Realistic sound = tubes and analogue

[02audionoob]

I personally think iTunes is really the only way to go. I can plug my iPhone into a BOSE computer speaker setup and mop the floor with any analog system under $10k.

[poppachubby]

I personally think iTunes is really the only way to go. I can plug my iPhone into a BOSE computer speaker setup and mop the floor with any analog system under $10k.

That's an interesting point, but Bose speakers?!? I use my Beats by Dr.Dre earbuds for that ultimate, resolving tone. They go down to 130hz. Word.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

That's an interesting point, but Bose speakers?!? I use my Beats by Dr.Dre earbuds for that ultimate, resolving tone. They go down to 130hz. Word.

[jrhymeammo]

Looks like you got a great analog setup.
To me, it sounds like you just found a great combination that works for you.
The Shelter 501mk2 was one of the worst sounding cartridges to my ears, but it is considered one of the best sub $1K cartridges. At more than half of its price, I find the Denon 301mk2 to perform much more true to how real music is supposed to sound.

Also, don't knock on SS amps as well.
Pure Class A SS amps can hang with SET amps with much wider speaker selection. I bet Feanor's SM-70 Pro sounds freakin' sweet with a tube preamp.
He just needs a different TT and relearn to embrace analogue....

[Feanor]

...

Also, don't knock on SS amps as well.
Pure Class A SS amps can hang with SET amps with much wider speaker selection. I bet Feanor's SM-70 Pro sounds freakin' sweet with a tube preamp.
He just needs a different TT and relearn to embrace analogue....

Yoh, JRA; sorry, I just notice your comment to me.

Thing about embracing "analogue" in my case is that there is nothing to embrace. Since my listening is virtually all classical, and since virtually all classical today is released only on digital what's to listen to??? The days of cheap flea market and garage sale LPs are long gone.

The Monarchys are more tube-sounding than the typical s/s amp, (although there's so much variation in tube sound that the statement is dubious). My Sonic Frontiers preamp isn't the typical warm, buttery tube sound, and to get it sounding sort of tubey, (e.g. "depth"), I have to do a lot of tube rolling. Before that it was almost indistiguishable from the passive preamp I had been using. I still suspect that the tube sound is a matter of more 2nd order distortion and not less high-order distortion as, e.g., E-Stat contends.

Before the Monarchys, I had the Bel Canto eVo2 that was definitely less mellow than the Monarchys but a bit more transparent -- and and here's the the thing, the Bel Canto actually sounded better on the best recordings.

My most recent experience with the Class D Audio SDS-258 has demonstrated once again that -- least on good recordings -- resolution is king and solid state rules, (or class D in my instances). What to buy a pair of Monarchy SM-70 Pros? Admittedly I have virtually not experience with $10,000+ amps like E-Stats, which might combine the virtues of tube & s/s. However the SDS-258 sounds a bit bright on less than really good recordings and a know that Tube Fan would hate it.

BTW, what makes a "less than reall good recording"? A lot of possibilities. But I know one major problem in case of classical music is that engineers too often try to capture a close-up sound. Given that many instruments, notably strings, can sound pretty strident especially close up, this is problem. While this close-up stridency is "accurate" and "realistic", it isn't what an audience member typically hears or wants to hear.

[RGA]

Thing about embracing "analogue" in my case is that there is nothing to embrace. Since my listening is virtually all classical, and since virtually all classical today is released only on digital what's to listen to??? The days of cheap flea market and garage sale LPs are long gone.

Wow I don't get that. My town has two used record shops and not that far away another town has at least 3. Classical is abundant in good shape and cheap.

Now new LP's of classical can be costly but they are available and they are being bought.
http://www.soundstagedirect.com/clas...FSFVgwodsG3T1Q

http://www.cduniverse.com/browsecat....=13217&cat2=56

I can pick up 20-30 LPs for $2 at the local recycling center so if you look you can find it.

[Feanor]

Wow I don't get that. My town has two used record shops and not that far away another town has at least 3. Classical is abundant in good shape and cheap.

Now new LP's of classical can be costly but they are available and they are being bought.
http://www.soundstagedirect.com/clas...FSFVgwodsG3T1Q

http://www.cduniverse.com/browsecat....=13217&cat2=56

I can pick up 20-30 LPs for $2 at the local recycling center so if you look you can find it.

Your definition of "abundant" and mine differ when it comes to classical music. The two links you indicate each have fewer than about 200 items.

What's more I'm not much interested in "old war horse" re-releases, nor Pavarotti's Greatest Hits or the like, which is what they show. The fact remains that essentially no new releases are no vinyl.

[Sir Terrence the Terrible]

BTW, what makes a "less than reall good recording"? A lot of possibilities. But I know one major problem in case of classical music is that engineers too often try to capture a close-up sound. Given that many instruments, notably strings, can sound pretty strident especially close up, this is problem. While this close-up stridency is "accurate" and "realistic", it isn't what an audience member typically hears or wants to hear.

Actually it is not exactly the close up sound by itself as much as it is close up sound with the Redbook sample rate. 44.1khz is a sufficient sample rate if you mike in the relative far field as it allows the air to mix with the instrument, which reduces the strident nature that can sometimes come from string instruments(and some brass as well). Close miking works better with higher sampling rates, as once again, the sample rate will allow some "air" to mix with the instrument which reduces the stridency.

[Feanor]

Actually it is not exactly the close up sound by itself as much as it is close up sound with the Redbook sample rate. 44.1khz is a sufficient sample rate if you mike in the relative far field as it allows the air to mix with the instrument, which reduces the strident nature that can sometimes come from string instruments(and some brass as well). Close miking works better with higher sampling rates, as once again, the sample rate will allow some "air" to mix with the instrument which reduces the stridency.

Sir T, thanks for the fuller explanation of what I've heard and concluded over the years.

I can believe that a higher sample rate will improve -- to use the term -- the realism and tolerability of the stridency. Again, to reiterate a couple of points:

1. Engineers/producers often aim for a closer-up sound than most listeners actually want. Maybe if I were a performer ... but I'm not and I usually sit at least a few rows back in the orchestra section -- not on stage.
2. However if a strident sound is there, either because that's what the performers were striving for, or because that's the way it was recorded, then "accuracy" means reproducing it as it is, not filtering it through either a vinyl pressing or tube equipment.