Playground for practical listening exercises

[lejonklou]

You are the constant contrarian, tpetsch! :D

Not always, plenty of times I have agreed with the consensus.
But going back to A1/B1 did you happen to pick up on any of that I said?

Went back now and listened for what you mentioned.

I mainly hear a stronger emphasis on the guitar in A, while on B he’s taken five steps back on the scene. Is the interplay any worse on B? Maybe a little. You have a point there.

Through the iPad speakers I prefer the A clips. To me, they’re more upbeat and tuneful. They’re the ones which would get me jiggling in my chair, and for me that’s what a lot of this hifi malarkey is all about! However, through headphones I slightly prefer the B clips. It’s a funny old game!

The impression I’m getting is that the A clips are generally good but maybe the bass is a bit off? The iPad filters out the bass, leaving just the good bits? The headphones reproduce the bass, dragging A back a bit? All conjecture!

I hear exactly the same!

This is a crucial point to consider when we evaluate clips - how deep in the bass are you listening? With headphones you can add many octaves and sometimes there are things happening down there that make a big difference.

[ThomasOK]

Having read all the comments I listened to these four clips both on the iMac speakers, as usual, and on a pair of Grado SR125x plugged into the iMac. In both cases the result was the same - the A clips didn't do much for me but the B clips, especially on the second clip, just Beat It! I listened to all of B2 and wanted more.

[markiteight]

Can you hear a difference between these two clips?

A: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0lbglbr9vtz23 ... 9.MOV?dl=0

B: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yk6tzes5vl3xl ... 0.MOV?dl=0

[Charlie1]

They do seem awefully close. I seemed to enjoy B a fraction more.

[beck]

B seems a bit more organic to me. :-)

[matthias]

Just a thought, can the difference be caused by different warm-up time of the system?

[Tendaberry]

Slight preference for B here too.

[Tendaberry]

Somehow I cannot get my recordings to sound as clear as they are in the room, but anyway, here we go with another comparison. Which one do you prefer?

1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tlk4b7tbptzui ... 1.mov?dl=0

2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ge9m77xvfihi ... 1.mov?dl=0

[beck]

I like your clip 2.

[springwood64]

Can you hear a difference between these two clips?

A: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0lbglbr9vtz23 ... 9.MOV?dl=0

B: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yk6tzes5vl3xl ... 0.MOV?dl=0

Also B. Listening thru headphones on laptop browser with dedicated tabs for each video. B gets me interested in the music from the first few notes, A less so.

[springwood64]

Somehow I cannot get my recordings to sound as clear as they are in the room, but anyway, here we go with another comparison. Which one do you prefer?

1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tlk4b7tbptzui ... 1.mov?dl=0

2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ge9m77xvfihi ... 1.mov?dl=0

Harmonica is the instrument I love to hate ....

I enjoyed the first few bars of '2' but '1' just reinforced my prejudice

[matthias]

Which one do you prefer?

2

[tokenbrit]

Can you hear a difference between these two clips?

A: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0lbglbr9vtz23 ... 9.MOV?dl=0

B: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yk6tzes5vl3xl ... 0.MOV?dl=0

Barely. There's something to B - beck's "organic" is a good description - but I'm not convinced it's musically better... They're close enough that I enjoy whichever I'm listening to - maybe more studio with A; more venue with B.

[tokenbrit]

Somehow I cannot get my recordings to sound as clear as they are in the room, but anyway, here we go with another comparison. Which one do you prefer?

1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tlk4b7tbptzui ... 1.mov?dl=0

2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ge9m77xvfihi ... 1.mov?dl=0

Going with the rest & 2 (Pete's comment on 1 resonates with me :)

[Charlie1]

Somehow I cannot get my recordings to sound as clear as they are in the room, but anyway, here we go with another comparison. Which one do you prefer?

1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tlk4b7tbptzui ... 1.mov?dl=0

2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ge9m77xvfihi ... 1.mov?dl=0

I liked the spriteliness of 1 but 2 made more sense and was more enjoyable in the long term.

Ref your clips in general, they seem to have quite a lot more deep bass compared to Spotify. Maybe it's resonating a bit too much? but perhaps it's exegerated by the phone.

[Whatsmynaim]

Tendaberry, I'm voting for 1.

[tpetsch]

Can you hear a difference between these two clips?

