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Aural Heaven -- iPod And Analog

Posted by timothy on from the fixation-is-more-like-it dept.

Ant writes This Wired News article says there is aural magic in the combination of the very old with the very new: iPod through an old radio or tube-driven amplifier gives it a special warmth and atmosphere. '50-year-old Takeyuki Ishii insists the antique equipment creates an atmosphere that has been forgotten. The softer tones ease listeners and make them feel warm and relaxed.'"

3 of 425 comments (clear)

  1. Years ago by BWJones · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Although I am a fan of the iPod (and Apple Computer) there is nothing new here: Some years ago (about 16) I spent a couple of days at Stevie Wonders studio (Wonderland) and was stunned to see a couple of CD players that had been custom built to have tubes hooked up to them. It was explained to me that this "new fangled CD technology" sounded too "crisp" and that playing the signal back through tubes warmed things up considerably. I never would have been able to tell the difference until they hooked them up to some seriously high end speakers and lo and behold, you really could tell a difference. Unfortunately I do not remember who build these CD players, but I seem to recall a $20k price tag.

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  2. Re:Strange... by Prune · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Actually, plasma is the best driver, and that was used in commercial speakers back in the 1970s (I'm talking about Hill's Plasmatronic tweeters which use a DC glow discharge, not the crappier RF corona discharge designs you find more often). Take a look at the second set of response graphs on this guy's page for performance of slightly modified ones. With new technologies (MHCD instead of simple cathodes), even better is possible, with full range drivers not as unreasonable as might have seemed back then. Unfortunately Hill used helum plasma, so a helium tank was necessary. I'm working on DIY air plasma drivers, and the MHCD method makes a lot of difference. The only real problem is efficiency, as thermal relaxation is non-linear and that becomes a problem unless most of the power is bias rather than audio frequency modulation.

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  3. Re:What is "warm" sound? by fireshipjohn · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sound with even harmonic distortion is said to sound warm, that is 2f,4f,6f etc.
    Sound with odd harmonic distortion sounds harsh to our ears, that is 3f,5f,7f etc.

    Valves usually produce even harmonic distortion, transistors usually produce odd harmonic distortion.

    Cheers

    John