[Docere]

Thanks gents. I only look at the Channel D site via my music server and TV; the Downloads link was so small I totally missed it.

Jim, also thanks for the additional helpful instructions; much appreciated.

Interesting that PM advised that 1.65a was the latest version... No matter.

Cheers
Raymond

[Crimson]

Please report back and let us know what your opinion is of 1.7.

Bright? Neutral? Natural?

[Docere]

No problem Crimson, here goes:

A few caveats to start:

• The music I listen to is not "audiophile approved".
• I have not conducted extensive critical listening sessions and subsequent analyses. I actually find that a chore and the observations from could still be a questionable validity and relevance.
• It takes time to understand and appreciate system changes; a session or two is not a nearly complete picture.
• Observations are relative and contextual; I am comparing my perception of musical presentation via PM 1.7 vis-a-vis my fading memory of PM 1.65 using some informal conceptualised criteria, in the context of my system. There are no absolutes intended here; you can perhaps gain some understanding of the musical presentation of PM 1.7 versus 1.65.
• I am not sure how well my DAC and amplifier are isolated from AC noise generated by the Mac; my guess is 'not very'. This is understood to have a marked affect on perceived 'brightness', especially when my wide-bandwidth Iraklis amp is renowned for being finicky about how it is fed.
• I am more sensitive to mid/upper-mid glare/grain/aggressiveness than most, my girlfriend included.
• This post will not be significantly edited; I hope you can understand it.

Okay, enough waffle.

Issues raised to this point

Listening:

Feist - Let it Die (from album of same title). The breathiness of Feist's vocal was more obvious, but was oddly presented as a fine metallic texture shadowing the fundamental vocal and not as a grain or glare of the fundamental itself. Sibilance was also more prominent, perhaps. Initially off-putting, but...

Martina Topley-Bird - Soulfood and Sandpaper Kisses (Quixotic). More vocal texture and expression. No sense of increased brightnes/glare or upper frequency artifacts. I like.

The National - Sorrow, Anyone's Ghost, and Lemmonworld (High Violet). Slight increase in sibilance on all three tracks; however, it is gentle and fades into the acoustic/reverb. I do not find this distracting or irritating. There is a little more texture and expression across all three tracks. I am also noticing a a mild ringing texture over the vocal on Anyones's Ghost I have not notice before; again, this seems to shadow the vocal and is almost part of the acoustic rather than the voice. Interesting. Last minute note: this is not a ringing, but a coarse texture associated with a female vocal diffused into the ambient space - this became more evident as the song progressed. Interesting +1.

Husky Rescue - Sound of Love, Wolftrap Motel [fave pop tune at the mo'], and Man of Stone (Ship of Light). Vocal effects, textures, and breathiness again more evident. Some intended high-frequency effects are more evident and musically relevant as well. At times I think there is some slight additional sibilance or glare, at others not.

I don't think "brighter" (which suggests a tonal shift upwards) and "edgier" (which suggests accentuated/artificial leading edges in mid to treble frequencies) are the most appropriate descriptive terms when describing PM 1.7 versus PM 1.65. I agree that there is a 'better' sense of transient attack, but I also think that the body of the note is somehow more dense; I don't feel there is an accentuated leading edge or that it dominates the note envelope moreso than 1.65. There seems to be greater sense of transparence coupled with dynamics (see below), which can be detrimental for the playback of some recordings over some systems for some people. I would like to spend more time on this. Initially, when listening critically, I found this disconcerting with certain vocals; however, metallic instruments and piano sounded more realistic and present (but not aggressive or spotlit). Further listening suggests that the issues with vocals relate more to the recording and are somehow separate to the music - they have not intruded and I quickly slipped out of critique mode into enjoyment mode. I enjoyed listening to each of the albums mentioned.

Other noted differences

I am tiring and caffeine withdrawal is starting to bite, so I will keep this brief. I have also noticed the following:

• The transient attack has improved across the full frequency response. I initially found PM playback a little soft, especially in the bass to lower mids; this is no longer the case.
• The timing of rhythm  seems more definite yet nuanced and flowing
• Bass to lower-mids also seem to have more weight, but are not bloated.
• The sound stage is more to my liking. The impression of depth is greater and images seem more palpable/dense.

