Jonathan Tinn

Hi Guys, A member contacted me and asked me to give my take on this. Our stance on this is fairly simple, the signal being transferred is not analog, it is binary code and is most probably not affected the same way. We do not argue that you might hear a difference between cables, just why you might. Most probably the differences are due to shielding. As always, we suggest that you listen for yourself, trust your own ears and make you own decisions. Best Regards, Jonathan Tinn Playback Designs

Hi Chris, For the record, Kevin_O has no affiliation with my company, Playback Designs. Best Regards, Jonathan Tinn Playback Designs

Hi Ken, What website? I personally do not know who Kevin_o is. He is not connected to my company. Best Regards, Jonathan Tinn Playback Designs

If you saw Bruce, I was the person sitting directly to his right side. Why so aggressive?

If you asked Bruce a direct question like "How do you feel about what HD Tracks is doing with the files you send them?", I would understand your point, but that was not the question. The questions you are speaking about need to be addressed to David Chesky. If you have Puget Sound Studios related questions for Bruce and do not like the answer than that is a different situation. And yes, I am trying to smooth this over because it needs to be more productive in terms of making it better and coming up with a solution where we all get what we want, full disclosure so we know what we are indeed looking at purchasing.

other than the part about Bruce Brown. If a company pays you to do something, you do it. If they do something that their customers question, why should you be held responsible at all to police what the company you worked for did with it? Like I said, only good things will come from this.

and think that will get the attention that is needed for consistency and accountability. I am sure this will only yield positive results.

"So, bottom line, HDtracks only sells the music. If something is wrong with the quality of the music, It is not really their fault in the end but the labels who send the music and the many mastering houses that do the so-called quality control. Maybe It's time to change mastering houses..." How can you blame the mastering houses, when they are doing exactly what they are requested to do? It is all 100% on the labels!

"no issue with Bruce as a person. Hearing that he simply does what he is told based on what he is given is not a satisfying response as a customer of HD Tracks. Additionally, it appeared (although more questioning would be required) that he knew full well when a file was upsampled and not really created hi-res. Frankly, how could he NOT KNOW ...this is his business, after all. Clearly, I am not a customer of Bruce. However, at what point does Bruce feel compelled to speak up for what he probably understands better than you or me? Maybe asking too much from a supplier to "blow the whistle" ...still, that was the question that lingered with me after the seminar. Yes, I get all the relationships that accompany the supplier / customer relationship. I left that seminar feeling less than eager to purchase anything more from HD Tracks." I am very puzzled at your attacking Bruce Brown and his credibility. He does exactly what he is paid to do. He transfers the files as requested. Once it became known to him the nature of some of these files, he started sending reports of the status of the original file or tape and he had done his job. He is under no obligation from a moral standpoint to publicly disclose anything. He is doing exactly what his client is asking him to do. You are also making an assumption that he visits HDTracks to see how the files are represented or even if they make them available. The labels are the ones to blame for this. Also, I think you are correct that the point David Robinson of Positive Feedback Online (moderator of the seminar) made was important and this is a great start. We the end users of these files want to know where they come from and truly what they are. If we make these our requirements for purchasing and make it clear to HDTracks as well as to other download sites, they will certainly accommodate our requests. Power in numbers! HDTracks happens to be a GREAT resource for us and I am personally ecstatic that they exist. David Chesky is to be commended and not chastised for his efforts. I believe he will try to do the right thing given the opportunity. We need to let him know what our expectations are and that we will not settle for anything less. The last thing I want you to consider is that some of you may look at a file in Audacity, or a program like that and think it is not what it is claimed to be and they might be mistaken. It really takes a trained eye to know how to recognize a "brickwall filter."

Great points Chris. You are spot on!

"I just read that 3 times and still think my first impression is correct. It is BS. If that were true, how would we explain all the instances of the file being sold as Hi res in fact not being hi res? Are we to believe that all these recording engineers do not know how to tell the difference between a 16/44 file and a 24/192 file for example?" What you should really consider is if you own SACDs, how many of them may indeed be lower resolution than you would expect from an SACD. In fact, a number of them are 24/96 files. It is also my understanding that some of the tapes that were sent by the labels themselves came from the digital files. This is not the fault of HD Tracks and certainly not the fault of Bruce Brown of Puget Sound Studios. When a label sends out a tape or SACD, one should be able to safely expect that they are indeed what they are supposed to be.

Thomas J, I just read this thread and have to say how disappointed I am. You completely misquoted Andreas. He would never say any of the things you stated. Unfortunately, you are wrong about so many things of which I am not going to address here as I really do not think this is the place for me to get involved. It is a losing scenario for any manufacturer and an exercise in futility. I will address only one thing... your "testing method." Our analog output stage was not designed to drive a headphone. It has way too much gain and you are attenuating gain digitally through the use of Amarra. This is very wrong. Others here have already stated correctly that you should not be controlling your volume digitally. By digitally reducing gain, you are dropping bits. For every bit that's dropped, you are going to lose 6db of dynamic range. Decreased dynamic range translates into increased noise (lower signal to noise ratio.) This is HUGE! Your entire method of listening to the MPD-5 is not as intended and you are missing so much. In closing, JA personally told me that he has never felt so "defeated" when measuring a component because the measurements did not correlate to what he heard. Best Regards, Jonathan Tinn Playback Designs

Hi Tom, Certainly no hostility at all. If it came across that way, I certainly am sorry. I did not know of any "Thomas J" that had one and was not inferring anything. Usually I hear from people personally when they do comparisons, good or bad. I really like to keep up with all this stuff. I have not used the Weiss in line with the Playback, but if you get a chance to hear it directly from a computer with a sound card like a Lynx AES16, you would be hearing it at it's best and certainly the higher resolution might even be more enjoyable. I hold Steve Nugent in high esteem. He is very knowledgeable and an Oregonian My question to "Who's", was based on curiosity, nothing more. I was not trying to infer anything at all All the best! Jonathan

I certainly am not surprised. It is our least favorite connection and we do not even recommend it. What resolution were you listening to with the Overdrive? Have you compared the other inputs? I think you will be shocked at the difference. I am aware of most of the owners of Playback Designs products and not aware of you having one unless you borrowed it from someone. Who's is it? Best Regards, Jonathan Tinn Playback Designs