Ssssssssssssibilance?

[Swamp Thing]

Get a decent vinyl copy of the verve recording Ella and Louis.

It is quite a nice recording, but is known to sound very sibilant if something is not quite right with the reproduction chain. If all is OK it can sound very good. Excellent diagnostic tool to see if you have a problem. Good record as well. Oscar Peterson Quartet as the backing band.

In fact, this is definitely on Sunday's play list.

 

[Natara]

Get a decent vinyl copy of the verve recording Ella and Louis.

It is quite a nice recording, but is known to sound very sibilant if something is not quite right with the reproduction chain. If all is OK it can sound very good. Excellent diagnostic tool to see if you have a problem. Good record as well. Oscar Peterson Quartet as the backing band.

In fact, this is definitely on Sunday's play list.

Thanks for the tip, I'm definitely of the opinion that the sibilance in my system is down to the individual recordings and wether it is possible to tune it out with the system I have is the issue. I have purchased a cheap early mono copy of the above LP to test Swamp Thing's theory and will see how it sounds.

 

[karma67]

i've just bought a copy of this too to try,i hope im not opening a can of worms for myself

 

[Natara]

i've just bought a copy of this too to try,i hope im not opening a can of worms for myself

I know

 

[tenpercenter]

Set-up can definitely affect sibilance - tracking angle, tracking force etc. I’ve also found the height of the arm - putting it ever so slightly low at the back can reduce sibilance but often it can be just a factor of the cartridge design and interaction with tonearm resonances.

Some cartridges I’ve had - 47 Labs MC Bee for example I could never imagine being sibilant. Others such as the Audio Note IQ2 were just a bit sibilant. Again, this is also system dependant. My current FXR2 tonearm is incredibly detailed but smooth at the top end.

As many people have already said, the recording is probably the biggest factor.

Cartridge wear is the other thing to check. Sometimes a good clean can help as well.

 

[Mr Underhill]

As a result of the listening tests above I bought an IFI iDefender 3.0, which had been recommended by a blogger I follow as a small performance lift. As soon as I plugged it in ALL the edge issues vanished, but so did some resolution. As the widget settled down over the next couple of hours the detail returned, as did some of the edge. This made me bite a bullet I have been avoiding:

My SingXer F1 was powered from the ultraRendu (uR), it has built in tech to clean the DC.
I made up a couple of cables, blocked the DC from the uR using an SBooster VBus 2, and supplied the power from an LT3045 (0.5A 5v).

I then played with combinations of adapters, settling for the moment on:

IFI iDefender 3.0
SBooster VBus2 (Blocks the DC)
USB A > B adapter (This is the Sonore one, which in this arrangement I preferred slightly to the USPCB)

Result?
More body and detail.
Edge mainly gone - the Richard Burton hard 'S'es are still there, but there impact is reduced. Played a couple of other tracks which I know can be a bit hot in places, same result.

Yesterday I returned to my Wammer friends house where with another Wammer we did a four way DAC comparison:

Metatron supplied the venue, the base system & the Chord Hugo;
George the Audio Note 2.1 DAC and Esoteric D-03 DAC; and
I supplied the Border Patrol DAC.

Bottom Line: I am very happy.

The tracks included problems (War if the Worlds & Simon & Garfunkel - The Dangling Conversation), Difficult (Nina Simone) & tests (Bela Fleck).

My opinion:

All four DACs are good and will shine in different systems and your preference will be based on your tastes, for me:

Chord Hugo:
As above, mids just don't grab you, sounds to me a bit academic - doesn't communicate the joy.

Border Patrol:
Now this was more like it. The fun came back. Emotional communication. Perhaps a touch rolled off.

Audio Note 2.1:
Oh! The emotional connection of the BP, but greater transparency.

Esoteric D-03:
Initially AWFUL, this was connected via the AES dual leads from the dCS Bridge. Changed to the spdif, yes - this was more like it. Chord on steroids? But, for me, lacked the magical middle.

My order:

AN 2.1 > BP > Esoteric > Hugo.

Even better, the problem files were problems via all the DACs (apart from the Hugo - see above).

I think the essential DNA of the AN & BP are the same, but the BP is 1/3rd of the cost and is no way shamed by the comparison. For me this reconfirms the superb quality and VFM of the BP; but, I now have an idea of where I would be looking at going if I was willing to spend more.

Nat, this will be my last entry here. Hope I may have given you a couple of ideas. If you fancy coming up and having a look & listen just drop me an email.

ATB,

M

 

[karma67]

Get a decent vinyl copy of the verve recording Ella and Louis.

It is quite a nice recording, but is known to sound very sibilant if something is not quite right with the reproduction chain. If all is OK it can sound very good. Excellent diagnostic tool to see if you have a problem. Good record as well. Oscar Peterson Quartet as the backing band.

In fact, this is definitely on Sunday's play list.

ive just got round to playing my new copy,what a lovely relaxing lp,a pleasure to listen to,with the added bonus of no sibilance
any other good recommendations?

 

[hixy]

I've just had some new records and normally I get what I refer to as a furry sound about half way through an album.with my new records I seem to have none.My other albums are all charity finds and I'm assuming they ain't the greatest even though they look ok.

 

[Swamp Thing]

ive just got round to playing my new copy,what a lovely relaxing lp,a pleasure to listen to,with the added bonus of no sibilance
any other good recommendations?

Well thats's good news. Louis' microphone/amplifier is quite "hot". Probably in an attempt to get the best from gravelly voice. And maybe to balance better with the more accomplished vocals of Ella. I assume it sounded fine on tape in the studio, but it can give noticeable sibilance on the record. All depends on the pressing quality as well. The last track on side one can combine end of side distortion with this as well - hence a really nice diagnostic record. (I think the track is Tenderly - which the Muppets did as a Punk song in their first album. Which set my expectation of what it should sound like.)

If you liked that, the Ella Fitzgerald songs books might be good, EF sings Cole Porter, EF sings Duke Ellington etc. There are quite a lot of them.

The other obvious step from this would be the two Louis Armstrong / Duke Ellington releases on vinyl, Together for the first time and The Great Reunion. Probably go for one of these first.