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dB indicator flashing red
#17
(12-Jan-2015, 10:59)PhilP Wrote:
(11-Jan-2015, 14:05)f1eng Wrote: The loudness wars site reminds me of how frustrating it is to use a hifi nowadays.
It seems almost completely pointless to own a quality hifi system when so very much of the music being made available to listen to over the last few years is on such very poor quality recordings.
What is worse (IMHO) the LP release seems to always have a higher dynamic range than the CD which is monumentally irritating when CD has a considerably higher dynamic range capability than LP. And the LP is ludicrously priced and fragile.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahh!

To me wide dynamic range seems to be the most difficult aspect of the hi-fi recording and playback chain to achieve.  Detail resolution in decent hi-fi systems is generally excellent in fact I think you can probably hear more detail in music on a hi-fi than you can in many live performances but very few/no? recordings and hi-fi systems get close to the dynamic range that you experience in a concert.

This is probably why Naim equipment is so popular - as a manufacturer they seem to focus on leading edge dynamics (using large transformers and capacitors) making music sound alive and exciting albeit at the expense of detail resolution and neutrality at least in their lower-mid level kit.  The great thing about Devialet is that the dynamics are there but so is the detail and lack of colouration - throughout the range.

Digital re-mastering often seems to focus on making recordings appear more-detailed (i.e. 'better') than the original but this is often accompanied by reduced DR which actually makes them sound 'worse' which is why I generally don't buy them any more.  I will quite often listen to a re-mastered recording via Qobuz just because its interesting to hear what's changed but then go back to the original for any future listening.

Many early CDs had decent DR - some on a par with the vinyl equivalent - but the proportion of new CD recordings with acceptable DR seems much lower whilst DR on new vinyl recordings is still generally very good.  24-bit downloads typically don't have any greater DR than their 16-bit equivalents. Maybe the answer is to buy the vinyl and then digitize it ??

I do not agree.
My system is capable of wide dynamic range, and so is the CD standard (96dB).
LP is capable of generally adequate dynamic range (50 to 70 dB depending on equipment). Most pop music has less dynamic range then this. It is not difficult to record or reproduce, IME, at all.

Early CD releases had more dynamic range than LPs because they could. Compression was necessary for most LPs but not for CD. It is now a choice for sound reasons, apparently most people prefer it. Damn it!

Dynamic range compression reveals more detail, since the quiet bits are amplified compared to the average, so the detail is louder.

Some of my finest sounding CDs were amongst the first I bought. The Nimbus recordings using a Calrec sound field microphone are fantastic, IMHO. They were amongst the first CDs available.
The idea that digital is "better" today than at the beginning is completely at variance with my experience. Sure some early digital recordings were not too good, some may even have been done without the anti-aliasing filters (I know people who did this because they did not understand) and will have audible artefacts.
Also a lot of then current amplifier inputs clipped with the 2 volt output standard of CD (needed because of the extra dynamic range available over any domestic analogue medium). Typical cassette and FM tuners had 200mV outputs and that was close to the input limit with some amps.
A lot of the bad experience people had with early digital could well be that their amps were not suited to it and they were listening to clipping on the high modulated parts.

It s truly ludicrous that an inherently dynamic range limited medium, LP has less DR compression than the medium inherently capable of the full dynamic range a domestic system is capable (more than most in fact).

Is it because most people only listen to music whilst travelling where there is a high background noise?

I suppose it keeps people buying LPs at £25 a pop. Madness.
Devialet Original d'Atelier 44 Core, Job Pre/225, Goldmund PH2, Goldmund Reference/T3f /Ortofon A90, Goldmund Mimesis 36+ & Chord Blu, iMac/Air, Lynx Theta, Tune Audio Anima, Goldmund Epilog 1&2, REL Studio. Dialog, Silver Phantoms, Branch stands, copper cables (mainly).
Oxfordshire

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Messages In This Thread
dB indicator flashing red - by PhilP - 10-Jan-2015, 00:05
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by Confused - 10-Jan-2015, 01:08
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by PhilP - 10-Jan-2015, 08:28
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by Jean-Marie - 10-Jan-2015, 10:37
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by PhilP - 10-Jan-2015, 12:23
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by Morten - 10-Jan-2015, 10:18
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by f1eng - 10-Jan-2015, 10:27
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by PhilP - 10-Jan-2015, 12:27
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by f1eng - 10-Jan-2015, 22:53
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by PhilP - 10-Jan-2015, 23:59
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by Confused - 10-Jan-2015, 12:57
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by PhilP - 10-Jan-2015, 15:10
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by Riddo - 13-Jan-2015, 00:28
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by f1eng - 13-Jan-2015, 13:10
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by thumb5 - 13-Jan-2015, 13:43
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by PhilP - 13-Jan-2015, 14:36
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by Tony - 10-Jan-2015, 18:21
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by f1eng - 11-Jan-2015, 14:05
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by PhilP - 12-Jan-2015, 10:59
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by f1eng - 12-Jan-2015, 15:08
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by PhilP - 12-Jan-2015, 16:28
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by f1eng - 12-Jan-2015, 17:29
RE: dB indicator flashing red - by PhilP - 13-Jan-2015, 15:11

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