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Can audiophilia lead to suicide or mental institution ? This thread will be my chronicle ; feel free to bash or help.

 

I was happy until my usb cable broke as a new DSD vs PCM debate broke as well. All that hatred...

 

Then I was away from home for the holidays and when I came back last night, the computer full of files to test (upsampled dsd, SRCed PCM, what have you) I just found my system horrid. Was it the cold, the fatigue, the storm that cut the power for 36 hours (but a relative switched it on before my return) ??? or was it like when you haven't seen the loved one for several weeks and for a short while you know what you will know for sure only after the divorce, split, what have you : in fact she's very far from perfect, maybe not even your kind ; but after some warm up you're fulfilled again... just as I think my system is quite great today. Did I contemplate the truth or... was it fatigue, required breaking time, what have you ??

 

Anyway, I started playing with my files, wondering about crazy things such as should I feed my TEAC 501 with straight dff files or use Audiogate to either upconvert to 128 or convert to pcm so I can EQ (gosh ! isn’t 192 better while it should be 176.4? src ? eq? which settings ?where ? rx3, A+, offline, on flight?????)AAaaargh!!

 

So far I have taken one decision : src no more, be it rx or A+, no upconversion at DAC level either, Slow filter (linear, almost no pre-ringing, aliasing at 25 K though), EQ (includes a Low Pass at 20K so I don’t care for the aliasing)

To be followed… if I’m not institutionalized…

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I have just the reverse experience. Time away from high quality playback of say a week, and my system always sounds even better than I remembered. No chance to hear real high fidelity and then getting back to it at home, and it is almost like hearing it for the first time. I find the experience much more intense with panel speakers than when I have at times owned cone and box speakers.

 

This experience is especially nice when returning tired from something stressful. I can turn on the system, float away on the music and all the other issues at least for awhile simply disappear.

And always keep in mind: Cognitive biases, like seeing optical illusions are a sign of a normally functioning brain. We all have them, it’s nothing to be ashamed about, but it is something that affects our objective evaluation of reality. 

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Thank you for your support trough that turmoil.

 

Phase is like Texas : don't mess with it. I guess this is what I dug/recalled from listening to unaltered dsd files.

 

So, I'm happy so far with my decision to quit SRCing/upconverting. So is my CPU (99.2x idling while playing, trimmed osx on sd card).

 

however, as poorly, compared to RX3, A+ performs at SRCing, does it at EQing, compared to RX3. Both apps are calling the same Alloy2 plugin with the same settings (I indulged myself to come back to a more aggressive setting that the one I used recently : adds 3 dB around 70 hz, cuts 3.5 around 850, pretty close to Amarra's "Classical" eq setting to make it short). Don't know why, maybe RX3 messes less with time domain. Bad news for all it costs, including excruciatingly long processing time when osx is on a sd card...) Guess that one day I'll have to investigate Amarra IRC...

 

Tomorrow, I will inflige me pain with dsd ; enough for today !

 

To be followed… if I’m not institutionalized…

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Thank you for your support trough that turmoil.

 

Phase is like Texas : don't mess with it.

To be followed… if I’m not institutionalized…

 

Always good for some lol-ing Le Concombre.

Usually I return delighted but sometimes horrified too. A good bottle of wine and some 1:1 time always clears things up though.

Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not." — Nelson Pass

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You know what ? I'm (almost) happy.... sound wise. Investment and convenience wise, not so much...

 

So far, I'm back to Amarra. Don't know why, I always felt guilty to prefer the expensive and more expensive sounding Amarra. Maybe because i don't understand what it does while being busy (10 times more cpu usage than A+...) and keeping core audio busy (I'm down to 98.1X idle while running, from 99.80/84 processes).

 

But I sounds so good ! And since i dropped srcing and dropped EQing on fly... I play RX3 processed (Alloy plugin) in Amarra and it sounds... expensive. Scaringly real sometimes too...

 

I will have to investigate AMarra IRC and.... what to do with dsd files

 

To be continued… if I’m not institutionalized…

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I have just the reverse experience. Time away from high quality playback of say a week, and my system always sounds even better than I remembered. No chance to hear real high fidelity and then getting back to it at home, and it is almost like hearing it for the first time. I find the experience much more intense with panel speakers than when I have at times owned cone and box speakers.

 

This experience is especially nice when returning tired from something stressful. I can turn on the system, float away on the music and all the other issues at least for awhile simply disappear.

 

My experience exactly! Always thrilled to get home to a wonderful sounding system.

David

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Happy new year !

 

Trying to save private PCM, I ended up choosing Amarra over A+ , no SRC or upconversion, EQ performed offline in RX3/Alloy (Capture d’écran 2014-01-01 à 15.47.11.png

 

But when it comes to listening to kosher dsd files I prefer A+ DoP fed (way better than TEAC freebee that takes a huge toll on cpu – I play dff of course, not iso).

 

How about good ol’ DSOTM ? Well, Korg converted + RX Eqed files have their assets. But this is really engaging into a masochistic activity. Especially if you own a NM genuine mythical first pressing… (30th anniversary vinyl might appeal the heavy bass fan, offerss precise localizations, handles properly the bells at the beginning of Time but… does not have the immediacy and tonal richness of the real thing)

 

So… Now am I back to vinyl ?

 

PS : I’m happy with a simple but certified USB 2.0 cable (my TEAC 501 is an asynchronous USB DAC)

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