'FeralA' decoder -- free-to-use

[sandyk]

29 minutes ago, Archimago said:

Playing with your software on some old ABBA - first press "W. German" Polydor CD from 1992

 POLCD-242 from 1988 was possibly one of the best sounding versions.

 

http://www.getabba.com/collection/cds/cd_ringring_official_SWE.htm

[sandyk]

19 minutes ago, John Dyson said:

The 242 has lots more 60Hz hum than mine (the version that I use doesn't have noticeable hum in the spectogram), but both have a 15kHz or so pilot tone of some kind.

 John

 15,625 HZ perhaps ?

[sandyk]

21 hours ago, lucretius said:

I note that the file is upsampled to 32 bit 88.2K and is a lot bigger.  Is there a reason for this?  What happens if  I resample it to 16bit 44.1K?

Hi Lucretius

On a better than average system it is unlikely to sound quite as good.😉

 John supplied me with 2 of the tracks from Crime of the Century in 32/88.2 at my request (curiosity) and much to my surprise, (and John's) they sounded a little better again when played using JRiver 26 than the supplied .flac files,even after conversion to .wav for playing.

The 32/88.2 tracks were delivered as .wav files though . A friend of mine who is also giving John some feedback, actually converted the .flac files to .mp3, and played them through his hotel's Reception area's  mediocre music system, and several guests were very impressed and asked if they were remastered .

 

Regards

Alex

[sandyk]

2 hours ago, jabbr said:

Wow!

 

The decoding of Supertramp's "Breakfast In America" is remarkable!

John

 Has Jon heard the very latest minor correction ?

 

Alex

[sandyk]

45 minutes ago, jabbr said:

So wow stuff like Supertramp & Carpenters is vastly better with decode but perhaps old Genesis isnt so vastly better — either that or I’m just not great at  using the tool, 

 

so I guess old stuff that sounds thin and aweful is the best candidate for feral A decoding ... what do people have?

 Exaggerated vocal sibilance is often a good guide to Dolby-A problems too.

 

 

[sandyk]

9 hours ago, One and a half said:

 

 

I like to compare references, and the Voulez Vous CD (UICY-25288) played with analog out direct has that extra clarity, I can't achieve from the decoder. ….., it may not work on other playback equipment, digital is notorious for adding noise at the wrong times,  and stuffing up imaging for example.

Perhaps all the extra digital processing is adding noise that only Jon's Gigabit Optical network is capable of filtering out ?

[sandyk]

7 hours ago, jabbr said:

You can then downconvert from 24/88 to 16/44 and burn your own copy to your own CD and listen that way if that sounds best for you

 

 I tried that for Demo use with a recent version from John of "Crime" , and boy, did the resulting CD sound dull in comparison to the files saved on USB memory. The converted files did however still sound pretty good before they were burned to a cheap CD-R  

[sandyk]

On ‎5‎/‎4‎/‎2020 at 8:18 AM, sandyk said:

 

 I tried that for Demo use with a recent version from John of "Crime" , and boy, did the resulting CD sound dull in comparison to the files saved on USB memory. The converted files did however still sound pretty good before they were burned to a cheap CD-R  

CORRECTION.

 I revisited the burned CD, playing it from my PC's internal BR writer, but this time I checked to see what program was playing it.

It turned out to be VLC Media player which doesn't play from System Memory. I changed the settings to play CD Audio using JRiver 26 and it sounded very much the same as the tracks on the USB memory stick, perhaps even a little better ?

[sandyk]

Hi Rando

 If both programs result in the same checksums, perhaps there is a difference in the Header information ?

[sandyk]

14 minutes ago, rando said:

Checksums are a mess.  R16.6, R17, and EAC wav are all different.  From (mostly) concurrent rips of unblemished CD.  Wild.

 Hi Rando

Looks like a problematical CD.

Please check your PMs

Alex

[sandyk]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY !

Best to resume this when 100% sober again, though. 😉

[sandyk]

18 minutes ago, Night Rain said:

Tried those and it sounds muffled.

Did you first make sure that the album actually had Feral-A encoding, which is sometimes done to make the recording brighter sounding ? 

One of the giveaways is often excessive sibilance, but some artists do often have a little too much sibilance in their recordings. Kenny Rogers for example

 

[sandyk]

9 hours ago, Confused said:

Is there a way to be 100% sure a recording has "Feral-A" encoding?  I have asked this before and the answer seems to be no.

I would still say no, as even John gets it wrong occasionally sometimes. You tend to get a feel for most of this after a while though.

 Look out also for harshness ,with sometimes female voices tending to sound a little higher in pitch overall, perhaps even "screechy" (upper harmonics accentuated) where other recordings from them suggest that they should sound sweeter, with perhaps more individuality to their voices.

Sometimes, YouTube videos of the same recording may help for comparison due to the rolled off HF detail .

 Some male voices may also sound a little harsh with loss of natural low end warmth.