In summary, PM 1.7 seems more transparent than 1.65, both sonically and musically, in my system. If I occasionally wish for a more forgiving presentation of some albums, these occasions should be rare. PM 1.7 generally sounds more musical than PM 1.65 and my decent transport, to me. As ever, I may change that view tomorrow...

Shagged now. Need to relax to some Harold Budd - Music for Three Pianos. Bliss...

Edit: Changed the version of PM from 1.65a to 1.65, as I did not listen to much music with PM in 1.65a guise (only has 1.65a installed for a couple of days and did not listen much in this period). My audio memory is largely based on 1.65 experiences.

Cheers
Raymond

[Crimson]

Give this man a medal! Great write-up. Thanks for sharing.

[ZLS]

    Agreed 100%!

    PM 1.7 is less forgiving; but I have not invested all the time and money in my system so that everything can sound the same! 

    I am arriving at the conclusion that I need to fine tune my system so that I can take full advantage of 1.7. 

    Isn't that the fun of being an audiophile?

[Atlplasma]

I upgrade to 1.7, and the app has crashed a couple of times. It also doesn't seem to play well with Remote, which didn't seem to be an issue with 1.6. Has anyone else had issues?

[Docere]

Hey Crimson, thanks for the kind words. I did not intend to invest much time initially, but once I get started... It is pretty rough, but hopefully those interested in PM 1.7 can get some idea of the sonic changes.

ZLS, totally! I really liked my old Sony ES player for its sense of timing, dynamics and 'musical' glare-free sound. But, it did not image (no big deal for me), lacked detail (again, no big deal in and of itself), and made each album sound samey. Listening to an Esoteric X05 (I think!) made me aware that you can transparence without the excessive glare and artificial amusical detail I dislike. This was the first player I had heard in several years that made me consider replacing the Sony. I feel my current system is more transparent than the X05; with PM 1.7 on board it is also more dynamic and palpable, from what I recall of the Esoteric. I would still prefer hear my music with upper frequency artifacts further controlled - such as the Weiss DAC202 can manage (but I do not like its 'distant' presentation) - but I think that is more of a system tuning and perhaps DAC issue. I'm waffling OT again...

Atlplasma, if anything, I find PM 1.7 has less glitches than 1.6, in that it seems to have less latency in its communication with iTunes. That said, it does sometimes inform me that the player is paused when it is playing and I seem to have lost my Memory Play dial! I will check the remote issue in the next few days.

So all, current gripes WRT PM 1.7 as a music source? I would like to be able to play internet radio/video etc. without having to change my midi settings; I believe that this is coming in the next release. I still think it could be more seamless in looks and operation.

Off topic: I also would love to seem more (any!) of my preferred music available in Hi-Res, though this is not a PM problem; would labels benefit from releasing acoustically less compressed Hi-Res versions of albums for download?

Cheers
Raymond

[Docere]

Atlplasma,

Yes, it seems that when using the Remote App I am having problems also. I have tried to play 3 albums:

1) Remote (actually iTunes/PM) was glitchy in starting the album I selected; I think I had to start it from iTunes.

2) Trying to play a gapless album from Memory Play, iTunes seems to have locked-up on "Loading tracks into memory".

3) I then tried to play another album using the Remote, but iTunes still seemed stuck on the previous album (still loading tracks to memory). I shut down PM and reopened it and iTunes seems to have been 'playing' the album I selected (opened mid-way through track 2).

In all cases iTunes seems to be correctly recognising the Remote App (showing under Playlists). More investigation to be done here, but I need a little break.

Off topic: Just started to play Beth Orton's Central Reservation. Instrumentation is done nicely, but the vocal is like a file being drawn over resonant mild steel. The album is also acoustically compressed to a surprising degree. I love the music on this album, yet will find it hard work on my current system. As a point of comparison, despite wanting to like it, I have always found her Comfort of Strangers album dull, insipid and uninteresting. On my current system it is much more enjoyable and interesting - I really like it. Interestingly, Comfort of Strangers is much less acoustically compressed and has a less artificial feel; unhyped. I really like it.

