Audiophiles hifi appreciation thread old and new

Pair them with the little kef kc62 sub.

I might have inadvertently been too flippant due to a relaxed attitude regarding alcohol.

Selling people on MQA because they need the blue light to light up on their DAC is cynical but people are stupid enough to fall for it and I don't have time to fix that problem.

There is a problem with file sharing and possibly streaming where the tracks can be altered or degraded massively without any way of telling if you don't have the original to compare. This could be a big problem in the future. That problem already existed in mastering in any case, switched channels, channel imbalance, brick wall compression etc.

without any way of telling

Well, there's always ears.

I don't get why anybody is still using any kind of lossy compression, that seems like it should be a thing which died out when we all got ADSL, since you can download 16bit/44kHz linear PCM as fast as you can listen to it once your data rate goes over about 1.5Mbps

Checking that a file is as it was intended to be is just an ordinary part of information technology and doesn't need proprietary methods.

Stopping piracy is basically impossible, anything which can be rendered to the human senses can be copied.

If Roon is saying the Tidal source is flac 44/16, I can assume that this file hasn't been "MQAed"?

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You can't tell if you have a close representation of the master without having the master to compare to. So your ears are only part of the equation.

For example, I have a CD release of LZII which has the channels reversed, if you've never compared it to the original you wouldn't know, these sold in huge quantities. Kate Bush's first album became more and more compressed until all the tracks started to have the same dynamic range, again you wouldn't know without the original to compare to. Abbey road released a half speed remaster of OMD's first three albums which have a channel imbalance of more than a few DB but how do you confirm whether the original tapes had this too?

I'm not advocating lossy compression but I don't think MQA is either. It works as a wrapper for high bit rate music too.

Checking that a file is as it was intended to be, well, see the examples of bad mastering. Of course there's no checking going on in the file sharing world, there is no ordinary part of information technology as it refers to mastering being applied here.

Stopping piracy will only happen if individuals decide that stealing music from artists is wrong and stop doing it on an individual level. If governments or the industry were capable of convincing the public to do that they could achieve a lot more stuff besides. Piracy of music is rife because it's easy to steal music and there don't appear to be any consequences.

I'm not sure you can assume it's not been processed in the same way MQA would have. It shouldn't have been as it's unnecessary but who knows how Tidal handle their files.

Having said all the above, it is a big deal if they are messing with the files as part of the process because it's supposed to be a guaranteed master, basically signed by the engineer who produces it.

They do however compensate for the DAC the studio use and the DAC you play it back on. This could account for the problems the guy is highlighting.

To be clear, I don't use MQA and I'm not an advocate for it.

your ears are only part of the equation

Your ears are everything. If you don't like how music sounds, stop listening to it.

I'm not advocating lossy compression but I don't think MQA is either

They started by saying it was lossless, then backtracked when people proved it wasn't.

They do however compensate for the DAC the studio use and the DAC you play it back on

This is more snake oil, once you get beyond the most basic toy-level DAC, the errors in conversion are the least part of your problem. If you persist with the delusion that you can hear what the artist heard when they signed off the release, you have to compensate far more for the mechanical part of the reproduction, i.e. room and speakers.

I'm trying to decide if I care enough to ditch Tidal. At the moment, no.

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What HiFi claim that Tidal MQA "sounds better" than Qoboz Hi Res. But they also say that "Hi Res is a significant step up from CD quality" which I don't believe.

https://www.whathifi.com/qobuz/review#:~:text=Tidal%20sounds%20better%20than%20Qobuz,having%20it%20in%20hi%2Dres.

@Airhead cheers. Will jot that down but think I'm just going to get this to get me started then maybe/likely upgrade down the line.

Almost there. Think I know what stylus replacement I'm getting and Pro-Ject Phono Box E pre-amp on the way from @aggi to get me started.
Just need some powered speakers and cables. Any recommendations at all or anything for sale second hand?

