Sound Quality of red book CDs vs.streaming

jafant,

Thanks for asking.  Aside from the new Arcam streamer which Is a big improvement over Chromecast, I’m getting a new power cable for my DAC and new speaker cables from Morrow.
Interestingly, now that I have been extensively streaming, I have gone back to my original assessment that, on my system,  CDs sound better: more detail and life.

How about you?  Any new stuff?

rvpiano
any new gear headed your way in 2019?  Happy Listening!

I have been demonstrating the difference in formats at trade shows for years. My equipment has always been resolving enough to easily hear the differences, even USB. I even hear a difference in AIFF and uncompressed FLAC compared to .wav.

If you are using UPnP, then you should try Linn Kinsky and Minimserver with BubbleUPnP as proxy server, if you are not already using these.

Also, here are some killer tweaks to make Ethernet sound stellar:

1) AQVOX switch
2) 0.5m Wireworld Platinum Etherenet cable
3) EMO EN-70e isolator
4) 1.5-2.0m Wireworld Platinum Ethernet cable

Steve N.
Empirical Audio

After a couple of years with Tidal's and/or Deezer's premium tiers I went back to Spotify for casual listening. Like others here I've found the streaming services just don't measure up to my own library of ripped/downloaded files. I'm perfectly satisfied with this, Spotify has a terrific catalog and is a great way to discover music I'm interested in owning. I also enjoy Pandora and some internet radio streams.

@audioengr .. for quite some time I've read your posts about using WAV vs. everything else and was an unbeliever. I recently moved to a UPnP/ethernet renderer based audio solution and now understand. FWIW I only tried WAV out of frustration with UPnP, which seemed to stumble a bit with my uncompressed flac files. A suggestion was made to try WAV instead of flac and not only did it behave better but also sounded better to my ears. (Not trying to start a war here guys .. just my very subjective and non-double blind listening experience. YMMV.)

“streaming is fine for casual listening” 

@foxyrjd,

Do you mind sharing your steaming and  vinyl setup? 

I agree. I only use streaming for parties etc. Most of my listening is using Ethernet renderer with tracks spooled from locally stored .wav files. Beats any CD or SACD player. Much lower jitter possible.

Steve N
Empirical Audio

Happy new year: I have been using a Berkeley Audio Alpha 2 Reference w/ MQA, spinning CD's on an Esoteric PO3 Transport w/ Shunyata Alpha digital AES/EBU. Jeff Rowland Chorus/PSU to twin Rowland 625's/Revel Salon 2 speakers. I love the system and prefer it sonically to Digital (borrowed a DCS Vivaldi to listen.) I think a very good system is as good as a digital file of equal quality. Certainly no reason to ditch a transport or  such.

Your thread is where many people are interested in. There is still too much what is unknown.

The thing I love most about now is that there are options of which we only could dream of in the past.

On the other hand is that still most audio products will never make people happy for over a longer period of time. Because our emotion cannot be fooled.

So when products cannot reveal all the different apects/properties of sound it is impossible to become and stay happy with it.

Streaming can be stunning and really great. But you are still independent of too many different aspects.

When I judge the quality of recordings of the biggest music stars in the world, often these recordings are limited. I am even sure that these artists have no idea how limited their recordings are.

I found and bought music of artists who only have a few thousand hits on Youtube. But their recordings are really stunning. It proofs that it is not about money what the issue is when a recording is limited.

In the 20 years that I work in this business I have tried many times to bring people together. But the world in audio is sick like the fact that the whole world is sick. I was dissapointed when people reacted very hard and where not interested in working together.

At the end we humans are the ones who limit us self over and over again. Because we think that we can do it all by ourselves. In those 20 years I work in this busienss I made big steps thanks to all those different specialists in many areas. Together you will always be so much stronger.

I wish you all a great and happy 2019.

Thanks!

I owned the best and most expensive cd-players in the world. And when I wanted to start with streaming in 2012 I was stunned that over 99% of all streaming products were all useless.

Now in 2018 in our world over 99% of all streaming products are still useless. We understand that many people still use turntables and cd-players. Because most digital sources and dacs are all very limited in quality.

The whole world in audio sells products. We create sound and vision. And that is a totally different world what is the opposite of the trial and error world.

