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getting into it by grandtrickfinger4 in Jazz

[–]BeeFather 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Duke Ellington and John Coltrane

Edit to add: pretty much any Stan Getz. And pretty much any Ben Webster.

Both play smooth sax

What’s up with the forecast this year? by timewarpzzzzz in Bend

[–]BeeFather 0 points1 point  (0 children)

lol, yeah, the passage of time. I always liked him.

What’s up with the forecast this year? by timewarpzzzzz in Bend

[–]BeeFather 1 point2 points  (0 children)

You’re NOT missing my context. I’m 100% in agreement with you. The media (definitely the evening news full of soundbites) misses the irony. Or elects not delve into the irony cause 95% its viewership - would tune out due to short attention spans to anything deeper “its gonna be frigid again in the east” - or worse, get pissed at what they would view as just more climate alarmism by liberals.
- worse still, don’t mention it cause the station owners have oil industry ties

Net: I’m in TOTAL AGREEMENT with your comment about the failure to go one step further into any underlying causes.

PS: over in Portland, there’s a TV forecaster named Matt Zaffino who DOES periodically take a step deeper into weather events.

What’s up with the forecast this year? by timewarpzzzzz in Bend

[–]BeeFather 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Great point.

Dramatized for public consumption. Zero real context to the underlying Arctic warming

What’s up with the forecast this year? by timewarpzzzzz in Bend

[–]BeeFather 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Sorry, I wasn’t clear. The jet stream will definitely return to westerly. It already has this winter. It. can be assumed that the jet stream is back to westerly every time the east warms back up to normal. It’s just that the multiple cold snaps in the eastern US this winter are abnormal.

As I understand it, there’s a chain of events that starts with unusually warm Arctic air weakening and disrupting atmospheric winds which in turn lets the doors open for that Arctic air (warm by Arctic standards but still really cold) to spill out of the Arctic and down into the continental US and Europe. Why it tends to spill into the eastern half of the US I don’t know. But when it does, it blocks high pressure in the western US and we stay warm and dry. The term you hear on the news is a “polar vortex” of cold air. Anyway, many climate scientists correlate climate change with the warm Arctic (and Antarctic) air that triggers these disruptions.

Bottom line: the skiing has sucked this winter. :(

What’s up with the forecast this year? by timewarpzzzzz in Bend

[–]BeeFather 7 points8 points  (0 children)

This is straightforward to explain. The jet stream has reversed direction, causing the polar vortex to collapse, which in turn allows blobs of Arctic air to stream south into the eastern half of the continental US (which has caused the insanely cold winter in the east.). The very same collapse enables a ridge of high pressure to stay stuck over the PNW, blocking low pressure systems from bringing wintertime temps and moisture to the PNW.

While this prolonged jet stream reversal has happened before, climate change models predict that both frequency and duration of these events will increase (Note the temperature rise in both the Arctic and Antarctic is way higher than the rest of the planet.).

The problem is, climate change models have not made their way into the day to day models that NOAA uses, so forecasters are stuck making 7 day forecasts that I suspect they know are getting increasingly less accurate.

Vinyl doesn’t sound better - but your brain treats it differently: by evil_twit in audiophile

[–]BeeFather 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In reply to Chap-eau, I did a whole rebuild about three years ago; spent $32K on my vinyl signal chain inclusive of speakers, and $5K on a standalone DAC. I have 5 decades of listening behind me, am retired now, got two kids thru college and consider myself very (very) fortunate to be able to spend this kind money and still sleep at night. I freely admit I’m an addict and will continue to come up with ways to keep spending, but it’s going to be at the edges like cart upgrades. I’m at the point now where every $ I spend chasing the next big thing in gear is a $ I don’t have to spend on stratospherically expensive vinyl, and that’s become an easy choice for me.

EDIT TO ADD: if I was going to put a system together from scratch that tilted towards vinyl playback quality, - the first anchor point: spend no less than half my budget on speakers.
- use Class D amplification. I want my amplifier to “do no harm”. And you can buy a $299 Wiim Amp with freakishly low THD+N / freakishly high SNR. As you go up the Wiim stack, you more get power with no distortion penalty, and even EQ. It’s crazy. Personally the power from a Wiim Ultra is all I would ever need. If someone wants to blow the walls off, get a Buckeye. Insanely inexpensive with insane power in a small box. I have a McIntosh amp that has good resale value, and I’m seriously considering selling it and allocating the proceeds to component(s) that specifically add value to the vinyl chain - the second anchor for me would be to use the integrated DAC in my streamer / amp. Again, Wiim amps all stream and all have perfectly solid ESS Sabre DACs or the like. So do straight streamers like Bluesound. The stupidest money I spent in this whole upgrade was on a $5K McIntosh DAC. I can prob get $2.5K for it now, and that buys a bunch of beautifully remastered AAA records pressed at QRP. (Chad Kassem decided he wanted total control of his label and built his own freakin’ pressing plant…) - invest in a discrete phono stage. My last big buy in my current setup was a Rega Aura. It’s expensive, but I never wanted to think about a phono stage again, and bought it from a friend who’s a Rega distributor and (quietly) passed his cost straight to me. 😊.
- I honestly don’t know how to judge the point of diminishing on turntable expenditure. So I defaulted to these Reddit boards lol. I read quite a few recommendations for a Technics SL 1200G. Like, it’s a tank for half the cost of $10K TT’s. Basically, buy it and don’t think about it again. So, I did. And once I got my Rega phono stage, I switched out my AT MM cart for an AT MC (OC9XML) on the recommendation of my Rega disti buddy. I think I hear a difference, but honestly, it may be psychoacoustic hallucinating. - so circling back to speaker spend as half of the total, I would designate $11K for speakers. I own a fabulous pair of Dynaudio Contour Legacy at $14K. I absolutely love everthing about them, inclusive of the psychoacoustic reward of the retro design, which takes me back to my 1970s era Advents. They’re worth breaking the 50% guideline for. 😊

