Awesome Audiophile Snake Oil

^^

so wait... that "pre-echo" is in the master too? like if i was listening to the actual master tape, it would be there too?

that blows my mind in highly cosmic, existential ways but i'm weird. ty everyone for answering. would love any deepdives into the topic if you know any.

weird shit, man

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-echo

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/pre-echo-present-on-lp.229120/

sleeve according to wikipedia at least preecho refers to digital compression artifacts. the tape phenomenon is “print-through” - https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Print-through

thank you!

Digital tapes can also be affected by contact print effects in a phenomenon known as "bit-shift" when upper or lower layers of tape cause a middle layer to alter the pulses recorded to represent binary information.

/\freaking me out.

^^ one of many reasons why Albini hated DAT iirc #onethread

i am genuinely unsettled by it. in a purely wordless emotional way that i can only compare to the feeling experienced by the phrase "uncanny valley." but it's an entirely different vibe because it's some real ghost in the machine shit.

tyvm for those links btw

yeah this is a total rabbit hole

DuPont[3] in conjunction with Otari[4] invented a form of thermal magnetic duplication ("TMD") by which a high-coercivity metal mother master tape was brought into direct contact with a chromium dioxide copy (slave) tape. The coercivity of the mother tape is higher than that of the copy tape, so when the copy tape is heated and brought into contact with the mother tape, the copy tape gets a mirror image of the signal on the mother tape without the mother tape losing its signal. The recording on the mother tape was a mirror image of a valid video signal. Immediately before the copy tape came into contact with the mother tape, a focused laser beam heated it to its Curie point at which its value of coercivity dropped to very low values so that it picked up a near perfect copy of the mother tape as it cooled.[5][6] The mother tape was made using a special reel to reel video tape recorder called a mirror master recorder[7] and was held inside the machine in an endless loop. This system could achieve speeds of up to 300 times playback speed in NTSC VHS SP mode, 900 times in VHS EP mode and 428 times in PAL/SECAM tapes.[8]

DAT tape always struck me as a "worst of both worlds" idea

DAT was a godsend to concert tapers, so I can't disparage it - it totally had its uses.

https://cohost.org/tercel-enby/post/7125167-the-play-station-1-as

I guess the you could tell it was so high end because so many of them broke.

Qobuz sent out a mail that they now offer DSD recordings - but most of them are from a long time ago, recorded on tape (Jarrett's Köln concert for instance, tape machine's specs: 40hz-15kHz). Maybe I'm not getting the point.

A DSD transfer of an analog tape would be preferable to a PCM transfer, so if it's that, great, but truth be told, I never buy DSD downloads. I tried some and they were all over the place in terms of what they actually were. It was dodgy when many of them were actually converted to PCM at some point, but generally a lot of them just didn't sound like they were mastered well.

FWIW, if you get an SACD from like MFSL or Analogue Productions, they can sound great but it depends on the title. It's like 50/50 whether it's worth getting, and when they aren't it's usually because they sound way too bright for my tastes.

Thank you!

https://www.timeout.com/uk/bars-and-pubs/how-listening-bars-took-over-the-uk

After reading this I'm still not quite sure what a listening bar is (the headline quote "The first major alternative to going out in a long time" set me off on the wrong foot because ummm … you are going out) but I do like the idea of going somewhere to listen to a record I like on a really good setup and that's what one thing linked to seems to do: Pitchblack Playback. Not sure if I'm going to travel to Hammersmith to hear a playback of The Sensual World next week but I'll keep an eye on what's coming up.

I went to one in Korea because my partner wanted to go. I'm sure every bar isn't the same, but in this case, no one in their right mind should think of it as some kind of "audiophile" nirvana, even with high quality equipment. Too many things you can nitpick, from the quality of the pressings to the physical condition of the records to above all the distracting noise that comes with being a public business rather than a private room. I think it's best seen as a café or bar that has cool décor based around a record collection.

