Videos of Acoustically-Coupled Audio Recordings

Interesting. I'm not an apple person but I've found quite a bit of difference in microphone and video recording quality between 3 different android phones - varying from poor, nearly useless for judging sound, to pretty good, to excellent. I've read that the case on a phone can make a difference in recording quality so I can imagine improved water resistance might have an impact.
My iPhone 7 is pretty good but not compared to a proper field recorder like my Tascam DR-100 MKIII. There was a mode in my phone that also improved the sound called HD-60...not sure if this is an option in all iPhones but it is in the 7. What was the excellent quality Android phone you tried?
 
So much for the claim that phone recordings are an easy standardized way to compare.

Tang also once posted on his thread a comparison of an android and an iPhone video of the same music on the same system (his). It sounded like two different systems.
Well exactly and even worse some phones, like mine, have different modes that are better or worse and if you aren't aware of this then you might not be even getting the best out of that phone.
 
I remember when I auditioned three different pairs of Magico Mini II speakers. Three different systems, three different rooms, three different amplifiers. And you know, the quality of the speakers and their inherent characteristics came through and were consistent.

Those who have been criticizing videos for years will come up with all sorts of excuses and reasons to continue to denigrate what some of the rest of us enjoy and find value in. This is a way to excuse and justify their unwillingness to post videos of their own systems. That’s fine, but when people go on and on about how great certain DACs are and how far digital audio has come along, as a vinyl only guy, I don’t go on those threads and criticize the fun that all the rest of the digital people are having. It’s really getting tiresome.

And then what is really silly is that those who hate videos and find no value in them, actually can’t help themselves and have to watch other peoples videos and then comment on them. They have said their piece, made their arguments. Why can they not simply move on and leave the rest of us to enjoy these discussions?

EDIT: The other thing I find fascinating is when a respected reviewer like Michael Fremer makes a video and then actually tells us that when he plays it back and listens to it that it represents the sound of his system, regardless of the method he used to make the video, people still make up excuses for why the video can’t possibly sound like what he hears live in the room. They seem to have great difficulty in reconciling the sound of the video versus Fremer saying it sounds like his system, and with the gear and his reputation, the sound should be really good, but they don’t like it when they listen to it on YouTube. They seem somehow troubled by all of this.
 
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Stuff coming through from Axpona. This channels videos of digitally sourced systems sound way inferior to the analog ones, apart from this one that I believe uses a Vitus MP D201 DAC/Innuos Statement:
 
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During my listening session last night, I took some videos of the same system that I used to submit the “Truly” videos for the comparison with Michael Fremer’s system video. This time I recorded a couple of the same songs that were used on Wadax server/dac videos that were posted on the Wadax thread. I thought that it would be fun to do this for comparison for some of the videos that PaterA and AndromedaAudio posted on that thread:




The music sounded great, but the Fanfare recording could benefit from more power as my Type 46 based SET amp only puts out 1.25 Watts per channel; so I moved to the room next door…….
 
I remembered reading Peter’s words on the Wadax thread: “hearing your video of this same song will be fascinating give the different systems and likely costs.” So I configured my Fertin 20EX fieldcoil based system to make a point: No HQPLAYER, no DSD, for server/streamer I used one of my Bluesound Node 2i’s, for DAC I used my dCS ELGAR-Plus ring Dac (coax SPDIF PCM), and increased the power to 3.5 glorious watts from Radu Tarta’s Sakuma style “Turbo 45” SET amp (EML 45 drives EML 45B configuration) to drive the Fertin 20EX silver-voicecoil fieldcoil drivers, from 200Hz up, mounted on custom Open Baffles and supplemented by a pair of Definitive Technology SC-8000 subwoofers from 200Hz down to 12Hz (you will need to turn these up a little to match levels with the other videos as these contain more bass I had to record them with lower gain):



For completeness, I also recorded a video of “Truly” with my Fertin fieldcoil based system for comparison with Michael Fremer’s system video and others:

 
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Here is a video for fun. I am experimenting with listening seat location and a few other things. I love this song for its energy and humor.

