bresna

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Posts posted by bresna

  3. Posted

    26 minutes ago, Rabshakeh said:

    Is this good? I enjoy all the horn players on here, but I don't know the others.

    I can see not knowing Nakamura, as he is a relative newcomer, but both Kikoski and Allen have been on a lot of recording dates over the years. Allen has toured as a leader quite a bit too.

    This does sound intriguing.

  4. Posted

    12 hours ago, Larry Kart said:

    :lol: I've never seen why a guy who almost photographically reproduces Adams' style was someone I wanted to listen to.

    This sounds a lot like your anti-Eric Alexander stance. Can no modern player emulate any older player and gain your "approval"? There are so many classic players that as time goes on, any new player almost has to sound close to someone else from history.

    I like listening to and seeing Smulyan because he's alive, putting out new CDs and playing at clubs. Pepper Adams died in 1986. If I want to hear someone play in that style, Smulyan is a great choice. I've seen Smulyan live many times over the years and he puts on a great performance. If he's comes through the area again, I'll be there again.

  6. Posted

    Sonny Clark - Dial "S" For Sonny (Blue Note). New release in the  Classic Vinyl series. I wasn't planning to pick this up, but I got it for around $12 so I thought, "Why not?" The cover of this LP looks terrible. It's all washed out and looks more like something a bootlegger would put out.

    Classic cover from discogs:

    Secondary, 2 of 6

    Original LP cover from discogs:

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  7. Posted · Edited by bresna

    Johnny Lytle "Fast Hands" (Muse). I bought this during a recent sale of new old stock LPs at Tommy's Jazz. You take chance with sealed old records and this is one where I get duffed a bit. A bit of the label fell off and the vinyl is pretty noisy in spots. The music is pretty good but they miss on a few tracks ("Tomorrow"? "Bein' Green"? Really?) and I'm not a huge fan of the sound, particularly the bass.

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    The more I look at this vinyl, I'm thinking this is an old re-seal. I say old because the cellophane was brittle but re-seal because this record just doesn't look un-played.

  8. Posted · Edited by bresna

    Now spinning - One of the few LPs that is being reissued by Blue Note that I never bought before (CD or LP) - Ruben Wilson's "Love Bug". Typical funk record of the time. Not a bad thing, but it is what I expected it to be and is the reason I never bought it before. I find these dates to have a bit of sameness to them.

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  9. Posted

    Did they intentionally reduce the sound quality for their bandcamp playlist? The piano sound is not good and Essiet's bass is recessed and when you do hear it, it sounds like it was recorded in the early 80s. Overall, it sounds like they recorded this in a club without an audience.

  12. Posted · Edited by bresna

    4 minutes ago, Dan Gould said:

    Not with six horses and a trailer that takes three at a time. There was a place close by that rented stalls out and is rated for a Cat 5 storm but they closed. In fact before they closed I think they got dinged by the state for price-gouging. We used them once or twice for less threatening storms but unless we can get horses safe somewhere close we're in it for the duration.

    As I said I just hope that the track keeps moving east and south and it ultimately passes us to the east. 

    No one in the horse community who could come in and help? Is the barn able to withstand 120-140 winds? If not... maybe drive 3 of them north and drive back and grab the other 3 and get out just in time?

  13. Posted

    3 hours ago, Dan Gould said:

    I know TTK is in Tampa not sure of other regulars in the path of this beast.

    It is far and away the closest and most frightening storm we have dealt with since I moved to south Florida 25 years ago. The black diagonal is the forecast track as of 8 am today. I've helpfully added a yellow blob for the approximate location of the homestead. There's hardly any time left for this to move in such a way that it remotely minimizes the threat we are facing.

    Latest path makes it look like it is going right over the top of you. You may be a little to the west (which is better than the east) but still not good. It's Tuesday. It's not hitting until Thursday morning. You sure you can't get the hell out of there?

    https://www.google.com/maps/@27.9388665,-82.1133713,12z/data=!4m3!15m2!1m1!1s%2Fg%2F11tdkzm_50

    Good luck.

  16. Posted

    Playing the recent LP of Joe Lovano's "I'm All For You - Ballad Songbook". I wasn't going to get this because the CD sounds very nice but I wanted to hear what all the fuss was about when this came out. It is an analog recordings and Kevin Gray did a nice job with it. I don't think it beats the CD.

    Sad to realize that Joe Lovano is the only one still with us.

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  17. Posted

    Losing our last link to Coltrane. Damn.

    I got to see him perform quite a few times. Some shows were really good and others just OK. There were a couple of shows at the Regattabar where he gave his band way too much solo space. I seem to remember a 15 minute bass solo and another 5 minutes of Pharoah "playing" a ringing bowl.

  18. Posted

    55 minutes ago, mjzee said:

    That was the writer's point.  Many people think chiropractors are quacks.  Your experience told you otherwise; so did the writer's.

    Not really... the author was implying that this supposed quack actually did something for him, which seemed to surprise him. So hey, maybe some of these audio treatments might do something like that as well. I don't see the equivalency. I can't speak to his friend's Rife technology experience, but I can speak to chiropractic care. I feel and hear my spine move and it results in less pain. I can feel the pain lessen. There is no doubt. This isn't some slight change that I think is there.

