jvb7u@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jon Brinkmann) (06/11/91)
I've been intrigued by advertisements for the _Chesky Jazz Sampler and Audiophile Test CD_. It's claims are (from HFN&RR, July 1990): After nine Jazz selections, each a showcase for the company's proprietary 128-times oversampling technology, the _Chesky Jazz Sampler Volume I_ offers conclusive tests to show the existence of such disputed characteristics as (1) image height, (2) stage width beyond the speaker's edges, (3) stage depth and (4) absolute polarity. These illustrations are so vivid that they can be used to silence those who argue that such sonic properties are 'imaginary'. This disk settles it, once and for all. Has anyone listened to this CD? Has it been reviewed anywhere? And the bottom line: It is worth purchasing? Jon -- Jon Brinkmann Astronomy Department Internet: jvb7u@Virginia.EDU University of Virginia UUCP: ...!uunet!virginia!jvb7u P.O. Box 3818 SPAN/HEPnet: 6654::jvb7u Charlottesville, VA 22903-0818
tldavis@athena.mit.edu (Timothy L. Davis) (06/12/91)
jvb7u@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jon Brinkmann) writes: >I've been intrigued by advertisements for the _Chesky Jazz Sampler and >Audiophile Test CD_. > > After nine Jazz selections, each a showcase for the company's > proprietary 128-times oversampling technology, the _Chesky Jazz > Sampler Volume I_ offers conclusive tests to show the existence > of such disputed characteristics as (1) image height, (2) stage > width beyond the speaker's edges, (3) stage depth and (4) absolute > polarity. These illustrations are so vivid that they can be > used to silence those who argue that such sonic properties are > 'imaginary'. This disk settles it, once and for all. I have the CD. The musical selections sound excellent. They are all soft jazz, each from a different recording, with a "liveness" and stage presence equal to the best small ensemble recordings I have heard. Unfortunately the selections are a bit more mellow than my tastes. I might label them as "department store music," one step removed from elevator music. (Performers: the Pizzarellis, Clark Terry, Phil Woods, Paquito D'Rivera etc.) The "technical tests" part of the CD is a bit more annoying. As for the stage depth, height, etc., I am unconvinced that audio cues alone are sufficient to judge whether the sound is coming from above or below the speakers. In fact, I can make a strong argument for a 2-way up/down ambiguity present in the signal unless the acoustics of floor and ceiling are completely different. But that's beside the point. The CD TELLS YOU what to expect as you are listening, so there is no way to form an independent opinion. After being told, its easy to say, "Oh yes, the speaker DOES sound closer now". The worst technical test on the CD, however, is one which should be quite useful except for its flaw. There is a string of "bong" sounds, which are near-perfect sinusoids which start at a high amplitude and decay. Unfortunately, the 128x-oversampled (Chesky-style) bongs are clipped by the high end of their A/D system. It's a rather startlingly clean clip on the oscilloscope. The filtered-style bongs (conventionally sampled for comparison) aren't clipped, but must have some (inaudible) distortion from the antialiasing filters which are necessary. They made a passing reference in their newsletter to the "golden-eared" who had noticed this error, but to me it was quite obvious both to my ears and to my oscilloscope that the first three bongs were clipped. I was frantic at first, thinking my CD player output or amplifier was maladjusted, but it was that way ON the TEST CD. Big oops. I guess Chesky won't be joining Hewlett-Packard in the ranks of test signal producers. The most useful test, to me, is also the most dangerous: full-volume (0 dB) square waves. Running a square wave through your system is a decent way to evaluate amplifiers, tape decks, etc. to assure that you have linear phase and a flat frequency response, and boy let me tell you, my Harman-Kardon TD392 "ultrawideband linear phase" cassette deck does bad things to the square wave, no matter what the dolby encoding or bias setting. It is dangerous because, even at a low volume setting, a full-force square wave generates high energy high frequency harmonics which could easily melt your tweeters. Wouldn't you hate to leave your house with soft jazz playing, and return to find your audiophile speakers damaged? In my opinion it was not a good idea to put both of these on the same CD. My overall opinion: the jazz sampler section is as good as any other sampler CD, and the audiophile test section could have been improved. I'd like to see different tests, such as sinusoids of varying frequency, sawtooth waves, etc. as a poor-man's function generator, and less emphasis on their "wonderful" 128x oversampling technology. There are many ways to do digital sampling well, and this incredible oversampling is not necessarily the best way. But Chesky would have you believe in their electronics and nobody else's. If there is a better test CD, I would buy it instead, and get my jazz on a real jazz album. (My current favorite: Michael Brecker, Now you See it, Now you Don't) Tim Davis (tldavis@athena.mit.edu) Part-time sax player Full-time PhD student Zero-time MD student
chu@hanauma.jpl.nasa.gov (Eugene Chu) (06/12/91)