We work with all our dedication, drive, effort, insight and knowledge to create sound. That brings people so much closer or how music and instruments sounds.

We are a Lumin specialsit and go into details further than any other Lumin dealer. Each single human being can sell a Lumin out of a box. We know the full DNA of each single Lumin product.

This makes us able to reach and use the full potential of each Lumin product. We often send new clients to shops to make them understand that how different the same Lumin sounds in our Tru-Fi world vs the limited trial and error world.

The best will always win, and this is what we create. The sound will always tell the truth. And people will always choose what is superior to the rest. That is how simple it is!

We created the AudioFacts Pro modification for the Lumin D1/D2/T1.

The D1/D2 and T1 own the same dac as the Lumin A1. But the A1 uses better capacitors and other parts. So we created a modification with superior capacitors and parts what now outperforms the Lumin A1 on all the different aspects/properties of sound.

The D1/D2/T1 with AudioFacts Pro modification comes very close to the level of the Lumin S1. We compared it with many expensive dacs and other streamers. And it was no match.

The thing I love most of audio is shootout and comparing. A born perfectionist always wants to win and ouperfrom each individual competitor. This is how I was born. It is my goal to proof that I can outperform each person in the world in stereo, surround and in vision.

I think and work by Tru-Fi. This means that we create both sound&vision on all the aspects/properties it owns. Because this brings us so much closer to how sound and vision sounds and looks like in real.

A bron perfectionist has only one goal. To create the best result and quality possible. There is no other option. Streaming is just for hun and using and creating modified drives and powersupplies is the holy grail.

Music is all about emotion. And we are only interested in creating emotion in everything we create and sell.

@bo1972 
Thanks for your insights, could you clarify one thing, you say above you prefer player/dac rather than separates yet you recommend Lumen L1. So do you recommend Lumen D2 player or L1 plus dac? 
Thanks! 

I have just tesyed my cd copies of dave brubeck qiartet "take 5" (columbia) and "what's new" (telarc), and "late night bruneck" (telarc) against spotify and tidal.
Results are always consistent.... Cd is either clearly better, or auguably better.
Always clearly better than tidal who pretends hifi, and arguably better (sometimes just not) than spotify who pretends mp3, which i despise.
I just got a deal with tidal, basically 3 months for free, and i am floored by how inconsistent the service is compared to spotify.  With spotify, you know what you 're paying for and you end up surprised sometimes.
With tidal, you don't get what you are paying for, and sometimes, you feel it is worth something.
In other words, spotify delivers on the promise 100% of the time and more, wheras tidal sporadically does... A little bit like buying CDs before you can listen to them somehow.

Dear Geoff,

I really like all your comments. Nice to see there are more people who understand it.

An audiosystem cannot create emotion by it self. The emotion is inside the music. That is why you need an audiossystem what can reveal all the details and aspects/properties of the recording. This has nothing to do  with a personal taste. But is 100% based on facts.

All the different aspects of sound can influence our emotion. And again we are talking about facts. So you need all the aspects/properties of the music to experience all the emotion the music possesses. There is no other way to feel all the emotion of the music.

That is why Hi-res does not garantee you anything. There are also many poor DSD and MQA recordings as well.

You can get the best version with the highest DR if you feed the Artist and Album name, in to this, and 8 x out of 10 it’s the earlier releases that have the highest constant DR.
Click on the one with the highest DR, get the cat no. and go buy the cd for $2 s/h on ebay, forget the re-mastered or downloaded that’s always a flip of the coin if it’s compressed of not.

This Supertramp is not typical, but gives you an idea, what version to look for.
http://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list?artist=Supertramp&album=Crime+of+the+century

Cheers George

Humans have a different taste in music. But......our emotion works almost the same way regarding music and sound. And no....you cannot fool your emotion.

The reason why many people are not satisfied with their system is based on their emotion. When you listen to your system and it lacks involvement. Your emotion tells you that it does not get stimulated enough by your system.

Most people (and even I believed in it untill 2016 based on assumptions) believe that audio and sound is a matter of personal taste. Tru-Fi proofs (we will make videos of the people who own a Tru-Fi system who now understand that trial and error cannot create a more emotional and personal system) that sound is not based on personal taste.

