The biggest and most satisfying improvement is with poor recordings. I bought an album recently by Kara - "We Are Shining". Dance music with African rhythms. A mighty fine album to those of us that like to "boogie". But the sound is typical poor modern electronic there is a wall of hash / noise with the music. So much so I thought it was just part of the recording. Anyway it was bad enough to prevent me listening to it on the Orelino's (it actually even sounds bad on my study system and even in the car). After the server mods (rather incredibly) the "hash" has pretty much completely disappeared.
What Paul describes here, actually would deserve its own topic, but alas, I think it would die because of no context then. So like often, just let's put it right in tne middle of that context, while actually it could be THE subject of all. But it can't because it's just a resulting phenomenon.
What I like to put forward, or make clear to *everybody* if possible, is what Paul means by this "hash" or "no noise".
My ears tell me that these mods reduce "noise" not just change it.
BUT I reckon you need the "open window" of NOS1a and Orelino's to really hear the difference. That really is a testament to the quality of this system IMHO.
With the clear notice "Who the heck is PeterSt then ?!" I like to emphasize that for a first time I see someone write about the real essentials which show to me that "he" has now achieved a system which shoud perform like my own. This sounds snobbish perhaps, but really what I like to put forward is all over praise about Paul, who now can do what I can do myself. Of course, this takes this well behaving system, but it also takes the minute observations which may take years and years to learn. But once you can do that, you can see (or will see) that it is a communication means. So in this case Paul communicates at least with me, but oh boy, how difficult is that for others. "Noise is reduced". Yeah, nice. But I understand and I'd like so much to bring that across to others. Thus my attempt :
It was only 5 weeks or so ago, that I could show this very phenomonon of "no noise" to someone who came over for an audition and who brought his fine Weiss;
Played through that for 45 minutes and random tracks were played. Most I did not know, but we ended with something I recognized, before we switched to the NOS1. Yes, "1" and not "1a".
We planned to play in reverse order and since the person had also brought his own PC, I had to ask him what that last track was. Oh, it was a track from Yello - Touch. Huh ? Ok, I carefully selected the album in question because 3 versions of it exist, so I was sure it was the same one. This already with the idea to be very careful because I would never have guessed it was that Yello album in the first place. Still I gues I have played the album 20-30 times. So I should know it.
Remark in between the lines : This album is one of the toughest to get going well. I am sure nobody really recognizes this as such, but it has
something in it that enables the possibility that you wouldn't dare to play it, were it for showing off your system. When you don't know what is going on with it, you can feel that it has to be something about high resolution, never mind it is 16/44.1 (though one of the versions is 24/48). So there's very granular (silk though nicely sharp) highs in it, and I'd say that because this "high resolution" is in there throughout (so also the lower frequencies) something goes wrong. Today I can say "when not rendered well", but back in 2009 (when it was new) I thought that Yello had lost it and the recording was bad. I mean, their other albums are just fine.
And so we played the same track through the NOS1 and right from the start we both said that this couldn't be the same track. I added : but at least now I recognize it !
haha
All what this track is (and I should have remembered the track name) is a very cosy sound produced by synthesizers, mostly in the more lower frequencies and you could say it ain't nothing much (for listening to). Well, through the Weiss the sound was supported by one big hail storm and when I say "supported" this is wrongly put, because the hail storm was supported by some bass lines. Now whether Costello or Kara or (perceived) worse, we all (you all) must think in terms of more heavy rain or hail in the background to understand what I mean - what Paul means. Don't tell yourself the "oh sure", but envision that that rain.
Through the NOS1 that rain had almost vanished but do notice that especially with such a comparison, both versions will come across to you as "belongs to it". ONLY because you hear both versions and can compare, you can start to think about which is the real one. Nice ...
but neither.
So we then compared with the NOS1a (yes, "a" now) and it was to-tal-ly not there. And so it doesn't belong in there at all.
This is what's often described as "black background" but which won't tell you a thing unless you can (accidentally) compare in such extreme fashion. And really, when such HASH is in there, it makes a track completely unrecognizable if you are used to it not being there.
Because we accidentally found these extreme differences, I could play with different filter settings (XXHighEnd) and it really was seconds work (per trial) to perceive the difference and rank it. So say it took 2 minutes all together to find the best filter setting, just by listening to this amount of hash. If that isn't crazy then I don't know what is.
The things I quoted from Paul's fine post is all about how a better system too, can sneak in. So if our latest NOS1a tells me graduately that all sounds better as it seems, it
can be all about such a simple phenomenon only. So, I do know that the "a" is way better to this aspect, but then I play "electronic" music for maybe this reason; it shows fairly easily (for better or for worse).
But what's that hash actually ? I think that depends, but let's look at this :
Strings, wind instruments etc all now have a "bell like" clarity.
This was my description and assumed Paul didn't copy my words (would be difficuilt anyway because of the slightly differerent context -> ) I described the transformation to the Blaxius as "all sounds as bells" because I could not find a better description. The bells are literally there as well, but otherwise I think what we try to describe is the harmonics in all. So mind you, "crystal clear" doesn't carry harmonics. Bells do and very many of them. And at high frequencies. And low. Sometimes our brain is very creative, unconsciously. Anyway :
What I have seen (and described) is that a rush of hash - al so normal to you, especially when you are used to the track for decades, can transform to a simple hit on a bell, when rendered well. In my case ? oh, NOS1a was OK, software is fine, amps are on par and speakers no problem. But the Blaxius wasn't in yet. So hash (or rain and hail and what misery not) turns into a bell. Yes.
When you read this, it testifies that you could still hold on to my Dutch (and thank you for that), but a message could be : when you see these things happening so clearly, you will start to see that we will never be ultimately there. I myself am in the stage of sheer reality, but I also already have heard Beatles tracks with a dozen or so African washboard players (or scratchers or better : dancers) while not any washboard is there in my normal system. We just have NO CLUE what's all in there, and of which recording engineers back at the time "and still today) will have thought "oh well". And I sm sooo serious you know. Just complete new instruments, only because that not-so-black background appears to be something that's an instrument while without the knowledge it only comes across as a "poor recording". But how long and how many times haven't I said it already : poor recordings do hardly exist. But for some it takes so much to reproduce them well. And if I survive it - let's look after ten years from now where we are. And I bet you ...
So guys, I wasn't telling that my system can do what these MoBo mods do. Not at all. Only that it is clear to me that when descriptions are like that from Paul, it most clearly shows an improvement which is for very real. We all will have "this" better than you, while you have "that" better than he. If this is all brought together we might get there. Whether 10 years is enough ? probably not. But let's continue and try. Our goal ? when something sounds nasty, there's more behind it and it has to be dug out. I'm telling you !
Great thanks, Nick.
Peter
