OK Jamie, I'm picking up the
gauntlet you threw down!
I don't start many threads, bit I agree with Jamie, it is time to break with some of the drivel on the Steam Vent, and get away from the endless threads: "What piece of junk can I buy for less than $200?"
I have been studying and optimizing the pleasures of Internet Radio.
This is timely as the
BBC Proms started two weeks ago. This is the largest and longest running music Festival in World by far. Founded by Sir Henry Wood in 1895, they continue to delight, and now bring on the finest performers from around the world. There is a true glut of musical riches at every season now, and
this season is no exception.
Until this year the quality was not good enough to really provide an enjoyable listening experience over the Internet. However the BBC have now improved things considerably.
I have to say, that for classical music BBC miking and balancing is absolutely in a class of it own and that includes the major recording companies. I really missed the Proms after moving here 39 years ago. MPR have broadcast a small fraction of the delights available in recent years. However this year has been the first year I have really been able to indulge myself for 39 years.
Obtaining the best results requires care, hence the title of this thread.
The BBC have developed the BBC iplayer which is a version of Real player. However you can do better.
I and my two sons have done listening tests of Internet players. For us we vote Winamp the cream of the crop since inception.
So my advice is to download Winamp if you don't have it.
What I do is click on the concert I want. Stop the iplayer. Copy the URL address and close iplayer. Then I open Winamp, and copy the URL to the browser in Winamap. Then play from Winamp.
Now a word about my set up. My computer does not have an internal sound card, but uses an RME Fireface 800 with 800 Firewire connection.
Now there are a number of ways to proceed as to how to reproduce the sound from the Fireface 800. This is really the meat of my investigation.
I should say that in this application the Fireface 800 seems to be really earning its keep.
I can output analog from the RME to the RSP 1098. I can then play on by pass with the Rotel only providing volume control, with bass management in the analog domain externally. Or I can have the Rotel provide some of the bass management.
I can send a digital SDIF signal to the Rotel 1098.
Now it seems these digitally compressed Internet streams are fragile.
The best option by far and away is to is to output analog to the Rotel 1098, with the Rotel in bypass mode. If you have the Rotel do any processing at all, then there is a highly significant degradation. Sending a SPDIF signal to the Rotel, is in my view sub listenable.
The quality I'm getting with an analog connection to the Rotel in bypass mode with entirely external analog bass management is quite remarkable. It is a good as FM broadcast and in someways better, and the dynamic range is greater. The quality is much better than what I'm able to get from the iBiquity/IBOC, terrestrial digital broadcast system.
If Alex "The Monkey" sees this post, then these Proms are a fantastic way to explore classical music. The Prom concerts are available on line for a week after broadcast.
This Prom, available for another 4 days is a great one, and a good place to start. The new Wunderkind, Karen Geophegan is in fine form in the Mozart bassoon concerto. The balance and recoding of the Mahler sixth symphony is superb, and the bass line and tymps are very realistic.
There are a lot of other joys on BBC. I hope we will here something of the
Three Choirs Festival, which this year is from Hereford Cathedral in the Malvern Hills.
Talking of choral music the very long running program
Choral Evensong is well worth a listen. Every week the BBC outside broadcast team does a broadcast of Evensong from the great choral choir schools of England. They are available for a week after broadcast. A recent broadcast from Winchester Cathedral was especially fine. The bass of the large organ pipes come through loud and strong enough the shake the floor! Choral music is the most challenging to lossy algorithms, and twinking was slightly present occasionally.
In my view the two premier sites for exploring classical music on the we are
BBC 3, and
Classical Minnesota pubic radio (MPR).
I would be most interested with the experiences of others with Internet Radio, and what quality they are able to achieve. I think Internet radio is really starting to come of age.
