What audio system do you have, or plan on getting?

[Valentino]

Just for the fun of it: My audio system's frequency response measured at the listening position, maritime colour coding. I find that BBC-esque dip at 2-3 kHz necessary for most of the music I play, and the general falling trend as the frequency increases  is similar to what Toole/Olive and also Linkwitz found.

[Fëanor]

Just for the fun of it: My audio system's frequency response measured at the listening position, maritime colour coding. I find that BBC-esque dip at 2-3 kHz necessary for most of the music I play, and the general falling trend as the frequency increases  is similar to what Toole/Olive and also Linkwitz found.

It's interesting to me what you say about a "BBC-esque dip" being your preference.  I recall reading on another site -- unfortunately I can't find a link -- that had a post by none other than Floyd Toole himself:  Toole said that the B&W speakers, widely favoured as monitors by mixing engineers, tend to have such a dip in their response.

Toole didn't say so in as many words, but the implication was that engineers using those B&W speakers would tend to boast recording's responses in that 2-3 kHz region to off set the monitors' dips.  That being the case, listeners not using the same B&W speakers would tend to fined flat speaker responses bright in that range -- not the fault of the speakers but of recordings mastered using B&W monitors.

[Valentino]

Yes, the 800-series had a rather grotesque dip in the ears's most sensitive area.
Siegfried Linkwitz ended up with a BBC-esque dip on speakers he designed. Some switchable, some not:

Around 3 kHz our hearing is less sensitive to diffuse fields. Recording microphones, though, are usually flat in frequency response even under diffuse field conditions. When such recordings are played back over loudspeakers, there is more energy in the 3 kHz region than we would have perceived if present at the recording venue and a degree of unnaturalness is introduced.
This applies primarily to recordings of large orchestral pieces in concert halls where the microphones are much closer to the instruments than any listener. At most listening positions in the hall the sound field has strong diffuse components.
I use a dip of 4 dB to equalize for this. You may choose to make the notch filter selectable with a switch for different types of recordings.

https://www.linkwitzlab.com/models.htm#H

[Fëanor]

Yes, the 800-series had a rather grotesque dip in the ears's most sensitive area.
Siegfried Linkwitz ended up with a BBC-esque dip on speakers he designed. Some switchable, some not:

Around 3 kHz our hearing is less sensitive to diffuse fields. Recording microphones, though, are usually flat in frequency response even under diffuse field conditions. When such recordings are played back over loudspeakers, there is more energy in the 3 kHz region than we would have perceived if present at the recording venue and a degree of unnaturalness is introduced.
This applies primarily to recordings of large orchestral pieces in concert halls where the microphones are much closer to the instruments than any listener. At most listening positions in the hall the sound field has strong diffuse components.
I use a dip of 4 dB to equalize for this. You may choose to make the notch filter selectable with a switch for different types of recordings.

https://www.linkwitzlab.com/models.htm#H

Well that's interesting:  Linkwitz ascribes the brightness to human hearing vs. the microphones whereas Toole's comments imply, (to me at least), that is due to the "dip" in B&W speakers.  In any case the solution for the used to dip response the 2-3 kHz range.

[Spotted Horses]

This is not quite the place for it, but I have a question for Apple Mac users, in particular.

I'm a headphone listener and like to have "cross-feed," in which the left channel, delayed by the sound transit time across your head and low-pass filtered, is fed to the right channel, and vice versa. This simulates hearing left and right speakers in your listening room and makes headphone listening sound more like loudspeaker listening.

I do this with an old headphone amplifier that implements cross-feed using analog circuitry. A "HeadRoom Little," which is not longer manufactured.

It seems obvious that the sensible way to implement cross-feed in a digital playback system is by simple digital signal processing. I know this is doable on foobar2000, which is a Windows medial player. Anyone know of a way to do it on Mac? Swinsian and VLC, which I have used, don't support cross-feed or plugins (that I can tell). There is a program called Vox which I have read has a cross-feed-like feature if you pay for the premium package. The blurb doesn't sound very audiophiley.

Anyone know of a media player that does cross-feed well on a Mac?

