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Thread: BeoLab 5

  1. #16
    JonFairhurst
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    Rob,

    I've done a similar test with a frequency sweep from my PC. I'm running a professional 24/96 card (Echo MIA), so the quality is quite good. I've also got a Behringer test mic that I can use to balance things.

    You're right about such a test being brutal! Things will be stable for a while, then you hit a tiny resonance point in the room and the tone jumps all over the place! I don't have an EQ, but I'd imagine that chasing everything down for a stable image to be like herding mosquitos.

    Another point about imaging. I do some work with sample libraries and midi compositions. Yeah it's not like a live recording, but the results can be darn impressive these days, and it's cheaper than renting an orchestra to try out your ideas.

    Anyway, the sample libs are 16-bit, but by the time you mix the levels of each instrument down, and given that you don't play every note ffff, the lsbs make it down to the bottom of a 24-bit recording. I did a piece recently that made a really wild, alive image. It wasn't natural, but was really interesting and vivid. I then mixed it to 16-bits... Gone. The image was just gone. It was as if every instrument was along a horizintal line, whereas before, the image was in/out, up/down.

    I gotta get me more DVD-As.

  2. #17
    Administrator Robh3606's Avatar
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    Hello Jon

    I have read a couple of articles about bit depth and the importance of the LSB and ambiance and nuance. Real compelling arguement for the H-Res formats. Do they have software yet where a home recordist can author the disks??

    Rob

  3. #18
    JonFairhurst
    Guest
    There's authoring software, but last I looked, it was way past my budget. I'd give it another year.

    The other issue is the leapfrogging of formats. CDs have been 16/44 forever, then the pro soundcards (and the chipset makers who support them) went 24/96 for PC audio. Now DVD-A comes out at 24/192 and SACD with a multi-MHz 1-bit output. But most soundcards don't do that. And the new Creative card doesn't count. It does re-sampling and such, just to get the 192 kHz number. None of the pros that I know will touch it.

    I would guess that next year the software and hardware (and sample libraries) will be up to snuff.

    BTW, SACD is possibly best for live recordings and capturing analog master tapes. But, if you need to mix, you'll be going PCM in the DVD-A format, or something like it. So, for me, DVD-A is the better choice.

    And, for an example of how far MIDI mock-ups have progressed, check out this one from professional composer Andy Brick: Grand Hungarian Overture Try that with your basic MIDI soundcard.

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