I thought I'd take some of my own advice and seek out alternative releases of Blue Train by John Coltrane. I own this on CD already but I have found two alternative masters of it online (one mono).
Here's the rub: I'm listening to this mono release which is in MP3 256k and it sounds way better than my ripped CD. When I say way better I mean I refuse to listen to my CD anymore! It annoys the hell out of me by comparison. The main reason, as usual, is compression. To compare like with like I 'quick mixed' the stereo CD into mono. Also, did the same with another stereo master I found online which was worse than my CD. [image: http://www.yeats.co.uk/public/Audio/coltrane-waveform.jpg] Top waveform is the worst master - note the very evident compression from about 4:00 to 5:00. Middle waveform is my CD. Bottom waveform is the MP3. Note the lack of compression on every scale including the quieter passages 6:00 to 7:00 and 9:00 to 10:00. This translates into a more relaxed and realistic presentation. BTW you still get a kind of stereo effect even though its mono. This experience has cemented my opinion that formats (MP3, FLAC, hi-rez) are nowhere near as important as other factors, such as original recordings and loudspeakers. Darren PS: I live in Europe and I own a legit copy of Blue Train. As soon as I can find this mono release on CD I'll buy that too. Any pointers? -- darrenyeats SB3 / Inguz -> Krell KAV-300i (pre bypass) -> PMC AB-1 Dell laptop -> JVC UX-C30 mini system ------------------------------------------------------------------------ darrenyeats's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10799 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=55737 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