To be clear, that's not a bad thing either. When I walked down Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh some years ago, I remember heading to the nearest pub (or at least the nearest one that was recommended by someone) to get some Haggis and other local dishes, and they happened to have a record player and a milk crate full of records. A very modest setup but it was great - they had a few original UK pressings of albums that were reconfigured in the U.S., so I put on Revolver and Armed Forces while I ate. The bartender was even appreciative and actually thanked me for putting those on, but regardless, it's like having a jukebox where you get to play more than one song at a time free of charge.

$20k new production reel to reel

https://revox.com/en/tape-recorder/285/b77-mk-iii-stereo-tape-recorder

audiophile snake oil meets the master of snake oil, too perfect

https://www.dyson.com/headphones/ontrac/cnc-copper

I won't lie, they are aesthetically pleasing. But yeah ick

wait is the dyson vacuum company connected to something i don't know about or ?

their products have a rep as veblen goods, some are actually worse than other vacuums because they're not as repairable

also their hand dryer is bad

ah i see

I find Dyson Airblade hand dryers a bit annoying, as I have to hold my hands in exactly the right place to avoid rubbing against the sides or bottom, and who knows if previous users even used soap. They are fast, though.

I had the same reactions to the new Dyson headphones. A company with zero experience with audio gear wants $500 for their first attempt at headphones. They look nice, but I have to believe for that kind of money Koss or Sennheiser or Grado or Bose or Bower&Wilkins or even Apple Airpods Max 'phones sound better.

I have never used any headphones that sound better than Sony MDR-7506s, which are the ones artists use in recording studios, and cost $100.

speaking of headphones, and the opposite of overpriced snake oil

so my trusty Beyerdynamic DT770s finally busted after about 15 years of abuse...I ordered this new DT 770 Pro X edition (same housing but different driver/tuning) and I really didn't like the Pro X's

saw this on sale and got it because it was so cheap, thought at least it would be good for tracking when recording

and...like...these are fucking amazing, like I think I like them better than DT 770s or my AKGs or Grados or Hifi Man planars (planars are kind of a different thing so it's apples to oranges to a degree)

excellent seal barely any outside noise and they sound remarkable, like not just "good for the price" but out and out great, huge soundstage very detailed...got em for $30, really a staggering value

https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=600070&srsltid=AfmBOop6FnijVe03hOCrJgfRZPe4H87-mOWZds6gE7MIjIaqeI6KCfVO

xxpost: but they suck the dust out of your ear ducts

lol

There are loads of great headphones of all types in the $50-200 range

also with a lot of higher end stuff >$200 you are often going to need a headphone amp for impedance

I have to have open back headphones, been using some Massdrop AKGs for a few years (K7xx maybe?) they’re great. Huge earcups so they’re super comfortable on my big head.

Good related thread: Recommend a pair of headphones for me

UMS I trust yr judgement and bought a pair of those, will bump the other thread when they arrive (thx Elvis)

hope you like them! at the very least I don't think there's anything close at that price range but I think they punch way above that too, curious to hear your thoughts

like unperson i'm very loyal to my sony MDRs, but i will bookmark that link

those are great! a staple for a reason, durable as hell too

$138 in shipping to Australia alas

jeez louise that's a lot

https://blackmountainpicks.com/pages/black-mountain-tagua-flatpick

$5 a pop! Or is that $5 a guitar dad. Gotta debone a lot veggies to get that vegetable ivory

(I don't doubt that these are good, but the sell is a pretty puffed up)

$5 isn't all that much once you've fallen down the thick pick rabbithole: https://www.wegenpicks.com/

Woah

https://www.maat.digital/fidef/

timecube-level bullshit

As an engineer, it’s a fact that you do not listen like your clients. Most likely, you are an analytical thinker and listener. You listen to the sound, but your clients and the public listen to the music. Because FiDef is a psychoacoustic process, it may not have any impact if the listener resists its charms. We’re talking full–on Jedi mind tricks, folks. If you are like many of us audio engineers, you are very much a “left–brain” person and discount what you cannot understand or explain. You are used to dissecting what you hear, you simply can’t help it. Unfortunately, your conscious higher level brain function will suppress your unconscious brain, and FiDef acts subconsciously. Result? If you try too hard to hear it, you probably won’t!