BAASnotes.com – Bay Area Audiophile Society

The Beatles Get “BlueBeaten”

The intrepid entrepreneur behind the BlueBeat web site just lost his court case.

[The web site is down at the time of writing.]

You see, he had been using what he called “psycho-acoustic simulation” to create recordings that sound identical to those of the Fab Four. The tale is told in excruciating detail by the good folks at ARS Technica.

Read about it and decide for yourself!

Bob

Results of the Great BAAS Audiophile Survey

We had 93 responses (thanks!) to our survey. Some were surprising, others not.

Here are the punchlines:

• About 10% of members go to audio conferences/shows – CES has the highest interest.
• San Francisco is the most convenient event location
  • Marin the least.
• Members are most interested in speakers, amps, and digital
  • Least interested in pro gear and DIY
• The majority of members are willing  to pay $10 or more for a “good” BAAS evnt
  • …and they think that contributions should be voluntary

Thanks again for your responses – we’ll try to plan accordingly!

Bob Walters

Will New FTC Rules Improve Audiophile Product Reviews?

As reported in today’s New York Times (here), the FTC is moving quickly to tighten disclosure laws for bloggers (or other website authors) doing product reviews.

In short, if the reviewer has any financial relationship to the vendor – including receiving free samples – it must be disclosed. One would assume that advertising deals would also fall under the ruling.

This is good news for most consumers, as abuse is rampant in some areas (see article). But what about audiophiles? Will they benefit?

I believe so. Transparency is a cornerstone of journalism, and audio buyers should be made aware of any biases of reviewers.

On the other hand, as the new rule may slow down the volume of review samples – and no publisher that I am aware of has the capital to buy samples of high-end gear in any volume.

Time will tell…

[This article represents the opinions of its author - Bob Walters - and not necessarily those of BAAS or its membership.]

Great Classical This Weekend!

Looking for something cool to do this Sunday (9/13/09)?

Click here for tickets to what promises to be a great event.

On Lyle Lovett and Matt Rollings…

I didn’t even imagine I’m a Lyle Lovett fan until I visited another audiophile friend and he played a few tracks from “Joshua Judges Ruth”. The one track that stood out was “North Dakota”. I was so much taken by it that Curt insisted I have the CD. I thank him for that ever since…

What grabs your attention in this track is the superb orchestration, which creates a somewhat “misty” atmosphere, in a striking contrast to the pristine clarity of this exemplary  track. I loved the vocal harmony of the male-female duet and the melancholic mood throughout the piece. I never really paid much attention to the piano, but now that I think of it… I should have…

When I heard that Matt Rollings played with Lyle Lovett, I had to go back and check. After all, I was about to attend a live session featuring Matt!

Sure enough, he’s the guy on “the track.” I knew the piano plays a big role in setting the overall tempo and pace. The piano probably contributes more to the overall lasting impression of the song than any other instrument, including the fabulous vocals, yet after many years I play this song I clearly focus on the vocals and less on the piano. Which brings me to the moral of this prologue/story…

Some things are great not because they stand out in the front row and declare themselves “I’m here!!!” Some things are great because they hold back and just play the team role by letting the other instruments or vocalist do their share in complete harmony. For a musician, that’s the greatest sign of maturity as an artist.

by Ori

How Monster Got It’s Start

CNN Money has an interesting article about the beginnings of Monster Cable, one of the first big Bay Area audiophile success stories.

Worth the read, the piece describes how Noel Lee started an industry – a habit that has stuck with the Valley throughout the years.

by Bob Walters

More Free Music Downloads – 100 Years Old!

This archive site by Syracuse University hosts some of the most unusual recordings for download on the internet. You see, the original recordings are almost 100 years old!

A wide variety of music genres is represented. Indeed, there’s something for everybody here.

The site streams MP3, but also offers WAV downloads. Most of the originals are on wax cylinders, with digital transfers typically made via a Benchmark ADC.

I really enjoy the stuff – you might too!

(A similar site is run by UCSB.)

by Bob Walters

Tags: Audiophile, baas, computer audio, digital audio, Music

The Ultimate Audiophile iPhone App?

Nope, it’s not the neat real-time spectrum analyzer (RTA). Nor is it the tone generator.

It’s the “Electron Tube” of course!

Who would have thunk it? (My guess is that the candle was its inspiration.)

Yours for only $0.99 (plus an iPhone).

Bob Walters

More Cries of “Snake Oil”

As is usual, new sources have popped up disparaging some aspects of our hobby.

The latest that I have encountered is from the ILikeJam blog,  which sports one of the more unique “mission statements” that I have seen (not repeated here).