In article <12985@uwm.edu> jvb7u@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jon Brinkmann) writes: >I've been intrigued by advertisements for the _Chesky Jazz Sampler and >Audiophile Test CD_. It's claims are (from HFN&RR, July 1990): > > After nine Jazz selections, each a showcase for the company's > proprietary 128-times oversampling technology, the _Chesky Jazz > Sampler Volume I_ offers conclusive tests to show the existence > of such disputed characteristics as (1) image height, (2) stage > width beyond the speaker's edges, (3) stage depth and (4) absolute > polarity. These illustrations are so vivid that they can be > used to silence those who argue that such sonic properties are > 'imaginary'. This disk settles it, once and for all. > While I've never heard that particular disk before, I can tell you that there are other recordings that can illustrate the same effect. I was once a skeptic myself, but having since listened to a number of fine recordings, I'm a believer. Some of what convinced me are: - Vivaldi's Four Seasons from Telarc. Listen to the Presto movement in the Summer concerto. Vivaldi's composition copied the style of his predecessor, Correli, wherein he used "dueling" violins, one in the front, and one in the back. On a good system, you can really sense this depth. - "Jazz at The Pawn Shop" on the Proprious label (analog vinyl record set) This was a history making recording made live in a cafe in Switzerland somewhere. Throughout the recording, you can almost "see" the audience move around the cafe. - Any of the direct-to-disc analog recordings from Sheffiled Labs. These tend to sound much better than their CDs which were recorded concurrently with the vinyl discs. Of course, this is also a disease. I can now tell the difference between zip cords and the MIT Shotgun speaker cables. The only thing that prevents me from getting the MITs is its $1500 price tag. eyc
romeo@fang.att.com (Romeo Gonzalez(660-3252)) (06/13/91)
>From article <12985@uwm.edu>, by jvb7u@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Jon Brinkmann): > I've been intrigued by advertisements for the _Chesky Jazz Sampler and > Audiophile Test CD_. It's claims are (from HFN&RR, July 1990): > > After nine Jazz selections, each a showcase for the company's > proprietary 128-times oversampling technology, the _Chesky Jazz > Sampler Volume I_ offers conclusive tests to show the existence > of such disputed characteristics as (1) image height, (2) stage > width beyond the speaker's edges, (3) stage depth and (4) absolute > polarity. These illustrations are so vivid that they can be > used to silence those who argue that such sonic properties are > 'imaginary'. This disk settles it, once and for all. > > Has anyone listened to this CD? Has it been reviewed anywhere? And the > bottom line: It is worth purchasing? > > Jon > -- If you can find it, buy it. It's out of press so you have to find in stock or call the Audio Advisor to see if they have any. The music is great, the quality is incredible, I bought Phill Woods 1st Chesky CD just out of curiosity and try to order the Sampler Vol 1, and the response from chesky was that their out of press. I found my copy by accident at Camelot Music (Chain store). I recomend any of David Chesky's own CD's and Ana Caram's CD's. I listen to them in the sampler and once auditioning speakers. The test are as mentioned above, they are different than the Audiophile Test CD. Chesky's is simpler while The AP is more complete and sophisticated. -- ---- Romeo Gonzalez AT&T Orlando, Fl att!fang!romeo | romeo@fang.att.com
kchen@Apple.COM (Kok Chen) (06/13/91)
chu@hanauma.jpl.nasa.gov (Eugene Chu) writes: >- "Jazz at The Pawn Shop" on the Proprious label (analog vinyl record set) ^^^^^^^^^ PROPRIUS CDP 7778/9 > This was a history making recording made live in a cafe in Switzerland ^^^^^^^^^^^ Stockholm, Sweden. Kok Chen, AA6TY kchen@apple.com Apple Computer, Inc.
sridhar@uunet.UU.NET (Sridhar Mahadevan) (06/17/91)
I have found the Chesky Jazz CD quite useful in setting up my audio system. First, the nine music tracks are of extraordinary audio quality, equalling the best I have heard on the new medium. For example, on track 5, Phil Woods' clarinet appears to come from well to the right of the right speaker. Its tone is gorgeous. Ditto for track 7 with Clark Terry's trumpet. Some of the other tracks feature a wealth of percussive detail that really illustrates some of the potential of the new medium (played back on a premium system, of course). I found the audio test tracks marginally less useful. Track 10 is designed to help you get channel separation correctly. Bob Andrews speaks from exact center, middle right, right, and beyond the right speaker (ditto for left channel). It is useful in instantly convincing skeptics that a stereo can easily image sounds beyond the speakers (although you loose some focus). The LEDR tests are designed to expose unwanted room reflections. I did not find them very useful (e.g., the height test does not seem to work on my Quads). There are also some intriguing tracks featuring phase inversion, digital copying, and oversampling digital recording. Finally, there are some tracks that allow testing of your CD player through an oscilloscope. In sum, I consider the Chesky sampler to be well worth the money. The only other test record that seems to be as good (or slightly better) is the Opus 3 Depth of Image test record. - Sridhar Mahadevan