[Daverz]

How "legit" are the western-sold Supraphon LPs? I have a box of the old Kletzki cycle (really excellent) and they do indicate they were made in Czechoslovakia.

I'm not aware of any illegitimate Supraphon LPs from back in the day.  You probably know about the Crossroads LPs of Czech recordings licensed by Epic.  I tend to like those.

https://www.supraphon.com/about-us

The Kletzki cycle sounds wonderful on Supraphon CDs.

[Rinaldo]

My turntable hunt came to a swift conclusion, as I came across a sweet deal for a restored Technics SL-BD3.



The one I bought is a different unit than pictured but the condition is pretty much the same. It's fully automated, has a handy repeat function and while it's a belt-driven player that can't compete with anything truly hi-fi, it's quite competent and will do for now. I'm gonna comb through my LPs – yup, plenty of Supraphon and also Soviet-era gems there – and check their individual condition. I've played some Gilels Beethoven sonatas yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by the clarity of the sound. I've also tried some brand new records bought recently and they sounded superb. Hearing Willem Dafoe on Lou Reed's The Raven was like having him right there in the living room.

[Pohjolas Daughter]

My turntable hunt came to a swift conclusion, as I came across a sweet deal for a restored Technics SL-BD3.



The one I bought is a different unit than pictured but the condition is pretty much the same. It's fully automated, has a handy repeat function and while it's a belt-driven player that can't compete with anything truly hi-fi, it's quite competent and will do for now. I'm gonna comb through my LPs – yup, plenty of Supraphon and also Soviet-era gems there – and check their individual condition. I've played some Gilels Beethoven sonatas yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by the clarity of the sound. I've also tried some brand new records bought recently and they sounded superb. Hearing Willem Dafoe on Lou Reed's The Raven was like having him right there in the living room.

Congrats Rinaldo!  Happy for you!

May I ask roughly what you paid for yours?  I'm tempted to get a second record player for my older stereo upstairs.  And how old is it?

PD

[aligreto]

My turntable hunt came to a swift conclusion, as I came across a sweet deal for a restored Technics SL-BD3.



The one I bought is a different unit than pictured but the condition is pretty much the same. It's fully automated, has a handy repeat function and while it's a belt-driven player that can't compete with anything truly hi-fi, it's quite competent and will do for now. I'm gonna comb through my LPs – yup, plenty of Supraphon and also Soviet-era gems there – and check their individual condition. I've played some Gilels Beethoven sonatas yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by the clarity of the sound. I've also tried some brand new records bought recently and they sounded superb. Hearing Willem Dafoe on Lou Reed's The Raven was like having him right there in the living room.

Congratulations to you. I am sure that will give you endless hours of enjoyment which I see you are already planning 

[Rinaldo]

Congrats Rinaldo!  Happy for you!

May I ask roughly what you paid for yours?  I'm tempted to get a second record player for my older stereo upstairs. And how old is it?

PD

Thanks! By today's conversion rate, it cost me 170 $. The model was in production between 1985-1990, so thirtysomething years old I guess? It's got a newer catridge (an EPS-30) and the belt was replaced recently.

Congratulations to you. I am sure that will give you endless hours of enjoyment which I see you are already planning 

You bet! Looking forward to Friday evening, when I'll test augmenting the aural experience with a fine bottle of Barbaresco

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Thanks! By today's conversion rate, it cost me 170 $. The model was in production between 1985-1990, so thirtysomething years old I guess? It's got a newer catridge (an EPS-30) and the belt was replaced recently.

You bet! Looking forward to Friday evening, when I'll test augmenting the aural experience with a fine bottle of Barbaresco

Thanks!  And have fun with on Friday...and enjoy the wine! 

PD

[aligreto]

You bet! Looking forward to Friday evening, when I'll test augmenting the aural experience with a fine bottle of Barbaresco

Sounds like a good plan to me 

[Spotted Horses]

My turntable hunt came to a swift conclusion, as I came across a sweet deal for a restored Technics SL-BD3.