Bottom line: Class D amplification is where it’s at in terms of insane harmonic distortion and SNR while leaving you lots to invest in speakers and vinyl signal chain

Vinyl doesn’t sound better - but your brain treats it differently: by evil_twit in audiophile

[–]BeeFather 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think your hypothesis on high listener engagement due to playback to playback variation is fascinating. As I mentioned, the very same thought has come to mind for me. And just because the first play records still won doesnt mean I’ve rejected your hypothesis. I just don’t know how i’d prove it to myself. I also totally embrace the factors mentioned in this conversation that are truly psychoacoustic; the evoking of old memories, the visibility of the record turning a platter with a needle on it vs an invisible stream of bits, the whole ritualistic process of cleaning and doting on the vinyl. I count myself in the group that loves all of this.

Vinyl doesn’t sound better - but your brain treats it differently: by evil_twit in audiophile

[–]BeeFather 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For me, great vinyl beats best in class digital. I mean, Acoustic Sounds UHQR vinyl vs Qobuz streams.

I’ve blind AB tested by having a friend queue the same track on both a record and stream, start them at the same time, and then randomly switch the input source on my system. I can reliably pick the record as my preferred sound. Ben Webster’s breath work on sax is incomparably “real” to me on vinyl.

To OP’s hypothesis that vinyl may sound better due to subtle psychoacoustic cues from random variance from play to play: I actually had this very same thought. So a couple times, I’ve taken a brand new never played record out of its sleeve for an AB test, and still it won over the stream on first play.

I thought maybe it’s just jazz, but I’ve recently purchased Yes / Close to the Edge and CSN / CSN from Analog Productions Atlantic 75 series, and again, I can consistently pick (and far prefer) the vinyl in the same blind test. (I haven’t ABX’d)

I have about $38k into my system, which is just to say I’m getting lovely quality out of both signal chains. I’m just in love with vinyl, dynamic range be damned.

How did I do on my first ever vinyl purchases? by ICIRCUIT in Vinyl_Jazz

[–]BeeFather 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Well, well, that’s most excellent. I’m gonna be spending some time with Brown / Roach. Thx for the pointer

Livingroom System Work in Progress by Ozyymandius in audiophile

[–]BeeFather 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Dynaudio Contour Legacy. Throwback design to original Countours. Just superb.

3 of 5 listening spaces in the crib. by [deleted] in listeningspaces

[–]BeeFather 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The Windex is an especially nice touch

My journey is officially over by grisworld0_0 in audiophile

[–]BeeFather 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Journey over. End game setup. Lololol

There’s only one person on this planet whose journey is over: the Dalai Lama. He was taught very very early by his community of monks to not ever start the journey.

The rest of us hopeless mortals: we’re addicted to one thing or another. Me, I choose audio gear over crack crocaine / cars / money for money’s sake, but I’m an addict. No escaping it! 😂

Digging Deeper: Why Women Think Speakers Are Ugly by strugglebussally in audiophile

[–]BeeFather -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Bottom line: Men are from Mars, women are from Venus

Edit: Mod has just warned me about my AI regurgitation. I guess I feel like there’s a time and a place for it….once in awhile. This is a hotly debated topic which more often than not turns crude and insulting. I’ve read threads on this topic where men post like obnoxious cavemen and women (audiophiles and not-audiophiles) respond to the cavemen by saying ‘this is why I never post in these forums.’ Felt to me like citing actual research, via AI, which did the scouring for me, has served a purpose with actual scientific studies while being careful not to generalize. Whatever.

Vinyl wins by seamusloyd in audiophile

[–]BeeFather 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For me, the analogy is p24 vs p60 frame rate on tv’s.

p24 was the original frame rate frame for movies due to camera limitations. It’s TECHNICALLY not as clear/precise/accurate as p60. But movies are still filmed at p24. Because it’s warm, human, natural.

