New audio player by Mark Levinson's "Daniel Hertz"- Master Class

[marklevinson]

Please do not misunderstand me. Of course, wonderful listening experiences are possible with any source. Nevertheless, there is more to this subject than people think.

[Priaptor]

Please do not misunderstand me. Of course, wonderful listening experiences are possible with any source. Nevertheless, there is more to this subject than people think.

 

Do you have a link for the before and after files you had indicated you would provide for us to test?

[marklevinson]

We barely got Master Class in time for CES. I live in Europe, am in the US now on post-CES business, am working on the collection of original/MC files for downloading, should be ready soon at Daniel Hertz . Thanks for your interest! I understand that most people are quite skeptical (for good reasons) but you won't be disappointed. I have been using what is now called Master Class for my own mastering for some years, but it was not in a form that people could buy. I wanted no compromise in sound quality but also extreme ease of use. That has been accomplished.

[DigiPete]

Dear Mark

 

Will Master Class be released for multi channel or limited to stereo?

Perhaps later?

[elcorso]

The human brain responds to PCM with a stress response that is manifested in the human body's internal functions. Analog and pure DSD (no PCM processing) do not produce this response. Once a signal is in the PCM domain, it will always produce this stress response, even if converted to DSD or analog formats. This stress response is what turns people off, and makes us prefer LP's or analog tape. It is a physiological phenomenon. Whatever we think subjectively, we are all affected by this issue. This has been confirmed over 15 years of testing and research.

 

+1 Fully agree...! I think you found the perfect words to describe what I feel under PCM: *Stress response*. Before this description mine was "Listening fatigue"

 

Master Class was developed to do two things. First, with A+, to eliminate this stress response; second, with the EQ, to obtain natural tonal balance from a wide variety of recordings. Without A+, EQ will not achieve the desired results because it is never "right" due to the stress response. This understanding is required in order to better comprehend the subject under discussion - EQ and different formats. You may find Master Class to be more significant that you think in this regard. More later on this. Questions welcome.

 

I hope this could be true, then forget about formats. But your player doesn't play DSD?

 

Best,

 

Roch

[Mappi75]

Thanks for the answer!

 

i am not convinced that listening a few soundfiles will work!

 

i have most players on the market for mac,

and one thing is obvious:

 

every player sounds different and every user have its own favorite music player,

because its the sum of the player, the os, the DAC, the speaker, the amp or avr Receiver, the music and the ears and the personal taste.

 

In which way would help me "sounded" music files with my own setup?

Or do i have a logic mistake??

 

btw: a little calculation:

 

1.000 People buy the player for 800$

=800.000$

 

5.000 people pay "only" 400$

=2.000.000$

[marklevinson]

Your question is very much appreciated. For now, Master Class is only stereo. Is there a particular multi-track application that is of interest to you?

 

Daniel Hertz is a small company and product development has to be prioritized carefully. We want to see the reaction to Master Class 1.0 (MC) and make sure everyone is totally happy first. Master Class uses the computing power of Apple, so doing multi-channel would require an interface box with input and outputs. That is an area that probably deserves attention but is not my focus.

 

One purpose of MC is to bring about more enthusiasm for recordings of acoustic music - real instruments and voices - from all eras and genres. A lot of pop music and other modern genres never happened in life and exist only through studio production so they were designed to sound good on speakers in the first place. Acoustic music sometimes suffers so much from unnatural coloration that people find it hard to listen to it. One example is the classical music of India, which I happen to be studying for 40 years. Indian music almost never sounds natural from speakers, but MC really helps a lot. The same for recordings of western classical music, especially strings and voices.

 

For home theater, I have come to appreciate two channel sound from video sources, reproduced with two speakers. It is also possible to create multi-channel playback (L,C,R, LR, RR, sides) from stereo tracks, with great success. In this case, MC adjusts all channels at the same time. Let me know if you would like details on how to try this. It may work well for you. DCS, Dolby, etc. have their advantages, but all video sound is made from the same sources anyway. The main thing is to get the dialogue (voices) sounding right, and the music and sound effects as well.

[marklevinson]

Hi Mappy75,

The best I can do at the moment is get some original/ MC files up for downloading, and see what you think. We can go from there. I agree with you that all the links of the chain are important. That is why MC must be tuned by the listener for the playback system as a whole. It is a global matter, as you say. Master Class EQ has a resolution of 0.1dB, so you can dial in very fine as well as larger adjustments. But without A+, EQ is not so interesting, otherwise it would be known as a solution for a long time.

Mark

[marklevinson]

DSD is a good idea. I was a big fan in the beginning. But in practice, it is troublesome and disappointing. Sony never made any pro tools in DSD because it turns out to be very difficult to make them. DSD is not friendly to manipulation. I guess that 98% of SACD's are made with PCM processing so they are basically just CD' anyway. I worked with Sony on this, and my guess was confirmed years ago. With Master Class, I am really happy with the results and feel no desire to play with DSD, as it makes things very complicated with no benefits. I can play my pure DSD recordings and the PCM versions with Master Class, and they sound pretty much the same. Except that the DSD versions cannot be fine tuned with EQ, where the MC versions can. Maybe we can take another look at this in the future.

[DigiPete]

Your question is very much appreciated. For now, Master Class is only stereo.

Is there a particular multi-track application that is of interest to you?

 

Mark, thanks for your answer.

I am just hoping for a multi channel product to come out sometime in the future.

5.1 is the standard, 7.1 often seen as well and 9.1 Auro the really exotic one.

Well recorded multi channel blows stereo right out of the water like colour did to black and white TVs.

