Doctor's Orders-Part Two-The New Listening Room Of Steve Williams

[steve williams]

Thanks Davey

I have been buying up collections and have a very good classical collection now and have really only been listening to classical for the past several months. I don't have any of the Wilson LP's

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Thanks Davey

I have been buying up collections and have a very good classical collection now and have really only been listening to classical for the past several months. I don't have any of the Wilson LP's

So how many LP's are in your collection now Steve?

 

[steve williams]

Pushing 1000 now John

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Pushing 1000 now John

Wow! Nicely done!

 

[microstrip]

Do we have reason to believe it's actually accurate to that level of resolution (1/100 g)?

I would not expect them to be accurate to the 1/100 g. Sometimes these scales came with a calibration weigh and either they have an auto calibration mode or you have to perform a calibration manually.

 

[ddk]

Do we have reason to believe it's actually accurate to that level of resolution (1/100 g)?

They're accurate enough Ron but you don't need 1/100 gr to set up a cartridge. You should remember that cartridges are handmade objects and will have sample to sample variations, for me the recommended tracking force is only a starting point final tuning is always with the ear.

david

 

[DaveyF]

Pushing 1000 now John

Steve, are you buying primarily used LP's or are you acquiring many of the new ( and IMHO very good) reissues. I have been so impressed recently with the reissues of the Blue Note jazz LP's on Music Matters and the reissue of several great classic LP's....both by Chad and on the Impex label ( like the Merc" Love of Three Oranges"); that I am not sure if it is still wise to pay $$ for the originals. ( Even though I probably shouldn't be saying this, as I own most of the original pressings).
An interesting example of this is the new Beatles Mono box. The original 1st pressing Parlophone mono UK LP's are not only highly sought after, but are also mucho dinero!! Plus, the condition is usually less than stellar. ( or in collector speak, most of them are VG-VG+ at best....and a lot are VG- or worse; even though the vendor will dispute that). Whereas, the Mono box not only is pristine, but to my ears, the sound is generally better. The price of the reissue box is a fraction of collecting the originals.
OTOH, I guess there is the aspect of the 'Butcher album'...which frankly I really do not get. Price of these is IMHO...stupid. Sure there were not that many released ( although that seems to be a relative term), but the only real collectible aspect is the darn cover.
Steve, have you gotten a 'butcher cover' in your collection yet?

 

[rockitman]

Do we have reason to believe it's actually accurate to that level of resolution (1/100 g)?

Why not ? Do you want less weight accuracy ? In a hobby where everything matters...I error on more accuracy.

 

[steve williams]

With CES just around the corner I spent the past two days with my good friend Philip O'Hanlon as he prepares his annual Demo disc which by all accounts will be Philip's Demo Disk #18. I think I am one of the privileged few to have all 17 prior compilations made by Philip. I am looking forward to getting the new one as it promises to be better than all those preceding. I have said here on numerous occasions that when it comes to show playlists and demo disks the two rooms I always head for first is Philip's On A Higher Note and Gary Koh's Genesis room. Simply put the two have IMO the very best music to play. Lately Philip has added many needle drop -->DSD transfers -->PCM which are always exceptional. Philip called me a few days ago and asked if he could use my turntable and system for many vinyl rips. TBH I had never seen a vinyl rip and was fascinated to offer up my equipment.

Philip arrived a few days ago carrying countless cables, Power cords, his Grimm ADC and a Tascam recorder along with a few dozen LP's

Set up of everything was quite simple. He took an single ended output from my preamp into the Grimm ADC which converts the signal to DSD which is then taken out of the Grimm and into the Tascam where he stored the files on an SD memory card. Over the course of the next 4 hours Philip was able to capture 95 minutes of DSD music taken from the vinyl source.

I didn't hear these digital files played back until I visited Philip last evening at his house where he was comparing HiRez PCM files to DSD files of the same songs. It seemed unanimous last night that Philip, myself and Rick Brown (who also visited) all preferred the DSD files taken from my system than listening to the same songs played via HiRez PCM. It just seemed that the PCM files were overly bright as compared to the DSD files. It was for me a very interesting and enlightening test.

What happened next however really floated my sonic boat when Philip played several songs in native DSD 256. I was stunned as to how good it sounded. I was anticipating some negative thoughts based on a recent interview with Andreas Koch on PFO where he discussed DSD. Andreas preferred DSD 128 as the sweet spot for DSD and thought that DSD 256 was noisy. IIRC Bruce Brown here was suggesting the same. Then shortly after Andreas' interview he released his new products which contain a new DAC that does Quad DSD so I would suggest everyone listen for themselves and make up their own minds. What I heard on files played by Philip was stunning. To my ears it was as close to analog as I have ever heard. The icing on the cake for me was when Philip played Vogue by Madonna from her Immaculate Collection album which was recorded in Q Sound. It was an unforgettable experience

All in all it was fun as well as educational for me to participate in Philip's annual demo disk preparation and I look forward to the final Demo Disk 18. The clincher last night however was listening to naive quad DSD as I have never heard anything above DSD 128. All in all a few memorable days.

Thanks Philip

 

[jfrech]

Very interesting post. My dCS up-sampler will soon be able to do DSD 128 (upsample and playback native dsd 128 files) (does DSD 64 today). Question, was the source files still DSD 128 up sampled some how on playback or did Phillip record some straight to DSD 256? I've been a big fan of DSD. I'm able to move all PCM 16/44-24/192 to DSD ...and that's my preferred way to playback PCM digital...

