Playground for practical listening exercises

[lejonklou]

When I played the clips through the speaker of my phone, I thought Nait 1 was better. Later using headphones I wasn't so sure.

In any case it doesn't add up. There's something wrong with the bass in the Lejonklou clip. It should be way better than the Nait 1.

[maffe]

Those files are really interesting. Please tell us what Lejonklou products you use in the second clip.

I’m using sagatun monos, tundra monos and slipsik7.
We was little surprised that it was that close in performance even thou the difference is bigger in room then in the clips.
The picture on the wall is an autistic board, made a clip with/without. Choice of music down to the bass lines and most likely not that many have heard it before ;)

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-2xh ... J-1280.mp4

https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-9Dm ... L-1280.mp4

[beck]

Ha! To me the music is much better without the picture. More focussed and together. Though it looks prettier with it on the wall! :-)

[maffe]

Ha! To me the music is much better without the picture. More focussed and together. Though it looks prettier with it on the wall! :-)

Guess why it ended up on the wall ;)
Quiz: Name of the mountain?

[beck]

Do not know many mountains: Matterhorn, Mount Everest, Kilimanjaro?

You could make a series of clips with different pieces of cloth, pictures and other things on the wall! :-)

[tokenbrit]

Ha! To me the music is much better without the picture...

+1

Sounds flat to me with the mountain/picture like an imitation of the real thing :/ Ironic that there's a much more realistic 'echo' to the music without the mountain... ;)

[ThomasOK]

Ha! To me the music is much better without the picture...

+1

Sounds flat to me with the mountain/picture like an imitation of the real thing :/ Ironic that there's a much more realistic 'echo' to the music without the mountain... ;)

+2.
C'mon tokenbrit, that one is quite a stretch. Far from the peak of your humor.

I definitely prefer the music without the artwork. Maybe a seascape would be better?

[David Neel]

The answer has to be a mural....

[tokenbrit]

Far from the peak of your humor.

Maybe I'm over the hill... :P

[maffe]

Far from the peak of your humor.

Maybe I'm over the hill... :P

Na, it ain’t no mountain high enough :P

Right answer:
Ama Dablam, if I have rotated more to the left Mount Everest would have bin in the frame.

[tokenbrit]

.. ain’t no mountain high enough :P

Easy(?) pass from Diana Ross to Bob Ross for that mural to replace the picture on the wall... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcVeRlPu_5w

[Tendaberry]

Here's a comparison of two ethernet cables: Audioquest Cinnamon vs. Blue Jeans Cable 6a.
Which do you prefer? Mind you, the BJC are brand new. 3 cables were exchanged: router - Cisco/NAS - Cisco/Cisco - ADSM

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zr4130z0bhy2w ... 4.mov?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u4rzvmks6trrk ... 4.mov?dl=0

[beck]

Here is how a real Roland RD 700 GX sounds when recorded by an ipad:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vyz12xgxw5azi ... 6.mov?dl=0

Try to compare the sound with the recordings above by Tendaberry by turning the volume halfway down.

I know which of Tendaberry’s clips I would choose.

[ThomasOK]

I'm not sure this needed a B. I listened to the first track and immediately thought "Well, this had better not be the good one as it sounds bad." I was glad to find the second clip actually sounded like music.

[Charlie1]

Yes, second clip for me too. Piano on first clip sounded wooden.

Is anyone interested in hearing Tidal vs Qobuz, both standard quality and controlled via Kazoo? I have both active for a short while but no point doing it if of no use to anyone.

[Spannko]

I preferred the second one too. All the extra information coming through, and the general lack of grunge made me wary, but it gets my vote on that track. I look forward to finding out which was which.

It was a great example of the difference between Ethernet cables and should be mandatory listening for everyone who says that Ethernet cables can’t make a difference to the sound! Thanks for sharing Tendaberry.

[Spannko]

Is anyone interested in hearing Tidal vs Qobuz, both standard quality and controlled via Kazoo? I have both active for a short while but no point doing it if of no use to anyone.

A Tidal vs Qobuz shootout would be great!

[beck]

I actually prefer the first clip but I am not trustworthy with these clips (as have been shown in the past). :-)

[lejonklou]

Here's a comparison of two ethernet cables: Audioquest Cinnamon vs. Blue Jeans Cable 6a.
Which do you prefer? Mind you, the BJC are brand new. 3 cables were exchanged: router - Cisco/NAS - Cisco/Cisco - ADSM

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zr4130z0bhy2w ... 4.mov?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u4rzvmks6trrk ... 4.mov?dl=0

I prefer the first one. I feel the interplay between piano and voice is better and there's more tension in the song.

Thank you for the Roland clip, beck! Interesting.

