This Friday Night

Blackmore · « **on:** 8 Feb 2012, 01:03 am »

Anybody doing any audio Friday night? Need to get out of the house and do some listening. All offers considered.

Hell, I'll even let you hear the Kitties if you want to travel out to Lowtherhaus.

Hello......is anyone there?

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #1 on:** 8 Feb 2012, 01:24 am »

I'd love to, but I gotta word Friday and Saturday.

But I'm looking forward to an audio "thing" with some of the boys. It's been a long time.

Good luck "bacheloring" it on Friday. If it's cool, be sure to take pictures.

Bob

catastrofe · « **Reply #2 on:** 8 Feb 2012, 01:43 am »

I can't...have some friends in from out of town. Enjoy!

Mitsuman · « **Reply #3 on:** 8 Feb 2012, 01:45 am »

Quote from: Bob in St. Louis on 8 Feb 2012, 01:24 am

I'd love to, but I gotta word Friday and Saturday.
But I'm looking forward to an audio "thing" with some of the boys. It's been a long time.

Good luck "bacheloring" it on Friday. If it's cool, be sure to take pictures.

Bob

This, scares me.

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #4 on:** 8 Feb 2012, 01:51 am »

Quote from: Mitsuman on 8 Feb 2012, 01:45 am

This, scares me.

Exactly.

I'm trying to encourage him to do something worthy of our entertainment via photographs.

Bob

thunderbrick · « **Reply #5 on:** 8 Feb 2012, 02:01 am »

Don't you get into enough trouble watching porn at work, Bob?

Blackmore · « **Reply #6 on:** 8 Feb 2012, 02:07 am »

Turns out there is a little GAS action this weekend. I think I'm heading to Scott's to check up on the patient and do some hi-rez rips from vinyl. We need some more Parliament and Funkadelics for the next trip in the Lincoln and I found a cool way to rip to 24/96 for cheap.

"I, state your name, do solemnly promise to preserve this meeting through photographic records. I will not divulge any secrets of the order to anyone, except that they are also of the order."

Hey Bob, remind me to tell you how I donated to your kids' school funding. Let's just say that no good deed goes unpunished.

Scott F. · « **Reply #7 on:** 8 Feb 2012, 02:21 am »

Hey,

If a couple more want to make the trek, you are more than welcome to come by. I've got the iFi chair hooked up and its sounding pretty good

Mr Peabody · « **Reply #8 on:** 10 Feb 2012, 03:27 am »

Looks like you've found something to do but maybe next time you have open shoot me an email, I'm always interested in meeting fellow audio hobbyists and especially hearing different gear.

sturgus · « **Reply #9 on:** 10 Feb 2012, 03:45 am »

Sure wish I could make it. I really need to get out and hear the new room. Enjoy guys.
Sturg

Blackmore · « **Reply #10 on:** 10 Feb 2012, 03:49 am »

The camera will be ready. Hey Sturgus, the ladies downstairs talk about you all the time. You made a great impression on them.

bpape · « **Reply #11 on:** 10 Feb 2012, 03:00 pm »

Can't make it - in-laws in town.

Enjoy!

Blackmore · « **Reply #12 on:** 11 Feb 2012, 05:48 am »

Great time at Scott's. We were using the Zoom H2 handheld recorder to rip 24/96 from vinyl. This little $129 device was super easy to use and the results were quite good. Line out of the preamp into the line/mic input on the little Zoom and we were ready to rip

Our first track was from Rare Bird

Then we tried a Zoom H1 with the same cut.

Transfer to Scott's computer was easy since we could pull the SD card from the recorder and plug it right into the card reader. Then it was transferred to J.River and the tracks are definitely 24/96. Recorded quality was quite, quite good from the H2 and decent from the H1. The H2 was just more present, lively and the bass was tighter. Scott thought the imaging was close to the vinyl rig, too. Don't get me wrong; the vinyl was better but the Zoom H2 was so darn easy to use and it let us rip to the computer at hi-rez without hauling the table over to the computer. And it is a nice stereo recorder for occasional use. I think Scott will buy one so that those obscure tracks that will never be available can be added to his music library on computer and it makes transferring vinyl to the "badass Lincoln" stupid easy.

I've included a shot of the listening room from the iFi chair

Finally, here's the last bit of vinyl we spun before I headed home.

So, what did we learn? That for $129 you can make your own hi-rez files from your vinyl and do a great job. It is easy to use, simple to transfer, sounds great and it also includes a stereo mic, 4 channel mic, metronome, tuner. If you're like me and can't possibly get a turntable close to the computer to take advantage of programs like Audacity or PureVinyl, the Zoom recorders are just too cool.