 

[steve williams]

Very interesting post. My dCS up-sampler will soon be able to do DSD 128 (upsample and playback native dsd 128 files) (does DSD 64 today). Question, was the source files still DSD 128 up sampled some how on playback or did Phillip record some straight to DSD 256? I've been a big fan of DSD. I'm able to move all PCM 16/44-24/192 to DSD ...and that's my preferred way to playback PCM digital...

John as I said these were recorded native quad DSD

 

[Davidmag]

Steve, Was Phillip using a Tascam DA-3000 recorder for DSD?

 

[Gregadd]

Remeber that only the original version can actually be direct to disc.

 

[jfrech]

John as I said these were recorded native quad DSD

Hmm I missed that. Just reread it and I still miss that point (I do see where you say recorded to native dsd)

Anyway, where I'm really going here is why don't we have more music recorded at these higher sampling rates? I've found a few like Blue Coast Records. And we have plenty of analog tape to DSD at varying rates (like from Bruce who often posts here). I do have one native DXD from Reference Recordings (well they call it the DXD edit master...). The label 2xHD records to DSD natively then moves it to tape...and then back to digital. Which seems odd to me...but I have a few of their recordings and they do sound nice.

At some point this boils down to are we getting better sounding music at these super hi res sampling rates...your experience says the technology is ready...now I'm ready for the software!

 

[steve williams]

Hmm I missed that. Just reread it and I still miss that point (I do see where you say recorded to native dsd)

Anyway, where I'm really going here is why don't we have more music recorded at these higher sampling rates? I've found a few like Blue Coast Records. And we have plenty of analog tape to DSD at varying rates (like from Bruce who often posts here). I do have one native DXD from Reference Recordings (well they call it the DXD edit master...). The label 2xHD records to DSD natively then moves it to tape...and then back to digital. Which seems odd to me...but I have a few of their recordings and they do sound nice.

At some point this boils down to are we getting better sounding music at these super hi res sampling rates...your experience says the technology is ready...now I'm ready for the software!

I was gobsmacked when I heard Madonna sing Vogue in Quad DSD as it was that good.

 

[steve williams]

I wanted to report a few additions to my system. Since August I have been smitten with the addition of a turntable to my system. It has been like falling in love all over again but suffice it to say I have only been listening to vinyl since that time. It has been a real learning curve for me and reading a multitude of threads here has been very enlightening as has personal communication with a lot of members here. For that and to all of you I want to give my sincerest of thanks. Turntables have come a long way since I last owned one and I must say I am enamored with mine and hope to sail off into the sunset with it. Thanks to Mike Lavigne and having heard his amazing system last April when I simply fell in love with the sound I heard through his MC Anna cartridge. It was mesmerizing. Thanks to Chris (rockitman) and JackD for the advice on the Graham Elite arm. Suffice it to say the listening has been refreshing to say the least and I have been listening to a lot of classical through albums from the 50's through the 70's.

Through this time I have also been contemplating the addition of a 12" arm as well as buying a second cartridge for this arm that would add a different tonality from what I have now. There have been so many informational threads here that were very useful to me. Not sure if there is every a right answer as I am convinced that there is the whole thought of system synergy. Amongst the threads that I read I kept getting lured back to the SME3012R which I heard in Utah last June when I visited David in Utah. David as we all know from his blogs here has a plethora of turntables much the same fashion as Ki Choi has when it comes to turntables. The constant in all of David's turntables and cartridges was the SME 3012R. I know David swears by this arm and it wasn't a king's ransom to buy even though they were made over 20 years ago. I figured that David in all of his research was on to something and I went to school on his putt.

As for cartridges I loved reading PeterA's review and comparison of cartridges as well as reading about everyone else's favorite.I have had countless conversations with Ron Resnick. Merely different flavors. There were several on my short list and too many considerations. Through all of this however there was one cartridge that I have heard on several occasions and each time the sound was excellent. Specifically this was the ZYX UNIverse. I heard it several years ago in the Lamm room where Louis Desjardins was introducing his Kronos, then again by Louis at several other shows and recently this past April I heard it again at Caelin Gabriel's where I heard it on his Kronos turntable.

At this past CES again in the Lamm room the newest ZYX was being played with an SME3012R with the famous EMT 927. In other words David was there in the room with this cartridge. I know David and have heard his amazing system so I was curios as to his take on this cartridge as I had been so favorably impressed previously. David was quite impressed with the cartridge and so I bought the new ZYX UNIverse Premium-X with the silver plate to add a bit of weight.

I received everything 3 days ago as I had to wait for a Tech Das mounting board for an SME arm. The wait was worth it. I am not an expert in cartridge comparison but I can say the difference between the MC Anna and the ZYX UNIverse Supreme X is significant. First off even though they are both low output cartridges (Anna is 0.20 volts and the ZYX is 0.24) the difference in gain was huge. My biggest comment on the Anna was getting used to turning the gain controls up on my Lamm LL1, to at least double where I was on the gain when listening to tape or CD. The new cartridge however has put the gain control back to where I normally have it set. Initial listening has suggested a more forward and more dynamic presentation than the Anna. Both have a beautiful midrange but I am wondering so far if the top and bottom of this cartridge is better defined. So far only 20 hours on this cartridge but I am loving what I hear.

 

[steve williams]

 

[steve williams]

 

[asiufy]

Congrats, Steve!

Yes, we've been told the ZYX is somewhat special many times, including Louis... But the price always put us off a little... But it seems the response is overwhelmingly positive, that we might just pick one up, to replace our A95!

Hopefully I'll get to hear it in your lovely setup soon!


cheers,
alex

 

[steve williams]