Slight static/crackle

[William Lemmerhirt]

If want to hear a glaring example of loudness wars try Metallica’s Death Magnetic. Some really great material ruined by more of lars’s idiocy. It’s unlistenable. You can listen to the good versions of those songs because they had to be lifted for guitar hero. YouTube.

 

[panteragstk]

I've put some serious time into listening to the new cd and haven't noticed any clipping. Tho to be honest I haven't been listening for it, but I think I would have noticed...

@William Lemmerhirt, @panteragstk and @j_garcia all have copies too I think.

No, I haven't noticed any noise from any source, CD, ripped, streaming (multiple sources).

EDIT: I opened up some of my .flac files for this album in Audacity and at the end of some of the tracks things start to resemble a brick wall a bit. I'd imagine that if any clipping is occurring that's what's causing it.

 

[panteragstk]

If want to hear a glaring example of loudness wars try Metallica’s Death Magnetic. Some really great material ruined by more of lars’s idiocy. It’s unlistenable. You can listen to the good versions of those songs because they had to be lifted for guitar hero. YouTube.

Yeah, that's one of the worst examples I've ever heard. I thought I'd blown a speaker the first time I listened to it. Nope, just horrible producing/mixing/mastering...something. Was actually a good album too.

 

[JRED 1219]

I've been doing some digging and came across this video, but I still don't hear the clipping.

I just got back from my friends house. Listened on his system directly from the FLAC rip if cd. I hear it loud and clear... I don't know, I guess I have an ear for this stuff... Its really annoying me. I am hearing it all over the Fear Innoculum album.

 

[JRED 1219]

I just got back from my friends house. Listened on his system directly from the cd. I hear it loud and clear... I don't know, I guess I have an ear for this stuff... Its really annoying me. I am hearing it all over the Fear Innoculum album.

Just listened to the linked video and I totally hear it as well ..

 

[lovinthehd]

I just got back from my friends house. Listened on his system directly from the FLAC rip if cd. I hear it loud and clear... I don't know, I guess I have an ear for this stuff... Its really annoying me. I am hearing it all over the Fear Innoculum album.

How about taking gear over to his place?

 

[JRED 1219]

How about taking gear over to his place?

Maybe.
I just grabbed a torrent of this album as well and played it on my headphones and I hear it in the same spots. Says it's a direct rip of the cd (which I own btw but am keeping in original packaging... Never opening it up)

 

[JRED 1219]

Anyone have the HD download version? Thinking about paying $20 just to see if I hear it there as well.

 

[JRED 1219]

@JRED 1219, are you hearing this on ripped CDs? There's a section during my Foobar rip of "Lateralus" that crackles in the same spot every time, and it does not do it from the CD or from a different rip I did using EAC instead if Foobar2000.

I've only listened directly from the CD once the first time I heard it. I don't remember hearing it then but not sure. I do hear it on a ripped cd version, Spotify, YouTube, amazon, torrent download, etc. Tried them all. I don't want to open my cd to check because I want to keep it unopened...

 

[NINaudio]

If you hear it in the same spot on the same songs from all these different sources then chances are you're going to hear it on the CD too.

 

[JRED 1219]

Here we go:

 

[JRED 1219]

Here we go:

That guy seems to know what he's doing. The comments in this video seem to say that the HD tracks version has it as well.

 

[Pogre]

I saw that video too. The difference between the before and after is small enough I can't detect it. Maybe having some hearing loss is a blessing at times?

 

[JRED 1219]

So apperently I am able to pick up on the clipping/distortion on poorly done mastering fairly easily. After listening to other tracks with known issues ( which is why I originally began this thread as I thought something was wrong). Turns out it's the music industry and not my gear. This is why I was hearing it in other songs - because it was in the tracks...

I guess I'm just figuring this out now because I was listening so carefully to my new speakers and less just listening to the music itself which has caused this rabbit hole!

I would think that with all the technology today and high res audio that the production would be better. But apperently not. When you compare albums from supertramp, Fleetwood Mac, etc. Done decades ago. It should be better now days, not worse.

 

[Pogre]

I believe you can hear it and that does kind of suck. I don't, but I have some hearing loss that's probably masking it. I'll bet I could with a good set of cans tho.

 

[JRED 1219]

So... In Toronto in a hotel right now. I'm going to the tool concert on Monday. Buddy brought a shitty little Bose Bluetooth speaker and we are listening to tool. Sounds o..k.. however. Now matter what I do I cannot here the distortion. I have been trying to reproduce it.

My conclusion is that this is the standard of reproduction they are mastering to. If so, the hat is an absolute travesty. Seriously, WTF. WTF!

 

[lovinthehd]

So... In Toronto in a hotel right now. I'm going to the tool concert on Monday. Buddy brought a shitty little Bose Bluetooth speaker and we are listening to tool. Sounds o..k.. however. Now matter what I do I cannot here the distortion. I have been trying to reproduce it.

My conclusion is that this is the standard of reproduction they are mastering to. If so, the hat is an absolute travesty. Seriously, WTF. WTF!

Or its intentional and that bt rig isn't resolving enuf? Enjoy the show!

 

[Truthslayer]

So... In Toronto in a hotel right now. I'm going to the tool concert on Monday. Buddy brought a shitty little Bose Bluetooth speaker and we are listening to tool. Sounds o..k.. however. Now matter what I do I cannot here the distortion. I have been trying to reproduce it.

My conclusion is that this is the standard of reproduction they are mastering to. If so, the hat is an absolute travesty. Seriously, WTF. WTF!

Hate to say it, but I think your issue is due to both the speakers and AVR. One the speakers are not very efficient and listed at 4 ohm impedance. Which means they dip well below that 4 ohm rating. Your AVR only has listing specs for 8 ohm and 6 ohm. And at 6 ohm they give a 10% distortion rating with the power. Since they are not publishing any 4 ohm specs and you know the speakers dip well below 4ohm, the receivers power circuitry just isn't capable of driving those speakers cleanly.
Always the chance of a bad transformer or weak circuit breaker somewhere in your junction box, but the odds are it is more than likely the combination of those speakers and your AVR just don't match up nicely.

 

[Kvn_Walker]

Or its intentional and that bt rig isn't resolving enuf? Enjoy the show!

No highs, no lows, gotta be Bose!

 

[Kvn_Walker]

That degree of hearing acuity is rare but not unheard of. You should try to put it to good use... do some double-blind testing and if it turns out you're a prodigy, sell your services for money.