BAASnotes.com – Bay Area Audiophile Society

iTunes Mastering – Apple Tells How

BAAS members have had the opportunity to meet several music producers and mastering engineers. The typical content of these meetings has been how to render a true-to-life recording. Clearly, the techniques vary for vinyl, tape, and digital delivery media.

Apple has now taken this concept a step forward (or backward, depending on perspective) with the launch of the “Mastered for iTunes” specification. As reported by Ars Technica, the specified 256K AAC format retains about 3% of the raw information af a 24/192K master.

Note that I use the term “raw information,” as supporters of high-bitrate AAC (or MP3) would claim – with some validity – that these formats retain well over 90% of the musical content. Of course, we audiophiles spend gobs of time and money chasing mils of fidelity. So the 90%+ talk is beside the point on that frame.

My quick perusal of the current “Mastered for iTunes” selections revealed that many of the recent offerings are from the Bowers & Watkins “Society of Sound” library. So presumably Peter Gabriel is on board.

Anyway, the Ars Technica piece summarizes the recent semi-popular embrace af audiophile values by Gabrial, Neil Young and other luminaries. A good read.

Bob

Infographic: Online music streaming services

There’s no question that online streaming is hot. A growing segment of music listeners is just saying “no” to music ownership and local storage.

Oakland-based Pandora has been a leader, but the space is now quite crowded. How is a person to choose? This infographic, from Gerson Lerman Group, does a nice job in laying out the landscape.

But what does this all mean to audiophiles? My suspicion: not a lot, at least in the near term. Most enthusiasts have invested heavily in vinyl and/or optical media and players. We have seen that these trends are difficult to reverse.

I myself have been surprised by the reluctance of BAAS members in embracing music servers. But it is the “music server” that will ultimately power streaming services in audiophile reference systems. The fact that these devices are close cousins to general purpose computers, including the internet connection, will make it so.

Until then, these services will supplement existing media for audiophiles – and be used mainly when mobile.

What do you think? Please document your experiences and opinions in the comments.

Bob

An Engineer’s Comment on the High-Frequency Noise Spike Issue

The professional engineer in question has requested anonymity, but here’s what he had to say:

Studios are full of HF signals that alias back into the audio spectrum.
The guess about a TV monitor
somewhere in the mastering studio is valid indeed, as 15,750 * 4 -
44,100 = 18,900 Hz. It could even be a nearby TV transmitter.

Such “birdies” of constant frequency are relatively easy to trace, but
wideband HF is harder. For example, decent condenser mikes and
preamps go well beyond 100kHz at their output. Feeding them to
poorly-filtered ADCs (nearly all of them are!) can produce -40 to -60
dB of aliasing into the audio spectrum. As a side note, this is a
killer justification for ribbon mikes on “comb-spectrum”, high dynamic
range music such as authentic-instruments baroque.

Studio engineers can shrug and call HF birdies “digital sound”, yet to
me everything is analog: some within the audio band as intended, and
the rest just gets there unintentionally. Higher sample rate (192 or
176.4ksps for baroque, 88.2ksps for everything else) dramatically cuts
most of the latter.

See the comments of the previous post for more ideas.

Bob

Mysterious High-Frequency Spikes in Recorded Music

Those of you who have attended events at my house know that I use this version of Sting’s “Fields of Gold” as one of my reference tracks (especially for bass).

I happened to be analyzing those bass peaks today, and noticed intermittent frequency spiking at 19khz (see image). To my knowledge, this behavior doesn’t occur naturally – certainly not in music.

For example, while so-called “mosquito ring tones” (19 khz) are all the rage with kids, real mosquitos beat their wings at about 500 hz.

Sure, FM uses a 19khz carrier tone to indicate the presence of stereo information. And Rich Pell has documented this and other high-frequency peaks on CD recordings. He cites speculation regarding the presence of video gear during the recording process. I think that there may be a tie-in to digital-audio tape, but there’s certainly no “smoking gun” in that regard.

My gut tells me that these peaks are simply an artifact of the digital filtering process. They are aliasing or some other frequency fold. But this too is speculation.

One thing that is not speculation is that they are prolific. I frequently (sorry) encounter them in my measurements. What’s worse is that they exist in some high-resolution recordings from famous and well-regarded sources. I don’t want to turn this article into an expose, so I’ll just leave it at that.

The good news is that I believe that these glitches are sonically benign for 99%+ of adult listeners. We simply cannot hear these frequencies, especially when they are narrow-band and 20dB-or-more down from the musical peaks. But they may drive kids crazy.

Bob

Van Gogh + Music + Computer Graphics = Remarkable

Starry Night (interactive animation) from Petros Vrellis on Vimeo.

May not be “audiophile,” but I find it simply remarkable.

(Watch it all…surprising throughout.)

Bob

“Spend on the Room and High Res” Says Alan Parsons

Despite the link-bait title – “Beatles, Pink Floyd Engineer Alan Parsons Rips Audiophiles” – the main message that I got out of the interview had to do with room acoustics and high-resolution downloads. These are where Mr. Parsons recommends spending on home systems. He is also big on surround sound.