That blog’s links lead to the “usual suspects”: a cable autopsy, Doug Self on subjectivism, and Ethan Winer. I must add that I find some humor in the names in this context – “Self” and “Winer” – but that’s just me.

I will also hasten to add that I agree with very little of what is said in these pieces. But I do consider the claims as important reading to the serious student of high-end audio.

Bob Walters

A Dozen Opinions on Computer Audio

Dave Clark at Positive Feedback recently interviewed 12 experts, asking 10 questions on the trends in digital playback.

The result is a valuable compendium of info on topics such as:

• USB or Firewire
• Jitter
• “Pro” gear vs “Audiophile” gear
• And much more….

If you are thinking about computer or ‘music server’ sources, then this is highly recommended reading.

Click here to read….

by bob walters

Tags: Audiophile, baas, computer audio, digital audio

Keeping up with BAASnotes

The easiest way to stay current with BAAS and this web site is to subscribe to its RSS feed.

Click here for  an explanation of RSS.

Also, you can subscribe to email updates of comments.

To do so, simply use the “Subscription Manager” feature at the bottom of the “Leave a Comment” dialog (see example at right).

Please take advantage of these two features. This will allow you to better keep up with BAAS, and allow me to send fewer emails! 

 by bob walters

BAAS AIX/iTrax Event featuring Mark Waldrep

About 40 members and theirs guests were treated to some great music yesterday, courtesy Mark Waldrep and Bay Area Audio.

Between teaching at a local university, recording audiophile gigs at AIX Studios, and running iTrax.com, Mark Waldrep leads a very busy life. And did I mention Mark is also employed by a hot video startup?

One of the key elements of the event was the ability to compare/contrast 2-channel and 7.1 surround versions of Mark’s audiophile-quality recordings.  And what great music it was, especially since it included “private” (unreleased) acoustic tracks from the likes of Jennifer Warnes!

Here are some notes from the day (mainly from the 2-channel room:

•  Most sessions began with a conversation by Gabriel Sakakeeny – Music Director for the American Philharmonic, former tube amp designer, music synthesizer inventor, and audiophile. (He’s probably a 007 agent too!  )
  • In addition to providing some very cogent comments during the sessions, Gabe also volunteered to teach some classes on “audio electronic” and “music appreciation.” BAAS members present were enthusiastic.
  • You can reach Gabe here.
• We featured Medea and Minerva DAC’s from Weiss Audio (this link also contains a list of web sites featuring high-definition music). The Minerva (PM session only, as FedEx didn’t arrive until noon!) was particularly stunning – easy-to-install and very musical. [Thanks, Clive, for the Medea.]
• We connected the Medea with the RME Fireface 400 firewire adaptor box (I bought mine here). Excellent (German) engineering, and great sonics. Another great option is the Apogee Duet ($500 street), especially for Mac’s. We also discussed the Bel Canto USB adaptor and the Lynx AES16 sound card.
• The speakers were the uber Ficion F300’s in stunning black laquor. They were great, especially since they were only out of the box for 4 days. Some of you will recall that they made my “Top 5″ list at RMAF 2008. They are described here.
• The amplification was by Goldmund and the cabling by Verastarr, Oritek, and Furutech.
• Two important software utilities for Mac were discussed: Max (for ripping and transcoding formats) and Audacity (for really geeky stuff like sample-rate conversion.)
• We also discussed the promise and perils of attenuation in the digital domain(often to elimanate the need for a preamp). Rather than rehash that thread, check out Bob Katz’s excellent articles here (read “Dither”).

I’m sure there’s some stuff that I’m forgetting, but duty calls….

Bob Walters

Inexpensive Audiophile Tweaks

We are all looking for inexpensive ways to improve the sound quality of our systems.

Now a new company, “Elemental Voice,” has taken this concept to the next level.

Click here for their product catalog.

As always, enjoy the music! <g>

by bob walters

How Digital Killed the (Evil) Record Labels

This NY Times article describes a new book by Steve Knopper, “Appetite for Self-Destruction.”

In “Appetite,” Knopper outlines the rise of the CD, fall of the “single.” and ultimate victory of downloads and the iPod.

All interesting topics and I’m sure worthy of a read. (Someone send me the Cliff’s Notes!)

Van Halen “Like a Dog”

Member Stephan S pointed this article out to me.

It’s an interesting read about EVH, his new “signature” guitar, and the rock guitar industry in general.

I was particularly entertained by this passage:

“Ed’s like a dog,” Matt Bruck, Van Halen’s longtime guitar tech, says with a sigh. “He hears things that the rest of us don’t.”

And there were those Ed-isms employed to try to explain his complaints, if poorly. “Ed was always saying, ‘It needs to sound more like nut butter,’ ” Bruck says.