 

16/48 is usually the lowest resolution

24/96 is the usual higres

24/192 is out there but still somewhat rare

 

Multi channel sources.

 

2L is the absolute reference class in surround music (disks + downloads).

www.2l.no

https://shop.klicktrack.com/2l

2L has free samples:

2L - the Nordic Sound + scroll down to Test Bench HD audio files.

I especially recommend their sampler:

https://shop.klicktrack.com/2l/63

Other great releases:

https://shop.klicktrack.com/2l/65

https://shop.klicktrack.com/2l/97

I buy the Blu-rays where you usually both get stereo tracks, 5.1 and 7.1 surround, and now sometimes even 9.1 Auro.

AIX is another reference class (disks + downloads)

AIX Records - Home Page (Blu-rays)

http://itrax.com (Downloads)

 

Sampler:

AIX Records - Catalog - Blu-ray

AIX Records - Catalog - 3D Music Albums™

My favorit:

iTrax in "Stage recording"

 

Then there is The Pink Floyd releases of

Dark side of the Moon

Wish You Were Here

 

Lots of other DVD-Audio, Bluray Audio, downloads etc.

[marklevinson]

Hi DigiPete,

Thanks for the info. Yes, multi-channel can be a great thing. I wish I had more time to work with it - maybe later on. So much to do. You should know that Daniel Hertz products are modular and can be used to create multi-channel systems quite easily. The M2 and M3 were especially designed for this. The M6 preamp has mono (L+R) outputs to supply cc and sub outputs, and the M5 amps have input attenuators for trimming levels on surround channels. You can make surround with these features that is very musical.

[nieldm]

Mr Levinson, why aren't you and Neil Young working together?

[tipunch]

Does this dongle on USB risk not to degrade the sound?

A dongle for a software of technical drawing OK, but not for a software which improves the sound!

[marklevinson]

Hi Neildm,

That's a good question, thanks for bringing this up. I remember thinking about it and making calls but did not get through. I will try to contact him now, and will let you know what happens.

[marklevinson]

Hi tipunch,

The dongle is only a license, it has nothing to do with the sound quality. The nice thing about a dongle, you can have Master Class on as many computers as you want, and activate any one with the dongle.

[nieldm]

Hi Neildm,

That's a good question, thanks for bringing this up. I remember thinking about it and making calls but did not get through. I will try to contact him now, and will let you know what happens.

 

Now were he to start contributing here as well you would have a lot of middle aged audiophile rockers doing air guitar versions of Like a Hurricane in front of their laptops and generally upsetting their dogs....

[marklevinson]

I was born in 1946. I remember buying Elvis Presley's "You ain't nothin' but a hound dog" - a 45rpm single - in the early 50's. That dates me pretty well. ND fans are just kids!

[Superdad]

That dates me pretty well. ND fans are just kids!

 

ND fans? That would be Neil Diamond, right?

 

Oh look, the poster you were responding to has the name NielDM. I did not know that Mr. Diamond was residing in London now!

[nieldm]

ND fans? That would be Neil Diamond, right?

 

Oh look, the poster you were responding to has the name NielDM. I did not know that Mr. Diamond was residing in London now!

 

I am finally outed. All I can say about Mr Levinson's music player is:

 

It's a beautiful noise

Made of joy and of strife

Like a symphony played

By the passing parade

It's the music of life

 

...or I am sure I would say it, were a trial available!

[marklevinson]

We are working on making a free trial of Master Class available. Have a heart, we just got the production version in time for CES! Your interest is really appreciated.

Mark

[gche]

Hi Mark,

 

I saw your company is based in Neuchatel

 

Do you have a listening room there to try masterclass?

 

Would you have some screenshots of the software?

 

King regards

G.

[4est]

There is absolutely nothing nice about a dongle for the end user. In this example, the user needs to carry the dongle with them, and so in my case I would have to transport it back and forth to work. My CAD and CAM (more expensive) software does not require that. In fact, my CAD suite will sense if I have more than one copy of the program running on my network, forcing me to close one to open the other. If the intended purchaser would use this for a mastering studio or something then this might work. For me, the dongle is a non starter period.

Hi tipunch,

The dongle is only a license, it has nothing to do with the sound quality. The nice thing about a dongle, you can have Master Class on as many computers as you want, and activate any one with the dongle.

[nieldm]

We are working on making a free trial of Master Class available. Have a heart, we just got the production version in time for CES! Your interest is really appreciated.

Mark

 

Mark we are all heart here! Don't confuse a general disappointment that we can't get our hands on a new and potentially groundbreaking product NOW with any negativity. Dongles, which do seem a little retro, aside I can virtually guarantee that anyone who has read this thread would be all over a trial version like a rash and as someone said above, I doubt you would find a more capable bunch of beta testers anywhere.

[Priaptor]

Maybe I am misunderstanding something here, but it seems like using your software, will require each track to be individually EQ prior to playing or while playing?

 

I haven't read all of the specs, but is your software actually a player that one EQs as the the track is playing OR does one EQ the track and save the EQ'd track for play via another player?

 

I am a little confused since you made the comment that there will be a before an after track for us to try. If there is a before and after track for us to try, then it sounds like your software is EQ each track prior to playing and saving the track with those settings and the track is playable with any player??

 

Please clarify

[Superdad]

Good points Priaptor. Not to mention that I think the idea of giving out sample pairs of tracks to evaluate the software is flawed in a bunch of ways:

a) I can easily take a track and conventionally EQ it two ways so that everyone says one sounds fantastic in comparison to the other;

b) The likelihood that their musical selection will appeal or be familiar to most people is very slim;

c) We want to know what the product does for our own music, and how the software can co-exist/be compatible with our own software/hardware systems.