Best listening for reference or just quality?

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plexified
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Re: Best listening for reference or just quality?

Post by plexified » Tue Feb 21, 2017 1:03 am

I covered this before and nobody ever wanted to acknowledge it ,
So here we go again with the same concept , although critical , CRITICAL, but , let it fade , maybe somebody will benefit....
If you have a copy of a clean original vinyl, cool. If not, Mobile Fidelity did a press that is the bench mark. Vinyl. If you want CD its the gold version. CD is a long segment and will be last.
If you do have the clean vinyl, you need a good tube stereo amp like a Macintosh or Dyna St-70. Yeah its a few bucks , but its the best and you will use it for life with zero regrets and if you want it could be THE BEST amp for a modeling guitar effect like a Zoom G9 2.tt . Of course you will need quality speakers. Be it another complex topic , just make them flat response.
A turn table needs to be quality to get the best results. Its again another lengthy topic , just look hi fi and shop your budget. It will get you far beyond digital and headphones.
If you go digital , you will have to get into digital to analog converters and seperates and its a bigger mess. And very expensive. Just understand a mp3 on your headphones sucks. If your voicing an amp based on a VH track like that , just forget it.
I again , went into this long ago , and how fundamental can you get here. Source is critical so make it the best you can get.
Flat mosfet amps and studio monitors are your next line of defense and are the same regarding modeling guitar effect slash amp sources too. You can get them on the cheap.

So good tube amp and speakers is probably like 750$ a mosfet and studio monitor could be like 400$ for a 5o watt stereo set up . Factor in a good turntable which is belt drive with a plate for another 100 -250 used and you have crazy tone , not crap mp3 shit hole fake , fool yourself nothingness. And then use the same rig to power your modeling gear to get freaking awesome digital , tubeless wreckage.
Flat hi fi rigs are very under rated as opposed to tube massive tone generating monsters. Monsters eat stuff and cost as much as small children. YMMV Vinyl , clean vinyl is hard to find but sounds best.

awangotango
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Re: Best listening for reference or just quality?

Post by awangotango » Thu Feb 23, 2017 7:40 pm

although i agree it takes some $ and time to put together a decent stereo, I don't believe a tube amp is critical, especially if the source is vinyl. I've had a dynaco tube and a SSmcintosh2100 (and many other SS amps). and a good solid state amp can reveal VH just as well. but, To keep costs down that's why i suggested headphones. just need a $50 pioneer, jvc or technics turntable off craigs, a $50 grado cart, and a $100 phono preamp. add those $50 iems i mentioned and $60 for the first 6 albums on vinyl and he could have a good reference for $300 . no amp or speakers needed. you will need a small headphone 'amp'/ input buffer to plug into. A $40 Cmoy portable headphone amp off ebay will be fine. / bonus all the other 70's and 80's rock albums are better suited on such a playback rig (as they where designed for it) prior to operation mindcrime.

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Megaro
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Re: Best listening for reference or just quality?

Post by Megaro » Fri Mar 03, 2017 2:54 pm

awangotango makes some really good points. I have been a spendthrift audiophile since the late 1980's. Tubes and solid state -- McIntosh, Marantz, Hafler, Bryston, Levinson -- more big shot names than I can even remember now. I have spent more on speaker cables and interconnects than I am comfortable stating even as a relatively anonymous poster on a forum that I dearly love. I concluded that after a certain price range, you are buying a brand name and the "tone" of the house brand. I keep looking for that perfectly flat, neutral response so I can hear without any coloring or distortion what was going on in the studio. Don't fall into the trap that I did unless you really love nuances and do not mind being perpetually broke and apologetic to your spouse.

I guess this is a long-winded way of saying check out different source material (vinyl, CD, downloads) and hi-fi and lo-fi systems (including headphones, car speakers, and loudspeakers) that you can afford and pick out the tone that sounds good to your ears. Most importantly, use your buddies and play some of your favorite material to see what their gear sounds like. If you have one song that really speaks to you (mine is the opening riff to Unchained) listen to it everywhere you can with different systems. Because the best reference for VH tone is probably what sounds best to you. Unfortunately, our ears change over time as our hearing changes. I know we love to rag about what Eddie has said in past interviews, but one thing that is an immutable truth of life that he said is"if it sounds good, it is good."

Edit it to add: There is something about Ed's classic VH guitar tone that shines through from the crappiest source material played through cheap computer speakers to a full blown high end system. I don't know if it is the gain structure, the EQ, great engineering, or a whole bunch of other stuff. So, I do not think you have to go on a quest for the ultimate source and playback setup to hear the essential qualities of Ed's tone. Case in point, check out this Youtube video of raw studio sessions / outtakes from Women and Children First. The quality is poor, but you can hear the guts -- even at low volume through cheap computer speakers -- of what makes Ed's tone so drool worthy. Figure out what that quality is, and let me in on the secret when you do !
https://youtu.be/1gd5WgpugLc

awangotango
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Re: Best listening for reference or just quality?

Post by awangotango » Wed Mar 15, 2017 9:26 am

here's some vinyl rips from various turntable setups. this is the kind of stuff i used back when I tuned my 68SL. There's no mod5 square wave clipping in these.

https://www.datafilehost.com/d/c69a31b5

https://www.datafilehost.com/d/f631285e

https://www.datafilehost.com/d/701c1e61

https://www.datafilehost.com/d/fd70801d

https://www.datafilehost.com/d/cf2c0134

https://www.datafilehost.com/d/666bb0e6

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