Thought I tore up my A5s...

[Aus10]

Been awhile since I have been on this forum, though I thought I blew my A5s so I began freaking out....

Got home early today, my brother was at work and my parents were downtown. Figured hey... I wonder how far I can push the drivers on my A5... Like these videos. So I choose the worse source, I know some of you will disown me as a fellow A5 user. I used a Monster RCA to 3.5mm cable plugged into my phone playing music I bought off the Play store. Anyways I cranked some different music dubstep drake etc at 0.0 then +2. Drivers didn't move much but I was afraid to go any further... I then played the song Little Black Submarine by The Black Keys that I bought from the Play store. The guitar plucks (Not sure if that is what it is called, I played the Violin. That is what we called it) sounded uh well terrible... I heard it in both speakers, from the mid range driver. It sounded like it was just distorted and muddy, they were just terrible to me... I then played Gold On The Ceiling but just streaming it off the play store and it sounded even worse.... At this point I was freaking out thinking I did something horrible. So I put the Tron Soundtrack in my PS3, I know it is MP3 but when I switched it over from FLAC I tried to make it the best sound quality I could.

Wow.... It sounds fantastic..... I don't hear that muddyness I heard anymore. When the Horns play or the Orchestra kicks in, I am literally amazed. I am running PS3>HDMI>1121K>12Guage Blue jeans wire>A5s in PCM DIRECT mode. No subwoofer just the A5s. I never realized how truly important the source is until now... Literally I won't listen to those songs anymore unless I get them into a higher quality. Anyone else ever experience something like this?

Thank you Jon for such great speakers!

[gtpsuper24]

Cool. Just remember that you can't take a low quality MP3 and try and turn it into a high res format like FLAC. If you can purchase/download all your music from Apple or where ever as FLAC or the highest quality available (WAV,FLAC, AAC,WMA).The PS3 will not recognize FLAC files so convert them to WAV or high bitrate AAC or WMA. That way you can have your high quality music and just download a audio converter and convert it into what ever format you want for other devices. Theres alot of free audio converters out there that work out nicely and have tons of options for format, bitrates, ect...

[BufordTJustice]

Been awhile since I have been on this forum, though I thought I blew my A5s so I began freaking out....

Got home early today, my brother was at work and my parents were downtown. Figured hey... I wonder how far I can push the drivers on my A5... Like these videos. So I choose the worse source, I know some of you will disown me as a fellow A5 user. I used a Monster RCA to 3.5mm cable plugged into my phone playing music I bought off the Play store. Anyways I cranked some different music dubstep drake etc at 0.0 then +2. Drivers didn't move much but I was afraid to go any further... I then played the song Little Black Submarine by The Black Keys that I bought from the Play store. The guitar plucks (Not sure if that is what it is called, I played the Violin. That is what we called it) sounded uh well terrible... I heard it in both speakers, from the mid range driver. It sounded like it was just distorted and muddy, they were just terrible to me... I then played Gold On The Ceiling but just streaming it off the play store and it sounded even worse.... At this point I was freaking out thinking I did something horrible. So I put the Tron Soundtrack in my PS3, I know it is MP3 but when I switched it over from FLAC I tried to make it the best sound quality I could.

Wow.... It sounds fantastic..... I don't hear that muddyness I heard anymore. When the Horns play or the Orchestra kicks in, I am literally amazed. I am running PS3>HDMI>1121K>12Guage Blue jeans wire>A5s in PCM DIRECT mode. No subwoofer just the A5s. I never realized how truly important the source is until now... Literally I won't listen to those songs anymore unless I get them into a higher quality. Anyone else ever experience something like this?

Thank you Jon for such great speakers!

Just remember that those videos were made with the Arx A3. Your receiver's amp section will likely clip before generating that much movement in the A5's midwoofers. I can't advise trying it "for fun".

I was tasked by Jon with exploring the outer limits of the Arx midwoofer in the A3. That is certainly not encouraged behavior. Just wanted you to know that.

[ppfp76]

I just received my A5's on Saturday. I have been running them over the last few days at low to moderate levels. I have just started pushing them with CD's and they sound pretty damn good. My question, for those more educated in this field, where do ripped MP3 (320 kbps) fall into as "high quality" files?

Thanks,

[ppfp76]

I have an Onko TX-NR708 running these and it is hooked up to my network. I have an external hard drive that I rip a lot of CD and download all purchased MP3's to. I rip everything at 320 and download at 256 or higher. So, I can access a lot of these files from the receiver and that is the purpose of the question above.

Thanks again,

[BufordTJustice]

I rip everything to FLAC now using MediaMonkey (free w/ FLAC plugin). Try it yourself. Rip a song to FLAC from CD and then to 320kbps using MM and compare.

So you know, I used to have all my songs in MP3 in 320k. I'm all FLAC now. :)

[BufordTJustice]

I'll also add that, depending on your DAC, Optical or Coaxial digital may sound better than the other.

I prefer coaxial digital with a quality, double shielded (with foil and braid shields) 75ohm cable (BJC, Parts Express Belkin Pure AV Blue series, Monoprice 22awg RG-6, etc.) to an optical since, with my DAC it sounds better. Optical requires two additional conversions (source-> optical-> optical decode-> analog) and apparently that effects SQ. I did extensive A/B/A/B on my system and even tested it with my wife (who had no idea what was being tested)....its was an edge to coaxial in my system.

