A toast to PGGB, a heady brew of math and magic

[WilliamWykeham]

It seems that the most of the contributors on this thread are using Chord dacs.  I wanted to share some impressions from a Holo May owner.

 

Curiously, I’m getting much better results at 16FS, 20 bits than I am at 32FS.  The sound at 16FS is more full bodied.  I also have sense of feeling more relaxed listening at 16FS than at 32FS.  

 

I’m wondering if any other May owners share the same opinion, or if you’re more partial to 32FS.  

 

 

 

 

 

[WilliamWykeham]

One of the things I appreciate about PGGB is that I can compare two tracks to see if my preferences are simply manifestations of my expectations or if they were observed in reality.  I compared four 32FS Joni Mitchell tracks from Blue to the same four at 16FS.  This comparison was as close to blind as I could get - the tracks were played randomly in HQP.  It’s possible that there could be some time delay that happens between a change of sample rates - but if not then this comparison is pretty legit. The difference was immediately noticeable to me.  I thought the 32FS sounded both more three dimensional, which is the way I  think about live analog music, and more bright than at 16FS.  The extra bit of brightness I don’t think is necessarily a bad thing.  When I attend a live quartet performance I’m often jolted by the bright stridency of live string instruments, and it takes a few minutes to adjust. Also, my Holo May dac now has 1,000 hours on it and I don’t notice as much brightness, possibly because of some change in the dac or from my ears adjusting.  I should go back and do some more testing, but don’t have motivation or time right now.  Please note that when I say bright, it is very subtle and not apparent on all albums.  

 

I was able to tell immediately with Blue in each of 8 instances whether I was listening at 16FS or 32FS.  I became bored and loaded another album, The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree.  With this presumably digitally recorded album, whose sound quality I’ve never been quite satisfied with, I had a much harder time differentiating 16FS from 32FS.  This faltering discernment on my part led to some consternation, which led to some obsession.  I made 32 attempts and got 20 correct, for a success rate of 62%.  Next I decided to focus on one particular musical quality, and I decided that would be bass transients.  I was just barely able to tell, with extreme focus, how at 32 FS the bass struck its initial sound with more impact.  My success rate improved to 75%, getting 12/16 correct.  Optimally I would have decided pre-listen at what point I would stop the tests, to reduce my bias. Now listening to this album at 32FS on my fully burned in dac (and with some newly added room treatment) I can finally get past, or perhaps appreciate, the recording quality.  

 

Since performing these tests I’ve listened to more albums and decided that PGGB was worth it, even though I have no local music albums other than a handful.  The Holo May is a real winner with PGGB.  I hope more May owners chime in with their experiences.  

[WilliamWykeham]

For a Holo May owner, what would the recommendation be if using digital volume control in my playback software - JPLAY/Hqplayer?  

 

I removed my preamp from the chain and perceived a boost in SQ.  Just not sure if I should still be setting bits at 20 in PGGB.  

[WilliamWykeham]

4 hours ago, davide256 said:

An active pre-amp can add its own signature/limitations. You may want to try a passive pre vs using digital volume controls. My understanding

is that digital volume controls work ok for modest to moderate db volume level reduction but degrade sound if you need to significantly reduce volume levels

for normal listening.

 

My preamp is a decent passive; still prefer digital volume.  

 

I attenuate by ~12 to 18dbs in JPLAY Femto which is now my preferred software for PGGB files.