    Most people who tweak their audio system would probably say that a lot of them produce subtle changes. Feeling a facet joint pop is not subtle..

  19. Posted · Edited by bresna

    34 minutes ago, Teasing the Korean said:

    Does anyone remember the story - and I may be getting details wrong - about an audiophile rag that did blindfold tests?  In one test, on a very high-end system, they apparently replaced the high-end tube amplifier with a solid state Panasonic that you could have bought at Sears.  All the other gear in the chain was high-end and unchanged.  Apparently, the participants in the test could not tell the difference, and the rag stopped doing the blindfold tests.  Anyone know what I'm talking about?

    Stereo Review's Julian Hirsch sat down with 16 members of the Detroit Audio Society and did a blind test of a Pioneer solid state amp and a Mark Levison tube amp. He got a lot of grief for that article because statistically speaking, by a very slim margin, listeners preferred the sound of the Pioneer receiver. However, this was a two-part listening test. When people saw what they were listening to (un-blinded so to speak), they overwhelmingly chose the tube amp. I think that is the part that got him in the most trouble.

    I don't remember this stopping them from doing blind tests though. In fact, I think they did a blind listening test of speaker wires shortly after this amplifier test. I found that Stereo Review article here: https://www.soundandvision.com/content/speaker-cables-can-you-hear-difference

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  21. Posted

    8 minutes ago, mjzee said:

    Anyway, I’d encourage others to read the article.  I think the writer makes some good points.

    I read it. I almost didn't when he started out by inferring chiropractors are "quacks". I have had many back issues minimized by my chiropractor. What he does by manipulating my spine relieves nerve pain. It's not imagined. I can hear my joints pop and I get almost instantaneous pain relief. In my limited experience in comparing audio playback, it is nothing like popping facet joints.

    I have no idea what Rife technology is doing for his friend and I hope I never have to find out.

    FWIW, I have tried some audio tweaks. After all, I do have Blue Jean Cables interconnects and speaker wires (mainly because they are well made and look good). I tried hearing differences when I switched over to these cables, but I really wasn't able to hear anything different. One time, I tried swapping AC cords. I could hear no difference at all with that experiment, which validated the science, making me a happy camper. That being said, the time it takes to swap an AC line cord is far too long for human audio memory anyway, so from a scientific point of view, that alone likely invalidated the test. :)

  22. Posted · Edited by bresna

    2 hours ago, GA Russell said:

    Kevin, the sales pitches I've seen for cables stress the purity of the copper, and the effort given to designing the insulation.

    I take it that you think that effort is wasted.  Is that right?  Any copper wire is as good as another?

    I believe in using well made speaker wires. I would not have bought the KK Cable k4B-2B cables mentioned above specifically because several Amazon reviewers state that the banana terminations are crimped on and as a result, several have had them pull off. I use Blue Jean speaker wires. The banana terminations are welded on.

    Purity of the copper has very little to do with the sound.

    Insulation has even less to do with the sound.

    Again, buy whatever you like and enjoy it to your heart's content. Believe your own ears when you hear some improvement. I have no qualms with that.

    Just don't start debating the science behind it or we'll likely disagree. I measure things for a living. I measure signals as high as 100 GHz. I know all about cables and signal integrity. I know what measurements show about the quality of transmitted signals.I make these types of measurements almost every day.

    5 minutes ago, T.D. said:

    I used to read Stereophile, but threw in the towel about 20 years ago when I decided that (one of their big columnists at the time) Jonathan Scull's constant touting of "Shun Mook resonators" was absurd rather than funny.:D

    I stopped reading that magazine a long time ago as well. They continually touted expensive tweaks that just didn't stand up to the science. Having an EE degree and knowing the science behind it is kinda like knowing the wizard is behind the curtain.

  24. Posted

    5 hours ago, mjzee said:

    And yet, no one would dispute that a $200 stereo would sound better than a $50 stereo, or that a $1,000 stereo would sound better than a $200 stereo, just as no one would dispute that a $2,000 flat-screen TV has a better picture than a $500 flat-screen TV.  There are improvements that come with innovation, design, better materials, newer technologies, and, yes, costlier materials.  Where the line is drawn of "I can't hear (or see) any improvement for the money" differs with every individual, but flat statements that imply you'll get good sound regardless of how much or little you spend seem like a caricature.

    You are using absolutes where they are not necessary. I would definitely dispute every one of the generalizations you've made. In fact, I would say that price has very little to do with how a stereo sounds or a TV looks.

    And then you'll have to explain to me how these KK Cables represent an innovative design or what improved materials are being used here... Wire is being used here. Wire. Oh, and banana plugs. These materials have been used for speaker cables for as long as I've been buying speaker cables.

    And don't even get me started over bi-wiring.

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  25. Posted

    Stereophile is one of the biggest sellers of audio snake oil. This article is them just preaching to their choir.

    As for your experience with new speaker cables, it's your money and I'm glad you find it well spent. Stereophile might agree with your assessment but I find it unlikely. In my experience, Stereophile's reviews almost always favor the expensive tweaks. $71 a pair is "two buck Chuck" in speaker cables. :)