Post an audio demo of your sound system

[Yael-S.]

The purpose of this topic is not to make a completely exact recording of your speakers. The more exact the better, but it is not a prerequisite that the recording is very precise. Nor is it meant to be a discussion about the usefulness of audio recordings. In my experience, even mediocre microphones can be capable of revealing a fair amount of info about your speakers.

High-quality binaural recordings played back on certain Unix-like systems in bit-perfect mode with realtime audio on neutral ATH-M20x headphones enabled me to know reasonably well how headphones and speakers sound in real life. That quality recordings can share a lot of info is beyond dispute.

I personally use a Trust GXT 259 RUDOX microphone for the recordings below. The only condition for posting in this topic is that you use a microphone in the >$29 USD segment.

[mid-range setup] Infinity Alpha 5 + Sony STR-DB790 https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q3F5QSv0js5rMFArFb8FA9PEvxgSiCY_/view?pli=1
[70 EUR newprice all in one budget setup] F&D F550X https://drive.google.com/file/d/1brKRXCyeyWeI3NakpqBd2glhkfiHs267/view

For this recording, I use the analogue output of my ASRock B760M-ITX/D4 WiFi motherboard. I am not using a sound card.
Please share the info of your components and software if you post a recording.

 

[Yael-S.]

OpenBSD demo #2 with Infinity Alpha 5 + Sony STR-DB790
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1UbyNFFYB42RxiBajfgaeSgw13QRN0c95/view

These three demos are music I play via OpenBSD and music player daemon.
In real life it sounds more detailed and the frequencies are also a lot more correct.

I have listened to many expensive audio setups but personally I prefer the sound that you hear in these three demos.
The combination of ASRock premium audio, Sony, OpenBSD, music player daemon and Infinity leads to high audio quality.

 

[MajorFubar]

I don't understand the purpose of this request.

What is the point of us uploading recordings of our home studio / home audio system based on a mic-capture from some random budget microphone? Don't you realise that the difference in audio from just the myriad of different microphones out there renders this pointless? What is it you're wanting to achieve or prove?

 

[Yael-S.]

Some random budget microphone?

Trust advertises that the microphone delivers studio quality.

What is it you're wanting to achieve or prove?

This was explained in the (first) post, wasn't it?

High-quality binaural recordings played back on certain Unix-like systems in bit-perfect mode with realtime audio on neutral ATH-M20x headphones enabled me to know reasonably well how headphones and speakers sound in real life. That quality recordings can share a lot of info is beyond dispute.

 

[MajorFubar]

You have missed the point. Again.
You asked us to make recordings of our audio system using some random microphone costing $29 or more (not sure where you got that arbitary price from but whatever)...all of which will sound different to each other.
Also, the rooms we're in will also play a massive part in the recordings. Your speakers will not sound the same in my room as they would in you room, for example, even if I recorded them with the same mic.
Can't you see this whole exercise is littered with dozens of variables which makes it utterly pointless?

 

[Yael-S.]

You have missed the point. Again.
You asked us to make recordings of our audio system using some random microphone costing $29 or more (not sure where you got that arbitary price from but whatever)...all of which will sound different to each other.
Also, the rooms we're in will also play a massive part in the recordings. Your speakers will not sound the same in my room as they would in you room, for example, even if I recorded them with the same mic.
Can't you see this whole exercise is littered with dozens of variables which makes it utterly pointless?

Let's consider the following three audio setups.

Infinity Alpha 5 + Sony STR-DB790

OpenBSD demo with Infinity Alpha 5 + Sony STR-DB790.wav

drive.google.com

OpenBSD demo #2 with Infinity Alpha 5 + Sony STR-DB790.wav

drive.google.com

F&D F550X

OpenBSD demo with F&D F550X.wav

drive.google.com

OpenBSD demo #2 with F&D F550X.wav

drive.google.com

Kawai stereo headphones

OpenBSD demo with Kawai stereo headphones.wav

drive.google.com

OpenBSD demo #2 with Kawai stereo headphones.wav

drive.google.com

OpenBSD demo #3 with Kawai stereo headphones.wav

drive.google.com

OpenBSD demo #4 with Kawai stereo headphones.wav

drive.google.com

OpenBSD gaming - sound demo with Kawai stereo headphones.wav

drive.google.com

When I listen to the recordings on headphones on my specific hardware and software, I hear the main differences between the three recorded audio sources very clearly.
However, that does not take away from the fact that there are differences that the micro cannot register.
I can give these differences in addition to the recordings.
The F&D speakers are a higher-quality experience than the Infinity setup in 15% of cases. In 85% of the music I listen to, the Infinity setup is a better experience.
The Kawai headphones and the Infinity setup are closer in terms of experience.
At 128 kbps mp3 audio, I feel that the Infinity setup has the advantage because you do not perceive the low audio quality as well.
With Opus 130 kbps -170 kbps audio files, the Kawai headphone experience comes very close to the Infinity setup. In terms of bass, it strongly depends on the specific song which one gives the best experience.
In the most ideal circumstances, 24-bit lossless audio made by audio engineers with a lot of talent and high-quality hardware + software, the Kawai headphones possibly exceed every speaker setup (and many > 200 dollar headphones).
You can often hear how high-quality the hardware (or software) of many sound engineers is with these headphones.
I can hear in music that the voice has been digitally processed in a way that I don't think the band's sound engineers want it heard.
I also frequently hear roughness and imperfections in songs that I would think the sound engineers simply won't have heard.
The headphones render more details than what many people who arrange CD mastering have heard, and this strikes me strongly.
But with Lana Del Rey's and Dua Lipa's original 24-bit lossless songs, it is then again noticeable that the sound engineers used high-quality equipment for mastering the songs and there you hear their talent for this job.
The Kawai headphones are technically capable of beating all stereo speaker setups, but this potential is usually not exploited because not all audio engineers are talented.
And often they do not know which software and audio hardware is best suited to hear all the details.