2. analog
  3. 180592-151430

System that sounds so real it is easy to mistaken it is not live

My current stereo system consists of Oracle turntable with SME IV tonearm, Dynavector XV cartridge feeding Manley Steelhead and two Snappers monoblocks  running 15" Tannoy Super Gold Monitors. Half of vinyl records are 45 RMP and were purchased new from Blue Note, AP, MoFI, IMPEX and some others. While some records play better than others none of them make my system sound as good as a live band I happened to see yesterday right on a street. The musicians played at the front of outdoor restaurant. There was a bass guitar, a drummer, a keyboard and a singer. The electric bass guitar was connected to some portable floor speaker and drums were not amplified. The sound of this live music, the sharpness and punch of it, the sound of real drums, the cymbals, the deepness, thunder-like sound of bass guitar coming from probably $500 dollars speaker was simply mind blowing. There is a lot of audiophile gear out there. Some sound better than others. Have you ever listened to a stereo system that produced a sound that would make you believe it was a real live music or live band performance at front of you?

 

esputnix
curiousjim's avatar
curiousjim
4,153 posts
 

Nope. 

aewarren
575 posts
 

I've had neighbors ask, "Is this the house where the band lives?" Imagine Miles and Trane living in my house.

itsjustme
681 posts
 

Um. Complex topic.

As many have noted, few systems can reproduce the dynamic range of live music, especially near field.

But overall the biggest limiting factor is recordings. Recordings vary from terrible to very, very good - but few are in that later range. Some are poor on purpose (compressed for playback in noisy environments and on normal systems). Most never strive for audiophile or prioritize speed, fancy production effects, etc over purity.  They may sound artistic but never "real".  Others are just not perfect. Either way i maintain the recording itself(along with mastering) is the single largest/most meaningful variable. The room and setup may well be next, and few even TRY to get that right.

I have heard a few systems with huge speakers (one was IRS-IIIs), with master tapes or similar, and 100s of watts per channel, in a decent sized room. That came close. For smaller jazz bands and chamber, my system can sometimes startle - but its pretty pricey and tuned (if one looks at market prices...) as well.

 

But again, it really comes down to the recording. I’ve been startled, as have others with both analog and digital BTW. Those who demean digital sinply have not gotten it right - it has faults, yes, but so does vinyl.

G

dchang05
60 posts
 

a live performance will not sound like even the most expensive systems. They just do not sound alike.

fair
51 posts
 

Binaural recording of a live performance at 192/24 with zero mixing and mastering tends to sound pretty convincing on decent headphones.

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