Continuing the recent theme of putting my money where my mouth is, I recently added BACCH technology to my system by investing in the BACCH4Mac software and a late 2012 Core i7 Mac Mini to run it. The early results with the Dutch & Dutch 8Cs are impressive. A report of my observations is forthcoming.
Initial observations
I've now done many hours of listening to familiar recordings.
Pre-BACCH
With the Dutch & Dutch 8Cs, Imaging without BACCH is surprisingly precise, and bass is subjectively deep and well-controlled because of the 8Cs' DSP. I've measured a peak at 31 Hz and a dip at 58 Hz that are troubling, but subjectively, the system sounds impressive and free of obvious coloration without BACCH. The center image is solid, and the image extends between the loudspeakers, which I currently have in a roughly 60-degree equilateral triangle configuration. The speakers are slightly toed in and, as recommended by D&D, close to the front wall, with the distance programmed into the speakers' DSP.
With BACCH
After initial setup, the first test prescribed by Theoretica was to listen to one of the tracks included in iTunes on the Mac Mini, a Chesky binaural recording of Wycliffe Gordon performing New Orleans-style jazz. I was told I'd hear a trombone enter at approximately 9:00 to my ears. I heard it at a position more like 10:00, but the effect was still stunning, as the trombone did not seem to emanate from the speakers. Indeed, no sounds seemed to be emanating from the speakers. If you allow me to use an audiophile cliché, the speakers in front of me seemed to disappear.
The effect is similarly striking on other binaural recordings, but the bulk of my listening involves classical music. By and large, classical music is recorded using either the spaced omni (A-B) technique or the mid-side technique. Some older recordings, particularly those made by Decca Records, use the Decca tree. All of these techniques generate spatial cues that BACCH can enhance, and almost universally, recordings of classical music are enormously enhanced by BACCH.
On these recordings, activating BACCH enhances the sense of space, causing the speakers to seem to disappear. The soundfield tends to span beyond the sides of the speakers and extends far behind the speakers. Hearing the distance to the woodwinds and the tympanis is possible on nearly all orchestral recordings. String sections sound like fully fleshed out sections comprising individual performers, not nebulous agglomerations. The string sections are, moreover, much more easily distinguishable with BACCH than without. The first violin and second violin sections have never been easier to differentiate. I do not hear many sounds around me or behind me, but my experience listening to two other BACCH systems and my conversation with Professor Choueiri suggests that I may hear more such sounds if I listen in a room with fewer early reflections.
Recordings of chamber music are also strikingly different. On conventional systems, the sense of scale on chamber recordings tends to be commensurate with the scale of the system. I recall hearing chamber music on the Focal Grande Utopia EMs in a huge room; it sounded huge (and phony). With BACCH, the scale of chamber music is appropriately small; the soundfield on my preferred chamber recordings (most on the Philips label) is condensed and does not extend beyond the speakers. Nonetheless, the individual performers, especially in string ensembles, are more easily distinguishable than ever before.
I have not noticed any tendency of BACCH to homogenize recordings. The sense of space on different recordings is strikingly different. My non-audiophool spouse has observed that it feels strange sitting in the room while listening to the system with BACCH because, in contrast to a conventional system, the BACCH system generates sound totally at odds with the surrounding space.
Some jazz recordings have produced good results, too. I'll listen to more jazz before expressing any observations.
Because of the way in which popular music is recorded, popular music reproduced with BACCH processing is a mixed bag. The Pink Floyd albums from DSOTM to The Wall sound spectacularly three-dimensional. I also have enjoyed listening to Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica with BACCH. With some other popular music, BACCH makes too obvious how it was recorded; the effect can, perhaps surprisingly, be unpleasant.
Early conclusions
At this point, I am a fan. Though the results I have experienced are not as remarkable as those I heard in Mr. Lam's system, I continue to believe that BACCH represents the way forward in music reproduction. As my exchange with @dallasjustice below may demonstrate, this is still a nascent technology, and integration with existing computer audio systems--particularly the complex systems used by members of this forum--may be difficult. Nevertheless, I've experienced few difficulties in my first few days with BACCH.
I still do not believe my system is fully optimized for BACCH in terms of speaker placement or BACCH calibration. I will adjust both of those variables and report here on the results.
I still haven't tried listening through headphones. I'll report on the headphone experience after I have a little time to do so.
Update 2/27
I received some instruction last night from the Theoretica team on headphone playback. The effect is astonishing and addictive. Head tracking with headphones and the BACCH-HP filters allows the ear-brain system to perceive a sonic image away from the head through headphones.
When headphone playback was first engaged, I was certain my speakers were playing at full blast. Superficially, this function resembles that of the Smyth Realiser, a device that I have never heard, but with the BACCH-HP filters, the additional spatial cues revealed by BACCH processing remain audible. This feature will receive heavy use.
I also received some instruction on the BACCH 3D Mixer, the functionality of which is extraordinary and a tool that I wish I had had when I was making orchestral recordings. The Mixer enables the mixing engineer to locate sound sources in three-dimensional space in creating a multitrack recording. If you have ever mixed a recording using a large number of microphones that supplement a main stereo pair, I think you will understand why this functionality is revolutionary: in conventional DAW software, mixing spot mics with the main stereo microphones is an imprecise affair, involving the application of delay and use of the mixer's balance/pan control to locate the sound in the mix. With the 3D Mixer, the position of the spot microphone can be set exactly in software, limiting the extent to which spot mics will interfere with the spatial cues received by the stereo pair.
