gather is lossless and all is well. I playback using VLC Media player.

Ripping CD's I use DBPoweramp and the converter to make any MP3's etc for the car (B & O Audi which is excellent and much better than the Bose).

So far so good. The problem is ripping from Internet sources, most notably iPlayer. but also any internet radio source. At the moment I record onto MiniDisc from the PC via a Digital/Optical converter (Sony) then via an analogue/USB converter which came with Audacity to the PC. Audacity saves as WMA so this is also virtually lossless I believe. That seems a sledgehammer to crack the proverbial when the signal is digital in the PC in the first place. Am I missing something? I do use Station Ripper but this seems to be limited to particular sources.

This intrigued me so i had a fiddle with the pc. (as my web connection is pants downloading music not something ive had the opportunity to do), but..

If i go to sound settings - hardware - profile and set it to digital stereo output (as opposed to analogue - the speakers), save and close.
then launch sound recorder.
the pc then records the 'internal' digital sound instead of the microphone.
so i set internet radio playing and press record. voila.
then save file as flac or preferred file format.
you can then play lossless file thru dac to naim?
does that do what you want it to do?
(linux mint and included software btw)

 

[bugbear]

Gulp,

Whoever told you that Bose or Bang and Oluffsen are the best are either deaf or daft (apologies if they are friends of yours, just explain that I live in France and am beyond the pale thereby). Both are merely OK but B&O are a prime example of form over function and Bose use huge amounts of frequency shaping to achieve what they claim is good bass - lots but quality - nope - not for me, they do well in the cinema with all that overblown treble and bass - great drama but accurate - no.

I wouldn't lump the two together.

Bose are the very worst kind of snake oil. Note the adverts which tell you to apply for details INCLUDING prices!? Alarm bells or what?

B&O merely charge (a lot) for very nice design, which I feel is honest.

Better sound than B&O is available for the same money, but it won't be an ornament to your room in the quite the B&O manner.

BugBear

 

[Eric The Viking]

B&O merely charge (a lot) for very nice design, which I feel is honest.

Better sound than B&O is available for the same money, but it won't be an ornament to your room in the quite the B&O manner.

That's a fair point.

B+O did produce some clever and good stuff - not leading edge, but nothing to be ashamed of - and the minimalist design was always well executed.

In contrast, my ex-BBC SP10 systems look, ahem, somewhat 'industrial' (but then I suppose they were!).

I have an exceedingly tolerant spouse.

E.

 

[Modernist]

This intrigued me so i had a fiddle with the pc. (as my web connection is pants downloading music not something ive had the opportunity to do), but..

If i go to sound settings - hardware - profile and set it to digital stereo output (as opposed to analogue - the speakers), save and close.


then launch sound recorder.
the pc then records the 'internal' digital sound instead of the microphone.
so i set internet radio playing and press record. voila.
then save file as flac or preferred file format.
you can then play lossless file thru dac to naim?
does that do what you want it to do?
(linux mint and included software btw)

Did that and the recorder appears and starts to record but no signal is received??

I am using Realtech soundcard and software with optical out to the DAC.

I feel we are getting close - does it work on yours?

 

[nev]

Did that and the recorder appears and starts to record but no signal is received??

I am using Realtech soundcard and software with optical out to the DAC.

I feel we are getting close - does it work on yours?

yes. i went to listen now on http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/bbc_radio_two?lang=en and then hit record (on sound recorder) and it worked fine.
I am using a bog standard compaq presario laptop with whatever sound card is in it as std? maybe your cards settings need a tweak? :?