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Downrange

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  1. Skeptic has this right, imho. I have been making cables by hand here for many years, using Cat 5e and Cat 6 cabling as a basis. The main value for speaker cables is eliminating common mode errors by using a spiral wind pattern. At audio frequencies, one can, in fact, cheaply make a "perfect" speaker or interconnect cable. As for USB or HDMI cables, I just get a decent 25-50 buck cable, and they have all proven to be "bit perfect." That's where it's at, actually. Bi-wiring high-end speakers with heavy (cheap) Monster cables on the bass end and homemade Cat 5 on the high end really works very, very well. And, did I mention, it's cheap?
  2. Couldn't agree more. Thanks for putting this up here, just listened to the Tannhauser, and that alone is worth the price. Still downloading.
  3. Since this one of my all time fav. PF albums, I ordered it today and have been listening to it for awhile now. No doubt, the 96 bit version is much better. I did find that I had to convert the flac to wav to get the best sound, but that's nothing new. I generally order in flac to save download space and convert to wav. Always sounds better, smoother, more detailed. The CD is simply missing some HF material, sibilants, air, that are present in the 96 kHz files. Good job, HDTracks!
  4. eh, it's not too bad. Compared with MFSL-1-077 OMR LP (Which is the only thing I have to compare it to), it has better air, clearer sound staging, but slightly reduced bass impact, which I attribute to RIAA curve on the LP and some floor reinforcement in the room where the LP system (original Well Tempered Turntable with MC cartridge and SP-9 preamp) is located. But the bass may just be tighter on the download. Gotta remember, recording tech in 1972 was mostly pretty mundane. I'd give it a B+, and as it can be had for 15 bucks and change, not too shabby.
  5. This one's on my list - anyone tried it yet? Hoping it's worth buying.
  6. Twice I've been dissatisfied with downloads from HDTRacks, and, both times, the IMMEDIATELY gave full credit toward another download. I don't think I can ask for better customer support that that. All my downloads have proceeded without a hitch, just my experience.
  7. If you'd like to save a few bucks, try the V-Link 192. It's surprised a few people I loaned mine to... Oh yeah, 399, shipped.
  8. As an aside, the new Monitor Audio Gold line incorporates much of the design of the Platinum at a more affordable price point. I'm using some of the monitors in some upstairs systems. The GX-50s (under 2K/pair), along with their center channel (GX-150) anchor the home theater, and sound fantastic, along with dual subs. A pair of GX-100s are a great match with a Def Tech Supercube in another room. I love the sound of the PL300s too, but find the golds are very close to that same sound. I think you can pick up the GX300s for around 5-6K.
  9. I'm sorry but, while everything we post here is "in our opinion" it is also my opinion that if anyone cannot hear the difference between flac playback and wav, their systems possess insufficient resolution.
  10. Well, I didn't have time now to watch the entire video interview, but from the synopsis in the article, it sounds like he wants people to have better sound by accessing larger files - something most of us here are quite familiar with, and can attest to the benefits. The issue is the cost of storage of those bits (Apple puts a hundred buck/per 10GB premium on storage for their playback devices, it seems), the large number of files people buy (swap among themselves), and the general low level of discrimination of the average consuming listener. I'm not surprised this hasn't sprouted wings and "taken off." As to flac files, they're great for transporting music between digital devices (like using PKZIP to reduce an attachment to an email), but I have verified for myself beyond any doubt whatsoever that they need to be converted to wav files PRIOR to playback - and I don't mean spooled up by the processor, I mean converted in their resident playlists. The differences between "on the fly" playback of flac and wav files is very large, unmistakable, and once heard on a ballpark SOTA sound system, impossible to retreat back from. Just an aside, but I've mentioned it in several threads here, and it deserves mention again. The Absolute Sound has more coverage in their latest issue on this, just received here as well. Appreciate NY trying to help things, but I don't see this catching on in the iPod demographic...
  11. Well, opinions vary, of course. I saw Neil Young in 1972; his warm-up act was Linda Ronstadt, whose only hit was "Silver Thread and Golden Needles," or something like that... I actually respect Neil's present work, or at least his recent work, as I haven't heard his newest album - but he definitely is keeping the music alive. With the other three - not so much so... Again, only my opinion, but this one was a dog. I'd gladly pay for remasters of the original studio tapes of the music of my youth: CSN, Deja Vu, Neil Young (1), Everybody Knows this is Nowhere, After the Gold Rush. Yeah, I have the vinyl from the seventies, but if Dave C wants to make my day...
  12. I ordered this in haste, only to repent in leisure - actually thought it was going to be remasters of the original studio tapes, but, alas, 'twas three rather well-worn and not-so-well preserved relics failing to recapture the magic of their misspent youth. Even so, that might have some historic documentary value, or perhaps, could serve as an object lesson to young people today on how NOT to do things - were it not for: The sound: goshawful - highly compressed, even the softer, accoustic numbers, no image, sounds like a bad feed off the mic board... just dreadful - sounds like mono, actually. Yukk Save your money. To be fair, HDTracks gave me a credit for something else of equal value - can't ask for better customer support than that. I ran it on Audacity, but can't find the screenshots presently - the D/R was blocked at max for much of each cut, and the spectra were actually pretty good - but that did not help the sound.
  13. The real issue is, what resolution will the rest of your system provide? Frankly, the V-Link 192 is so good, that, unless you're rolling with somewhere around 15K plus in equipment, you're never going to get close to what it's actually delivering. It makes CD sound better than most mid-fi systems do 24/192...
  14. Coupla things: there's no Mac driver, 'cause Mac's have it built-in, and, there's no TOSLINK 'cause TOSLINK's limited to 96khz. Ahh, another oppo to wax (gush) about this little box. It really doesn't make sense that a 399 dollar bridge can make this much difference in my highish-end system, but it does. I have the V-Link II, and thought it was really good. Then this little baby showed up, and OMG. Words like revelatory, and "quantum leap" come to mind. Mind you, now, I'm using this with a very high end DAC, the Electrocompaniet ECD-1, as turbomodded by Steve Nugent, into a high end preamp (Electrocompaniet 4.7) and a great SS amp (John Curl-designed Parasound Halo A-21, all feeding big Maggies (with the full size ribbons). This is also balanced connected from V-Link 192 to the Halo. I really thought this system sounded great with the V-Link II, so I was totally unprepared for the revelations that awaited me with the advent of the V-Link 192 in this system. A few things it has taught me: - forget using a MAC LION platfrom - they're just not as musical as the good old Dell/XP system here... - convert everything to .wav - playing .flacs is cheating yourself out of 1/3 of the musicality that's there (and only heard through the new VL192, never with the VL II). It's more than paid for itself (several times over) just with those two bits of uptake, but, ohh... the MUSIC this produces. Even older CDs I'd mostly forgotten about, once I get the full 1411 bitrate from them, are often quite listenable. But there's just nothing like Diana Krall's "The Girl in the Other Room" downloaded from Chesky, and upverted to 4608 bitrate... If my ECD-1 would do 192, I'm sure there'd be yet another level of improvement with 24/192, but the performance of this at 24/96 is simply mind-boggling on the best material. Best bargain of the new millenium, in my book.
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