2. misc-audio
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Do you trust your system?

I was constantly upgrading gear, demoing songs, reading reviews, trying to find out why I had the feeling that the song I was playing shouldn’t sound the way it does. Something off or lacking, I luckily found a set of equipment and a room setup that if a song is off, it’s likely recorded that way. I trust my system to do a decent job.  I wonder do others get to a point where they are more critical of mastering techniques than something wrong with their equipment? Admittedly, it’s easier to say how a piece of gear or cable made some significant difference, but in what exactly since the music sources are so wildly manipulated by engineers?

dain

Showing 1 response by davidwl

davidwl
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Of course I trust my system, but it’s only as good as the mastering or recording I feed it.

 

Speaking of recordings, I spent years chasing the dragon for decent sounding Richie Valens tracks. I tried several 1980’s CD releases and always came away feeling that there could have and should have been much more done in the mastering chain instead of leaving us this kind of bright lifeless sonic presentation. When I discovered the 2003 Audio Fidelity SACD Hybrid my prayers had been answered. Apparently Mr. Hoffman knew what it needed in the redbook layer. Finally decent sound! For kicks, knowing that there are no tools for doing anything in the DSD layer, I threw the SACD layer on. Well imagine how surprised I was when I realized all of those 1980’s CD’s were flat transfers and the real way the Valens recordings sound because they’re the same sound as the SACD layer on this AP hybrid. Recordings definitely matter.

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