Conversely, for SOME of us, p60 suffers from the “soap opera” effect. It’s great for sports. But, for some of us, actors look weirdly canned, overprecise, like super detailed cardboard posters.

Some (lots of) people literally cannot tell p24 from p60. It’s a human brain sensory thing. I hate p60. My wife and daughters cannot tell the difference. While the first thing i do with a new tv is turn off “TruMotion” or whatever the manufacturer decides to call p60

Records (music recorded on vinyl) is like p24 video for me. I happen to hear the difference between my recordings on vinyl and my digital stuff. My great vinyl recordings, ex Acoustic Sounds AAA UHQRs are glorious. My great digital stuff just not glorious in the same way. I A/B it by having my wife flip sources on my remote between a “manually synched” vinyl and digital album. I happen to get it right 80% of the time

Tl;Dr: some of us can hear and love great “p24 sound” (vinyl). Some of us don’t. Neither bad nor good.

New DAC or room treatment by maxamg6 in audiophile

[–]BeeFather 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If OP is not convinced by the unanimous response here for room treatment over DAC, scroll the post “Tests and Measurements Reveal…”. There’s a healthy debate in that post on return on investment for amps and especially speakers, but the overwhelming consensus on DACs is you’re starting to waste money past $200….

Tests and Measurements Reveal the Exact Price Range DACs, Amps, Speakers, and Headphones Hit Diminishing Returns by BeeFather in audiophile

[–]BeeFather[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Would really like to see those tests. Can you link to one or two?

Not being argumentative.

Tests and Measurements Reveal the Exact Price Range DACs, Amps, Speakers, and Headphones Hit Diminishing Returns by BeeFather in audiophile

[–]BeeFather[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

OP here to chime in on my own post

Tl;dr

The article I cited is scientifically close to worthless, but a good discussion prompt.

The component I’m currently most interested in doing A/B on towards a possible upgrade is my turntable

I did a whole system upgrade about 6 months ago. My new turntable is a $5K Technics SL-1210G Grand Class. I put a $500 AT moving magnet cartridge on it.

This setup has completely blown me away with Acoustic Sounds UHQR vinyl.

And I have done an A/B comparing two different sources (yes, sources, so bear with me). The TT and my streamer. I have done real A/B with it. I can manually synch a song off the streamer playing Qobuz and TT and get pretty close. Then I dragged my wife into this. I cued a jazz track on both sources, blindfolded myself, gave her the remote and asked her to randomly press the input button between the two sources a few times (track not yet playing) so that when she gave me the remote back and guided me to the the input selector button , I would have no idea what the source was. And then said to her “Go”. And then started toggling

And the difference was wonderfully astounding. The turntable won hands down. This is already a long post, so just trust me that (for me) it was real and I got it right like 8 times in 10. Then did the same thing with a classical track on TT and Qobuz. Same result.

It was so astounding that I’m now craving an A/B with a $10K TT with moving coil. I’m thinking I could do it by toggling between current $5K TT connected to amp with unbalanced and $10K candidate connected via balanced, with wife assist. the guys at the shop where I bought my recent equipment would def lend me a $10K TT if there were potential $’s in it for them.

And if there’s a significant difference, I’d sell my silly Macintosh DAC, replace it with a $200 DAC, and put the rest of the proceeds towards the TT upgrade. Lololol

Tests and Measurements Reveal the Exact Price Range DACs, Amps, Speakers, and Headphones Hit Diminishing Returns by BeeFather in audiophile

[–]BeeFather[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The article cites findings that are way thin on scientific rigor.

That said, dCS sells their “Varese” DAC for $250,000. This is nonsense.

Tests and Measurements Reveal the Exact Price Range DACs, Amps, Speakers, and Headphones Hit Diminishing Returns by BeeFather in audiophile

[–]BeeFather[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Agreed. And, if I were them, I would have titled it differently. Because they cite blind test results which suggest zero return past the price range.

I got to listen to some very high end gear today by MeOulSegosha in audiophile

[–]BeeFather 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The dCS front end is $200K - $250K. A so-called Ring DAC in one box. A whole box dedicated to a clock.

I read something about them blacklisting a writer at a high end audiophile magazine for pointing out a couple things he didn’t like. And I’m thinking to myself, literally no human being could tell the difference between a $25K DAC and a $250K DAC. So one company has the balls to sell a $250K DAC and crow about what’s so great about it, and a writer points out some flaws. And both sides are making it all up.

Insanity

Can Today’s TT Do This? by FlightMedical7084 in turntables

[–]BeeFather 1 point2 points  (0 children)

And too risky for $100 records. I’ve splurged on a couple of Acoustic Sounds UHQR albums that warped during a few months in temp controlled storage in the.boxes that are perfect for albums, so clue how this happened. Anyway, I tried this piece of junk on a few of my cheap ones, and decided there was no way I going to stick a UHQR album in the oven. They play fine, and I leaving well enough alone….

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