Playground for practical listening exercises

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Defender
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by Defender »

Hi all,
this is my first post with examples in the playground so I hope it works.

1.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/y63k4jwg8vhm ... 9.MOV?dl=0

2.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/0l51opzdhppb ... 0.MOV?dl=0

its about Polarity Check on the NAS drive.
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by Charlie1 »

Nice work Defender!

Great to see and hear a new system for the first time in ages - I really like it.

I prefer the first clip myself. The timing seems better and it makes the second one seem a bit languid to me.
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by Defender »

there is more to come since I know now how to do it. But its strange how different it sounds even compared to the recordings on the phone. The first time I listened to the files on dropbox through the links provided it seemed my system plays the file too slow.
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by Charlie1 »

Yes, it can be quite a disappointment to hear the file on a computer shortly after hearing the actual system. It's really best viewed as a way to make comparisons. However, the more you listen to clips the better you can imagine what it will sound like in the room, if that makes sense.
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by Spannko »

Defender wrote: 2019-10-07 19:09 there is more to come since I know now how to do it. But its strange how different it sounds even compared to the recordings on the phone. The first time I listened to the files on dropbox through the links provided it seemed my system plays the file too slow.
Yes, it’s worth reiterating that our clips only demonstrate relative differences and in no way represent what we hear at home.

Keep ‘em coming Defender, as Charlie said, it’s great to hear new systems and I loved your music choice too!

At the mo’, I’m not sure which vid I prefer. Sound wise, there’s a clear difference, but I’m struggling to decide which one I find more musical.
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ThomasOK
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by ThomasOK »

Spannko wrote: 2019-10-07 21:17
Defender wrote: 2019-10-07 19:09 there is more to come since I know now how to do it. But its strange how different it sounds even compared to the recordings on the phone. The first time I listened to the files on dropbox through the links provided it seemed my system plays the file too slow.
Yes, it’s worth reiterating that our clips only demonstrate relative differences and in no way represent what we hear at home.

Keep ‘em coming Defender, as Charlie said, it’s great to hear new systems and I loved your music choice too!

At the mo’, I’m not sure which vid I prefer. Sound wise, there’s a clear difference, but I’m struggling to decide which one I find more musical.
It is cool to hear a new system - and quite a different one from what we are used to with Burmester speakers (which I haven't heard for a while) and a Pass Labs amp. I agree there is more of a sound difference than a musical one but I do prefer Clip 1 as it seems to move the music along better.

It is true that there are significant musical losses with different ways of sending music. I got into a problem with that a while back where people were struggling to hear differences that Fredrik and I heard clearly only to find that getting it posted lost much of the subtle difference between the clips. I did write up the whole story here somewhere but the gist of it was that there are different ways to get the music to dropbox and not originally having been able to get it to go directly there from my phone I emailed them to myself and put them into iTunes and then dropbox. This resulted in quite a loss. There are three ways you should be able to take an iPhone recording directly into dropbox but only one of them works on my phone: going into the dropbox app, selecting Create (which I find counterintuitive as I am uploading not creating) and then Upload Photos (also confusing as I am uploading a video) and selecting the video from my phone. It does work consistently for me and is much better than the three step process I was using. Neither the send to dropbox nor save to dropbox options in the Photos app works for me. Still I find that the clips on the phone are the most musical, those that Fredrik and I transfer back and forth to each other on Telegram are second best and the dropbox videos come in third. So much for the "it's all 1s and 0s", "digital has perfect transmission" brigade!
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by ThomasOK »

I had not planned on posting another video yet as I still have a little thing or two left to do with my system. However I was listening the night before last and just had to record this. This is not a comparison, consider it a document of a work in progress.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0durf9rqvo4t2 ... M.mov?dl=0
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by Defender »

thank you for all your comments
I can understand Spannko‘s comment that he was not sure as I also felt only a tiny bit of a difference in musicality but I also prefer the first clip.
Even if the clips sound different I also have the feeling certain qualities are more pronounced through the recording.
Actually the recorded clips help me to make the decisions as sometimes changing something on the system will take some time and I wouldn't be sure after the change which was better.

Also interesting: the difference with changing polarity on the switch was much bigger compared to what I recorded at the NAS side.