Charlie: Yes please that shootout sounds very exciting!

[V.A.MKD]

Here's a comparison of two ethernet cables: Audioquest Cinnamon vs. Blue Jeans Cable 6a.
Which do you prefer? Mind you, the BJC are brand new. 3 cables were exchanged: router - Cisco/NAS - Cisco/Cisco - ADSM

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zr4130z0bhy2w ... 4.mov?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/u4rzvmks6trrk ... 4.mov?dl=0

I prefer the first one. I feel the interplay between piano and voice is better and there's more tension in the song.

Thank you for the Roland clip, beck! Interesting.

Charlie: Yes please that shootout sounds very exciting!

First one for me it's better, everything have sens and soul ... second is like everybody are in different rums and plays ... sing for themselves ...
This is my opinion ... maybe I'm wrong ...

[Charlie1]

It's now a Tidal, Qobuz and Spotify comparison. I had decided to ignore Spotify. I thought it would be like Google Play and just end up with tons of drop outs cos it wasn't fully integrated into Kazoo but so far so good. Perhaps under the hood it's not working quite the same way as Google Play did. For those that don’t use a Linn streamer, you can control Tidal and Qobuz via Linn Kazoo, whereas Spotify must be controlled through their app, same as Google Play.

All three are the basic, non-HiFi / non-CD quality services.

I wanted to try and avoid the issue of different releases over the years so picked two from this year. Qobuz is not so good for rock/pop (our taste) so Ariana Grande seemed a safe bet. But then I was very surprised they had a local band called Foals.

Tidal - Foals: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4p4qmo74czz49 ... 5.MOV?dl=0
Tidal - Ariana: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dwv1r1hfgnbrr ... 6.MOV?dl=0

Qobuz - Foals: https://www.dropbox.com/s/essxbvni8dkgt ... 7.MOV?dl=0
Qobuz - Ariana: https://www.dropbox.com/s/04ai0s2oqh1kb ... 8.MOV?dl=0

Spotify - Foals: https://www.dropbox.com/s/jhy25pwtw07r9 ... 0.MOV?dl=0
Spotify - Ariana: https://www.dropbox.com/s/sl7cju49oklew ... 3.MOV?dl=0

As a side event, you can watch me slowly get a log burner going although I did get there eventually.

[Tendaberry]

I preferred the second one too. All the extra information coming through, and the general lack of grunge made me wary, but it gets my vote on that track. I look forward to finding out which was which.

Clip no. 1 was Cinnamon and Clip 2 BJC.
Sorry about the noises on clip 2, my cat decided she was hungry 😺
I made a new clip yesterday after 24-hour running-in (and without noises).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ys9cty2l5hscq ... 9.mov?dl=0

[Spannko]

I preferred the second one too. All the extra information coming through, and the general lack of grunge made me wary, but it gets my vote on that track. I look forward to finding out which was which.

Clip no. 1 was Cinnamon and Clip 2 BJC.
Sorry about the noises on clip 2, my cat decided she was hungry 😺
I made a new clip yesterday after 24-hour running-in (and without noises).

https://www.dropbox.com/s/ys9cty2l5hscq ... 9.mov?dl=0

Thanks Tendaberry. The reason I chose No 2 was because a) I struggled to hear a musical difference. There didn’t seem to be that much of a rhythm or tune to latch on to, so tune wise they sounded similar to me. b) The extra resolution of No 2 allowed me to hear the structure of the low notes on the piano, whereas No 1 was just a blur. The vocal seemed more ‘real’ too. So, I thought that without much musical difference, I go for the better sounding one.

However, people’s opinion I respect agree with me, and people’s opinion I also respect beg to differ! So there’s something not quite right somewhere. We should all be agreeing. For me, the track didn’t allow me enough time to make a proper musical decision - there’s nearly always a discernible musical difference between any components. Would you mind doing another comparison with another piece of music, and a bit longer, so that I can feel the musical groove or detect tuning issues? That would be really great.

[Charlie1]

Glad you also found it close Spannko as I struggled too. In truth, Neither really grabbed me yesterday using a Samsung phone.

Today on an old iPad Mini they were both more analogue and lifelike. The differences in the piano at the start now seem even closer. Once more elements are added then I am now preferring clip 1. I’d like to say I still prefer the opening piano on clip 2 but struggling to pick between them.

[Tendaberry]

In room the differences aren’t that small, but after listening to the clips I can understand the difficulty.
I have made three new clips, hopefully it will be easier this time. Two are the same cable, but in one I have done a little tweak.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/3xmlg8wgzb8xa ... 7.mov?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jxlpiol2w7smz ... 1.mov?dl=0

https://www.dropbox.com/s/cioo62jp2ug7e ... 1.mov?dl=0