Of course, Parsons undeniably knows good sound, having played key roles on Dark Side of the Moon (DSOM) and Year of the Cat (YOTC). Hard to fault the sonics on these babies. To my recollection, the Alan Parsons Project LP’s sounded pretty solid as well.

In any case, while Parsons admittedly is no audiophile, fans of this music will benefit from the read.

Bob

Neil Young + Arcade Fire = Helpless

Was Steve Jobs an Audiophile?

Well, well, well.

Audiophile news has all of the sudden risen on the charts of the blog-o-sphere. To what do we owe this honor?

Chalk most of it up to the timeless “Old Man” – Neil Young.

At a recent News Corp media conference, Young described in some detail about his recent dealings with Apple to bring high(er)-resolution offerings to iTunes. He added that Steve Jobs was taking a personal interest in the project.

Young also approached Bill Ford, asserting that MP3′s sound bad, and suggesting hi-rez alternatives for the car. Ford baulked.

So what’s the ideal hi-rez format? Young claimed that he and Jobs agreed on this one: the LP! He went on to say that Jobs, master of the iPod and $1 compressed download, typically listened to vinyl at home.

Thus, audiophile issues have risen, if for a moment, to the popular consciousness – USA Today, Rolling Stone, HuffPo, Washington Post, PCmag. Like most internet news, the half-life of this issue will likely be measured in hours. But perhaps an impression will be made, boomers remembering just how good that record console sounded and kids wondering whether there’s something to this “quality reproduction” thing. Jobs, having immense street cred across cultures and ages, is probably the ideal messiah for such word.

As an aside, I wrote to Mr Jobs about two years ago, suggesting some audio-friendly tweaks to OSX’s Core Audio package. Alas, my note went unanswered. But I’m no Neil Young.

Bob

PS  I can hear PeterT and the legions of BAAS vinylphiles now: We told you so! lol

Making a B&W 802D (Not a DIY affair)

Is Music Math (and vice versa)?

Physicist Glenn Elert has included a nice exposition on the mathematical basis of music in his online physics text (click here).

From Beck "Sea Change" DVD-A

Glenn keeps the tech description at a “Popular Science” level for much of it, but descends to undergrad-college-level in parts. So there’s something for everyone. (nice illustrations too.)

If you think about the content, I believe you’ll emerge with a thing or two to enrich your listening – at home or in live venues.

Bob

PS  The pic at right shows some anamolies I’ve detected on a popular DVD-A. I am shocked and amazed at what I find in some “hi rez” material. (At least this one goes above 22kHz – some don’t.)

Can Androids Create Musical Art? – A Short Story

Fans of music and science fiction can find common ground in this enjoyable, award-winning short story by local software engineer Bill Katz.

In the story, the career of a concert pianist is ended in its prime with sudden onslaught of a debilitating disease. Future science has a “cure” – but can his art survive the process?

Plenty of humanity and neat tie-ins to the world of a classical pianist.

Enjoy,

Bob

The Music Industry Inflects in 2012 – Thanks Adele and Downloads

As reported here in the NYT, album sales actually grew – albeit slightly (1.3%) – in 2012.

Among the good news is that “digital retailers are getting better and better at giving customers what they want” says Nielsen.

So much for downloads killing the industry. People love music and will pay for it under reasonable terms. IMO, the only thing that can kill the industry is the industry.

The soulful Adele was credited with leading the charge in growth.

Bob

The Ultimate Blind Reference Test – Pick the Stradivarious!

I want to introduce you to NPR’s new classical music blog, Deceptive Cadence, and to this article.

The article describes research in which professional musicians could not tell the difference between a centuries-old classic violin and one minted in 1980. In fact, most preferred the sound of the 1980 job!

Based on the sound clips, I don’t know how. I could correctly identify the more sonorous sound of the Strad after 3 seconds of playing. It was obvious. I guess I’m just that good a listener. Or maybe that lucky!  lol

Have fun with it,

Bob

[Thanks to member JeremiahH for pointing this article out.]

Stereo is Evil

A Godel-Escher-Bach Moment: Cello Music Made Geometric

I don’t think Hofstadter’s “golden eternal braid” book needs much intro – it’s simply one of the most well-read tomes ever on the correspondence between math, science, and art. It practically started a movement.

It’s also the first thing that I thought of when I saw the video below.

Enjoy,

Bob

Baroque.me: J.S. Bach – Cello Suite No. 1 – Prelude from Alexander Chen on Vimeo.

Bay Area Audiophiles Hear the DaVinci 384K DAC

Last Saturday, BAAS members were treated to a private sitting with the trend-setting DaVinci DAC.

Impressive in both design and specs, members noted in particular the impressive soundstage that the unit projected.

The music played, all hi-res except for the Montserrat Figueras tribute, was either classical or jazz: excerpts of Haydn and Beethoven string quartets, Mozart, Ole Bull’s very romantic violin, Paul Motian and Vince Guaraldi’s jazz, Montserrat Figueras and Jordi Savall’s period instrument Monteverdi, and, in the second session, Kumiko’s Steve Reich on marimba. A fine tribute to a pair of fallen artists.