So tonight the next test comes up: Catalyst for Katalyst ;)
Cisco Catalyst 2960 or
Netgear 108T

Catalyst is already warming up
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by tokenbrit »

Defender wrote: 2019-10-07 17:43 Hi all, ...
its about Polarity Check on the NAS drive.
Hi, and thanks for the clips. I hear what people say about clip 1 moving the music along, but the band feels more together to me, and tighter musically on clip 2, which I prefer. I'd be interested in more clips of the same change to gauge better whether 2 holds together or 1 overtakes it.
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by tokenbrit »

Defender wrote: 2019-10-08 19:00 what do you like better?

;)
I like #2 better - feel it communicates more...
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by ThomasOK »

I agree, this clip 2 sounds more musical to me. However, you cut off the end of the line and I was left waiting for "lookin' for a home". :-(
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by Defender »

for the clips from today
clip 2 was the Netgear 108T
clip 1 was the Cisco Catalyst

however the cisco was on a disadvantage - the Netgear is what I usually use so it was warmed through and had a lot of playtime and the Cisco didnt fit to the same base because its bigger.
All in all Cisco sounds more impressive but also a little shouty to me with less musicality.
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by tokenbrit »

Thanks Defender - I prefer #1 this time. #2 sounds more impressive, but loses the emotion...
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by Defender »

the strange thing is this time I was leaning more to the second clip.
Lets see what others say.
But thank you for asking for more examples.
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by Defender »

Thomas - you are a really proud user of Singularity‘s and you have every reason.
When I see your Quads and the LP12 and hear your system I have the feeling the world moves in the wrong direction. All those digital innovations bring a lot of comfort but dont help to get closer to the essence of music like analog does.
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by Spannko »

ThomasOK wrote: 2019-10-08 17:42 I had not planned on posting another video yet as I still have a little thing or two left to do with my system. However I was listening the night before last and just had to record this. This is not a comparison, consider it a document of a work in progress.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/0durf9rqvo4t2 ... M.mov?dl=0
Very, very nice Thomas! Thanks for sharing :-)
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by Spannko »

By now, I really shouldn’t be surprised by any differences I hear, but the network switch comparison has caught me off guard. How can something like a switch make so much difference? It’s crazy!

It’s also quite disheartening that the Cisco has generated such a following because I wouldn’t mind betting that the damage it does to the musicality would be irreparable by even the best NAS’s and streamers.

The 108T, on the other hand, still holds the title for “Most Musical Switch”
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by Charlie1 »

Spannko wrote: 2019-10-08 22:45 Very, very nice Thomas! Thanks for sharing :-)
+1
I enjoyed listening to all of that song and I don't normally bother when listening via computer.
Last edited by Charlie1 on 2019-10-08 23:23, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by Charlie1 »

tokenbrit wrote: 2019-10-08 21:34 Thanks Defender - I prefer #1 this time. #2 sounds more impressive, but loses the emotion...
+1
So clip 2 first time around (warm Netgear) and, as above, clip 1 second time around (which I assume is a warmed up Cisco).
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by ThomasOK »

Yep, I'm for one this time around too. I find this a good sample of detail vs. musicality. I can hear the sound of the strings of the sitar a bit more clearly on clip 2 but clip one sounds more natural, flows better and gets me more into the song.
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by tokenbrit »

Hi Charlie1, Defender has posted three pairs of clips: the first was NAS polarity; repeated, kindly, in the third; the second was Netgear vs Cisco switches. We don't know yet whether the NAS polarity in the third post matches the order of the first...
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by tokenbrit »

ThomasOK wrote: 2019-10-08 17:42 .. I was listening the night before last and just had to record this...
If that's what it sounds like via a recording, I can only hope that I will get to hear the real thing one day... I mean your system, not ol' blue eyes himself, obviously, but thinking that the setup you have there, together with fine analog recordings of the time, really would be the next best thing. Grateful to you for sharing.
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Re: Playground for practical listening exercices

Post by Defender »

for clarification about the last clips: it was not a warmed up Cisco - the Netgear was back.
As Tokenbrit was asking for more chances to hear the polarity change for the NAS I did it with the Netgear back in the system to only have one thing what changes (the music) compared to the first polarity check.
Order was kept the same.
So people who liked the polarity on the first check in clip #1 better should like the same polarity in the second test again with clip #1
Last edited by Defender on 2019-10-09 09:39, edited 1 time in total.
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