Sony and dCS Shine at Music Lovers SF

[mauidan]

Interesting comments on DSD vs hirez PCM:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/sony-and-dcs-shine-music-lovers-sf

 

[Andre Marc]

Interesting comments on DSD vs hirez PCM:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/sony-and-dcs-shine-music-lovers-sf

Saw this, I was impressed by the write up. Very detailed.

I know John Quick and he is very knowledgeable and knows how to set up a room. His product lines,
dCS, Verity, Musical Fidelity, Pena, are all excellent.

I don't think we should focus on format comparisons. I think he makes it clear the quality of the recording
and performance trump any new buzzword worthy format.

 

[microstrip]

Interesting comments on DSD vs hirez PCM:

http://www.stereophile.com/content/sony-and-dcs-shine-music-lovers-sf

Nice entertainment prose. IMHO this type of anarchic comparisons, carried in such a session have only narrative value and do not allow any generalization. Surely I would not mind being there ...

 

[Andre Marc]

Nice entertainment prose. IMHO this type of anarchic comparisons, carried in such a session have only narrative value and do not allow any generalization. Surely I would not mind being there ...

JVS said he hoped to avoid "audiophile blather"...! Overall, it is hard to capture such an event on paper, but I felt like I was there.

 

[Ron Party]

I spent about 3 hours at Music Lovers that afternoon. I sat directly in front of Jason (and his 2 dogs). The demo was over the top fantastic. The real question is whether Sony ever will release music from their vault directly to the consumer in DSD format.

A friend of mine also attended and found his next pair of speakers. Yuki (his real name, I believe is Motoyuki) Sugiura grabbed my friend and me -- the 3 of us were listening to the AMG turntable in the 2 channel high end room about which Jason wrote -- and we went into the smaller room with the $10K Sony SS-NA2ES speakers. It was just the 3 of us in that room for about half an hour. Yuki pulled out his CD wallet and played Look What We Started Now off of the George Duke album Illusions and my friend's jaw just dropped. He fell in love. Yuki then played Diablo Rojo off of the self-titled Rodrigo Y Gabriela album, the one with a close up of a dinosaur's eye, and all of us were rocking and groovin' to the beat. What amazing guitarists. Yuki confessed to me that about half of his CD wallet is comprised of recommendations given to him by Phillip O'Hanlon who, as I've posted before, may have the best collection of anyone on this planet.

It was a great afternoon.

 

[Steve Williams]

I agree about Phillip as I have all of his demo CD's

Ron were you the guy who gave me Rodrigo y Gabriela Live In Japan. If so a simply amazing album

 

[jtinn]

Saw this, I was impressed by the write up. Very detailed.

I know John Quick and he is very knowledgeable and knows how to set up a room. His product lines,
dCS, Verity, Musical Fidelity, Pena, are all excellent.

I don't think we should focus on format comparisons. I think he makes it clear the quality of the recording
and performance trump any new buzzword worthy format.

Of course we should focus on format comparisons. The quality of the recording is one subject and the comparison of the format is another. I can play master tapes that sound like **** and CD's that sound great. Tape is still the superior format. Also, DSD is no buzzword worthy format. It is absolutely the best digital has to offer.

 

[mep]

Of course we should focus on format comparisons. The quality of the recording is one subject and the comparison of the format is another. I can play master tapes that sound like **** and CD's that sound great. Tape is still the superior format. Also, DSD is no buzzword worthy format. It is absolutely the best digital has to offer.

+1 x 10

 

[microstrip]

(...) A friend of mine also attended and found his next pair of speakers. Yuki (his real name, I believe is Motoyuki) Sugiura grabbed my friend and me -- the 3 of us were listening to the AMG turntable in the 2 channel high end room about which Jason wrote -- and we went into the smaller room with the $10K Sony SS-NA2ES speakers.(...)

It was a great afternoon.

I have no doubt it was a great afternoon. However, having had some experience with DCS top stacks in the past I would be very cautious when evaluating speakers using this particular front-end : how far were you influenced by the exceptional sound quality of the Vivaldi's?

 

[microstrip]

Of course we should focus on format comparisons. The quality of the recording is one subject and the comparison of the format is another.(...)

Surely. It one of the reasons why I really enjoy WBF and posts from several industry experts.

 

[Andre Marc]

Of course we should focus on format comparisons. The quality of the recording is one subject and the comparison of the format is another. I can play master tapes that sound like **** and CD's that sound great. Tape is still the superior format. Also, DSD is no buzzword worthy format. It is absolutely the best digital has to offer.

I agree fully that DSD is the best digital has to offer. I have repeated that too many times to mention.

What I MEANT, is that we should focus on MUSIC WE LIKE, and music that moves us ,not what format it is in.

