Category Archives: Audio/Video Hardware

Articles about audio and video hardware.

Cables, cables…

Audio/Video Hardware, Gadget Corner

IMG_20150416_023644Ever since I dumped those crappy Audioquest snake oil cables back to Amazon, I needed to find interconnects.  I checked many brands, and let’s just say that the prices are crazy on some of them.  And each company has its own spin on cables.  Some are pure silver.  Others, silver-plated copper.  Some are pure copper.  Many are bundled together.  Some are braided, like the Kimber Cables.  And the RCA plugs…brass or copper base metal, silver plating, copper plating, cryogenically treated, etc.

Staaahp!

From the marketing hyperbole, you’d think some of them would make you shit magical rainbows.

Having read around somewhat, I came up with the idea of using the Silver Sonic cables from DH Labs.  They base their cables on a copper core with a silver plating.  The premise is that lower frequencies travel deeper into the core of a wire, while higher frequencies reside closer to the skin.  With that in mind, they use the copper core to provide better conduction of the lower frequencies, with the silver assisting the top end.  The wires arrived with an attractive blue jacket and directional arrows.

For RCA ends, I used the Neutrik ProFi plugs.  They come with a unique pressure-fit strain relief system, as well as a unique spring-loaded grounding shield that contacts the RCA jack first when being plugged in, and loses contact first when being removed.

While I don’t believe that the metals in the wire are directional (it is, after all, non-magnetic), the arrows do come in handy.  These cables come with two conductors, plus shield.  I hooked these up in a floating shield configuration.  The red and white conductors are connected respectively to the hot and ground on each end.  The shield, however, is connected only at the source end of the cable.  This prevents a potential ground loop situation caused by the shielding.  The arrows then help you connect the correct end to the source and destination.

Other than some of the lettering flaking off, the cables turned out nicely.

On first listen, they do have a clean overall presentation, perhaps a little bit leaner than I’m used to.  The RCA plugs fit snugly on the jacks.  As for noise, they are dead quiet.

Time will tell as to how they eventually sound once I am used to them.  I made three sets so far.  Next time, I may order up some cable sleeving to neaten things up a bit, perhaps even combining the two cables into one sleeve for ease of routing.

Stay tuned.

 

HDCD ripping tip

Audio/Video Hardware, Gadget Corner, , , ,

The Oppo BDP-105 does not currently play ripped HDCD files “decoded” so therefore, I have to make do with a workaround.  Thankfully I own few HDCD titles, so this is not very time consuming at all to convert them into a higher resolution FLAC file which any digital player can render properly.

HDCD, in simplest terms, is essentially closest to a 20-bit sample encoded into a 16-bit sample.  The data for this encoding is hidden in the least significant bit of the signal.

Some digital players, primarily computer based, can decode these files as though they are 20-bit and play them back as such.  But for network media players, including those built into BD/SACD/CD players like the Oppo, support is variable.  The BDP-105 is one of those which does not play this file back decoded.

The trick?  HDCD can be decoded into a 24-bit file; the extra four bits of empty padding can be at the top or bottom of the digital file.  If this padding is placed at the bottom (in the least significant bits), the signal played back will be six decibels louder; if placed at the top in the most significant bits, playback will be softer.  Sound quality will remain the same either way, however.

The decoding to a 24-bit file can be done during ripping, or after the fact from existing FLAC files.  I use dBpoweramp as my primary ripping and conversion suite for files.  dBpoweramp has a DSP plugin for HDCD.  You can run it on any CD rip or FLAC file.  It will save a 24-bit file if it finds the HDCD encoding, but if it doesn’t, it will save it as the original 44.1kHz/16-bit file.  (If you are converting FLAC to FLAC, it will leave an unaltered 44.1/16 file, so you need not worry about it having been altered by the program if HDCD encoding was not found.)

Thankfully I know which titles of mine are HDCD encoded, and it took only a matter of minutes to convert them.

First impressions of Oppo BDP-105

Audio/Video Hardware, Gadget Corner, , , , ,

The Oppo BDP-105 arrived last week and I have been putting it through its paces.  Unboxing was a bit of a chore, as the player was double-boxed and the interior heavily padded.  The cables were stashed in a separate box inside, and the player came not in a plastic wrap, but in a soft reusable tote bag with Oppo logo on its exterior.

Hafler & OppoThe weight of the 105 is substantial, much more solid than the Pioneer Elite DV-45A it replaces.  The panels feel much thicker, and the faceplate is thicker still, with a matte finish.  Neat touch is that the play controls are touch-sensitive behind the glass front panel.

It took awhile to hook up. I ended up purging quite a few cables that had strayed behind the shelving unit, got rid of the surround receiver I had tethered into the system for surround (which I hadn’t used in a year), and am mothballing the cassette deck again for several months since it’s had its workout for the time being.  Messing around with the cables made it clear that I am going to be shopping for some better interconnects.  I need a few in a half-meter length to reduce some of this cable clutter.

And judging from the photo, I also need a serious upgrade in audio shelving.  It is about time I invested in something more substantial, which also has some isolation properties to it.  It also needs a good, sturdy top shelf to support a 50 pound turntable setup.