Cheers
Raymond

[jrebman]

Raymond,

Really nice write-up!  Just FYI, the memory play display was removed on purpose and there is a note about it in the manual as to why.

-- Jim

[Docere]

Hi Jim

Thanks for that - just read it in the manual.

Because the audio thing is lazy enjoyment / distraction for me I tend not to do the homework / analysis that I otherwise would. Perhaps it is time to commit some brain space time to it... especially as I am in the process of changing my system.

Are you still doing the SET and wide-range driver thing? I must go back over some of your posts and learn from your experiences.

Cheers
Raymond

[jrebman]

Hi Raymond,

Yes, I managed to get superbly lucky and scored a very rare pair of Fi 2a3 monos that have Tamura amorphous core OPTs, and that are wonderful.  Don Garber has only built two or three pairs of these in total, and Fi monos rarely come up at all, let alone one of these.  I also  moved to the tonian Labs TL-D1 speakers, which are essentially a 8 fostex wideband driver augmented with a super tweeter in a very interesting cabinet (though it looks like nothing more than a typical box speaker).   Other than that, I use a Tranquility SE dac and a custom made LDR attenuator.  In other words, the system s extremely simple and minimalist with all of the various pieces fitting into the less-is-more philosophy -- as simple as possible but not simpler.  This is the system that cured my upgrade-itis and ended my audio nervosa.  Just putting a few finishing touches on now with some new ICs, PCs and a Pi Rev B power buss, and hen it's all music from there on out.

I haven't installed 1.7 yet as I really want to have a good listen to a few familiar albums with 1.65a first, and I just haven't been able to find a suitable chunk of time to listen, upgrade, and listen again in a single session.  That said, you post has me very curious as to what's in store and I really hope to get to this by the weekend.

Also, as the Tranquility is a 16/44.1 dac, I'm really interested to see how my high-res stuff sounds with the new sample rate conversion algorithm.

Audio has absolutely never been so fun or wonderful to listen to as it is now.

-- Jim

[Docere]

Hi Jim

Wonderful system you have there. I can only imagine how special music must sound via that system, especially those Fi monos. The Tranquility DAC is what I would purchase if I had my time again. I like my W4S DAC2, but I suspect it accentuates upper frequencies a little and I have only a single album that uses its Hi-Res capability.

I also share the less in more philosophy. I like simplicity, though - like all concepts - can mean different things to different people and become a complex topic.

Anyhoo, I very much like your system and wish you all the enjoyment music can bring you. Keep well.

Raymond

[jrebman]

Hi Raymond,

Thanks for the compliments.  The system really does make some beautiful music.  Now I'm on a quest to get as much brass out of the system as possible, and then will put a bit more effort into finding a speaker cable that gives a bit more sparkle on the top and I should be done.  The room is also reasonably well treated, but still needs a few minor tweaks as well.

Then I can move on to rejuvenating the 1977 /Cornwalls in the living room.

Take care,

Jim

[bikes and beats]

Does this software play through AirTunes?
I know my Airport only supports 16 bit but I'd like to try it.
Best, Mike 

[catastrofe]

1.71 is now available.  Easier FLAC import. . .FLAC window stays open!

[Docere]

Seems intended to fix some minor glitches. I have not checked whether the Remote issue has been resolved.

Cheers
Raymond

[wilsynet]

Best release of Pure Music yet.

1.6 would just stop working, stall on "loading file into memory" and I'd have to relaunch more often than I would have liked.  Which is irritating because I have to screen share with the headless Mac Mini.

1.71 is solid.  Just runs.  I'll be fairly happy with this.

[jaywills]

It's up to 1.72a now.

[Atlplasma]

Seems intended to fix some minor glitches. I have not checked whether the Remote issue has been resolved.

Cheers
Raymond

Remote seems to behave fairly well at 1.72a, but I'm not getting the real-time info on playback. I need to check the user manual and see if everything is set correctly.

[borism]

Remote still has some bugs in the 1.72a version. The album cover artwork gets frequently stuck and is not updated when the next song is playing. Also, under "albums" when I scroll down a number of the album artworks is mismatched with title/artist unlike in Itunes. However, on the good side, the music plays and remote works in directing playback.