Geek with Family

Arcam is now selling the rDock, their audiophile iPod dock (not sure what the “r” stands for). The dock is part of Arcam’s Solo series of highly regarded integrated entertainment centers (not furniture but combo CD/DVD/processor/pre-amp/amplifier). Plus you can control the iPod with the Solo’s remote.

For $300 USD, the rDock sports high end electronic pre-amp components (fancy op-amps), vibration damping case, overbuilt, double regulated power supply and sturdy AV jacks. As most audiophiles know, steady battery power always beats dirty AC from your wall plug with blacker backgrounds and reduced digital hash. The rDock will not charge the iPod while music is played because Arcam feels the charging process introduces AC mains noise and degrades the sound quality of your Apple Lossless, WAV and AIFF songs (if you are listening to any lossy songs on your iPod then why are you buying Arcam gear?).

Continue reading Arcam rDock Mates iPod with Solo Home Entertainment System

Popularity: 16% [?]

I stopped by Virgin Megastore to fruitlessly shop for Broken Social Scene and TV on the Radio on vinyl Friday. Browsing through the book section I found the 33 1/3 book series. Each book is devoted to a different classic album. I was looking for Pixies Doolittle, but found Nirvana In Utero.

In Utero is one of he most frustrating recordings I own: my favorite Nirvana songs, recorded by Steve Albini and Bob Weston, but mastered for FM radio in a ‘78 Ford Fairmont by Bob Ludwig. To paraphrase Steve Albini’s opinion of the mastering, “…compressed dynamic range, closed down stereo image, reduced bass and treble…” Essentially, the final master approved by the band and Geffen had a sonic bell curve applied to it, appealing to the lowest common denominator.

The 33 1/3 book stated that bootlegs of Albini’s original recording exist and some versions of the vinyl LP contain the original. Searching ebay turns up domestic and UK pressings but no description mention a different mix on either. Nirvana fan sites don’t list the Albini sourced bootleg in their “Outcesticide” series. I’m losing hope that the original mix is available on any recorded media (or is so rare on limited vinyl pressings that it is lost to time).

Continue reading Nirvana - In Utero CD Liner Notes Reveal Tone Control Easter Egg

Popularity: 20% [?]

Captain Jack Harkness: “No idea. We know how to use it, not how it happened…” Torchwood SE1E1.

With so many consumer electronic buying choices it only makes fiscal sense to understand how and why your CD player, processor or amplifier works. All the way from the discrete electronic components (you know Black Gate capacitors are better than Radio Shack’s, right?) to the complicated recipe made up of multiple circuits. I want to understand audio electronic engineering enough to design and build my own DIY projects and gain the ability to detect bull-crank claims in manufacturer white papers and hi-fi press reviews.

Building the CMOY mint tin headphone amp (unfortunately, I’ve only cut the proto board in half and soldered the jumpers in place) got me curious about the inner workings of all my gear. With the CMOY I can follow the instructions and hopefully get good audio out of it without electrocuting myself, but I want to understand more than the beginner instructions and know how to improve the input, output and power supply circuits. So I bought some books.

Continue reading My Quest for How Audiophile Electronics Work

Popularity: 9% [?]

Paul Miller, founder of Miller Audio Research and lead consumer electronic measurement pornographer, asks what mysterious scientific measurements are missing that can better define sonic differences between audio electronics in the February Hi-Fi News. He cites the discovery of a method to measure jitter in the mid-nineties as the last new measurement technique. He also suggests that the more measurable a device’s performance the more it can be improved upon. Since jitter’s rise manufacturers of digital components have strived to reduce its ill effects.

So what’s left to measure that will better define a careful listener’s subjective impressions of a new wifi audio player, amp or loudspeakers? Synergy.

