ANALOG vs DIGITAL - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Listening Feedback Room Better Listening Through Software Not so long ago, using a computer as an audio source was a convenience, the next step beyond the five-disc CD changer. The technology has been developing, however, and our own research has revealed ways that we can make computer audio sound like a CD player. Indeed, we can make it sound like all but the very best CD player. We’re not the only ones to have noticed. At audio shows, actual CD 48 ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> players are becoming less common. Exhibitors in great numbers are using either a turntable…or a laptop computer. And they’re getting great sound. As for audiophiles, a number of them are now integrating an actual computer within their music systems. Several companies make small fanless computers that even look as though they could be high end components (but don’t cost as much), and the most popular of them is the Mac mini. Unobtrusive and quiet, it starts around $600. Add an outboard DVD drive (the mini no longer has one) plus outboard hard drives for capacity and perhaps security, and you’re all set. It needs no monitor, keyboard or mouse, since it can be controlled through Screen Sharing from another Mac, or (with third-party software) from an iPad. The major advantage to a dedicated on-the-spot computer, as opposed to an over-the-air link like the popular Airport Express, is that you are not limited
to the Red Book CD standard. The natural way to play music from a Mac is to use Apple’s own iTunes software, which comes free with OS X. If you own an iPod, in fact, iTunes is mandatory, either on a Mac or on a Windows PC. And iTunes works well. Very well. But are there alternatives? We’ve noticed that many show exhibitors are running their demos not with iTunes by itself, but with an additional software package called Pure Music. It caught our attention, because we were familiar with the first premium playback software on the market, Amarra. But Amarra was initially expensive, at nearly $1000 for the full-blown version. It has since dropped to $695, and the “Mini” version, which is perfectly adequate for today’s hardware, is $295. Pure music, on the other hand, is just $129 (all prices in US dollars). We wanted to listen for ourselves, and to compare both Pure Music and Amarra to the free iTunes. Pure Music This software is from a company called Channel D, which we know well. Channel D was the first to offer a software-based audio measurement system for Macintosh, with the quirky name of Mac the Scope. We used it for a time, eventually shifting to FuzzMeasure. For users who have their music stored in an iTunes database, Pure Music is nothing if not convenient. Launch iTunes, then launch Pure Music, and you’ll see the Pure Music control console and readout to the left and above the iTunes window. Using it couldn’t it be easier, because you can actually ignore it and just use iTunes as usual. For instance, if you click iTunes’ play button, iTunes doesn’t play, and Pure Music does instead. Talk about transparent! But transparent doesn’t mean easy to set up. Actually, the manuals of both software packages require long study, and it’s not impossible that you’ll emerge with less hair than you started with. Then again, software like this has the sort of depth that is likely to require followup sessions. Full disclosure: one of our panelists, Toby, owns a copy of Pure Music, and uses it along with a pro-level box connected via Firewire. He confirmed that he didn’t find it easy to set up, but he loves the sound he gets from it. We installed both pieces of software on a MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard. We ran a TOSLINK optical cable to our Moon 300D converter and hence to our Omega reference system. The MacBook Pro was remote-controlled via Screen Sharing from a MacBook Air. We used four selections for this first evaluation, two of them Red Book CDstandard, two of them 24-bit 96 kHz recordings from Fidelio. We might as well say right off that all four sounded wonderful with iTunes. But could we do better by buying additional software? The first selection was Haï Luli, an art song by 19th Century composer Pauline Viardot Garcia (Analekta AN 2 9903). The difference afforded by Pure Music was subtle, but both Steve and Toby preferred it. “The midrange was less forward,” Toby said, “and it was less congested in the loud passages. The piano was lighter, and the accelerated tempo carried me along.” Steve agreed, finding that Pure Music moderated a certain stridency in the higher notes of the song. He too was drawn in. We seem to have trouble doing any reviews these days without including Margie Gibson’s CD, Say It With Music. We selected the sentimental ballad Soft Lights and Sweet Music, which she does so well. On this recording we could not agree. Gerard, who had heard relatively little difference with the first recording, was more enthusiastic about this one. He praised the articulation on Margie’s voice, and he also had good words for the way the piano and the cello were reproduced. Steve, on the contrary, thought that the cello seemed muddy and indistinct, and judged that the way each note decayed was less natural. Toby noted right off that he had been enthusiastic even about the iTunes version of the song, but he liked the Pure Music version even more. “The relative balance of frequencies is different,” he said. “The sound was less forward, and that made the instruments easier to follow. Gibson’s lower register was really good with Pure Music. On the passage where she sings music must flow, the instruments better supported her voice. The harmonic interplay was superior, and there was more detail and coherence.” What you might take away from that is that Pure Music really does change the sound, but our reactions were not identical. Fortunately, there are demo versions of these products, so that you can try them. We have several of Reference Recordings’ gorgeous HRx recordings, in effect ULTRA HIGH FIDELITY <strong>Magazine</strong> 49 Listening Feedback Room
Page 1 and 2: No. 91 CAN $6.49 / US $7.69 ANALOG
Page 3 and 4: Issue No. 91 Cover story: It’s sm
Page 5 and 6: DOG-EARED MAGAZINES ARE WRONG! And
Page 7 and 8: I was quite impressed with Paul Ber
Page 9 and 10: the original models — true? I can
Page 11 and 12: An hendreet nonsenim dit, ver sustr
Page 13 and 14: Duissi exerat, quis nos nulla feugu
Page 15 and 16: nonullam il et, quipit in ea faccum
Page 17 and 18: TAVES did, however, run into a prob
Page 19 and 20: utatue consequat. Cil et veraessisl
Page 21 and 22: seemed as if the music was elevated
Page 23 and 24: singers use that. And it’s the fi
Page 25 and 26: Music and memory Is there such a th
Page 27 and 28: velendre er ing euis nonulla faccum
Page 29 and 30: sion. The dead time could be used t
Page 31 and 32: The people at Reference Recordings
Page 33 and 34: The Firebird ballet sounded disturb
Page 35 and 36: weight.” But the piano nonetheles
Page 37 and 38: Get UHF from Maggie on your desktop
Page 39 and 40: conullaor si bla consecte et exerit
Page 41 and 42: THE ACOUSTIC COLLECTION: This is th
Page 43 and 44: significant. Besides, we were reluc
Page 45 and 46: Products of special value, at The A
Page 47: speakers like those is not what the
Page 51 and 52: Music was evident. “I picked up t
Page 53 and 54: INTERCONNECTS ATLAS NAVIGATOR Oxyge
Page 55 and 56: UHF14 POWER BAR Most power bars kno
Page 57 and 58: ed pepper to its music. Felix Hell
Page 59 and 60: We Get Requests (CD) An amazing 196
Page 61 and 62: There is lots of nostalgia in pop m
Page 63 and 64: them what should have been a rendez
Page 65 and 66: accum nissequam ero eraestrud dolor
Page 67 and 68: sendipit nit aliquisi eu facincidun
Page 69 and 70: lum alismolore ming esent vullamc o
Page 71 and 72: their church services. For them, an
Page 73 and 74: How to Sing the Blues Most Blues be
Page 75 and 76: unconvincing in the second. And —
Page 77 and 78: “Blu-ray Essentials” label, wit
Page 79 and 80: Apple to the rescue? With the TV bu
Page 81 and 82: Blockbuster Canada, which is of cou
Page 83 and 84: Why do UHF readers start reading th

ANALOG vs DIGITAL - Ultra High Fidelity Magazine

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?