Look out for loss of natural sounding low end warmth in general.

YMMV.

 

Alex

[sandyk]

40 minutes ago, Skip Pack said:

Look also for congestion from around 600hz up to say 4Khz when multiple voices and instuments are playing

 Most definitely, although I.M.E. that can also be partly due to the result of a poor quality rip in a PC/Server that is not electrically quiet enough. I have had recent experience in that area where securely earthing the cases of the HDDs and SSDs as recommended by one and a half (Gary)  markedly reduced this , as well as markedly improving the Soundstage. My PC' s metal drive bay used pop rivets between the top and bottom sections, and bypassing these with a direct connection to chassis reduced this. (SSD and HDD have their internal 0 volts(Earth) connected to the case) 

[sandyk]

4 hours ago, bogi said:

Hi jabbr, which release of "The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway" it is about? This one (1986) or other?

https://www.discogs.com/Genesis-The-Lamb-Lies-Down-On-Broadway/release/5021076

I like the old Genesis, maybe I could try it too.

I even located some flac files from Genesis - The Lamb Lies D ...  Disc 2 Japan  VJCP-68097 1974

although I only listened to the title track.

[sandyk]

10 minutes ago, lucretius said:

 

Perhaps John will correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that's possible.  That is, "good" sound sharing the same frequency as "bad" sound (to be corrected), will be somewhat affected.

 That seems highly likely. Sometimes you will need to tolerate a bit of the bad sound to preserve most of the good sound though .

[sandyk]

16 minutes ago, Skip Pack said:

My question here is, 'Have I developed my current system to ameliorate the very issues that John is addesing in NHRDS?'

 I.M.E. (and one and a half as well), you can markedly reduce noise and distortion, and reduce sibilance a little ,as well as markedly improve the soundstage by fixing up most of the Earth issues in a typical desktop PC, but you can't get rid of the damage done by dollops of Feral Dolby-A . 
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/60381-hdd-to-case-bonding-uptick-in-sq/?tab=comments#comment-1084599
 I am utterly convinced that John's current S/W is also removing some of the distortion products generated by the actual PC used to rip and save the files.

 

[sandyk]

8 hours ago, jabbr said:

VJCP-68096-097 "Japanese Paper Sleeve Remasters"

 

The .flac folder of files that I found was mislabelled by the OP. 

 The cover photo shows that it is from VJCP-68096-097

[sandyk]

John

 Wasn't the original from HDT 24/88.2 and at a different (higher) volume level ?

 

Alex

[sandyk]

23 minutes ago, Night Rain said:

It sounds way off on my setup. The highs are prominent and there's no life. Like a table AM radio.

 

 The main problem is deciding whether something is actually using non Decoded Dolby-A

 Please see my next reply

 

Alex

[sandyk]

1 hour ago, John Dyson said:

Mastering isn't my bag, but if a recording isn't decoding correctly because of required EQ, then that does NOT qualify as mastering, but would be valid as a portion of decoding that is not built-in to the decoder.

John

It may also indicate that the recording does not have Feral Dolby-A content, "but has HF EQ added by the Engineer, which will not be of a fixed amount but a personal preference of that Engineer" 

This also applies to many LPs from the 70s including Supertramp- Crime LP from 1974 which was confirmed yesterday using the track "School" from the 1974 LP.

 I will not be entering into  further discussion in this area.

Alex

[sandyk]

15 minutes ago, John Dyson said:

  Since we have both noted that FA didn't come from CD era, but probably  from before,

 You still aren't listening .

For example, the LP of " Crime"  from 1974 has NO Feral-A content. 

 This was verified yesterday using my previously uploaded track of "School" from the LP  along with further information about various added EQ of that era by different studios, including also in the 5K and 8K areas.

 

 I do not wish to enter into further discussion in this thread.

[sandyk]

50 minutes ago, John Dyson said:

All you gotta do is to listen for the hiss and the strange compression.   It is SOOO easy to get used to a certain sound.

Since the album is exactly the same as my original source, modulo vinyl/RIAA,  (I showed you a comparison), and I have existence proof that it is FA (listen to the decodes), the album is FA...

 

BTW -- I am always willing to discuss things -- there are always things that can be taught or learned.

 

 

 John

You know who my source of this information is, and he had a close listen to the posted LP example yesterday and sent me a couple of lengthy and informative replies.

Yes, there is added HF EQ just like most recordings of that era, (70s and 80s) but it is not Feral Dolby-A, despite any similarity in the resulting sound to you .

 

I am not prepared to discuss this aspect further with you. 

 

It could be that there are way too many variations of EQ used in different parts of the spectrum (e.g. 5K and 8K too)

by different studios and Recording/Mastering Engineers to make a single click decoder possible. 

However, you are providing a set of different Tools that experienced members of the Industry will find useful.

 

You also need to address the concerns expressed by Night Rain (above) 

 

 

Alex