What if we figured out how to measure a whole audio system chain at once? How it might work (I have no idea if this follows any kind of scientific method, just my best guess):

• Establish baseline measurements for all individual components: Gather all the same measurements for your source, amplification and speakers as you would now with sine waves and pulses
• Use baseline high bit digital recordings that are viewed both as waveforms and spectrally
• Play both test tones and test songs through the whole system
• Use some really fancy math to compare the system measurements to those of the individual components and derive scores based on error values or 3D spectral comparisons
• Somehow present the results in layman’s terms

So go forth and measure system synergy. Remember, high end audio can only achieve new sonic heights if we set new unattainable goals.

By the way Mr. Miller mentions that everybody’s favorite new AV cable, HDMI, has terrible jitter performance. He doesn’t say how bad but I’m sure there’s a white paper with titillating charts and graphs available on his site or elsewhere.

Popularity: 4% [?]

“These shouldn’t exist,” the Doctor.

With materials sourced exclusively from Cardiff, Wales’ Torchwood Institute regulated time and space Rift, Torchwood Cables will enhance your audiophile listening experience with unknown alien technology from many possible futures. The 21st century is when everything changes [in your home audio kit].

Every cable purchase includes a free bottle of “auditory enhancement” pills, Amnesiaphor (side effects may include sudden drowsiness and selective forgetfulness that in no way degrade your audiophile experience or turn you into a psychopathic murdererous pawn of a formerly deceased Torchwood agent). A satisfied customer, “It’s weird, my stereo’s never sounded better and I have no idea why. What? Are you sure? When did I get new interconnects? Oh God, I remember… I remember, Jack.”

Torchwood’s leader, Captain Jack Harkness, explains the peculiarity of the various cables’ construction, “A few months ago we were cleaning up the last of Cardiff’s Cyberman scrap and Gwen dropped an earpiece into this alien liquid/solid sphere Tosh had on her desk. There was an electric blue flash and then nothing. The Cyberman part was suspended in the middle of the liquid and when Gwen took a closer look and breathed on the thing, an audio interconnect slithered out. The alien runes on the jacket glowed and then faded. We’ve tested the conductor and termination plugs and they are definately Cyberman alloy. I don’t like it, but everyone else thinks it’s safe, especially Iantu.”

Torchwood interconnect’s jacket runes glow a calming blue when fed an audio signal keeping a constant charge on the alien dielectric (we haven’t identified the material yet but it measures better than air). The Cyberman alloy’s sonic signature is completely neutral, with no resistance and conductivity that’s off the charts.

Don’t ask what the third cable is for, you’re not ready to know.

Torchwood Institute’s doctor, Owen Harper: “I know many of you feel I don’t take AV kit seriously because I’ve got my plasma set on top of the cardboard box it shipped in, but since I’ve rewired my stereo with these cables, I’ve been listening at home more and shooting my fellow Torchwood agents less.”

Torchwood cables are only available in the U.K. Watch out for them at your local hi-fi shop.

Popularity: 7% [?]

A friend tipped me off to this amazing music room built into a barn or guest house. Follow the link for loads of pics of five-figure turntables, loudspeakers, tube amps, CD players and cables. This guy has really bought into the “cables and isolation accessories make a difference” with interconnects and speaker cables that resemble vacuum cleaners, ceramic cable lifters (I guess DIY cable lifter kegger cups wouldn’t blend well with surrounding décor) and tank-like turntable isolation rack sitting on top of a granite tile (which I assume must be twice as thick as normal granite judging by the overbuilt quality of the rest of the room).

As impressive as the audio system components is the acoustic construction of the room, all built-in scalloped acoustic chambers on the walls and ceiling. I love the floor to high ceiling LP and CD storage that he needs those elementary school library rolling step stools to reach the highest shelf.

Too bad he’s not listening to phase and time coherent loudspeakers. All that money spent on massaging the perfect signal through four carat phono cartridges, preamps, amps and cables only to have the listening experience mangled by the loudspeaker. Heh, if you can hear the difference (I would hope this system to be punishingly revealing).

What a Fortress of Solitude (Auditude?). What’s this guy escaping from? (Not to judge, I’m just overcome with envy.)

Popularity: 10% [?]

0 dBFS+.

