How I taught my son to love vinyl

[Scott Dolan]

Cheers. It hasn't occurred to me that a DAC upgrade could also improve the sound, but I'll investigate it. There are so many little influences that I get overwhelmed -- I got into ripping, streaming and separates all in one go only this year. Initially I found lossless sounded fine on my system but a bit inferior to CD. I use JRiver and since it was upgraded from MC18 to 19 its much better, but of course it could have been the DAC that was lacking (I use an Arcam rlink).

But we're getting way off topic -- this is the vinyl forum I'm crashing!

Hmmm, that's odd. You actually shouldn't hear any difference between the FLAC files and the CD waveform. Lossless audio is simply a zipped file. Once the codec processes the file it should be absolutely no different than the original .wav file.

I wonder if the ripping software is letting you down somehow...

[jeffcrom]

OK, bad example

No problem. In any case, I readily admit that we 78 collectors are nuts.

[jeffcrom]

When I listen to music on 78 that I know very well from LP or CD reissues, I'm almost always amazed by how much more of a presence the original 78 issue has. Little details, like the sizzle of cymbals, the presence of a rhythm guitar, the real sound of a tuba, often come through much more clearly on 78 than on LP or CD reissues. I hear nuances and subtleties in familiar recordings often for the first time.

I have a couple of near-mint Louis Armstrong Hot Five 78s - the lineup with Earl Hines. The first time I played them, my reaction was, "Oh, that's what Zutty Singleton is doing." After years of familiarity with those recordings on LP and CD, I had very little idea of how much of the drumming actually got recorded.

[crisp]

I wonder if the ripping software is letting you down somehow...

Good lord, don't say that! I've ripped more than 22,000 files! I'm using XLD on a Macbook with an external disc drive. Widely recommended. Should be OK.

It might just be my ears. The sound initially wasn't worse, it was just different. I'm happier with it now that JRiver has replaced Replay Gain with their own system. In fact I can't tell the difference.

[jazztrain]

Jeff,

That's exactly the sort of thing I was alluding to, the sense of hearing things for the first time even in music that you thought you knew well.

When I listen to music on 78 that I know very well from LP or CD reissues, I'm almost always amazed by how much more of a presence the original 78 issue has. Little details, like the sizzle of cymbals, the presence of a rhythm guitar, the real sound of a tuba, often come through much more clearly on 78 than on LP or CD reissues. I hear nuances and subtleties in familiar recordings often for the first time.

I have a couple of near-mint Louis Armstrong Hot Five 78s - the lineup with Earl Hines. The first time I played them, my reaction was, "Oh, that's what Zutty Singleton is doing." After years of familiarity with those recordings on LP and CD, I had very little idea of how much of the drumming actually got recorded.

[Scott Dolan]

I wonder if the ripping software is letting you down somehow...

Good lord, don't say that! I've ripped more than 22,000 files! I'm using XLD on a Macbook with an external disc drive. Widely recommended. Should be OK.

It might just be my ears. The sound initially wasn't worse, it was just different. I'm happier with it now that JRiver has replaced Replay Gain with their own system. In fact I can't tell the difference.

Ah, OK. Could just be power of suggestion as I've been talking about in the speaker wire thread. As humans we possess a maddening ability to fool ourselves into hearing differences that do not exist. Hey, I've been guilty of it myself. The important part is that you're enjoying what you're listening to.

I don't know if you have any direct suppliers in your country, but if you do And they have 30 day return policies, I would highly recommend getting a nice DAC and audition it. If it doesn't make noticeable changes in your audio you can always send it back and have your money refunded. I knew one tune in that mine was a keeper. The most appreciable audio enhancement since I went from a low-fi to a mid-fi system. It was far more than an incremental improvement.

[crisp]

Good advice, Scott. I'll look into it.