Mailbag: Listeners Respond

Thanks for the real HD-Audio tracks. I am relatively new to the “high res. audio” download world and, until now, have limited myself to high res. samplers offered by the likes of hdtracks.com and highresaudio.com . Thus far, I have been quite impressed with what I’ve heard. That being said, nothing could have prepared me for what lay in store once I pressed play on my computer and sat back to audition your recent offering. I have to admit, it took me a little while to wrap my head around what was happening. The first thing I noticed was that the track was a little louder, both on volume and bass. The next thing that struck me was the realism factor, or the “in the room” presence I was experiencing; I felt as though I was in the recording venue with the musicians. Then I realized that the track had blown the ceiling off my listening room. I was enveloped by the soundstage to such a degree that I lost all cognizance of the location of my speakers, or that I even was listening through speakers for that matter. Finally, I was more than taken aback by the degree to which instruments and vocals were delineated. I could hear each so vividly and distinctly, even in the orchestral performances, which is remarkable to say the least. I was literally shaking my head through many of the tracks. I couldn’t help but think how enjoyable my favorite artists would sound if recorded using your techniques, equipment, etc. Perhaps one day…

Thank you again for allowing me to experience “real” high-resolution audio (Bye the way, the music you selected was brilliant!). I can only imagine what your tracks sound like on 5.1 Blu-ray. I am seriously considering reassembling my 5.1 system just so I can experience the magic.

Sincerely,

It has taken some time, but this week I listened to some of the excerpts of the AIX recordings. Being very critical, my comments are:
– in general, the recordings are above average (with “ordinary” CD’s as reference)
– the jazz/pop recordings are not as good as those of e.g. “Stockfish” records on SACD
– the classical recordings are not as good as those of e.g. the “Concertgebouworchestra” on SACD.

Not being an expert on recording and the equipment used by the different recording companies, I cannot pinpoint exactly what causes the differences. Might be the microphones or the processing, but I can only advice to contact these companies to find out what they are doing. (N.B. the “Concertgebouworchestra” has its own label nowadays, the recordings are made by “Polyhymnia” in Baarn, Netherlands, “Stockfish” is -in Europe at least- a well known audiophile label).

I think it would be very interesting to have a discussion with you, it would be great if this could be done “face to face” at my place, so I could demonstrate what I tried to point out above.