Ever heard of the above digital audio condition? No? Me neither until I was reading a review of my Panasonic S97 HDMI DVD player by Christine Tham on Audioholics. 0 dBFS+ is illegal (in digital audio). It is a distortion of an audio signal above the absolute digital audio amplification level ceiling of 0 dB. It can hide on your CDs from the original mastering (loudness wars), appear when your digital music files are “normalized” (like iTunes’ and your iPod’s “Sound Check”) and be introduced by an upsampling DAC while converting the signal to analog.

Continue reading im in ur dac, clippin ur t00nz

Popularity: 12% [?]

In my post “How to Camouflage Your Hi-Fi System for Higher WAF” I called for a modular, fine, antiqued wood paneling system that would make your high tech CD player look like a antique decoration instead of ugly kit. At least one audio component manufacturer agrees: DIY Paradise.

For the past week I’ve been obsessively searching for an affordable outboard DAC to improve the performance of my Airport Express (haven’t found anything that I can afford that will outperform my Onkyo TX-DS989’s DAC, but I’ll post a survey of what I’ve found). Along the way I found the Monica 2 DAC in a Jewelry Box at DIY paradise. You can buy the DAC as a bare bones DIY PCB up to a fully built model in a high grade aluminum case. Another option is to conceal the electronics in an antique jewelry box. The above pictures give you the idea. I have no idea if it’s a good idea to set a DAC PCB on velvet (probably not).

The Monica 2 is well regarded on forums (like head-fi.org where I first read about it). As an audiophile, you have to ask yourself if the wood enclosure gives the DAC a different sonic character than aluminum. Falsely transferring visual asthetics to sonic ones you could guess that the jewelry box sounds warmer, fuller with lots of treble “sparkle”; the normal aluminum case is cold and hard and analytical. Heh.

So now that we have a real world example of a camoflaged hi-fi component do think it’s a good idea or just a novelty. I wonder if DIY Paradise sells many of these compared to the fully assembled aluminums.

Popularity: 16% [?]

Could a clever engineer record a rock band with only two microphones like an audiophile jazz or classical recording set up? Has anyone ever tried?

The twenty-some members of Broken Social Scene got me through my morning commute. For an indie rock band that’s enough members to accommodate two full drum kits, a percussion station, a half dozen electric guitars and basses, a horn section, a string section and everybody singing, chanting and clapping. The supergroup has a big sound that isn’t always recorded all that well (the self-titled album from this morning sounded best). Could a band of this size’s sound improve with a different type of recording? Is multi-track, discrete recording always the answer for amplified rock? What if we recorded BSS in an acoustically controlled space with just two mikes?

Continue reading Recording Rock Like Classical

Popularity: 5% [?]

Slim Device’s self-proclaimed audiophile grade network music player, the Transporter ($1999), is highly recommended by Soundstage AV’s Doug Schneider. After going over its easy set up and sonic qualities (on par with similarly priced DACs, this is encouraging to hear as the Transporter’s quality to value ratio has been questioned by other reviews and random forum posts), he proclaims the Transporter the death of the stand alone CD transport as a high end digital source:

The Slim Devices Transporter marks a shift in the way we audiophiles play music, and I believe it signals the death of the CD transport. In fact, I think someone would be foolish to spend much money on a CD transport today. Have one, yes, but start thinking about other ways to store and stream your music — such as Slim Devices’ Transporter-SlimServer solution. It’s that good — and it’s the way of the future. It just happens to be here today.

Awesome. I can stop my search for a new CD player, ignore MSNBC’s bad advice to buy an old Playstation as an “audiophile” CD player (I looked into this a few months ago and the PS1’s are hard to source and it takes way too much work to get the game machine to sound nice (and not even “audiophile” nice, just better than many DVD players and cheap CD players), this site has info on all the mods) and be satisfied with my computer music over a network player like the Transport (or my more humble Airport Express and Sony PSP set up which I still need to find a batter DAC for than my Onkyo TX-DS989 AV Receiver).

Popularity: 9% [?]