My first Audiophile CD was TriCycle. Got it on the same day as my first CD player in 1984. If you're not familiar with it, you should consider listening to it.
You can stream the 24 bit version of it from Qobuz which I have been enjoying since the CD was obviously only 16 bits. And I've even thrown it to 15IPS tape with the ideal gain structures to really maximize the slam which is what this CD is all about. It set the benchmark for dynamics.
Well this week I discovered there is a direct metal mastered 45rpm album of this and the price was dirt cheap so it arrived and tonight I have just done the first side of the first record - there are two.
I used the HDT speakers with the Silver 8 drivers hooked directly to a TORII JRv2 driven by a ZSTAGE that was fed from my ZP3 phono stage and I have to say I really wasn't prepared for how much better it is compared to the digital. My face hurts!
So with that background, here's the secret: I have a ZP3 with the tape mod so I can plug my tape heads directly into it when I get that urge. But it's really
so that I can dial in the RIAA equalization by ear until I get it perfect when I listen to records. (This is why I use one for my LP and one for my tape machines.)
The way this is done is to set the TAPE / LP switch to TAPE. This changes the EQ from RIAA to NAB. There is an adjustment knob that you can adjust with a small screwdriver that will let you swing that EQ from NAB to IEC via an infinitely variable pot. The range on the pot extends past both NAB and IEC so that you can dial it nearly back to RIAA again, but with a different bass shelf.
This is the magic tool to dial in the cartridge, setup transformer, and overall voicing of the vinyl system to make it sound right instead of just living with however it happens to come out. There is a wide variance between how different records sound and having the ability to jump between standard RIAA and you own custom setting is priceless. I can't emphasize that enough. This record dialed in with my custom EQ sounds so perfectly balanced on these explosive speakers that I just could hardly believe how good this music was. In stock RIAA it was equally impressive but a touch sharp and a touch forward with less depth and space around things than is possible. Still I would have told you it was the best I've ever heard it, but with the custom EQ I suddenly
heard the recording happen vs. heard the recording. The sound was so perfect, so round so textured and dimensional. This was from an Analog master and I'm just without words how much better it sounds compared to the digital file or CD. So refreshing. It really is like comparing the diameter of a golf ball with an 18 foot round swimming pool of data. Definitely one of the best records I've ever had the pleasure of hearing and it was well under $50.
The direct metal mastering process I have on several records I own and it launches things to a new level.
The one thing I did notice on this record is that the groove noise on this LP was also pretty audible as a surreal surround sound that went past my shoulders and behind me. The air was breathing all around me. That's what it sounded like. And someone with an axe to grind could call it out right there and build an argument for why digital is better but then the music starts and it's just like... holy crap! To get this I have to tolerate that? We'll gee, OK! It could have also been tape hiss which is always preferred over dolby noise reduction which killed everything it touched from a reference standpoint like this. What I liked about this experience of the lead in groove and between tracks is that I feel like my ears are turned on all the way and I can everything there is, even the air between myself and everything around me. Then when the music starts I know I was right because it is over the top vivid and present. Like binoculars for the ears.
So there is a nested lesson in this story as well in that I can hear a new benchmark for sound quality in my life like I did tonight as an audiophile spanning 40 years with no more than a TORII JRv2 and a ZP3/ZSTAGE combo. I didn't have to drag my 300B amp over, or hook up the UFO25 because what I heard was so good I couldn't imagine it getting any better and that greatly simplifies life since I don't have to swap any gear around. Seriously it was the best I have ever heard an album sound I think. I guess being so familiar with it's digital version and then hearing everything transform into real sounding instruments was more than I was ready for.
So when you listen to the CD or stream you can clearly hear what the instruments are but the precision of the musicians and the effect of the Digital mastering makes it sound more like really good samples. Yes you equate it to real instruments like "that sound is the drums, and that sound is the sax" but when you hear an analogue master like this you suddenly hear the real instruments as they are making the sound. You can see the vibration of the sound in the loose skin on the forearm traveling across it like a wave and you notice the textures of the sound and the feel of the musician and how he moves all goes together. It's really like hearing in 4 dimensional space instead of 3 if that makes any sense and the experience is no different from being at the live event. You close your eyes and use your third eye to see the musicians as they play and the space they are in.
So good was it that just the first side of record A launched this entire diatribe and in 30 years of listening to the same album digitally over probably 500 times I haven't spoken more than a few words about it. That should tell you something. Tells me that regardless of which format is more accurate analog is a hell of a lot more fun. To me it's like comparing rear wheel drive muscle cars with windows that won't seal out the wind to front wheel drive wizzbangers that barely weight enough to stay on the ground. I've seen both get down the track in similar times, but only one was really cool and sounded great doing it while the other was somewhat hideous looking and sounded like a giant mad bee with its dick stuck in a garbage disposal as it went down the track.
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Another Secret from the HiFi Underground : ) (Read 3084 times)
