 
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
|
|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
196.3.50.254
In Reply to: Re: Finally an Honest Answer................ posted by Dan Banquer on June 20, 2006 at 04:54:03:
Considering the noise floor of most home environments and the noise floor in many recording venues, I would say that 70 or 80db seems to be enough. Why don't you feel this is adequate...assuming of course that we are not talking about modern 10db dynamic range recordings but wide bandwidth recordings. BTW, I have some completely uncompressed material, one being a stereo mic recording of Prokovifiev's Romeo and Juliet. No compression and done with a single Royerlabs stereo ribbon mic (blumlein configuration). Now this recording is a ball buster for most systems,which make it sound like a jumbled mess a few do it ok and I have heard one or two sound glorious with it. I heard the same piece live (different orchestra, different hall, different order of the parts) and it surprised me how much this minimalist recording sounded like live.Now the recording was made digitally and I looked at the recording on the computer to see what the widest range between soft passages and loud ones were and the difference was around 45db. Even with no music the range was in the mid 50s simply from background noise in the music hall. However, I have no doubt that we can hear below that noise floor but it cannot be seen graphically very easily. If you follow the decay of sounds into that background then maybe you need another 20-30db before they are completely inaudible (the noise will affect how low in level you can hear). This would support something like 80db as about all we would need, would it not?
This is the best recording I have in the regard of measureable dynamic range (I looked at a few others that were in the 40db range as well), maybe better ones exist but I haven't heard them. So I don't know how deep we can really hear into recordings.
Maybe you know if this exists but is there an SPL measurement system where one can zero the background noise and then measure the sound level of a recording in the room. With UV spectrometers one can correct the signal with a blank background measurement and then the data is starting with essentially no background noise. This would then give some idea how low the real sound levels from one of these recordings really goes...of course it is important to set the peaks at a realistic level. Once this is done you could easily see what kind of low level resolution your system has. As it is now I can only measure in my room to about 40db because that is the background noise level. If I could zero that out then I could have the contribution only from the system.
Follow Ups:
I laughed out when I read Dan Banquer's response to your post, it was about time someone called you up on the Royerlabs recording, By the way is that Prokofiev recording out on commercial release? I own one of the pop recordings showcased on that CD and I laughed once more when I listened to both cuts side by side, the finished CD sounds as good or maybe slightly better than the cut from the master tape. Listening to that CD further reinforces my opinion that many audiophiles own colored systems and their problems with unsatisfactory playback of many pop recordings are generally self-inflicted.
Music making the painting, recording it the photograph
You have a few problems that need to be addressed. Lowering the ambient noise in the room, lowering the noise in the electronics, and finding just where the low level linearity of your speakers stops.
I have those same recordings from Russ Dawkins that you have, there is no need to keep rehashing them in your posts.
BTW: Recording engineers tell me that the maximum dynamic range they use on CD is somewhere between 60 to 70 db. Anything above that and most folks systems just can't handle it. They also prefer 20 bits over 16 bits for the added low level linearity.
d.b.
"Lowering the ambient noise in the room"Are you telling me that the ambient noise in your room is lower than 40db? If so then you have a very quiet room.
The noise from my equipment is quite low (no audible noise from the speakers until one presses the ear to the speaker).
Ok, I won't rehash for you about this recording, didn't know you had it. Do you like the music, BTW? I heard a better performance in Zürich.
Do you have a cd that actually has 70db dynamic range? If so, what is it?
Your S/N from your equipment is probably nowhere near as good as you might think, and in all probability neither is your grounding in your equipment. Take a residual noise, and a S/N of your system to confirm that. Using room treatment will help to additionaly quiet your room.
Telarc Classical has produced some excellent classical recordings with very wide dynamic range. I have a recording of the Cincinnatti orchestra doing Aaron Copland that is just wonderful.
d.b.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