Tru-Fi proofs that each single human being prefers any audiosystem what can reveal all the aspects/properties of sound over any incomplete trial and error system. I understand that this is difficult to comprehend. When you listen to a Tru-Fi system you will understand it. We see that all new clients now believe that sound is not based on personal taste.

Almost no human being will prefer an incomplete audio system over any system what can reveal all the different aspects/properties of sound. Because this is how your and my emotion works.

Tru-Fi will change your thoughts about audio. We see it by all new clients. Tru-Fi will create a new truth!

Just for the record (no pun intended) the pleasure center of the brain 🧠 🕺🏻could not care less whether the sound is coming from speakers or headphones. Once the sound gets into the ear canal everything is up for grabs. Music soothes the savage breast. Fake music doesn’t cut it. A lotta times sound from speakers or headphones doesn’t pass muster. You can’t fool Mother Nature.

Most people believe (based on assumptions) that a separate dac is better than an inbuild one. In our world the facts what we can hear only counts.

We have proven many times that a source with an inbuild dac easily ouperforms a separate dac. Our modified sources always win and outperform each single shootout against a dac and drive.

People have often no idea how much they loose by the choice of a separate dac. Even the most expensive dacs with upsampler had the same limitations as the cheaper dacs.

Often the level in diversity (layering) is limited. When we use one of our modified sources it often makes the dacs and drives sound like dinky toys. Because it is not even a fair competition.

Our sources are superior in all the aspects/properties of sound. The most important one is the diversity (layering) in sound. And in this part the differences are the biggest.

I know since 2 years that diversity in sound is the most important aspect/property of sound. So it made us spend the most time on this property in the last 2 years. Our modifications are being created on all aspects/properties of sound. But we did put more focus on this part. And also regarding all our other modifications.

This is why it makes it so easy for us to outperfrom all separate dacs during a shootout. We also win in resolution and in dynamics. The other limitation almost all dacs have is the fact that they are not able to reveal all the different aspects/properties of sound.

In a Tru-Fi system it is very easy to explain to each person which aspects/properties their dac or source misses. We often feel sorry for new clients. They never bought the best student of it’s class. We will always own the best student in each price range. So there is no competition. We know the outcome even before they visit us.

I have to admit that it is a lot more easy to create a superior level with a source with an inbuild dac. So far we never had a shootout of a separate dac what outperformed one of our modified sources.

Acoustic Sounds only sells DSD 64 recordings. I bought different recordings I already owned in DSD 64 at a higher DSD level. And this makes sense.

I love superiority in music and in audio products. The best is always a lot nicer than less. It gives the music often a totally different experience when the level of the recording is higher.

I did compare the same music at the same format and quality from different websites. Even here you find differences.

HDtracks also gives you different freq. sample rates. But often the music is only avaliable at one sample rate.

The same music I bought from Qobuz was often a lot better the same music from HDtracks.

Even the same music I bought from Qobuz was almost in all situations better than the ripped music of the same album. In my world the best quality always counts. And all the rest have no meaning at all.

Audioengr,

My question is do the streaming companies buy the tracks from the record companies directly, and if they do is it via hard drive transfer or software?
Or is there a distributor (middle man?)

@rvpiano-re the question of master tapes as a source, my impression is that most of the majors will not let the master tape out of the door, and usually supply a flat transfer on hi-rez. There are of course exceptions- the "audiophile labels" like Acoustic Sounds and a few others (Classic, ORG, MoFi in some cases) do get access to the tapes, probably because of long working relationships with the labels. For digital streaming, I suspect that if the end product is a digital file, there is even less likelihood that a master tape was used as a source, and which master? A safety? A copy made for a particular market may sound different than another. It’s the stuff that keeps record hounds searching, comparing notes and pressings. I don’t know the answer as it applies to streaming, which was one of my questions earlier in this thread- whether the streaming platforms identify the source and mastering.
What I wrote above really applies to older recordings where tape was the medium. If you are a Steve Wilson fan, you’ll know that he remixes a lot of this stuff (mainly prog rock) in the digital domain using the multitracks and eschews ’mastering’ as such, believing that his mixes are the final product without more EQ (apart from what may be necessary to meet an RIAA curve for the LP releases). Some of that stuff is pretty good if you are a fan of this type of music.