The one I bought is a different unit than pictured but the condition is pretty much the same. It's fully automated, has a handy repeat function and while it's a belt-driven player that can't compete with anything truly hi-fi, it's quite competent and will do for now. I'm gonna comb through my LPs – yup, plenty of Supraphon and also Soviet-era gems there – and check their individual condition. I've played some Gilels Beethoven sonatas yesterday and was pleasantly surprised by the clarity of the sound. I've also tried some brand new records bought recently and they sounded superb. Hearing Willem Dafoe on Lou Reed's The Raven was like having him right there in the living room.

Looks just like the one I had in the 80's I occasionally think it would be nice to get a turntable again. Then I remember I threw out all of my LPs.

[Fëanor]

Is anyone here using Dirac Live or similar room correction DSP software or devices?  What is your experience?

I am very likely to spring for a miniDSP SHD Studio device that comes with the Dirac Live software.  It can run Dirac Live stand-alone once Dirac has be setup and using computer.  The SHD Studio, SHD, and SHD Power from miniuDSP all do streaming via Volumio and are "Roon-ready".




The SHD Studio has only digital outputs whereas the SHD accepts an analogy input, (i.e. does ADC), and has balance and single-end analog outputs.  The Studio will be fine for me because I have a good DAC and from there will feed my tube preamplifier.

[Daverz]

Is anyone here using Dirac Live or similar room correction DSP software or devices?  What is your experience?

I am very likely to spring for a miniDSP SHD Studio device that comes with the Dirac Live software.  It can run Dirac Live stand-alone once Dirac has be setup and using computer.  The SHD Studio, SHD, and SHD Power from miniuDSP all do streaming via Volumio and are "Roon-ready".




The SHD Studio has only digital outputs whereas the SHD accepts an analogy input, (i.e. does ADC), and has balance and single-end analog outputs.  The Studio will be fine for me because I have a good DAC and from there will feed my tube preamplifier.

They have a new, cheaper product (unbalanced outputs) in that line-up, the Flex:

https://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/flex

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/minidsp-flex.28660/

[Valentino]

Was looking into the full width SHD as a replacement for my PC (running the crossovers and eq), RME Fireface UC sound card and Yamaha WXC-50 streaming-preamplifier, but was told it supports a maximum of 4 output channels even if there are 4 xlr, 4 rca and 4 spdif output channel sockets. I need 8 output channels.

So: It might be possible to achieve what I want with 1 SHD Studio and 2 SHD Flex (Balanced TRS version).

[Fëanor]

They have a new, cheaper product (unbalanced outputs) in that line-up, the Flex:

https://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/flex

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/minidsp-flex.28660/

Thanks.  Yes, the Flex is a good alternative depending on one's needs.  Adding Dirac Live to the Flex costs US$200 addition bringing the price a bit closer to the Studio.  The Flex does have BlueTooth but no headphone amp

I'll probably go for the Studio because it adds Volumio streaming and more convenient XLR outputs.

[Fëanor]

Was looking into the full width SHD as a replacement for my PC (running the crossovers and eq), RME Fireface UC sound card and Yamaha WXC-50 streaming-preamplifier, but was told it supports a maximum of 4 output channels even if there are 4 xlr, 4 rca and 4 spdif output channel sockets. I need 8 output channels.

So: It might be possible to achieve what I want with 1 SHD Studio and 2 SHD Flex (Balanced TRS version).

Don't know a whole lot about it, but for a PC based system, I've heard that either Acourate or Audiolense are higher end options to Dirac Life.  I don't know if they offer more crossover capabilities, though.

[Daverz]

Don't know a whole lot about it, but for a PC based system, I've heard that either Acourate or Audiolense are higher end options to Dirac Life.  I don't know if they offer more crossover capabilities, though.

I've been using Acourate for a couple months, but have never used Dirac, so can't compare.  It took me a couple weeks to get comfortable with Acourate's clunky interface, but be warned that it is initially quite frustrating.

[Valentino]

I do not use an automated room correction setup. Measurements and tuning by ear is my way, resulting in an 8 db drop from 100 Hz to 10 kHz and that shallow BBC-dip. The first room reflections are already 20 dB down.