The 3D Mixer also allows one to mix a multichannel recording into a two-channel, quasi-binaural mix. I will report on that functionality when I have time.
Initial observations
I've now done many hours of listening to familiar recordings.
Pre-BACCH
With the Dutch & Dutch 8Cs, Imaging without BACCH is surprisingly precise, and bass is subjectively deep and well-controlled because of the 8Cs' DSP. I've measured a peak at 31 Hz and a dip at 58 Hz that are troubling, but subjectively, the system sounds impressive and free of obvious coloration without BACCH. The center image is solid, and the image extends between the loudspeakers, which I currently have in a roughly 60-degree equilateral triangle configuration. The speakers are slightly toed in and, as recommended by D&D, close to the front wall, with the distance programmed into the speakers' DSP.
With BACCH
After initial setup, the first test prescribed by Theoretica was to listen to one of the tracks included in iTunes on the Mac Mini, a Chesky binaural recording of Wycliffe Gordon performing New Orleans-style jazz. I was told I'd hear a trombone enter at approximately 9:00 to my ears. I heard it at a position more like 10:00, but the effect was still stunning, as the trombone did not seem to emanate from the speakers. Indeed, no sounds seemed to be emanating from the speakers. If you allow me to use an audiophile cliché, the speakers in front of me seemed to disappear.
The effect is similarly striking on other binaural recordings, but the bulk of my listening involves classical music. By and large, classical music is recorded using either the spaced omni (A-B) technique or the mid-side technique. Some older recordings, particularly those made by Decca Records, use the Decca tree. All of these techniques generate spatial cues that BACCH can enhance, and almost universally, recordings of classical music are enormously enhanced by BACCH.
On these recordings, activating BACCH enhances the sense of space, causing the speakers to seem to disappear. The soundfield tends to span beyond the sides of the speakers and extends far behind the speakers. Hearing the distance to the woodwinds and the tympanis is possible on nearly all orchestral recordings. String sections sound like fully fleshed out sections comprising individual performers, not nebulous agglomerations. The string sections are, moreover, much more easily distinguishable with BACCH than without. The first violin and second violin sections have never been easier to differentiate. I do not hear many sounds around me or behind me, but my experience listening to two other BACCH systems and my conversation with Professor Choueiri suggests that I may hear more such sounds if I listen in a room with fewer early reflections.
Recordings of chamber music are also strikingly different. On conventional systems, the sense of scale on chamber recordings tends to be commensurate with the scale of the system. I recall hearing chamber music on the Focal Grande Utopia EMs in a huge room; it sounded huge (and phony). With BACCH, the scale of chamber music is appropriately small; the soundfield on my preferred chamber recordings (most on the Philips label) is condensed and does not extend beyond the speakers. Nonetheless, the individual performers, especially in string ensembles, are more easily distinguishable than ever before.
I have not noticed any tendency of BACCH to homogenize recordings. The sense of space on different recordings is strikingly different. My non-audiophool spouse has observed that it feels strange sitting in the room while listening to the system with BACCH because, in contrast to a conventional system, the BACCH system generates sound totally at odds with the surrounding space.
Some jazz recordings have produced good results, too. I'll listen to more jazz before expressing any observations.
Because of the way in which popular music is recorded, popular music reproduced with BACCH processing is a mixed bag. The Pink Floyd albums from DSOTM to The Wall sound spectacularly three-dimensional. I also have enjoyed listening to Captain Beefheart's Trout Mask Replica with BACCH. With some other popular music, BACCH makes too obvious how it was recorded; the effect can, perhaps surprisingly, be unpleasant.
Early conclusions
At this point, I am a fan. Though the results I have experienced are not as remarkable as those I heard in Mr. Lam's system, I continue to believe that BACCH represents the way forward in music reproduction. As my exchange with @dallasjustice below may demonstrate, this is still a nascent technology, and integration with existing computer audio systems--particularly the complex systems used by members of this forum--may be difficult. Nevertheless, I've experienced few difficulties in my first few days with BACCH.
I still do not believe my system is fully optimized for BACCH in terms of speaker placement or BACCH calibration. I will adjust both of those variables and report here on the results.
I still haven't tried listening through headphones. I'll report on the headphone experience after I have a little time to do so.
Update 2/27
I received some instruction last night from the Theoretica team on headphone playback. The effect is astonishing and addictive. Head tracking with headphones and the BACCH-HP filters allows the ear-brain system to perceive a sonic image away from the head through headphones.
When headphone playback was first engaged, I was certain my speakers were playing at full blast. Superficially, this function resembles that of the Smyth Realiser, a device that I have never heard, but with the BACCH-HP filters, the additional spatial cues revealed by BACCH processing remain audible. This feature will receive heavy use.
I also received some instruction on the BACCH 3D Mixer, the functionality of which is extraordinary and a tool that I wish I had had when I was making orchestral recordings. The Mixer enables the mixing engineer to locate sound sources in three-dimensional space in creating a multitrack recording. If you have ever mixed a recording using a large number of microphones that supplement a main stereo pair, I think you will understand why this functionality is revolutionary: in conventional DAW software, mixing spot mics with the main stereo microphones is an imprecise affair, involving the application of delay and use of the mixer's balance/pan control to locate the sound in the mix. With the 3D Mixer, the position of the spot microphone can be set exactly in software, limiting the extent to which spot mics will interfere with the spatial cues received by the stereo pair.
The 3D Mixer also allows one to mix a multichannel recording into a two-channel, quasi-binaural mix. I will report on that functionality when I have time.
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