Dear geoffkait,

you are 100% right and I have the same experiences. That is why Hi-res does not garantee you anything. There are also many poor DSD and MQA recordings as well.

No format can ever garantee you anything. It costs me a lot of time to find good new music and in a good quality. That is why I spend 3-4 hours each single week. There is no other way to find it.

Has anyone else noticed that quite a few hi res downloads are aggressively compressed? It seems inescapable, even SACDs, and Japanese SHD CDs and Blu Ray. I mean, what’s the point?

Still most recordings are still poor and limited. So if you play them by CD, streaming or a recordplayer. It all will not help you. Here is still the weakest point.

Does it have to do with money?

For the biggest part I would say: No.

There are many small studios who can make really good recordings. And they do not own the best equipment. It depends more about the skills and knowledge of the people who are responsible for the recordings.

We are a lot more than a retailer. I have worked in audio shops as well. I have even run a shop. But the limitations of it made me aware that this is not the way to go.

I wanted to bring both sound&vision to a superior level. This needs a totally different approach. So I started to spend a lot more time in research and tests. Consulting in sound&vision is also so much more fun than working in an audioshop.

I have seen in over 20 years how limited audioshops are in result. So I wanted to create something what could bring a superior level than the poor level people get by trial and error.

I met hundreds of people with trial and error systems. And they all own lmited systems with too many faults in it. Over 95% owned very little music. This proofs that trial and error is very ineffective. With those people I had a good conversation admitted they never had been happy with their system.

I think it is difficult to become very happy with any trial and error system with faults. I always say: each fault is one too many. It will always limit them in a high level in intensity and emotion.

Statement Audio Pro-measurement is the biggest step to a world of freedom without the limitations of the acoustic problems of a room. But also the research in smog, magnetisme and highfrequent noise made us solve many more faults in each system.

When I see and hear where we are now. 10 years ago I could not even think or imagine that it all would be possible. I created so many huge steps and improvements. What makes the world in sound&vision so much nicer.

I want to make clear that streaming quality of Qobuz and Tidal is not bad. I think for most it is more than acceptable. I have many clients who use it.

I only use it when new clients want to listen to a particular artist or song I do not own.

But the Modified Lumin L1 drive with the modified SBooster is about 80% better in result. When you compare the same music between streaming by Tidal and Qobuz and the modified Lumin L1 (with modified SBooster) the level in excitement and emotion is far superior.

When I showed the difference between it at our clients their house the reactions where priceless. It are the smiles you see on their faces and becoming a kid again.

Audio at a superior level is so addictive. And this is what we want to share with as many people as possible all over the world!!

You can buy music form studios as well these days. But I will give you some tips to find your own music you like.

I use an Audioquest Dragonfly Red with an Sony Inear of 900 dollar. I listen to new music for about 3-4 hours each single week.

I always try to buy the best quality avaliable.

What is the most effective way to find new music?

You go to Youtube and you fill in above the artist or song you love. Youtube will show on the right side similar music you filled in. This way I did find many new artists and songs I love and bought.

Qobuz has by far the biggest demand in music you can buy. All other websites together have even less music for sale. They are also by far the cheapest in buying music in the world. When you buy a streaming subscription from them the music you can buy from them is a lot cheaper.

After I find the new artist I go to Qobuz to see if they have this music for sale.

Each week I also take a look at new music what came out that week. I always listen to many different genres.

I mentioned it before, ProStudioMasters has many albums in hi-res no other company has for sale. So I always look overhere if Qobuz does not have it in Hi-res for sale.

DSD is by far the best quality you can buy on the internet. I own different DSD 512 recordings and they are from another planet. But there is not that much titles for sale.

* Always try to buy most music you really like, Music you buy to impress friends based on the recordings quality which are stunning will not make you happy after a longer period of time. So be aware of that!

So where to buy DSD?

- Acoustic Sounds
- Native DSD.com
- Highresaudio.com

Overhere you also find titles in different genres which they only have in hi-res.

-HDtracks, I sometimes look overhere. But the same music you buy from Qobuz is better in quality and always cheaper. Sometimes they have titles in hi-res no other has. Then I buy it overhere.

- 7digital.com also sometimes has music no other one has for sale.

Where to find titles the above websites do not own?

