YouTube Music streamed from my daughter's iPhone sounded better than my Lossless Audio!

AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi

Yesterday while I was cooking in the small kitchen (not large kitchen :D), I heard Vivaldi's Winter (Four Seasons) play from the breakfast room.

So I said, "Oh, someone's playing Vivaldi's Winter from The Four Seasons."

My 18 YO daughter replied, "So daddy, are you familiar with this song?"

I replied, "I've heard various orchestras play Vivaldi's Four Seasons since I was your age. So, yes, I am very familiar with it."

She replied, "I heard this one version on YouTube, and it sounds better than all the other versions because they used instruments that were closer to the original instruments back in those days."

And I chuckled, "Excuse me, YouTube? There's no way some YouTube music is going to sound better than my Lossless audio!"

She replied, "What's lossless audio?" :eek:
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
So I told her to stream the YouTube video from her iPhone to my Yamaha CX-A5100 (AirPlay) in my HT room so that we could compare to my lossless Anne-Sophie Mutter version.

To my embarrassment, the YouTube stream sounded better than my lossless file. :oops::D

This once again tells me that the actual original recording is the salient factor, not whether it is MP3 or lossless.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
I have the first one queued up to check out.

Do you think it could be a loudness thing? I mean, I have heard some pretty fantastic sounding videos on YouTube so I'm not completely shocked, but better than your lossless versions?
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
This once again tells me that the actual original recording is the salient factor, not whether it is MP3 or lossless.
Ah, yes. For sure. So maybe the yt versions were just plain recorded better than your lossless versions.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
Ah, yes. For sure. So maybe the yt versions were just plain recorded better than your lossless versions.
I'd venture to say that recording quality is just as, if not more, important than just about anything else.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I have the first one queued up to check out.

Do you think it could be a loudness thing? I mean, I have heard some pretty fantastic sounding videos on YouTube so I'm not completely shocked, but better than your lossless versions?
I tried to match the volume. But even at lower volume, the YT video still sounded better.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
I'd venture to say that recording quality is just as, if not more, important than just about anything else.
I think the actual recording - instruments, vocals, recording equipments - is more important than the music file as long as the music file is at least good quality MP3.

In this case, it could be just the types of instruments used since it sounded different than most versions I've heard.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
I think the actual recording - instruments, vocals, recording equipments - is more important than the music file as long as the music file is at least good quality MP3.

In this case, it could be just the types of instruments used since it sounded different than most versions I've heard.
True, but what I meant was that the quality of the recording as a whole (how well each instrument was captured in relation to each other). However, it is very interesting that the instruments are closer to the originals, and that recording sounded awesome BTW.

If you have an excellent recording, mix, and master then you're off to a very good start and it will probably sound good on just about anything (within reason), but will sound EXCELLENT on a good system like your theater.

It sucks when I have a song I like that I've listened to for years only to get a better set of speakers only to realize that the recording sucks. I've noticed this on a lot of music from the 90's when DRC was all the rage.

I very much agree that the codec or container doesn't really matter as long as it's high quality (320 MP3, FLAC, WAV, etc) then it'll sound good.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
It sucks when I have a song I like that I've listened to for years only to get a better set of speakers only to realize that the recording sucks. I've noticed this on a lot of music from the 90's when DRC was all the rage.
Me too. It really is a bummer sometimes. That's why I got all excited when I found a remastered version of Kill 'Em All that actually has bass and sounds pretty clean. A lot of my heavier stuff from that era doesn't hold up as well on my system as I wish it did.
 
panteragstk

panteragstk

Audioholic Warlord
Me too. It really is a bummer sometimes. That's why I got all excited when I found a remastered version of Kill 'Em All that actually has bass and sounds pretty clean. A lot of my heavier stuff from that era doesn't hold up as well on my system as I wish it did.
Exactly, metal is especially bad about this. Even current stuff. Pantera's recordings all sound terrible, but it doesn't stop me...obviously. :)
 
TLS Guy

TLS Guy

Seriously, I have no life.
I have the first one queued up to check out.

Do you think it could be a loudness thing? I mean, I have heard some pretty fantastic sounding videos on YouTube so I'm not completely shocked, but better than your lossless versions?
No. Anne Sophie Mutter is not an early music specialist.

To really enjoy early music like the Four Seasons does require that you select from an ensemble that specializes in early music, that understands it stylistically and can play those early instruments. The keys were different and at higher pitch, the stings were of gut and not steel. There were many instruments that were around then and not in use in modern orchestras, and many of the older versions of current instruments were very different, especially the wind instruments. That is especially true of oboes, of which there were a wide variety and the oboe de cacha producing a unique and interesting sound.



The flutes were of wood. The brass instruments were very different, the trumpets, and horns being valveless, and very different to modern instruments. For instance that performance you liked includes and instrument called a Theobo which is not included in modern orchestras. Also back then perfect pitch was cherished and there was very limited use of vibrato, especially by singers. Talking of which castratos were common back then. In recent years we now have an array of male altos. Some have a good falsetto. Some have had very good voices as children and have been trained to preserve their voices through puberty. They have a more penetrating edge to the voice than female contratos.

To really understand music of the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries and really enjoy it requires it to be played by early music specialists. Fortunately there are many of these in Europe, and now the US. Apollo's Fire out of Cleveland being a particularly good example, and among the best in the world. Europe has numerous first class ensembles through out the UK, France, the Netherlands, Germany, Austria, and now Poland and other Eastern European countries.

Take a look at these.




There is a whole world of music to appear out there.

Even as late as Mozart, if you take his clarinet concerto, the modern instruments can not play it properly and unless you use an older instrument copy you have to leave out a lot of the bass notes, or as usually done transpose them higher.

Berlioz was particularly fond of the ophicleide, which is not in the modern orchestra.



There are a vast array of wonderful instruments out there, that most do not know about.
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Me too. It really is a bummer sometimes. That's why I got all excited when I found a remastered version of Kill 'Em All that actually has bass and sounds pretty clean. A lot of my heavier stuff from that era doesn't hold up as well on my system as I wish it did.
But does it have Blitzkrieg in it? Hmmm....
 
William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
No blitzkrieg, but the original didn't have it either!
Mine did!!! Pissed me off...I lost that copy, and when I replaced it found out that for some stoopid reason, they quit publishing it with that in there. One of the coolest covers they did. Although “The Prince” is one of my favorites, and “So What” is always fun too.
 
Pogre

Pogre

Audioholic Slumlord
Mine did!!! Pissed me off...I lost that copy, and when I replaced it found out that for some stoopid reason, they quit publishing it with that in there. One of the coolest covers they did. Although “The Prince” is one of my favorites, and “So What” is always fun too.
Didn't they add Blitzkrieg in another later run? I swear I thought I had the original Kill 'Em All when it first came out.
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
More "Period" Instruments on early music pieces.


 
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William Lemmerhirt

William Lemmerhirt

Audioholic Overlord
Didn't they add Blitzkrieg in another later run? I swear I thought I had the original Kill 'Em All when it first came out.
My brain cell is a little fuzzy but, yeah, I could have it backwards. I just remember that I couldn’t find it in a later release.
Edit: seems odd talking about Kill em All in this particular thread lmao!!!
But I am currently listening to Yiruma(piano music) while working on my coffee for the morning. So there’s that...
 
AcuDefTechGuy

AcuDefTechGuy

Audioholic Jedi
Vivaldi Four Seasons Spring:


Vivaldi Four Seasons Autumn:

 
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