You can try using the A-6 with a really poor valve amp perhaps that might go some way to adding the requisite distortion. Keith
Wow @Nutul do you really think that kind of attitude is either necessary or helpful? I am not saying vinyl is better, it’s just different in its quality because it is analogue. HQ streaming is amazing, but just like vinyl, has its limitations. It is simply a fact that analogue 3rd/4th order harmonic saturation imparts a distinct and audible separation which delivers more dimension and width to the sound stage. The plugin I refer to is the closest match I have heard to Neve quality saturation. The cost of a physical Neve unit to achieve that sound is around £4K and it manifestly doesn’t generate hums, cracks or pops-it is the cream of the crop of pro audio gear. If you don’t want your Eversolo to have the separation of a £4K Neve unit and sound even better that it does that’s up to you, but this is a feature request thread, and I posted a feature request, setting out what it would do and how it could work. You, on the other hand, did not.
Another person reveals their ignorance of music production beyond digital streaming resolution. Amazing that ‘audiophiles’ have no idea what saturation is or what it does to audio… I run Focal reference monitors at home and in the studio, thanks.
@NealeH4n I have 3 Headphone-Amps. A Lake-People/Violectric, an SPL-Phonitor and an Feliks-Audio Headphone Tube-Amp. The latter beats them all, by far and without a doubt.
You did, hence my comment. P.S. Separation, soundstage, and the like have nothing to do with the media/source; just with room and speakers; and eventually all kind of distortion your phono stage / preamp / amp may be willing to add..
Can you point me to any research on 2nd/3rd harmonic distortion increasing soundstage? Genuine question. Keith
Play primarily classical files by streaming and files loaded to a 4 tab internal ssd. Don't know whether it is a problem with my 6a or not, but it cannot do the following: 1: my prepro cannot do 176 or 192. Have set the 6a to 96 and 88 khz gapless but it still transmits 176 and 192 to prepro. 2. Plus it won't play gapless. It just keeps repeating the same track unless I press the forward button. 3. Would it be possible to be able to set a maximum kHz output through hdmi and spdif. Have you set the EOS setting OFF ? This is necessary if you want to specify the sampling rate as other than original. thank you for answer: 1. Isee where you can set max kHz in spdif output, but not for hdmi output. 2. I thought that if you turn off eos, only Bluetooth 48 kHz passthrough is allowed. 3. Still have the problem that with internal files on ssd, there is no gapless playback with one file repeating until the forward button is hit.
Can you point me to any research on 2nd/3rd harmonic distortion increasing soundstage? It’s not the harmonic distortion that increases soundstage and supplies a feeling of space, but the natural dither of vinyl and tape hiss that gives some feeling of the sounds our bodies are accustomed to in the natural environment, especially in concert halls surrounded by others. Digital lacks this which is disconcerting. I once sat in a completely light and sounded speaker test room which was very disturbing after a short period. The second order distortion of tubes and vfets supplies the warmth that defines analog vs. digital. Digital does supply pitch accuracy, but except for high bit rate recordings, loses the below least significant bit air that surrounds us. Measure your listening room's dB at its quietest and I’ll bet it’s somewhere around 40 dB, while a concert hall full of people and instruments is above 50 dB before the music even begins. This noise floor has to be cut off in 16 bit recordings, except in most pop recordings these days which probably only use a few bits.
Analogue replay does have poorer dynamic range, much higher intermodulation distortion, tracking and tracing distortion etc, I haven't seen any research that correlates to soundstage width or depth though. Valve amps don’t have to have audible distortion, of course valve amps without audible distortion sound just like solid state. 16 bits provides 96dB of audible range far greater than the ear can resolve so cutting the noise floor off doesn’t really fly does it. Keith
16 bits provides 96dB of audible range far greater than the ear can resolve so cutting the noise floor off doesn’t really fly does it. 96 dB minus 60 dB of concert hall noise gives only 36 to 46 dB of range. The average orchestra can put out 90 dB. Vinyl and tape may only allow 60 dB of range, but can accommodate many more dB of sound embedded in the tape and vinyl hiss . I was able to obtain several hundred second or third generation master tapes many years ago from the the major recording labels, which I subsequently transcribed to 24/96 digital files. To me,the digital files still sound superior to what's being produced by the same labels now. Was it the analog, tape machines, or the tube electronics or the microphones, or perhaps the recording engineers, I fdon't know. Can only say that to me, they still sound closer to the live concert experience than most digital produced today.
Why has the Feature Request thread devolved into one of those pesky "Vinyl vs. Digital" threads? Both playback methods have their value; I use both extensively. More often than not, any difference in sound quality lies in the mastering. But given that this is a forum for purely digital components, maybe we could all cut the bickering and focus on feature requests.
Because at least one member has the psychological constraint to prove that we listen to music, not with our ears, but with an audio precision analyzer.
That is a lie, an attack on the member and an attempt to turn this into an "objective vs. subjective" fight.
You are neither a psychologist nor are you able to look into a person’s mind. It maybe your "truth", but it’s not reality. Could we all now PLEASE return to feature requests?
There’s a huge volume of videos on the use of saturation in music on YouTube. @DanWorrall is probably the most astute engineer who deals with all things music production…he’s amazingly pedantic. This basic explainer from Sonorworks.https://www.sonarworks.com/blog/learn/when-distortion-is-good Then there’s the huge number of manufacturers who develop hardware and plugins that utilise odd/even 2/3/4 order harmonics in production. This is a review of tape saturation emulation from mastering engineer Streaky-another outstanding engineer. The plugin I now use which absolutely delivers the Neve sound is the VoosteQ Model N. This is a great explainer from @therecordist My feature suggestion is not for the full channel strip…no one needs a bus compressor on mastered music…but just engaging the console 1 emulator mimics the separation you get from high end analogue circuitry. It may be subtle, but what it did to my streaming audio in the studio blew me away. It’s beautiful and I’d love to be able to engage it ITB on my Eversolo streamer…that’s the feature request. My initial observation about the analogue warmth you get from vinyl was illustrative. I’m not saying it’s better blah, blah. I’m just referencing the fact that there is a manifest difference between the two domains and technology now exists to add that separation. If you like digital without it, fine. No one is forcing you to engage anything, but I’d like the choice.
I agree entirely. My request is a digital feature that provides analogue warmth ITB. Of course vinyl has its drawbacks, but to get the quality of the separation that occurs from an analogue signal path on a beautiful streamer like the Eversolo would blow every other streamer out of the water. The VoosteQ emulation is as good as it gets. It’s phenomenal.