- Bandcamp
- junodownload

* You can go to google; fill in the name of the artist and the word flac/wav download. And this way I also could find music what was difficult to find.

Is Hi Res PCM/DSD/MQA always better than a good 16 bit-44.1 khz recording?

The answer is no, I have a lot of stunning recordings in 16 bit 44.1khz which are even better than good Hi Res recordings and DSD recordings.

Is each recording you buy in Hi-Res a good quality?

The answer is no again. Most new hi-Res recordings are often limited and poor. In the world of the loudness war many recordings are screwed.

There are a lot of improvements needed in the world of recording as well. We have also ideas to improve this and we will share this in 2019 as well.

Enjoy your chirstmas and time with those you love.

Audioengr,

When you say “commercially available,”.  In what form?
Hard drive? CD?

I always assumed we were listening to the  CD ripped to their servers as the source. I wouldn't  think  these streaming  companies  had access  to any master tapes. 
+ 2 on Bo , I am glad I'm  not  the only  one  who  wondered WTF 

Wtf,
  regarding Bo +1

Sorry @rvpiano .. interesting thread btw. 

Bo .. I've read many of your posts and still haven't a clue what the hell you are talking about. You never actually offer any information about your mods or measurements. You do however always seem to mention being more knowledgeable and experienced than everyone else in the audio business. Here's what I have gathered about you .. you are not a manufacturer but a retailer, custom installer, and modder. Nothing wrong with that but I think you need to back up what you blather on about with facts not verbosity. I would suggest you speak plainly and simply to us who are less enlightened.

Just to get back to the original post of this thread for a moment.
Does anyone know what source is being used for streaming tracks?
Do record companies allow their master tapes to be used?

Bo knows!! Merry Christmas to all and to all Tru-Fi audio! Hohoho.

No, but the stage what the more expensive Astell&Kern can create with Jerry Harvey Audio headphones is in stage still bigger than all 2-D systems.

I test new products all the time. We want to know the DNA, we are always looking for products who can reveal all the different aspects/properties of sound.

The biggest limitation in audio is that most audioproducts are 2-dimensional. In the Tru-Fi world this means that the level in stage depth is 1 meter or less. I decided not to talk about brands anymore. Because people overhere often feel offended when I talk about brands that are 2D or miss other aspects/properties of sound.

I will never talk about those brands again which are incomplete regarding missing aspects/properties of sound anymore. So I will not answer any question when people ask me if a brand or product is able to reveal all the aspects/properties of sound.

Because it is not my responsibility which aspects/properties of sound they can reveal. Manufacturers need to take care of the quality of their own products. So they are responsible for this. We will only talk about the brands we use and modify. We will take care of those brands. And no I will not talk about these brands at this moment either.

As humans we can perceive sound in a 3-dimensional spectrum. So it would be more than normal that audio systems would be able to create a 3-dimensional stage. But....the facts proof (and they count) that most brands and products are still 2-dimensional.

In 2017 I tested different fuses. And even most fuses are 2-dimensional. When I play digital audio I use 3 different powersupplies. When I used one fuse who owns a 2D stage, I almost lost all the stage depth of my system. And the individuel focus of voices and instruments was also very limited.

It proofs how difficult it is to create a stunning 3-dimensional stage. Because it is an imporant part of Tru-Fi. You cannot make even 1 mistake to limit the stage depth of a system. When I visit an audio show I always count the faults they make.

I walk in a room and I see the products they use, So I see the DNA. I see how they placed it in the room. And I start counting the mistakes they all make. This goes automatically. When they start playing music the list of mistakes grows bigger.

I always focus on the faces of people and I become aware that they cannot see all those individual mistakes they made. It is not on their radar and it never will be on their radar. Based on the fact that they do not own the insight and knowledge what is needed to understand it.

People often ask me if it is possible to learn how I work. I would need young intelligent people and they are prepared to spend thousands of hours to learn it. It is like programming your brain. Knowledge and insight is something you need to learn all by yourself.

Einstein: “Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person”

Since 1998 I had a lot of contact with different specialists. And I still have a lot of contact with specialists in different areas. But....at the end you need to do all the research yourself. But this is what I love and it never costs me a lot of energy. It is in my system and a part of who I am as a person.

