Turntable Tips - Do you love music? Or love audio?
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You can comment on this video at YouTube
Thursday April 20, 2023
David Mellor
David Mellor is CEO and Course Director of Audio Masterclass. David has designed courses in audio education and training since 1986 and is the publisher and principal writer of Adventures In Audio.
M Singh: I like this gentleman's style, but his assistant is a tad better! I am really enjoying his videos...and the subtle humor...
gerald monger: Hi, I enjoy your videos enormously, but I would love to know your opinion on so-called Hi Fi equipment. As an example, the speaker cables that cost more than the amplifier and gold plated connections. How much of a difference do these things make to the quality of the sound, if at all?
Paul Pavlou: Your right on the money and I couldn’t agree more. Thanks for the video.
Stig Henning Johansen: I know myself. I love music, and i see good quality audio as a big plus, but that is not the thing, if its good enough, I'm fine
Chris Wood: Well I agree that 24-bit lossless digital audio is as good as it's going to get... for the source material. But the source material has to be reproduced as analog sound waves so we can hear it. And this means that the amplifier and speakers are a critical part of the reproduction chain. This is where Hi-Fi enthusiasts can have their fun... you can spend a few hundred dollars for a Bluetooth speaker or $200k+ for esoteric amps and speakers if you are so inclined and have the means. But will you enjoy the music any more?
Peter Yianilos: I mix music. Audio is for television sports. If I’m credited as audio mix or something stupid like that for a music show, I am pissed. I always politely inquire, and make it clear as a bell. Music mixer.
IMelkor42: The wife refers to all audio as 'noise', which grates at the electronic engineer in me...
Sooth Sayer: Audio Equality for the masses...why is that a bad thing...no more hifi elitism.....the death of the HIFI autocracy!! Rise up all in the Digital Audioscape, Rise up against your snobbish opressors,///take back your freedom from the privileged few...From the youngest to the oldest, from the poorest to the richest...all will be made whole.....Can you Dig it!!!!!,,,please save us all, FREE 24 bit lossless streaming!
RW Smith: Quad Schmod.
The Swime: Interesting stuff. Keep it coming. I might even enroll... Cheers.
Frederick Tennant: You make a valid point about the state of modern audio being just too good it makes the reviewers job difficult as we are expecting a few lemons and they are just not turning up like in the old days
Andr3Wild3: Dear Sir, Good H12: I see your point, I would reply super laconically to vivid the effect. At 1st I thought to reply--music 1st, yet it would be not so sharp and elegantly and romantically blended/crafted as--Quality 1st. Yes, there are some nice audio, yet it's not only sound as form, it's Thought--music as Core, which, though together re-create(s)--Idea. Kindly thank you for highly educating videos. I, probably, will make some other/> comments in other videos of yours, yet this 1 I would consider--1st 1/Center. Super kindly, Andre.***
No Self: Your remarks concerning the appeal of vinyl to audiophiles are interesting and no doubt true. Another productive and fun (to some) avenue for upgrading one’s audio system is to improve the acoustics of the listening environment. Although frustrating at times, this process can be highly educational and rewarding in the long run. A combination of “room correction” software, acoustic room treatments, and “positional EQ” almost always yields substantial and satisfying sonic benefits. I recall the great audio journalist Julian Hirsch writing that the three most important determinants of sound quality are the speakers, the recording itself, and the acoustic properties of the listening room.
Douglas Blake: Old Joke...
Most people use their systems to listen to music
Audiophiles use music to listen to their systems.
😎
Peter: Hello!!!. I am from the 40´s and 50´s and you are right, any equipment I have bought was really better than the one I had, before; better valves, then transistors, then magnetic cartridges, better speakres and everything. Now that passion is lost. I miss those 40´s and 50´s...Cheers from Patagonia, Argentina.
Leif Goodwin: Some people are in thrall to the marketing departments of, and the sparkly knobs made by, boutique audio companies. It’s male jewellery, like mechanical watches. It is astonishing how good even modest priced gear can be.
Henry Cheng: It’s both for me
laika25: Off to see your video on turntables... tata
laika25: My problem with vinyl is that unless you do some serious (costly) upgrades (cartridge mainly), it's rubbish. Imagine buying a nice CD player (i own several, including the Marantz CD6007), an then having to swap/upgrade the laser???
laika25: Have you seen the new Leak amps (integrated)? Sleek!
laika25: I'll listen (to your music)... and give you an answer.
kadaad: Слушать класическую музыку нужно только на концерте, всю остальную, только студийную запись и только в цифровом формате. You need to listen to classical music only at a concert, everything else, only studio recording and only in digital format.