Thanks again to Jason Victor Serinus for hosting. His fine room, system, and expert musical selections make auditions a treat.

And, of course, special thanks to Larry Ho and Light Harmonic for supplying this elegant piece of reproduction equipment. You can learn more here.

Bob

Can Loud Music Add Hard Drive Latency? Does it Matter?

Note that this ad hoc demonstration does not represent proof, let alone applicability to home playback environments. Also, extensive use of caching in player software would seem to negate this effect in sound systems.

However, perhaps this is why some austensibly-sensible audiophiles report better sonics with solid state drives (SSDs)?

Thanks to PeterT for pointing this out to me, from reporting in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Bob

Reproducing the Live Event – How Loud is Loud Enough?

We audiophiles are obsessed with frequency response (FR):

• Is that system “flat” to 20hHz?
• How low will these speakers go? I *must* have 20hz!
• There was a “BBC dip” in that Tannoy. No, I would call it a smile.
• Urgh. Those speakers are waaarrrm.
• And so on….

Even looking at the august Stereophile, keeper of the truth of measurements, we see JA focusing primarily on (for loudspeakers) impedance, FR, and time domain criteria.

What’s usually missing, often ignored, is the amplitude response (AR). How loudly will the system play distortion-free, and how softly? As any Lowther or horn fan would say, this dimension is also vital to producing the illusion of a live event.

Wait, you may say, everybody (including JA) publishes sensitivity data (dB/V for speakers, and dB gain for amps) and uses said data for buying decisions. True enough. But our present system of metrics makes it difficult to answer the original question regarding distortion-free amplitude envelope.

More fundamentally, before we even worry about what our own system can do, we might ask the question: how much is enough? How loudly (and softly) must my system play to reproduce “live levels”? (Assuming one cares. And BAAS members seem to have wildly disparate opinions on this point.)

While researching this issue in the context of my own system, I discovered an excellent survey article on the issue of audio dynamic range (click here). The source was a Greek website (unsurprising given the audiophile mania over there). I will warn you that the piece is long, winding, and – given the blazing red background – hard on the eyes. But it rewards the reader with a trove of cool data, from microphones to the digital chain and (eventually) out your speakers and into the room. Along the way, we investigate the noise floor of Davies Hall and Skywalker and more.

I’ll give you the gist. How much dynamic range do I need? More than you think. Can my present system do it? Almost certainly not. What can I do about it? Ummm, 24 bits, 500+ watts, multichannel….

Read the article. It’s a bit of work, but you’ll likely learn something new and useful.

Enjoy your Thanksgiving.

Bob

Bay Area audiophiles meet the new Qol technology

This weekend offered something new few BAAS members, who were introduced to one of the first net-new technologies to hit the high-end scene in years. Of course, I’m talking about the Qol (think “coal” re pronunciation) algorithm from BSG Technologies.

Each of the three sessions began with a thorough briefing from BSG CEO Larry Kay. We then tested the transparency of the analog circuits in the Qol device. With Qol in a tape loop of the Wavelength preamp, we switched the unit in and out while playing the Mahler 2 from Classic. Not a single member could hear a difference. Nada. This in itself can be considered a fine accomplishment IMO. In fact, add an attenuator and a little gain to the Qol and a great preamp would emerge,

We spent much of the rest of the time switching the actual Qol processing in and out. This test was a bit tougher to interpret, as the nature of the Qol – adding (“restoring”) phase and harmonic information to the signal – results in a 0.5dB-2dB rise in acoustic power. So everybody heard a big and positive difference when the Qol was switched in. The question was how much of this goodness was due to the effect and how much do to the gain.

It’s not my role here to render a judgement. But I will say two things. First, BAAS members were unanimous that the Qol processing did no harm, i.e., the processed signal sounded at least as good as the raw signal. Second, one minute into the demo, an experienced BAAS listener sitting in the room’s sweet spot pronounced “I’m sure it’s doing more than a gain change!” Beyond that, I’d urge interested listeners to spend time with the unit themselves. (As I understand it, BSG has a reasonable home audition policy, at least in the Bay Area.)

All of our testing was supported by the new Triode loudspeakers from Jim Jordan of Vaughn. Jim also brought a stack of Wavelength electronics, which featured NOS Western Electric 300B tubes. The source was my highly-modified Pioneer Elite universal player.

Many thanks to Larry, Jim, and Shawn Herrara (local Qol dealer) for making the event a success.

Bob

Edit: The new issue of The Absolute Sound (#220) contains a seven-page rage of the Qol device by Robert Harley.

Where’s the dough in downloads? Ringtones!

Well, it’s nice to be HDtracks, Linn, or some other music download service. And it’s great to be Apple or Amazon – but not for their music download sales.

But being on top of ringtones? Now that rocks!

You may be surprised at the size of this market. Don’t be. Number of buyers is huge, size of sales channels (starting with cellphone companies) is huge, and most buyers just want the latest Ga Ga now and easily.

You might also be surprised at the movie and commercial soundtrack bizes too…but that’s another story.

Bob