Homepage > News > Hoght Definition Multi Format Event

Hoght Definition Multi Format Event

The 16th & 17th February of 2002 an event took place with simultaneous recording in both high definition formats (HR-PCM & DSD) as also analogue tape (1/2"- 30ips).

The ATHENS MASTERING studio together with audio magazine AV PRO were responsible for the organization of this first in Greece event with worlwide interest.

It was an old idea of ours to create high definition recordings of our own.

We had to make our auditions, and not to evaluate the new hi-resolution digital formats only with recordings made by the interested parts in the one or the other format.

Our aim: to reach the truth as close as possible.

The accomplishment was not easy at all, since we needed high end technology equipmens not easily available especially for the DSD format.We finally succeded with the invaluable help of Mr. Claude Cellier. Claude is the man behind the design of PYRAMIX digital audio workstationand and owner of MERGING TECHNOLOGIES company.

We also had the invaluable help and co-sponsoring of the new Pro audio magazine΄s people.Pyramix is the only system able for multichannel recording in both SACD and DSD formats.

The recording sessions took place in "D.Mitropoulos" hall at Athens Concert hall with the volonteer participation of some of the best Greek musicians.(String quartet -Brass quintet - solo clarinet - symphonic drums -grand concert piano - soprano - tenor)

All equipment used during the event were state of the art:

 

The audition took place the next day in ATHENS MASTERING suite 1, a LEDE room designed by Christian Malcurt with the following equipment:

10 people from audiophile and pro world participated in a blind test between analogue recordings and digital ones comparing always the same take.
Most of them were also in the concert hall during recordings in the best seats.

What were the impressions regarding differences between the various formats?

First of all analogue sounds different than the two digital formats.Analog sound had the well known pleasant and musical quality but with the unavoidable colorations easily noticable.I want to mention that while the digital sources were state of the art, analog sources were very good but not of any special hi-end quality.

The debate between the two high resolution formats was really stiff.
Most of the listeners found DSD, with better resolution, depth of image, localization of instruments.
96/24 PCM sounded also very good with better bass and midbass sense, softer treble, a little drier midband and less obvious levels of depth.
Taking in mind that the wonderful DPA mics used are a little in the bright side and the tweeters of ATCs were replaced a few days ago, our conclusion favouring SACD seems to be rather correct.

Listeners opinions were somehow affected by the kind of program. What I mean is that during the listening of brass for example many listeners preferred the PCM to be more round and smoother. However it is not easy, during such evaluations to know exactly "what sounds good" or "what is closer to real".

As a final result 8 out of 10 expressed a small preference to DSD recordings.

It is also interesting that the recording engineer of our workshop Themis Zafiropoulos, with more than 20 years of experience in classical recordings, found the PCM to be more 'accurate'.

We have to keep in mind that during the workshop we listen to original DSD & PCM unprocessed material.

As most of the connoisseurs say SACD are processed for Eq-Dynamics e.t.c in one or another way first in PCM format and then back to DSD !

As a personal conclusion I would like to say that analogue quality is always live and dominating all formats till now, especially in Rock and Jazz, who recreate this slow bass and fat low mids closer to the real feeling from a live concert. Not tottaly accurate but absolutely charming.

DSD is excellent, clean with very good localization and depth. It seems that the lack of low-pass filter gives this "open" feeling in comparison to the little "muddy" feeling of PCM. Maybe a PCM recording at 192kHz or higher at 384kHz in the future will bring PCM closer to this feeling.

In any case PCM at 96Khz/24 bit is more mature than ever and sound also very good, with a lot of equipment and platforms to welcome it. Both are much better than 16/44.1 with more information, resolution and naturalness.

Next day, during a session for the new remastering of "Pornografia" " a work by the famous Greek composer Manos Hatzidakis, I tried both Weiss and EmmLabs A/D converters but at 44.1kHz/24bits.I was surprized when I realized that a part of the difference in character we listened between DSD and PCM remained at 44.1kHz. As it was expected the analog part of each A/D has its own character.

If we want a few conclusion this are:

We are again in a position to make wishes for _THEM_ to decide after all this debate to have a new format to work with, something that probably will give the long waited push in the entire chain of music production. It's more necessary and urgent now than ever.

We need a format that: