What kind of test track is this for DACs???

[amirm]

So I am reading the review of Schiit Audio Yggdrasil DAC and with interest come across the first track used by the author: http://www.stereophile.com/content/schiit-audio-yggdrasil-da-processor-page-2#gzoFw24160gxskYc.97

"And the Yggdrasil plays the living, human-formed rhythmic hell out of an AIFF file ripped from Jolie Blonde, by Luderin Darbone's Hackberry Ramblers (CD, Arhoolie 399). This music plucks and picks and fiddles and strums more sincerely than any other music I know. It saws and hollers its way right into your heart, but only from ancient 78rpm discs—or when the DAC is good."

Never heard of the track so I find it on youtube and this is what it sounds like:

Is he serious? What am I missing here??? There are no highs. No lows. Everything is muffled. How could this be revealing of DAC differences?

 

[amirm]

This is the next track he uses:

"Ever since the Yggy arrived, I've been bathing in the shimmering tonal colors of harmonicas—especially when their blossoming sound is set against a backdrop of guitar strumming, as it is in "J'ai Passe," recorded very simply in Darbone's home in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1963. Cajun fiddle sawing is the ultimate test of an audio system's ability to dance and swing. The Yggdrasil let me not only feel or sense the machines Arhoolie used to digitally remaster these Hackberry Ramblers tunes, it let every tune move with a storm-like urgency that I found so completely engaging that, when a song ended, I felt sad, rejected, let down in an almost physical way. Only an exceptional level of musical continuity factor can generate that kind of engagement."

I have a sense of relief when the music ended, no sadness here....

 

[Thomas savage]

So I am reading the review of Schiit Audio Yggdrasil DAC and with interest come across the first track used by the author: http://www.stereophile.com/content/schiit-audio-yggdrasil-da-processor-page-2#gzoFw24160gxskYc.97

"And the Yggdrasil plays the living, human-formed rhythmic hell out of an AIFF file ripped from Jolie Blonde, by Luderin Darbone's Hackberry Ramblers (CD, Arhoolie 399). This music plucks and picks and fiddles and strums more sincerely than any other music I know. It saws and hollers its way right into your heart, but only from ancient 78rpm discs—or when the DAC is good."

Never heard of the track so I find it on youtube and this is what it sounds like:

Is he serious? What am I missing here??? There are no highs. No lows. Everything is muffled. How could this be revealing of DAC differences?

So what your saying is this track can only sound schiit no matter the dac, it avoids all frequency extrems..

 

[amirm]

This is his next test album:

"As I listened to this 19-track compilation, I wondered if the Schiit Yggdrasil was reproducing Nico's voice more probingly or melodically than does the Mytek Brooklyn. Which DAC would show me the most of Nico?
Read more at http://www.stereophile.com/content/schiit-audio-yggdrasil-da-processor-page-2#AyQk2s4f7WBKJ3ej.99"

Someone help me out please before I quit this business!

 

[Thomas savage]

Embrace these creative imaginings amir, it's what hi-end audio ( or just being a audiophile these days ) is all about!

If you think that's bad go look in fight club, arguing against science thread, iv put a link in to some very worrying listening impressions and faulty conclusions that Give grounds for a intervention.. A secret cry for help is my theory

 

[amirm]

It is really sad Thomas when the review ends and these are the only tracks referenced. How could one get past all the imperfections in the music and think there are differences in DACs that jump out?

The whole industry has gone the Shiit I think!

 

[Thomas savage]

It is really sad Thomas when the review ends and these are the only tracks referenced. How could one get past all the imperfections in the music and think there are differences in DACs that jump out?

The whole industry has gone the Shiit I think!

Don't worry amir, you can come labour for me if it all gets too much for your conscious to bare

Spreading shiit on the wall can be therapeutic.. Certainly beats listening to it

 

[Don Hills]

... Spreading shiit on the wall can be therapeutic.. Certainly beats listening to it

Are you using one of the old plaster recipes (lime, dung, horsehair etc)?

 

[watchnerd]

I have a sense of relief when the music ended, no sadness here....

Is the reviewer just taking a piss?

While I acknowledge the historical importance, as a test track its horrid and would tend to favor components that are low resolution / rolled off just to make the horrible fidelity bearable. I can't imagine listening to a whole album.