Great vitality captured in this video. I think the near field sounds good.
 
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Carlos, I prefer the feildcoil videos, but am getting tired of "Truly". The Fanfair comparison is quite telling in the bass definition and horn character. There is good clarity and the sound is pretty balanced. It does not look like you have any vinyl gear. Did you abandon it for digital only?

Peter, I have three turntable systems at home, a Micro-Seiki (string drive), a Transrotor (belt drive), and a custom rebuilt Rek-O-Kut (idler rim drive). You can see all the turntables and hear the Rek-O-Kut idler on my system page here in WBF:

Carlos269 Systems Page

I just don’t listen to my turntables that often now a days.

Yes, I’m tired of listening to Truly also. I also recorded some videos last night of music I enjoy, on all three system configurations:




This song is more what I enjoy listening to along with all my other counterculture music.
 
During my listening session last night, I took some videos of the same system that I used to submit the “Truly” videos for the comparison with Michael Fremer’s system video. This time I recorded a couple of the same songs that were used on Wadax server/dac videos that were posted on the Wadax thread. I thought that it would be fun to do this for comparison for some of the videos that PaterA and AndromedaAudio posted on that thread:




The music sounded great, but the Fanfare recording could benefit from more power as my Type 46 based SET amp only puts out 1.25 Watts per channel; so I moved to the room next door…….
The Carlos Fanfare is really good. It communicates the musical meaning of this masterpiece. The subtlety, harmonic depth and drama come through.
The Wadax Fanfare video sounds awful in many ways to me.
But I also wouldn’t use these two videos to even begin to make any kind of meaningful compare between one DAC and another. Way too many variables!!
 
Great vitality captured in this video. I think the near field sounds good.

I agree and it is how you deal with the room instead of with the nonsense of the misguided…….

The Carlos Fanfare is really good. It communicates the musical meaning of this masterpiece. The subtlety, harmonic depth and drama come through.
The Wadax Fanfare video sounds awful in many ways to me.
But I also wouldn’t use these two videos to even begin to make any kind of meaningful compare between one DAC and another. Way too many variables!!

The take away from my exercise is that the Wadax combo is $250K and in the context of those systems, approaching $700K… what you just said sounded musical and communicated the meaning is a very small fraction of that cost. I chose to use the Node 2i server/streamer and the dCS ELGAR-Plus dac to prove the points that I have been making on WBF. I could have used many other server/dac combinations thought out my house that have more prestige, cost more, and have more panache but I intentionally chose not to, to prove a point or two, or there, or four, or five……..
 
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I agree and it is how you deal with the room instead of with the nonsense of the misguided…….



The take away from my exercise is that the Wadax combo is $250K and in the context of those systems, approaching $700K… what you just said sounded musical and communicated the meaning is a very small fraction of that cost. I chose to use the Node 2i server/streamer and the dCS ELGAR-Plus dac to prove the points that I have been making on WBF. I could have used many other server/dac combinations thought out my house that have more prestige, cost more, and have more panache but I intentionally chose not to, to prove a point or two, or there, or four, or five……..
Point taken, but in the interest of accuracy note that this video is only the dac not the Dac Server combination.

I thought your Fanfare recordings were Lampi and (Valve something), not dcs Elgar?

My instincts tell me the Wadax recording has a lot wrong with it independent of the Dac used. But there’s no way to deconstruct it.
So, I don’t draw any conclusions other than you’re particular video sounds really really good!
 
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Point taken, but in the interest of accuracy note that this video is only the dac not the Dac Server combination.

I thought your Fanfare recordings were Lampi and (Valve something), not dcs Elgar?

My instincts tell me the Wadax recording has a lot wrong with it independent of the Dac used. But there’s no way to deconstruct it.
So, I don’t draw any conclusions other than your particular video sounds really really good!

You are e correct, three different dacs were used, one on each video, the LampizatOr DSD-Only, the ValveDac Raw-DSD, and the dCS ELGAR-Plus.
 
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