Now the end of 2018 is there. We made the biggest steps ever before in both sound&vision. My insight and knowledge becomes bigger each single year. It makes it easier each year to understand it. The speed I can create new upgrades and improvements is growing all the time. It is like you are standing on a higher platform.

After time you can see more information and details which makes it more easy to understand it. The time has come to share it with manufacturers. We want to share it with different manufacturers at different price levels. For us it is important that many people will have the benefit of it.

We also will create a platform in both dutch and in english. We bought a Sony professional 4K camera with different separate professional lenses and different professional microphones. We will show how we work. And we will talk about different products and systems.

It is something what no one does in our world at this moment. It goes so much further in details than you all ever have seen before. We also will give many upgrades and modification options available. Now we only use it for our own clients. But it will become available for everyone.

We modify amps, preamp, sources and powersupplies a lot. But we also started to modify Oled screens. And we can use it for Qled and led screens as well. The results are stunning. We can create a superior level in vision based on our modifications and calibration no other company can even come close.

Also in vision we did a lot of research regarding the influence of smog, magnetism and highfrequent noise to vision. Here we also have a lot of different tools to improve it.

Recently we started to modify subwoofers as well. And in 2019 we will do a lot of more different products as well.

We will introduce Tru-Fi and will proof that we do sound&vision at a new level in quality and result never heard and seen before. For an extreme born perfectionist it is all about outperforming and be better than the best there is now. See it as a mindset and choice you make.

Of course headphones cannot project that big soundstage way out in front of you like speakers can (ideally) but on the plus side headphones can be very transparent and provide that special you are there sound with the right recordings. The performers can be out in front of you on occasion. Many studio recordings that give “performers in the head” sound with headphones provide a relatively unconvincing soundstage. It’s a trade off. What headphones tend to have in spades is dynamics and detail, whilst avoiding the potentially steep cost associated with room treatments, space, electronics, speakers, cables. And years of effort. 😬

I know a lot of people who work in the world of audio. I have no idea of the people who visit Audiogon so now and then are aware that most reviews are paid ones these days. And that they write things what is not the truth.

When I speak to new clients many of them buy things based on reviews. So it proofs how easy it is to make people believe that those reviews are true. Most maganzines or websites live from that money.

But the question is: do you care more about the money than being honest?

I think far over 95% will choose for the money. I am 180 degrees the opposite of these people. But makes this me a better person?

I don’t see myself as a better person. I am who I am and do things my way. I can only do it this way. Like the people who own a company in audio or a magazine in audio first focus on being able to pay the people who work for them.

I would never want to change my life with theirs. Because I believe and focus on long term thinking. The audio industry is decreasing now for many years in a row. I think and believe that trial and error will make it decrease even more.

Trial and error will not create a better quality for consumers. It is and will always be very ineffective to create a quality what never will become stunning. And I think and believe that only a superior level in quality and emotion can change a demand.

Tru-Fi proves that many people who auditioned it wants to own it. Tru-Fi also proved that women are interested in audio. And like to use the system of their partner. Women have a better developed hearing than men own.

But....men have a lot more interest in audio equipment than women have. But....when you talk about music, women also like music. I did run an audio shop and I had a 2-dimenional system always ready for shootout. And a 3-dimensional system ready for shootout.

Most women never liked to be there and give their opinion about a system or loudspeaker. They where only there for the looks. But.....what I learned was when I demoed and presented the 3-dimensional system to women. They could become enthusiastic as well.

Women are more demanding in quality compared to men. Even children are not interested in trial and error systems. But...when we ask children to listen to a Tru-Fi system, we see the same kind of reaction by women. Each person likes emotion and needs emotion.

But....most trial and error sytems are poor in emotion. Many people are not interested anymore in an incomplete system what only can reveal a limited level in emotion. I understand them all, I would not be interested in it as well.

I had the luck that I could be busy with audio 80 hours a week. I had the freedom to use everything we sold. I had in 1999 already a highend system what was a lot more expensive than the products we sold.

But I could lend everything I wanted from distributers. I was lending expensive stuff all the time. It is like a child in a candy store. And you have the freedom to try everything you would like.

Live music made me understand sound and music a lot better. A friend of mine had a room for 60 people with a Steinway wing. He gave classical concerts. These days I use those concerts a lot for Tru-Fi.