This is a game of very fine differences and there is no rule of thumb. I have found coaxial sounds better on my Arcam AVR300 with Wolfson DAC's with slightly increase midrange clarity and a slightly wider and deeper soundstage. Yours may be the exact opposite, so experiment.

[ppfp76]

Buford,
That sounds good. I had Media Monkey for a while but I didn't care for it's interface. Maybe I"ll take a look at it and start ripping things via FLAC files.

Thanks,
Pete

[BufordTJustice]

Buford,
That sounds good. I had Media Monkey for a while but I didn't care for it's interface. Maybe I"ll take a look at it and start ripping things via FLAC files.

Thanks,
Pete

I agree the interface is crappy. But the sonic results are stunning for a free program. And it accesses Gracenote or CDDB (I forget which one) for album and track names. I've A/B'd CD with FLAC file and Media Monkey preserves all of the dynamics, harmonics, room ques, and ambiance of the original recording. I was very impressed. It's a noticeable step-up from 320k MP3 if you're running a decent DAC, decent amp/receiver, and Arx speakers.

[Aus10]

I have been debating on returning my PS3 to newegg and getting the same blu-ray player Buford has for FLAC reasons. I can't game on the ps3 because the TV makes me sick. Movies I am good just anything else, I feel like throwing up and a horrible migraine.

[BufordTJustice]

I have been debating on returning my PS3 to newegg and getting the same blu-ray player Buford has for FLAC reasons. I can't game on the ps3 because the TV makes me sick. Movies I am good just anything else, I feel like throwing up and a horrible migraine.

Yeah, I use the Panny DMP BDT-500. I should state that my first one went back to Panasonic for a critical failure of the firmware. They replaced it under warranty. FLAC files up to 192/24 are pristine. The player interface is uninspired, but it works. Hard to beat all its features for $300 right now.

[marksman]

Funny thread. I have been through the *exact same thing* before with LowFi sound sources.

I always have friends in the tech industry whom swear there is No Difference in sound sources and formats. I had a friend with very high end system that used to have "blind bakeoffs" where he would have folks bring over any music they wanted to play on his system. He would serve drinks, turn out the lights, and then play the same song in a variety of formats depending on what they brought, and what he had (vinyl, CD, various digital compression/formats, from various input sources) and challenge everyone in the room to write down which source/format each one was and we'd compare at the end.

People were always shocked how bad MP3 sounded, even at 128 to 256 bit rates, and how many ugly artifacts showed up on a high resolution system. This game gave me an unfortunately good ear for weaknesses in some music formats and playing devices.

As a side note we learned two other things:

1. A lot of little alt-bands we liked, that record on computers or in home studios, do a horrific job at balancing and mastering, which stands out in a painfully glaring way on a high-image stereo. They're sadly better appreciated on cheaper gear.

2. Increasingly most rock music is mixed very hot and extremely compressed, with no variance in level or balance, to fit modern digital formats, so it is hard to tell a difference in quality and it starts to sound harsh/unnatural in any format, esp. when you crank up the volume.

[BufordTJustice]

Funny thread. I have been through the *exact same thing* before with LowFi sound sources.

I always have friends in the tech industry whom swear there is No Difference in sound sources and formats. I had a friend with very high end system that used to have "blind bakeoffs" where he would have folks bring over any music they wanted to play on his system. He would serve drinks, turn out the lights, and then play the same song in a variety of formats depending on what they brought, and what he had (vinyl, CD, various digital compression/formats, from various input sources) and challenge everyone in the room to write down which source/format each one was and we'd compare at the end.

People were always shocked how bad MP3 sounded, even at 128 to 256 bit rates, and how many ugly artifacts showed up on a high resolution system. This game gave me an unfortunately good ear for weaknesses in some music formats and playing devices.

As a side note we learned two other things:

1. A lot of little alt-bands we liked, that record on computers or in home studios, do a horrific job at balancing and mastering, which stands out in a painfully glaring way on a high-image stereo. They're sadly better appreciated on cheaper gear.

2. Increasingly most rock music is mixed very hot and extremely compressed, with no variance in level or balance, to fit modern digital formats, so it is hard to tell a difference in quality and it starts to sound harsh/unnatural in any format, esp. when you crank up the volume.

Agreed. The Wife Unit immediately noticed the difference between her favorite songs (Pop sh*t) in 320k MP3 and in 16bit/44khz FLAC...both ripped from the same CD disc. I did an A-B and told her I used different MP3 ripper programs to rip each one and was testing them out on her. I didn't tell her which song was which...only asked her to note if she felt there was a difference and which one sounded better (and, if so, why). She invariably selected the FLAC files......especially as listening volume increased near reference. She much preferred (and still prefers) FLAC at higher volumes. She said it sounded "less crunchy and smoother". A trained observer she is NOT...but her observations mirror my own.

Media Monkey's FLAC ripping plugin is awesome and I use it for all my music now. The only other option for me is HD Tracks dot com.