Marc Begine: DSD...
ThinkingBetter: We are already at a point where you can't really ask for more. Up to 192kHz 24 bits lossless streaming from Amazon Music HD with 100 million music tracks available in seconds. Will we get 384kHz at some point? Possibly. Will we be able to hear the improvement? No, I don't think so. What can improve further is about how many of those 100 million music tracks are actually of master or audiophile quality.
jazzkatt 70: I like music but the HiFi shows keep pushing "audio". 😅
nexus 2074: thanks beatle man
erwin vb: Digital is just the music, not the audio. You can still improve on your HiFi setup to get the most of it. I have a great Philips set with Philips MFB 567 speakers so I can enjoy everything as if it’s being played live in my living room. With digital you still need a very good DAC to get to the level of most vinyl records.
ThewayICit: A vinyl-based system can bring great listening pleasure, at a cost. And the cost is not just the turntable, the amp, etc, what you need is a room with a floor that does not wobble even slightly, a room where you children or pets won't come running around in, and in a hot country, a room with silent air-conditioning. Without such a room, a DAC based system if a far better proposition.
Paul Stubbs: I disagree about "the possibilities are exhausted", Yes we have darn near perfection in delivery (ignoring the loudness wars engineers for now), the challenge is getting those digital bits, distortion and colouration free, into sound waves our ears can enjoy. So we've now gotten past poor delivery media, now we need to fix the rest.
Paul Stubbs: Often I find myself in the 'audio' category, as in I drive the sound system at my church, I spend much of that time trying to get the audio as good as I can, as there is always someone who has trouble understanding what was said - my church is VERY lively acoustically speaking, and our priests come from overseas, plus we have several visiting musicians with totally different audio issues, so audio issues are many, However at the end of the day, if someone asks, I often have no idea what was actually said.
That part comes much later when sitting at home watching that mass on YouTube (I can now concentrate on the word, and not the sound/audio)
Threemicsrecords: Although digital format is basically perfect copy of the master, there is still room to improve frequency response in a listener space. And that technology will involve greatly in time. One example would be a subwoofer with DSP that controls unwanted distortion in low end.
Adam Machin: Nice to see Quad getting a mention. I have a pair of 77 11Ls.
Piano Lover: Good subject!
FL660: A pleasure to listen to you. As usual.
Mike Penney: Back in the 1970s, one of the Hi-Fi mags ran a series of interviews, called something like 'My Hi-Fi System'.
One interviewee was a well-known conductor.
As Shostakovich's fifth symphony was playing on a Garrard SP25,
the interviewer asked why the conductor didn't have a much better Hi-Fi system.
The reply was something like, "I don't really need a Hi-Fi system at all. I can be moved by the music, just by thinking about it."
EgoShredder: I do know someone that buys for the audio only with some audiophile grade LP releases, and plays them on a suitably audiophile setup. Sure he loves good music too, but he also loves to sit back and take in the finer points of the production and engineering quality of those type of LPs. His son recently introduced him to SACD but I have not heard what he thinks of that yet, although he has no interest in standard CDs. He is in his late 70s by the way.
Bojang Prodöktschns: It's important to note that for the true connoisseur (definitely male) it's not only about the hifi gear (that is only the part that sometimes explodes), but about the perfect listening environment.
When acoustics enters the chat the possibilities are multiplied with impaling diffusor spikes, foam that sounds the better the worse it looks (and smells), or resonating chambers doubling the size of concert halls.
So sir, how dare you take the cork sniffing out of live classical music by generally declaring it the absolute best! You will be punished in my cubic dungeon of standing bass waves fed by a single gigantic cell phone speaker playing white noise only.
Thomas Dix: You're being too nice!
The people who don't like digital are mad that they can't gatekeeper their special little hobby from people and hold a mystical power over them acting like the autistic kid who already beat the Elite Four in Pokemon and talking to other kids about how his Special Edition Charizard is better because it's an official one and that someone who has a perfect copy is a little retard who don't understand the sophistication of playing an official licensed pieces of cardboard!
