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"Audiophile" quality hardware in the music industry.

stevec67 said:
Reality varies though. It's all very well wanting (and getting) reality from a string quartet in a theatre, that's an acoustic thing, as is Dylan and his guitar. If however you want AC/DC live, you want big speakers, loads of power, distortion and a load of sweaty bodies leaping about. What's real in this circumstance?
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Whatever went onto the master. No more, no less.

Chris
 
i'd argue that for instance - bruce springsteens portastudio album would not have had such cultural and musical impact if it was an audiophile recording....
 
darrylfunk said:
problem being that the master is an interpretation of the performance.
no one has the 'master' as such ....even the original artists.
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Agreed, but the master tape is what we get and I for one do not want my kit to add any more distortion than is absolutely unavoidable.

Chris
 
Mescalito said:
Precisely. That is why I do not want the kit to add anything.
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Nobody has ever made a loudspeaker which adds (or subtracts) nothing. Everything is a set of compromises, all anyone can do is choose a sound that seems right to them.
 
Mescalito said:
Now, some folks like their hi fi to add PRAT... or other distortions, and that's fine.
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I don't think that's right. The lack of 'PRAT' is a failing of the system. I hadn't realised this until getting involved in the evolution of a new amplifier, and the real sense of the rhythm of the music was either there or missing depending, as it happened, on the power supply circuit we used.
 
this points to the view that you believe some brands have prat and some don't....
where do you think it goes missing from the recording?
can some recordings not have any prat at the performance stage?
are you saying that 'prat' survives all the 'crap' pro gear that molests it and still manages to get to the vinyl or cd you buy?
 
sonddek said:
99% of musicians are dumb, and therefore skint (look at their contracts). 87% of Naim buyers are dentists for whom 15k is loose change.
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Does that necessarily mean Naim buying dentists know much about music? Thought not ;-)
 
darrylfunk said:
where do you think it goes missing from the recording?
can some recordings not have any prat at the performance stage?
are you saying that 'prat' survives all the 'crap' pro gear that molests it and still manages to get to the vinyl or cd you buy?
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I don't know the answer to any of these questions, but it is undoubtedly true that at the amplification stage it is possible to rob a recording of whatever it is that makes your foot tap and your head nod and my 5 year old jump up and dance - without the reproduction sounding obviously wrong or bad.

I just don't see how it can be the other way round - that adding a sense of rhythm is some kind of 'distortion' as the post I was replying to put it.
 
Over that time it has become painfully obvious that while the audiophile would go to the Nth degree to eek out the best sound from their equipment.. most musicians could barely give a toss.
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Go to sites like Gearslutz or Prosoundweb and you'll find a huge interest in getting the best sound from musicians and industry people. If they're a minority, they're a very active and vocal one.

Like others here, I happily ditched most of my laughably overpriced Linn and Naim equipment for less-expensive, better performing equipment derived from the pro audio realm.

I sure hope "audiophile" companies stay far, far away.
 
RHCD said:
I don't know the answer to any of these questions, but it is undoubtedly true that at the amplification stage it is possible to rob a recording of whatever it is that makes your foot tap and your head nod and my 5 year old jump up and dance - without the reproduction sounding obviously wrong or bad.

I just don't see how it can be the other way round - that adding a sense of rhythm is some kind of 'distortion' as the post I was replying to put it.
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i have just told you that gadgets exist for just this purpose in studios, i am pointing out to you that there is also hi fi gear that adds this character too.
 
Eric L said:
Go to sites like Gearslutz or Prosoundweb and you'll find a huge interest in getting the best sound from musicians and industry people. If they're a minority, they're a very active and vocal one.

Like others here, I happily ditched most of my laughably overpriced Linn and Naim equipment for less-expensive, better performing equipment derived from the pro audio realm.

I sure hope "audiophile" companies stay far, far away.
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amen.

it's like the recent sound on sound group test of outboard anti jitter clocks it came up with shocking results....
 
Mescalito said:
Precisely. That is why I do not want the kit to add anything. Let my perceptions do the distorting from an accurate representation.
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So which galley is the most accurate for, say, Picasso? And which for Rembrandt ... or da Vinci? I assume they shouldn't be shown in the same conditions because they certainly weren't created in the same light and space.
 
RHCD said:
I don't know the answer to any of these questions, but it is undoubtedly true that at the amplification stage it is possible to rob a recording of whatever it is that makes your foot tap and your head nod and my 5 year old jump up and dance - without the reproduction sounding obviously wrong or bad.

I just don't see how it can be the other way round - that adding a sense of rhythm is some kind of 'distortion' as the post I was replying to put it.
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The important word here is "adding". That implies that the PRAT was not in the original recording. It also implies that from a high fidelity point of view, the amp is not working.

Chris
 
Mescalito said:
The important word here is "adding". That implies that the PRAT was not in the original recording. It also implies that from a high fidelity point of view, the amp is not working.

Chris
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But thast's exactly the point. It isn't being added. The bad version of the amp was removing it.
 
i just don't understand the audiophile way of trying to get fave recordings to all sound the same ....to be honest leftfield's - afrika shox should sound really radically very different to say supertramps paris and then evan parkers - monoceros.....if your system is good you will hear completely 'alien' sounds from each lp ...if not you will hear a homogenised hi fi presentation normally all leading edge punch and nothing else.
i'm not sure some music is composed with dancing around in mind. - harold budd - white arcades comes to mind....
 
RHCD said:
But thast's exactly the point. It isn't being added. The bad version of the amp was removing it.
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what's the difference between an amp adding more of it or removing less of it, if there is no way of knowing how much of 'it' should be present.

i'd say your priorities are skewing your choices.....
 
darrylfunk said:
i just don't understand the audiophile way of trying to get fave recordings to all sound the same ....to be honest leftfield's - afrika shox should sound really radically very different to say supertramps paris and then evan parkers - monoceros.....if your system is good you will hear completely 'alien' sounds from each lp ...if not you will hear a homogenised hi fi presentation normally all leading edge punch and nothing else.
i'm not sure some music is composed with dancing around in mind. - harold budd - white arcades comes to mind....
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good post. however, i think it's fair to say that some pro gear is forensic to the point of Quincy.
 
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