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New Pro - SQ for classical music
#1
I've received my new Pro and, like most of you, I'm generally over enthusiastic about sound quality...

... except when I am not.

To tell a long story short, SQ is always great for non-classical music, it's great also for recent classical recordings, but it ranges from bad to appauling for less recent classical recordings. At least that's what I have found with my own record collection, bit perfect CD replicas using AIR 3.0, and with Qobuz CD quality (I have yet to try 24-bit recordings).

The older the recording, the more appauling the SQ.

Of course, I know that the older the recording, the lower the SQ in general. But here, I am not talking about recording studio acoustics or primitive recording technology or deteriorated tapes, but about decoding artifacts.

When it works, my Devialet feels like a perfect analog amp. But when I fed it with one of these recordings, it feels like a mumbo-jumbo of digital artifacts. Or a bad, pixelated digital amp.

Has anyone not see this as well? I am on 10.0.5.
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#2
Hello Arcam,

What is your source ?

Regards,
I.
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#3
(07-Nov-2016, 21:57)Inox Wrote: Hello Arcam,

What is your source ?

Regards,
I.

AIR on Ethernet (or CD transport on optical).
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#4
(07-Nov-2016, 21:59)arcam Wrote:
(07-Nov-2016, 21:57)Inox Wrote: Hello Arcam,

What is your source ?

Regards,
I.

AIR on Ethernet (or CD transport on optical).

Yes but with Air any Player ?
Upgraded Mac Mini - Audirvana - Dirac plugin - Air3 Wifi - Roon & Roon Air - D250 pro - Thiel CS 3.7
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#5
(07-Nov-2016, 22:03)Inox Wrote:
(07-Nov-2016, 21:59)arcam Wrote: AIR on Ethernet (or CD transport on optical).

Yes but with Air any Player ?

iTunes or Quobuz player
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#6
Are you saying this is the case with all older classical music? It might be an idea if you could give some specific examples that are available on Spotify or similar. (I mention Spotify because I'm thinking more people might have the free version, I for example do not have Qobuz)

Looking at my own digital files, I do have some classical music listed with dates through the 70's, the oldest being 1967. So what to try? I can run iTunes AIR 3 (Windows), so more or less mimic what your situation.
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
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#7
I have a D400 and I often find that classical music is the least impressive (in general) of the music I listen to. . .jazz generally being the best followed by blues/soul then pop then classical. My source is both tidal and Hires via AIR. I do find some classical sounds stunning but a lot sounds. . .ok. Most all jazz sounds great. .
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#8
@arcam, first Devialet or did you have a non-pro before? How many hours are on it? How would you describe the sound of these "digital/decoding artifacts" exactly?
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#9
(07-Nov-2016, 22:36)Antoine Wrote: @arcam, first Devialet or did you have a non-pro before? How many hours are on it? How would you describe the sound of these "digital/decoding artifacts" exactly?

@Antoine, I had a non-pro for a couple of months before but did not dig into much of my (classical) music collection then. Only 2 weeks of intermittent listening to the Pro so I know it needs a couple more hours to warm up gently. It's that the sound is suddenly less precise, blurry, quantized, compared to more recent recordings. It's just so precise and pure when it works well, either violin, lieder (Matthias Goerne right now in Der Schöne Mullerin), or full body orchestral music (Gergiev for example).

@Confused, I have some Fischer or Schnabel recordings from the 30's (and some even older Cortot's) and don't expect them to sound well of course. These ones I prefer to listen to in the car or plane. But even 70/80's recording like Beethoven's violin concerto by Perlman don't sound as good as (I would have hoped) they could. Not good is okay, but digital artifacts are not. I will try to make a list of which recordings work and which don't and share.

I have started to wonder if CD 16bits 44.1kHz is not a misnommer. How that bitstream was produced in the 80's may be different from how it's produced now. The Pro's decoding algorithms may have been taylored to the latter and there may have been little effort from Devialet to cater from the former.
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#10
My 2 cents worth... the Pro is just that more revealing than its predecessor.   So good records sounds excellent and poor recordings, well... not so great.   It just seems that listener fatigue sets in sooner with the Pro when listening to music that is just not recorded as well.   But with good quality recordings - digital or vinyl, rock or classical - I can sit and listen forever!  I'm actually trying to figure out how best to tag my lesser quality recordings so that I can start weeding them out.

I suspect this a reality with most audio components including speakers... the further you move up the quality chain, the more apparent poor recordings become.
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