Garns

Haha! Why is your name like Voldemort on HF?

It seems I am tainted by association

Now I hope you don't spread the gospel of 7N7 to HF

Oh no, is Big D still around? I have had him ignored for a long, long time.

cannot compute... star pajamas... ferrari enzo burn out in reverse... fought Chuck Norris last night... BIG reveal next week... 36" woofer in my Cadillac... drop's the mike, I meant mic... BIG J out... I don't surf the waves, the waves surf BIG D !!!

@Azteca - Big D had a kind of a meltdown and got banned a long time ago.

Hahaha. It is actually a really good listen! Like being hectored by your dead uncle about the decline of modern civilization and how it's all gone downhill since Dante.

Did your uncle come from Florence, Italy?

OMFG thats hilarious. I'm breaking out Elliot reading Prufrock right now, should probably add it to my permanent headphone review play list.

:(

SBAF is not necessarily a universally liked site. Nor does it have to be. A member may have to weight if he/she wants to be part of it. Some don't want to as time goes by. And appreciate the removal of the temptation to log in. I believe that was the case here.

What @ultrabike said. It's like deleting the Ex's number. You know you shouldn't text but as long as you have the number it's possible.

@Merrick - I didn't take his "The CDs sound exactly like we always wanted our music to sound." with any weight. It seems to me that great musicians are not necessarily audiophiles. Who knows what kind of system(s) he heard the LPs and CDs on, or how his hearing was after playing with the band for years.

Well I assume most musicians who have an opinion on how their music should sound hear it on studio monitors with pro gear. Maybe a few hear it on home systems of varying quality. Regardless, I think it's fair to say you prefer a presentation that may not be the artist's preferred presentation. Some people prefer the theatrical cut of Blade Runner over the director's cut or final cut, as an example.

I understand what you mean, @Merrick. But the difference between the original LPs (I have a mix of UK/German/US) vs CD are night and day. The LPs are vivid, beautiful, detailed, soundstage is incredible. The CDs are just kind of blah all around. I can't imagine...

At first I thought you said "drinking".

Can't wait to read your thoughts on the trainers. I vote that we give you a blog, Garns's ultimate trainers compendium, some Freya stuff included.

Sounds horrible on my HD800, HD600 and on my speakers, but the effect is most pronounced on the speakers. There might be a sharp dip around 12kHz with headphones on the head.

Thanks, missed your reply!

I don't think I can help much, the whole clip sounded really kind of thick or compressed on my speaker setup but when the guitar ? comes in, it sounds purposefully distorted?

Where did you get this? (I had a look around the web, but no luck.)

@Dino https://boomkat.com/products/zauberberg-03975766-9596-419a-b16a-f3a355f6f758 is one of them and follow the links below for the others

The previous mastering was super weird, the tracks weren't sausaged but lots of them sounded like they had been fed through a broadcast compressor (no joke). This time around the dynamics are back!

Tried a couple of songs.....what in the hell? "Fleure" almost made me have a stroke.

@Changeling - the Basscad,EP or the Flutter EP might be an easier start. "Exai", on the other hand, may be a bit too much :)

I love me some Autechre. Forgetting that they exist is always good, as the make-up listening is fantastic.

I made a "power strip of doom" with two Macbook power supplies, two phone chargers and a dodgy SMPS I got from China. By moving it around the house I now know which outlets are on the same circuit as my speakers...

That's slightly brilliant, if crazy. Well played.

SCIENCE!!!!

This will give you an idea of the number of masterings. :)
http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/steely-dan-cds-different-masterings-the-summary-thread.561226/

Thanks, think I will look out for an original 80s master on ebay...

Having ripped all my CDs lately, I had to replace a couple of genuinely un-rippable ones, and learned the hard way about looking out in case you accidentally buy sneaky modern "remastered" copies.

I ended up hitting ebay to get specific editions issued in the 80s/90s before the brickwall compression and v-shaped EQ craze. You are not alone, Garns. It sucks the life out of the music.

Do you hear a dip at 3kHz, regardless of what the flat plate coupler measurements say?

Yeah, I hear a hole in the lower mids rather than a peak in the upper mids. If I boost around 2.5-3khz it sounds tonally better than cutting 5-6khz (though the digital EQ makes all the other technicalities go to crap).

@Garns I took out my SDR after purchasing the Lynx AES16 card. Have been running it un-modded since. I've ordered a new pair to try again - but so far I'm happy without any mod.

This looks like a good NOS (possibly lightly used) single http://m.ebay.com/itm/1-Raytheon-6CG7-6FQ7-Vacuum-Tubes-Tested-Good-On-Calibrated-Hickok-/331943964525

Cool. Might as well! Bought it. Thanks!

@DigMe @Garns I've got a planned visit to one of my tube dealers in a week or so. I've got 8 Ultron PCC88's to pick up and I know he has 6CG7 available for about $15. I can pick up a few if there's an interest?

Awesome. I saw them back in '98 and it was a fantastic show but haven't seen them since.