Watch them talk, they talk in magic numbers like some kid who thinks he knows about physics because he understands that fire beats water in his video game!!!
They just like holding some special little thing above you and acting like you need to get on their level and they found a little support group that helps them do such a thing in their!
Mad respect to the engineers and HiFi people of the past, but give up on vinyl it's not about enjoying music!!!!!!!!!
Mark Hayman: Hi , another interesting and informative video on decks, I used to have dual 505mk2 with a sure 75ED was at the time pretty decent cartridge. Regards mark
daa: Wierdly, yes. i only like audio. i used to like music but not as much anymore. nowadays i just use my music playlists to test my equipment. occasionally yes i do like a good song or album, but ive lost touch. i enjoy the technical things about audio more than the music now
Michael Beeny: I understand and agree with your thoughts on digital audio being as good as it can get but an area that has light years to get better is loudspeakers. None sound like the real thing, some are fair, but most are dreadful.
Jeff Koontz: Just found your channel - very well presented. While source material at a hi-res lossless level leaves no room for improvement over what the engineer produced, I think there's plenty of room left for the 'hi-fi lover' to find arcane and costly ways to convert that data into sound waves coming at our ears.
Marian Nutu: 👏
john hawkins hawkins: I used to be a great photographer with above average equipment, My studio partner had incredible equipment but wasn't a great photographer. I look at photographs, and don't care what they were taken on.....
Cliff H: I rather like your sense of humor, but I attribute that to my English ancestry.
You must do a video on ‘live’ music sometime, my experience is almost all shows involve microphones, and those Mike signals are then amplified (or over amplified) through- wait for it - audio! Now which is it?
Worthington Model Railway: I enjoy your videos even though sometimes the tongue-in-cheek is not always obvious. Found this one interesting enough to comment on. I can relate in "so many ways" having started in this audio journey in mid 70's and coveted friends Dad's Quad and other systems....I have a friend with a massive record collection, he plays it on the worst equipment and loves listening, I can't stand it.... the sound is atrocious. I have what I consider a reasonable audio system about $20k invested and love analog (records) I just find it easier to listen to. However when I really want to show off the system SACD is where I gravitate as the higher res audio detail shows off the system capabilities. As I have recently moved into Lossless streaming I seem to be getting pulled into the separate DAC discussions, trying to take Digital and make it less digital and more analog in sound; depth, soundstage instrument separation etc. I see the DAC world as being the next Audio area where folks will be looking for constant improvement.
Sal Morreale: Paul McCartney! Thank you for posting.
Ken Hurst: You pretty much had me hooked as a subscriber when you mentioned that you liked classical music in particular. And had a photo with Royal Albert Hall in the background! Although I listen to a variety of genre I derive the most enjoyment listening to classical music. I have also cared about audio through the years but I have hesitated from spending more than what my budget allows, although to some people that may be what they would consider excessive and to others a paltry sum. I still have my Dual 506-1 turntable that I bought in the mid 70s (or was it early 80s?) and a Pickering XSV3000 cartridge which was highly regarded in its day - and apparently still is by many people. I like it but I’m sure I would be equally happy with some more modern cartridges.
These days it almost seems like hardly anyone who is writing about audio has any interest in classical music. Audio products are demonstrated and talked about in the context of just about every other genre of music other than classical. It definitely hasn’t always been that way. Audio products were regularly discussed in relation to their ability to recreate or reproduce classical music performances. Additionally, there is no other type of music that places the kinds of demands on an audio system that classical music does - especially symphonic/orchestral music. Although many orchestral recording utilize a variety of multi-miking techniques, recording engineers taking liberties with balance, etc. and the occasional minimalist approach to recording, all of them are attempting to recreate an actual acoustic event and to bring the listener into the acoustic space. With that in mind, the demands on the audio process are enormous compared to just about anything else. Over 100 individual musicians each playing instruments with their own unique and subtle tonal characteristics simultaneously creates a complexity unmatched by anything else that I can imagine. So, when I hear audio reviewers and critics expound on the qualities or lack of qualities of some particular audio equipment but never subject it to the demands of a full orchestra recording (although it’s likely most reviewers today rarely hear a live orchestra concert so they wouldn’t have a point of comparison anyway) I have to question their opinion.
Thomas Shea: An excellent title. Personally I like music, audio, equipment .................There are a lot of people who do not care one whit about audio.