I have NEVER purchased music based on the format. If the best version of a title is available on CD, I buy that, if the best
version is on SACD, I buy that, if the best version is a PCM download, I buy that.

 

[mep]

I agree fully that DSD is the best digital has to offer. I have repeated that too many times to mention.

What I MEANT, is that we should focus on MUSIC WE LIKE, and music that moves us ,not what format it is in.

I have NEVER purchased music based on the format. If the best version of a title is available on CD, I buy that, if the best
version is on SACD, I buy that, if the best version is a PCM download, I buy that.

But how would you know which is the best version without a format comparison? I think that was the point initially.

 

[Andre Marc]

But how would you know which is the best version without a format comparison? I think that was the point initially.

And just how many recordings you consider to be indispensable are available in SACD, DSD download, High Rez PCM, CD, DVD-A, tape, and vinyl?

While you guys debate about formats I will listen to Eagles box set in 192 khz PCM which sounds frighteningly good.
Bernie Grundman told me DSD was never an option..since they actually wanted to sell the darn thing. They are releasing two
disc CD sets with bonus tracks. Yep, thats right, good old Redbook. No SACD, no DSD.

 

[microstrip]

(...) While you guys debate about formats I will listen to Eagles box set in 192 khz PCM which sounds frighteningly good.
Bernie Grundman told me DSD was never an option..since they actually wanted to sell the darn thing. They are releasing two
disc CD sets with bonus tracks. Yep, thats right, good old Redbook. No SACD, no DSD.

None of your arguments addresses the main question that was raised about the sound quality of the format. And I find rather amusing that a professional reviewer does not resist to use the old abused and malicious argument of I enjoy music while you debate sound quality ...

IMHO this issue is of real importance for audiophiles. Independently of the offer of recordings in each format people should know what are the founded opinions of experts in audio. And due to its importance in marketing strategies, opinions emitted in an open, non homogenous and irreverent forum such as WBF are particularly interesting.

 

[Andre Marc]

None of your arguments addresses the main question that was raised about the sound quality of the format. And I find rather amusing that a professional reviewer does not resist to use the old abused and malicious argument of I enjoy music while you debate sound quality ...

IMHO this issue is of real importance for audiophiles. Independently of the offer of recordings in each format people should know what are the founded opinions of experts in audio. And due to its importance in marketing strategies, opinions emitted in an open, non homogenous and irreverent forum such as WBF are particularly interesting.

Maybe I am just not getting my point across. This obsession with DSD time and time again fails to address the fact that 99% of all the music recorded on in the 20th century, and most of the 21st century will NEVER be archived to DSD. Warner Bros had already by passed it. Abbey Road/EMI bypassed it.

The titles that do get to SACD are affordable by a small group of audiophiles who are willing to pay a huge premium for music they have purchased multiple times before. To get the Doors catalog on SACD, Chad Kassem had to write a check that would make you soil your self. He told me this first hand. So the end result is $50 LPs and $35 SACDS. This is going to be sold to the hardcore is small batches.

I wish it were not so my friend. I wish Sony had given away DSD workstations 12 years ago.

We have to stop pretending that the music that 99% of us listen to is available a some magic DSD download.

I just got 5 CDs in the mail today. Only one is available alternatively as a PCM download, and none of course as DSD.

So again, I buy music, not formats. When I see an audiophile buying a bunch of DSD files for the lure of the format, it proves to me they are doing it to see the "DSD" light up on their DAC.

 

[mep]

Andre-Reread what you said and what I said. It's self explanatory.

 

[audioguy]

So Ron: the fact that you were listening thru the dCS stack notwithstanding, how would you rate the Sony speakers to other speakers you have owned or heard?

 

[mauidan]

It will be interesting to read JA's review of the Sony SS-NA2ES.

 

[cjfrbw]

Nice entertainment prose. IMHO this type of anarchic comparisons, carried in such a session have only narrative value and do not allow any generalization. Surely I would not mind being there ...

Aren't they all more or less anarchic. If you eliminate the anarchic, there's not much left.

I still rather enjoy the anarchic comparisons and audio blather.

 

[MylesBAstor]

Of course we should focus on format comparisons. The quality of the recording is one subject and the comparison of the format is another. I can play master tapes that sound like **** and CD's that sound great. Tape is still the superior format. Also, DSD is no buzzword worthy format. It is absolutely the best digital has to offer.

When I heard the Vivaldi demo last year at Ears Nova, redbook sounded better through the system than did all their DSD/high rez files. Ughhh.... The high rez stuff was downright unlistenable. In fact, had I not heard the redbook CDs, I would have walked away thinking the Vivaldi wasn't very good. And that was through Boulder electronics/Rockport Aviors.