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In the Forum: Melquiades Amplifier
In the Thread: Valve Preamplifier for Macondo/DSET
Post Subject: So playfulPosted by anthony on: 4/29/2019
I cannot find the Gorenstein version of Gogol Suite in Australia but it is available on Discogs and Amazon overseas for extortion prices.  Streamed it from Youtube, not Gorenstien, but someone else, and it really made me smile.  Listened to another version on Tidal, but not as playful a performance.    I do like it.

ABC Classic FM is pretty good.  I have it on the radio in my ute all the time and have picked up some gems over the years.  Mind you it is the only classical music station on our airwaves, at least where I live, so I have nothing to compare.

As a general rule my digital sound quality list is as follows, from worst SQ to best:  Internet streaming via Youtube >>  Internet streaming via Tidal  >> playback from local computer files via XXHE, whether they are downloaded from Tidal or ripped from CD. 

To my way of thinking apart from Youtube MP3's, the difference in sound between internet streaming from Tidal and playback of those very same downloaded files is computer hardware, and how it is managed.  XXHE does this management brilliantly.

Mastering to me is a whole other thing.  I am getting back into vinyl because it gives me access to different mastering.  So much of the music that I listen to is compressed rubbish but I still manage to adore it no matter how much I wish the compressor stayed out of the production.

Yes, I certainly do practice delta listening, at least from time to time.  It is useful in particular circumstances where I am trying to figure out if I should sell my dac for another one (haha) but unless one has an eye for the "whole picture" delta listening can be detrimental.  A good example of this is the Killerdac that I mentioned earlier in this thread.  It is so, so good at what the owners listened to that I was envious, but when it tried to play my kind of music it fell in a pile...it was not even good.  The dac had been infinitely tuned and tweaked selecting this tiny length of "god" wire here, this particular $$$ capacitor there, this particular resistor there et cetera and perhaps the tweaker only listened to the same narrow music selection (I don't know if this is true, it is just a guess) the dac was a fail with complex music.  Anything that does not sound good on the Killerdac is said by the group to be poorly mastered or compressed.  Well, I don't know.  Maybe they are right.  The implication of that thinking is that when playback attains a "certain level" you can only stand to play be best recordings?  I don't buy it.  And I don't want that.  Well I do want to get to that "certain level" but in doing so I do not want the poorer quality recordings to sound more like festering turds than they do on a lesser playback, because I like a lot of poorly produced music.  If they sound ordinary that is fine, but not worse, surely.

So, apart from the delta listening, I also practice long-term listening where I let things sit and not think about them.  I get to play whatever music my mood determines for a week or a month.  Sometimes there are certain things about a change that I enjoy at first but it has some detrimental side-effect that I did not notice at first.  Digital is like that, at least to me.  Mood is such an influence on my musical enjoyment: I hear things differently if stressed or happy or introspective or busy or if I expect something to help or am ambivalent about a change.  Long-term listening evens out those mood peaks and troughs and lets me figure out what it is that satisfies me.

 Romy the Cat wrote:
Does it make the component B “better”? Not necessary and it take some time to understand it within yourself.  You need to work with yourself, your undersetting of the work, learning about the performer and circumstances of the play, the recording techniques, listen many other interpretations, listen your own objectives and interests…. then the answer of “interpretation properness” will come to you. A component that “helps” you and that create less ambiguity of your own confusions should be recognized as better. A component that will push you for more polar or radical interpretations should be recognized as better but it has to be viewed in context of other this as well. A component that pushes you listening preferences away from bad music or weak interpretations should be recognized as better.

   I am on-board with this style of thinking, but am not "there" yet.  Here is an example of "learning the performer and circumstances of play" and "interpretation properness" and "more polar or radical interpretations".  I have had a musical crush on Beth Gibbons since I was young and she was the lead for trip-hop duo Portishead.  Her solo album is still played regularly.  For this work she learned to sing the Polish lyrics to Gorecki 3 and absolutely nailed it I think.  Certainly not a traditional interpretation or performance but she is the queen of mourning and loss and does it as only she can.  I love it...you may disagree.

Here is the Tidal link...for a better quality version.

...or the second act on Youtube

https://youtu.be/zrYxBNziy24

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