[Ivan Katz]

On Sat, 03 Nov 2007 13:45:48 -0700, nebulax wrote:

On Nov 3, 10:38 am, Ivan Katz wrote:
On Fri, 02 Nov 2007 22:02:22 -0400, Scott Dorsey wrote:
Okay, this would be a Magnavox player with the original first
generation chip set. Because Philips couldn't make a real 16-bit
ladder converter, they used a 14-bit ladder and a digital filter with
4x oversampling to get 16-bit resolution.

The end result was a converter with better linearity and lower group
delay than the competition... and better linearity and lower group
delay than the second generation chipset tht Philips replaced it
with.

I believe that is correct.
My mind is a bit fuzzy but I do remember something about the 14 bit and
4x oversampling.
Anyhow, the unit was a real sleeper, for the time.

I am surprised. I am surprised that the Philips didn't blow the
doors off the Sony. What kind of speaker system was being used?

I believe they were using KEF, maybe 105's or B&W 80x at the time. I do
not remember which one. If it was the B&W, it was the models prior to
the ones with the 'eyeball' on top.

I bet it sounded clearer... and that clarity was artificial too, I
bet. I'm not surprised that the difference was first noticed on a
fairly uncompressed recording with a lot of transients like Tubular
Bells. I'm surprised, though, that it wasn't even more obvious on
orchestral percussion.

Yea I was as well.
And yes, it did sound clearer or if you look at it the other way, the
Magnavox sounded fuzzy with less 'ring' to the bell. Best I can
describe it is like a pure sine wave vs a sine wave on the verge of
clipping.

Whenever anything sounds brighter and clearer, I am immediately
suspicious that something bad is going on. This may be due to some
sort of innate skepticism or maybe too many bad A/B tests in my
youth... --scott

I don't have as much experience as you do Scott, but when I hear MAJOR
differences in what is perceived to be high end equipment, I am
suspicious.
The BOSE dog and pony show was one such experience. They ran a
Tascam/TEAC 3440 15ips tape of Manhattan Transfer live through 901's
and of course it sounded great. When I started poking around the desk
at the rear of the room they chased me away. The tape was obviously
"juiced" somehow because I had that same album (a cutout BTW) and I
never heard it sound like that, nor had I ever heard Bose anything
sound like that. At the time I was running a Mcintosh amp through some
Allison One speakers.


Bose 901's use an external EQ box to help achieve whatever sound
'quality' they get, so if one were really wanting to go all out by using
a parametric EQ or something, the results be different, at least.

I know that. I used to sell them
The tape itself was apparently "juiced" to sound good on the Bose
speakers.