“Nut butter, yeah,” says Fender’s Chip Ellis with a laugh. He was entrusted with building the Wolfgang prototype that will be manufactured en masse. “What does that mean?”

The duo recall listening to the boss wring out pickups — those rectangular, coiled-wire devices that amplify a string’s vibration — for eight months straight. “Ed can even hear the difference between a guitar plugged into a 5-foot cable and a 10-foot cable,” Bruck says. “Nuts.”

For Ellis, the experience proved both a dream and a nightmare, which he documented in a diary. One typical entry reflects Van Halen’s uncanny sensibilities.

May 27, 2006: “Ed called tonight. Said the (prototype) guitar played great and sounded not great. He hasn’t even plugged it in and tells me it doesn’t sound right. What? Then he says, ‘This isn’t basswood, is it? What did you use, alder?’ … I did use alder. I can’t believe he heard that (difference).”

For his part, Van Halen shrugs when asked how he perceives such sonic subtleties in everything from a slab of wood to a wire.

“Sound is a funny thing,” he says, his back to a wall of amplifiers and speakers carrying the EVH logo. “It’s like color to a blind person, I guess. You just feel it instead of seeing it.”

Remind you of anyone you know?

The Best-kept Secret in Mac CD Ripping?

Great news for audiophiles who, like myself, love all-things-Mac — we now have our own ripper with most of the capabilities of “EAC” or “dbPowerAmp.”

And it’s free and open-source!

The product is called XLD (X Lossless Decoder) and boasts the most impressive feature list of anything Mac. You can download it here. If you use it, I heartily suggest that you donate here. You can get free forum support on Hydrogen Audio here.

NEW: This tutorial on ripping is must-read!

XLD’s feature list is so strong that it may put my favorite cover art program (Cover Scout, which has just gone V3) out of business.

I truly wish that I had known about XLD before my recent multi-month rip-fest (1125 CD’s). It’s clearly the best there is on Mac…

Does Bandwidth Beyond 20khz Improve Sound Quality?

Some folks over at the SlimDevices Forum (here) are currently debating the impact of this 2000 psycho-acoustic scholarly research from Japan.

The results of the study support some remarkable and far-reaching conclusions:

• Frequency content beyond 20khz enhances human perception of music – test subjects favor it over lower-bandwidth material.
• Brain activity can be measured and used to correlate subjective assessments of the subjects.
• The form of ABX testing most commonly used in listening tests – several seconds of sound separated by less than a second of silence while switching samples – is inappropriate to measure a human’s assessment of musical content. The brain takes longer to form aesthetic judgments.

These tests were conducted in a controlled setting using double-blind protocols, direct measurement of brain activity, and  a statistically relevant sample size. Pretty solid.

These conclusions could have far-ranging implications to audiophiles:

•  A high-bandwidth system is necessary to full enjoyment of music.
  • Ever hear of a super-tweeter?
• Properly done, “high resolution” formats (e.g., SACD, HrX) enhance listening enjoyment.
  • More material please! And affordable high-resolution DAC’s….
• The rapid-fire “test tone” method of audio ABX testing is inappropriate to measuring human satisfaction of reproduced music.
  • Ban their use in audiophile settings and discussions.

Wow. Weighty stuff to consider this weekend.”Hypersonic” indeed.

In a future piece, I’ll discuss some of the factors that both the paper and the often-didactic forum discussion miss….

Free Download – Blue Coast “The BAAS Sessions”

Click here for exclusive recordings from our Blue Coast Records event.

The tracks are available as both playable MP3 and downloadable 16/44.1 WAV. So most everyone should be able to play them with good fidelity.

You’ll find not just the mixed versions, but also the “raw mic” tracks from the various microphones that Cookie used.

Listening to these tracks will give you a real perspective on “reproducing the original sonic event.”

As far as I know, this type of opportunity is very rare. So take advantage of it – especially if you weren’t at the event!

Thanks again, Cookie and Jason McGuire!

Greeks Scientifically Test “Vinyl vs CD”

The Audiophile Club of Athens remains very active.

Its latest endeavor (documented here) tackles an issue that seems to plague many audiophiles – “is CD/digital (finally) better than analog/vinyl”?

Their answer is an emphatic  “NO!”

While I disagree with some of their methodology, it makes for interesting reading. And I certainly applaud their effort.

I’ll leave you to form your own conclusions….

The Worst Album Covers EVER!

How do you like the one on the left?

It’s actually one of the more tasteful ones on this site, which is a unique “worst of” collection.

Note: Folks with delicate sensibilities should not click the link.

Enjoy!