A: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0lbglbr9vtz23 ... 9.MOV?dl=0

B: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yk6tzes5vl3xl ... 0.MOV?dl=0

Yea, something about (B). (B) Just seems more effortless in overall presentation, with (A) I find myself thinking about the speed of it all, with (B) the speed, while still seemingly slightly laggy sounds like it's actually part of the performance, and it all comes together/flows better.

[tpetsch]

Somehow I cannot get my recordings to sound as clear as they are in the room, but anyway, here we go with another comparison. Which one do you prefer?

1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tlk4b7tbptzui ... 1.mov?dl=0

2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ge9m77xvfihi ... 1.mov?dl=0

For me this was easy, (1) was coherent as I understood what the band was doing at all times/was easy to follow -in tune- and as far as Dylan songs go, enjoyable, I was getting into it. By comparison the band in (2) sounded like a mess & after about 20 seconds I lost interest after the song settled in -perhaps a hyped later remaster?-, but ultimately all sparkle & Hi-Fi, but no tune.

Ok, and I can understand how people may not like the overall frequency balance on many of the early Dylan songs, but changing that, trying to modernize the songs with more body, etc, has effected them in a negative way, less in tune, at least the ones I've heard. Lacking bass and body is just the way many early recordings were originally mastered.. Record companys back then wanted to minimize returns from customers with poorly tracking players potentially skipping on heavily modulated grooves.

[ThomasOK]

Can you hear a difference between these two clips?

A: https://www.dropbox.com/s/0lbglbr9vtz23 ... 9.MOV?dl=0

B: https://www.dropbox.com/s/yk6tzes5vl3xl ... 0.MOV?dl=0

I definitely prefer B. A just sounds like it isn't quite coming together. B moves better and is more engaging. Nice job on the edit!

[ThomasOK]

Somehow I cannot get my recordings to sound as clear as they are in the room, but anyway, here we go with another comparison. Which one do you prefer?

1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tlk4b7tbptzui ... 1.mov?dl=0

2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ge9m77xvfihi ... 1.mov?dl=0

I find 2 more enjoyable and more tuneful than 1. (Don't hate me if I say I find using Dylan's voice to judge if something is in tune rather difficult!) To me 1 seems like the sounds are pulled apart and aren't very well related to each other, and the harmonica is particularly overly dominant. Clip 2 jells and sounds like a group playing together.

[Tendaberry]

By comparison the band in (2) sounded like a mess & after about 20 seconds I lost interest after the song settled in -perhaps a hyped later remaster?-, but ultimately all sparkle & Hi-Fi, but no tune.

Actually it’s about as far from a remaster as you can get. It’s a 2-eye Columbia US original, Pitman pressing.

[Tendaberry]

Which one do you prefer?

1: https://www.dropbox.com/s/tlk4b7tbptzui ... 1.mov?dl=0

2: https://www.dropbox.com/s/5ge9m77xvfihi ... 1.mov?dl=0

This was a comparison of supports for the Baltic birch board used as an extra support on my Quadraspire rack under the ADSM.

No. 1 are Oehlbach Mini Spikes, 8 mm high Metal cones.

4845C93D-44A3-495C-ADC7-FC607616E12A.jpeg

No. 2 are IsoAcoustics Mini Pucks.

My room still has some acoustical problems with flatter echoes. That’s probably the cause for the harmonica sounding a bit strident.
Thanks to everyone for evaluating the two versions.

[Charlie1]

Do you have a preference yet Tendaberry?

[Tendaberry]

In room I prefer no. 2, especially after they’ve settled in (which is recommended). Today after revisiting Blonde On Blonde, intending to play only the recorded track, I found it impossible to stop playing. That must be a good sign…

[tpetsch]

By comparison the band in (2) sounded like a mess & after about 20 seconds I lost interest after the song settled in -perhaps a hyped later remaster?-, but ultimately all sparkle & Hi-Fi, but no tune.

Actually it’s about as far from a remaster as you can get. It’s a 2-eye Columbia US original, Pitman pressing.

OK, and for me No.1 sounded more like what that original, Pitman pressing is supposed to sound like tune wise, and it's not surprising to me that I prefer the one not sitting on IsoAcoustics Mini Pucks. And I'd bet it would sound even more in tune with no mini pucks and no mini spikes. But those Mini pucks used in clip No.2 changed the tune for me in such a negative way I thought it was something like a new MoFi pressing you changed to.