 

[Blumlein 88]

This is his next test album:

"As I listened to this 19-track compilation, I wondered if the Schiit Yggdrasil was reproducing Nico's voice more probingly or melodically than does the Mytek Brooklyn. Which DAC would show me the most of Nico?
Read more at http://www.stereophile.com/content/schiit-audio-yggdrasil-da-processor-page-2#AyQk2s4f7WBKJ3ej.99"

Someone help me out please before I quit this business!

Reminds me of a music review by I think Corey Greenberg. He also reviewed a couple DACs and spent much time with the same CD for evaluation of the DACs in that issue of the Stereophile mag. Made much of the natural treble on this CD using a Theta (same people who design Schitt btw). I seem to recall it was Aerosmith on the first album they recorded and mixed themselves to get the sound they wanted. The recording was problematic for comparing treble however. It had no content above 4500 hz. Somehow that is what the band wanted in this case. And I am not sure if it was just one track referenced or the whole CD that was rolled off past 4500 hz. Well that is what happens when you have no reference, do no measurements and have had no rudimentary listener training. Should have been embarrassing when it was revealed in letters to the editor a couple months later.

Besides without either a hirez 24/96 version or streaming MQA how can you have enough fidelity to make any real judgements.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Is the reviewer just taking a piss?

While I acknowledge the historical importance, as a test track its horrid and would tend to favor components that are low resolution / rolled off just to make the horrible fidelity bearable. I can't imagine listening to a whole album.

I bet you wouldn't like White Light/White Heat either.

 

[watchnerd]

I bet you wouldn't like White Light/White Heat either.

Velvet Underground is okay, I enjoy it. But I wouldn't ever use them as a reference track.

 

[watchnerd]

was reproducing Nico's voice more probingly or melodically than does the Mytek Brooklyn.

I don't even know how to parse this in terms of how something sounds.

I swear they just make stuff up.

 

[amirm]

I don't even know how to parse this in terms of how something sounds.

I swear they just make stuff up.

Probing is the word that comes to mind given the fidelity of those tracks regardless of the system. It is all made up either in imagination, writing, or both.

 

[fas42]

People here are very much missing the point ... because the recording is of low quality, everything, but everything about the playback system has to be on its best behaviour, otherwise the additional artifacts added in the playback would make this impossible to listen to - I've heard pretentious systems wreak havoc on these sorts of tracks, endlessly. What is remarkable is that when a rig totally gets out of the way then our hearing systems can separate the musical content from the media limitations - and this as a musical event will come alive, satisfyingly so.

Of course, this is another "stress test" recording - can a system allow the music within to emerge, or does the grunge completely drown it ...

 

[amirm]

People here are very much missing the point ... because the recording is of low quality, everything, but everything about the playback system has to be on its best behaviour, otherwise the additional artifacts added in the playback would make this impossible to listen to - I've heard pretentious systems wreak havoc on these sorts of tracks, endlessly. What is remarkable is that when a rig totally gets out of the way then our hearing systems can separate the musical content from the media limitations - and this as a musical event will come alive, satisfyingly so.

Did it do all that on you rig?

 

[fas42]

Another good one for giving a system a go ...

I'd like to hear this at 11 on Thomas's gear.

 

[Thomas savage]

Another good one for giving a system a go ...

I'd like to hear this at 11 on Thomas's gear.

Tbf Frank though at high volume that might over load your room ( the close nature of my back wall will cause a issue) I to use stuff like this to test out hifi.

Sadly if it is a mess at high SPL it's hard to seperate whether it's the system failing ( though things like defeat are easy to hear) or wether your rooms being over driven.

 

[watchnerd]

People here are very much missing the point ... because the recording is of low quality, everything, but everything about the playback system has to be on its best behaviour, otherwise the additional artifacts added in the playback would make this impossible to listen to -

@fas42 , if that's your criteria, you should stop mucking around and go straight to 78 RPM shellacs as your test tracks.

 

[fas42]

@fas42 , if that's your criteria, you should stop mucking around and go straight to 78 RPM shellacs as your test tracks.

To evaluate a system, you use a range of material - which are testing different things. A new vehicle model is driven in a huge variety of driving conditions, to make sure it doesn't embarrass itself - same idea. I've heard a number of systems appear to handle something which you're not familiar with very well - then fall over themselves when handed a quite different recording. Typically, a percussion thrash is used to show off - in one instance I followed with a Sinatra disk - terrible!!