Your ears are not everything when the question is the quality of reference that the copy of music you are listening to is, especially in terms of authenticity.

Then there's the industry that want's to continue to get paid for it's legal owned rights.

Like I said, I'm not an advocate of it. It's another sort of DRM because the industry is worried once the DSD masters are available and widely shared freely they will be unable to keep selling it.

However I'm also interested in authenticity and I pay for the music I listen to because I respect musicians as artists and feel they deserve to be paid for the music they are making.

That looks fine to get up and running. It took me a while to be bothered about the quality of a stylus.

Your ears are not everything

I suppose we'll have to agree to disagree. No amount of certification will convince me that shit is gold, but if you think shit is tasty as long as it's certified traceable 100% authentic, that's your business.

I respect musicians as artists and feel they deserve to be paid for the music they are making.

Send them cash. I've never seen any industry scheme, MQA included, which wasn't mostly about making sure the industry got paid, usually at the expense of the artists.

Yes, we will have to.

My business is buying and selling authentic products. I can decide whether it sounds good once I know I have a good copy of the original. If it's remastered or affected by DRM then I at least want to know.

Sending musicians cash won't help them produce albums. Unless it's a lot of cash.

The KEF LSX... they are really clear but a bit on the bright side. Could do with the subwoofer added and I typically do not add subs at all.

Are they loud enough for an 18m2 room? Yes... but not "sound system for a party" volume, more "loud and clear everywhere but not painful to the ears". They punch well enough, and for me that's about perfect.

I'll be placing them on top of the cabinets and slightly inward and down facing. If this doesn't work well (ceiling reflections) then I'll go for the shelving (but the rear air intakes are going to be against the wall if I do this) or next to the window (this may turn out to be the most ideal position but I like that space free of things).

Test track: Moloko - Cannot Contain This

They're really nice, love how crisp and clear the hi-hat is over the long slow bass. Only my Monitor Audio floorstanders do that cleanly today. But the bass end, it's got good bass and it carries well enough but could be more full and balanced in the overall mix. For what they are (diminutive size) they're incredible.

Additionally I thought that they had ChromeCast built-in... I was wrong. I think that was their big brother speakers. But it's OK, still had a ChromeCast Audio lying around and have ordered another TOSLink cable so I can do the optical thing.

i have analogmagik software and gadgets here atm. i feel like i am way out of my nerd depth. awesome way to lose dozens of hours.

Just had a look at their introductory video. They don't really show the product! I'm assuming it's expensive if the costs are not being discussed upfront.

I use a template, scale and test record but it's like a whole other part of turntable ownership that can become the biggest deal. When I looked into it I felt like some people spend their whole time setting up their record deck just to play a relatively small selection of music.

Correction... Bass is fine and no sub needed. Also a lot louder than I thought.

So I bought ex display ones for only £800 rather than £1k, and it seems someone changed all the settings and sound profile.

Firmware updated, everything reset to normal and yeah... The KEF LSX are perfect.

Who turns UP the treble? Madness! Crack dt bass!

People with damaged hearing (see crusty old soundmen at small gigs).

I am borrowing it! it is obscenely expensive and probably only makes sense fro dealers (or the obsessives...). it is software, basically. it needs a soundcard/phonostage thing and a dongle.

having decided to step off the upgrade mery-go-round, i figured i could play with this to get it set up and have a bit of nerd fun. it is a bit full on, though and could take several hours.

i have a quad vena 2 here that turned up with the on/on switch at the back broken, which is a bit of a pain, as it broke in the off position. i am thinking about putting the tradford and all the gubbind in the loft until the one year old is not on trash mode all the time.

Great that you get to try it anyway. It does seem pitched at the obsessive turntablist. I'm not quite in that group (luckily for me).

I'm not sure just how transformational the perfect setup could be given the quality of the 'best' modern releases, stuff like the mofi one step pressings are still not 'perfect'.

I do understand the desire to know that the rig is really well setup though.