The BDP-105 is not only a universal player (capable of CD, SACD, DVD-Audio and BluRay), it can also play files via the network.  It is DLNA/UPnP capable, which fits in perfectly with my networked media server.  I had considered getting a Pioneer N-50 network media player but, given the cost and unknown sonics, it was not that much of a stretch to revise my search upward a bit to include disc playback.  As this was a lightly used demo unit, it really did not cost too much more than the N-50.

Upon first playback using both discs and networked files, two things strike me immediately.  First, the sound is much smoother, lacking the grit, roughness and edgy highs of the Pioneer.  Music sounds more naturally balanced in tonality, and high frequencies do not leave me on edge as they do with other digital sources.  An unexpected side-effect: I hear less hiss on analog-sourced files–I guess that exaggerated high end of the Pioneer was doing more than making the sound intolerable!

Second, that soundstage!  Even if not sitting in a good listening position, you can hear the music filling the room.  In the sweet spot, imaging of instruments is dead-on accurate.  Playing one of the Living Stereo classical SACDs, I could easily place the different sections of the orchestra, and also get a great sense of the space inside the hall it was recorded in.

On both a Nexus 4 and Nexus 7, I use the BubbleUPnP app as a control point between a music server and the renderer.  It works nicely with the 105, even better than the laggy response I’d get when playing music through the WDTV Live.  Oppo’s own app requires a lot of hunting to find what I want to play, and another app I tried (offered by Linn) was very laggy and unintuitive.  The nicest part is that I can finally play back all of my high-resolution digital files in their proper resolution, not downsampled.  That was my intention of getting a proper network music player, and aside from playing SACDs, I can use the network player to save wear on the player’s disc drive.

Settling in with the Ortofon 2M Black

Audio/Video Hardware, Gadget Corner

It’s been a love/hate relationship with the Ortofon 2M Black.  But, the problem is not entirely with the 2M.  Alignment issues are hexing me.  For one, I cannot move the cartridge forward enough on the arm to get it to line up on the alignment grid.  Plus, the top of the headshell is not completely parallel to the turntable surface at all points through its arc, which may be a fault of the tonearm’s mount.

Thanking the mighty tax refund machine, my solution is to take a step up in my analog source.  In other words, why fight the turntable any longer?

I have been listening to a handful of tables at local dealers, comparing a lot of familiar names such as Rega, Clearaudio, VPI, Pro-Ject, Michell, Funk Firm and a few others.  I was not quite prepared to hear a lot of difference between them but alas, with the right recordings, I was able to pinpoint a few key characteristics and narrow down my choices a bit.  One model managed to make its way to the top of my list of choices, with two others not too far behind.  After I go back armed with a few more familiar selections I can safely pick one I would be able to live with for awhile.

Teaser: my top pick just seemed to have a “blacker” background than the others, the background being more recessed.  The stereo image was more solid than one of my other choices also (which has a non-conventional arm).  This should be an interesting experience!

The Walker CJ55 “Phoenix Edition”

Audio/Video Hardware, Gadget Corner

Phoenix Edition?  Yep, the Walker has once again risen from the dead.  The new belt arrived on Halloween, of all days, and I promptly moved the arm and cartridge from the Denon back to the Walker. I managed to get things dialed in within an hour, and was able to spin some vinyl later in the evening.

This is where things get weird. As you may recall, the problems I had with the Walker were speed related–not only did it always run too fast, it also had stability issues, and wavered constantly.  Piano music was a torture to listen to, as were any sustained notes.  I was at wit’s end.  Even with the Music Hall belt I borrowed, the speed would waver–the belt was a bit too narrow and would occasionally “hop” up and down within the pulley.

Here is what is supposedly an original replacement belt for the Walker CJ55.  But is it?  Any other belt I had always had some slippage to it.  This one doesn’t.  There is a groan as the turntable starts rotating, and then it locks on fairly quick.  My other belts never did this.  The tension of the belt is also higher than the other “official” belts I got from the importer–my motor mount modification would not be needed.  So far, so good–I’m liking this belt.

So far, the pitch seems like it is not wavering as much.  I still think I hear it wavering, but it could be all in my head.  But this is where the weirdness kicks in.  The turntable always ran fast.  Playing back my new setup, it seemed like the sound was dragging a bit.  I found a strobe online, which I printed out.  Turns out the turntable was now rotating too slowly!  Mmmm, OK.  I took off my rubber band fix from the subplatter, and tried it again.  Now, the speed is just about perfect!  If it is a hair off, I am not noticing it.

A quick summary then.  The original belt slipped and wavered, and the speed ran too fast.  A new belt from the importer did the same.  The Music Hall belt wavered because it was too narrow and sometimes hopped up and down within the pulley; the platter still ran too fast.  This new belt has the best grip, stays in place, and doesn’t seem to waver…and the speed is now perfect??

I just don’t get it.

My stylus is just about worn, so it is not too easy to give a good listen to this setup again.  I will follow up my listening comments in my next installment.