Here I learned that voices and instruments are very direct and small. I call it intimate focus. I can demo this with music. When you have a 2-dimensional system and a 3-dimensional system at the same place. You can learn people that when an audiosystem is able to reveal depth, voices become more close to you and stands fully free in space.

When you play the same song in a 2-dimensionals system. What is sold in over 99% in audioshops.The conenction with the instruments and voices are gone. People often describe it as: the music stands further from me.

I can let people experience this with conservatorium students. After this I will demo a Tru-Fi system. So they will understand that it creates the same kind of emotion and the feeling of a more intimate experience.

This has a huge influence on our emotion. What I do these days, is that I talk about one property of sound. And I will use music so people will understand what this property can do with your emotion.

The people who own a Tru-Fi system understand so much better why a recording is recorded the way it sounds. A Tru-Fi systems can reveal all the different aspect of sound so much more easy. These clients do not want to go to audio shows anymore.

They get irritated very fast when they audition an incomplete system. It doesn’t make sense for them anymore. I give you an example. 2 months ago there was an audio show in my country.

They had 70 rooms with audio systems. Different clients of mine visit this event. They said: 68 systems where 2-dimensional. This is what trial and error creates. They will never take these systems serious ever in their life again.

This is what Tru-Fi does with people. There are not a lot of loudspeakers for sale in the world who also can create diversity in height. In Munic highend audio there was only one system what was able to reveal diversity in height. But this one costs over 700.000 euro.

Diversity in height not only let you hear the differences in height of voices and instruments. It also creates a much better harmonic sound of a recording. This even has a big influence on our emotion. Also this we can learn people what it is and what it does to their emotion.

We judge each system and single product on all the different aspects/properties of sound. And when one or more aspects/properties are missing I am not interested anymore. Each incomplete audioproduct will always create a limitation.

geoffkait understands it very well. And yes portable audio with a headphone is a lot easier to create a stunning level in sound without acoustic limitations.

When I audition a more expensive Astell&Kern (even a SP1000) with a Jerry Harvey audio headphone it is really stunning. I would prefer this over almost any trial and error created system.

My clients ask me often what to do when I would not be there anymore. They never want to go back to a trial and error system without S.A.P.-measurement ever. I advised them to sell everything and go to portable.

Trial and error systems with acoustic limitations is not a nice world you would want to live in for a long time. 4 weeks ago we had discussions with different distributers and manufacturers about that audio is often not a nice hobby?

They all agreed, they meet the people like we do. And most are more busy wihgt their system than with music. I visited hundreds of systems of people. And the thing what had the most impact on me is how less music most people own.

Without music audio is useless and never worth the money you did spend. I give an example, in 2006 I met a person wiht a system of over 80.000 euro. He owned 40 cd's. So I said to him: I cannot help you?

He was surprrised about my reaction and said: I don't hope I invited you for nothing.

I said; that will not be the case. But...I cannot help you when you only own 40 cd's. The money you spend will never be worth it when you just own 40 cd''s.

He was surprised about my reaction. And yess I can be very direct. You always get the truth even when you didn't ask for it. Because I don't believe in a fake world full of lies.

He agreed that he was not happy. I said; even when I improve your system you still will not be happy. I tried to explain to him that without music audio is 100% ueseless. And after some time he understood what I meant. And said; I think you are right.

I always want to help people. You only can really help other people when you are 100% honest. I want people to become aware that sometimes  their decisions they made limit them in their happiness. We see that working by Tru-Fi made all people use their system so much more.

I only work and believe in making audio systems complete regarding the aspects/properties of sound. I have seen and met many people with incomplete audio-systems. And often with a lot of acoustic limitations. And no one was happy. I will never accept incomplete audiosystems. I would directly stop doing what I do now.

In my world each person owns a system what can reveall all the details and aspects/properties of each recording. And without acoustic limitations. Music is for me the most emotional thing you can buy and experience. That is why it is my goal to give this to everyone who would like to own it.

@bo1972,
What kind of trail does Tru-Fi leave behind? Is it by error? Just curious.

When I judge all the other roomacoustic systems there are, I would not even used one of them. In my world they are all useless based on Tru-Fi.

The facts proof the way they measure and the systems they use, they all have too many limitations.