Hey Bob: I know how much you love Macintosh/Apple so here's a final shot of my iPod Nano watch.

lonewolfny42 · « **Reply #13 on:** 11 Feb 2012, 06:14 am »

Cool device....Link

Blackmore · « **Reply #14 on:** 11 Feb 2012, 12:18 pm »

Thanks for the link, Chris. I think Scott is going to order the new H2n. Bigger screen (good for our old eyes) and I like the new layout of control buttons. $156 at Amazon or the original H2 is $137. Either way, you're groovin' at 24/96 easy. I should point out that Yamaha, Korg, Marantz, etc. all make similar devices and may be great choices, too. I just happen to have the Zoom babies available to borrow from my high school band program.

Blackmore · « **Reply #15 on:** 11 Feb 2012, 12:57 pm »

Whoa, personal foul on me. I forgot to mention the music and the sound.

Scott has one of the new Mhdt Labs "Stockholm" DAC that is supposed to do hi-rez better. I thought the sound was extremely good and a step up from his previous Havana. Don't know if Scott agrees with that, but I really liked the Faller-cave a lot last night. We started with some Oliver Nelson "The Blues and the Abstract Truth". Killer! Then we went "symphonic electronica" with the soundtrack from the new "Tron" Daft Punk. The Altecs were throbbing the basement.

The imaging from the Lowther OB was much better than the last time I was at Scott's and I think the Stockholm was the only difference to the system. Very smooth top end, big soundstage and killer bass. I was impressed!

Next up, the favorite of all our "inner 7th grade boy"--Weird Al "Out of Lynnwood". White and Nerdy at 95 dB was too funny and then, my favorite, "Do I creep you out?" We were giggling like the boys in the back row of class when Weird Al sang, "can I sniff the pit-stains in your blouse, Do I creep you out???" God, how does Laura stand to be in the same house with us?

After some great pizza from Massa's, (thanks Laura) we did the hi-rez dubs to check sound quality and spun that strange dance mix of "Sweet Dreams Are Made Of This" just to watch the Lowthers pump in and out. I thought the PM2A only had 1 mm of excursion. We were way over that.

Anyway, great evening of music discovery for me, great food, great fun and I didn't forget the camera. Now I'm off this morning to listen to an entire day of indoor drumline competition. Earplugs will be firmly placed in both ears.

Scott F. · « **Reply #16 on:** 11 Feb 2012, 01:04 pm »

Thanks for making it over Mark!

Like Mark said, the Zoom was super easy to use and made a stunningly good 24/96 recording. I was impressed and yes, I'm picking up the H2.

I've been wanting to rip a bunch of obscure stuff from vinyl but I've absolutely dreaded the thought of using my old Philips CDR to do it. The H2 will make it a snap. Very cool

Scott F. · « **Reply #17 on:** 11 Feb 2012, 01:34 pm »

...the music....

Like everybody's system, you came by on a good day. She was in a good mood and sounding pretty darned inviting last night.

I'm with you, the Stockholm does sound better than a Havana. It's still only a 16/44 chip but what they've done is first, make it async which lowers jitter tremendously since you now have a big memory buffer on board. Then the receiver chip can accept 24/192. It then down samples to 16/44. The net effect on the sound is similar to improvement of a 'remastered' over an old original digital transfer. Clarity takes a jump, focus is better, pretty much everything improves. It's not HiRez but it's considerably better than 16/44. I've got to start the write up for ETM soon where I'll expand on that quite a bit. Overall, I like it a lot. Now I just have to install some Sprague Vitamin Q PIO bypass caps on the outputs

Gotta love Weird Al

...drum lines in a closed gym...now THAT's scary

Hey! Perfect opportunity for a live, 'sport' recording with the H2. That way you can share your pain with everybody

Bob in St. Louis · « **Reply #18 on:** 12 Feb 2012, 01:58 pm »

Quote from: Blackmore on 11 Feb 2012, 05:48 am

Hey Bob: I know how much you love Macintosh/Apple so here's a final shot of my iPod Nano watch.

I like that!
I am opening up to the iStuff though. I'm contemplating even getting an iThing for my very own. My 13 year old son even saved up his own money and bought an iGadget of some kind, so I'm feeling a bit left behind.

But I'm diggin' the watch, that's cool!

Bob

Blackmore · « **Reply #19 on:** 12 Feb 2012, 02:14 pm »

I think the iWatch is pretty cool. 18 different watch faces are built in and you get a surprisingly good radio, iTunes, photos, Nike exercise interface included. Wish the clock would stay on all the time, but it shuts down to save battery time. Have to wake it up to see the time. My students at school all think the old man is pretty cool wearing a Nano on his wrist.