So what are those limitations?

They all loose details in the whole freq. range. What is unacceptable in my world. They all have compression limitations. We don't have these limitations. This is my insight and knowledge and when you want to use it, you are going to pay.

When I would not have a photographic memory in sound. Or I would not be able to reveal the DNA of each single part I would never had been able to understand it and create it. It is that simple. Then I would have done sound&vision just like the rest of the world by trail and error.

I have always had contact with different  specialists since 1998. Without these people I would never had been so far as we are now at this moment. I needed their insight  and knowledge to be able to understand sound as in its entirety.

The biggest problem in audio is that no one understands sound as a whole. Sound is so much more complex than people can even imagine. I have been aware of this for a long time. This is why I contacted different specialists. 

Manufacturers now understand when I talk to them that they do not understand sound as a whole. They cannot answer the questions which are needed to understand sound. They never have thought so deep in details as I have thought about it. This is the main reason why they cannot answer these questions.

I learned a lot thanks to live music. That is why I will use conservatorium students by presentations in 2019. This makes it a lot more easy for me to explain what intimate sound is and does. And even what 3-dimensional sound is and does to our emotion. 

This makes it possible for me to show that I copy the way sound and instruments sound and behave in a room. And that Tru-Fi sound simmilar to this. 

We can create our own targetcurve with our Statement Audio Pro-measurement. We recently introduced the latest version of our S.A.P.-measurement. It is the biggest step we ever made from the former measurement to a new one. 

S.A.P.- measurement proofs how much more you can get out of a poweramp. This also proofs that what we call 'a 1980 amp or preamp' is very limited in endresult. Each amp or preamp owns a targetcurve. But you cannot change it. And what people do is they gamble with cables to create an improvement by trail and error. 

This will always be very ineffective. Tru-Fi overrules it as it it is audio for little children. The latest version of S.A.P.-measurement proofs that it can adapt the sound based on all the dna of each part what is connected to a system. When we do a measuerment all the parts we use during a measurement influence the endresult.

What I means is that it can adapt the endresult to the dna of the amp(s), loudspeakers and cables which are connected. This is why it can outperform any 1980 poweramp or pre amp. I call an amp or preamp without a measurement-system a 1980 amp or preamp.

They still work rather the same way as they did in 1980. When we visit a show or new clients the facts proof that often there is nothing adapted regarding smog, highfrequent noise and magnetism. Even when people have spend 300.000 dollar or more, it never will help you with the influences of these limitations.

The facts proof that people in audio have very limited insight and knowledge regarding smog, highfrequent noise and magnetism. When you take a look at the brands who have a roomacoustic measurement system they often make the same kind of mistakes.

So it proofs that they copy the way of measuring from eachother. I can proof on facts that the way they measure is the level of a child. They are not able to understand how you need to measure. Trail and error will never make you understand what you do.

They cannot see the connections why the way they measure does not make sense. But in my world it is very easy to understand what they do wrong. I can hear the limitations they create by the way they measure. But they don't see it. I call this audioblindness. It is not even on their radar. 

They do not own a brain to be able to think and make decisions based on connections. When they would have had a brain what sees these connections they would 100% never made these mistakes. For me audio is like a Formula 1 car. I want to improve it all the time and over and over again. To create an even higher level or result for me is like dope.

I have to admit that music is the most addictive thing in life for me. But.....creating sound is the second thing in what I love most. Creating new levels in sound&vision for me is so addictive. Tru-Fi makes it possible for me to make improvements very easy and this never stops.

Tru-Fi is like an enigma machine, you can see it as 3 wheels what can be changed in different combinations.

Wheel 1 are all the different aspects/properties of sound
Wheel 2 are all the parts who infleucnes sound and stage
Wheel 3 are the the aspects which influence the human emotion.

I can make many different combinations with them to create new data. This is how I work. I create new data and compare it with the old data. And when it is better based on all the aspects/properties of sound it becomes the new reference in that part.

This is what I do constantly. Like auditioning new products. To see and hear if they can reveal all the different apects/properties of sound. Each product what is incomplete (misses different aspects/properties of sound) we never will use or sell these products. This counts for over 99% of all audioproducts. This proofs how difficult it is to find the perfect DNA.