A few months ago, I received a phone call from Dr. John Q. Walker, the Chairman and founder of Zenph Sound Innovations, based in Raleigh, North Carolina, a company that has developed important, new music technologies and a line of award-winning recordings of classic performances. I had heard of the work that Zenph was doing in the area of "re-performances" of famous pianists and their recordings. I had even heard the Gould recordings and was thrilled at the sonic quality and interpretations of his 1955 Goldberg Variations. Zenph Sound Innovations has received rave reviews of their Glenn Gould and Art Tatum releases on Sony Masterworks and I was well aware of their work.

It was a welcome surprise to find that John was aware of my audiophile label AIX Records and iTrax.com. He wanted to know if I would be interested in releasing the latest project from Zenph, the re-performance of "Rachmaninoff plays Rachmaninoff" in any format other than standard definition compact disc. Sony Masterworks has limited their release to the CD version, which had received rave reviews from Stereophile and The Absolute Sound, but were not going to issue a high definition disc. They had agreed to let Zenph partner with iTrax.com for the HD Surround tracks. Very good news for those of us that are addicted to high definition sound and surround mixes.

Of course, I was thrilled at the chance to partner with Sony Masterworks and Zenph, and become the home of this important recording…in HD Surround!

So what exactly is a re-performance? This is the explanation provided on the Zenph website:

"Author Kevin Bazzana refers to our process as a “live realization of the original interpretation.” Zenph(R) Studios takes audio recordings and turns them back into live performances, precisely replicating what was originally recorded. Our software-based process extracts every musical nuance of a recorded performance, and stores the data in a high-resolution digital file. These re-performance files contain the details of how every note in the composition was played, including pedal actions, volume, and articulations – all with millisecond timings.

 

These re-performance files can then be played back on real acoustic pianos fitted with sophisticated computers and hardware, letting the listener “sit in the room” as if he or she were there when the original recording was made. Most importantly, the re-performance can be recorded afresh, using the latest microphones and recording techniques, to modernize monophonic or poor-quality recordings of beloved performances.

 

Important to this process is the use of high-resolution data. Those familiar with the MIDI specification (now more than 25 years old) may know that regular MIDI isn’t really sufficient for capturing and replicating fine nuance. It’s like the difference between regular TV and high-definition TV. The high-resolution specs we’re using vary among instruments, but all offer 10 bits of data to preserve the velocity of each key (compared to 7 bits in regular MIDI), as well as detailed information about the key and pedal positioning.

 

We feel the word “re-performance” summarizes this technique perfectly."

 

The ability to convert older recordings with limited fidelity into high-resolution re-performance data, and then to newly record them with state-of-the-art audio equipment AND to deliver them in full HD surround to music consumers is a transformative event in the history of recordings.

 

I've been fortunate to be able to compare the Rachmaninoff tracks played from the standard-resolution CD and from the HD surround files here in my studio. While the sonic quality of the CD is absolutely first class and up to the full capabilities of that format, the clarity and sense of spaciousness offered by HD surround offers a completely different perspective.

 

The addition of Zenph Sound Innovations' "Rachmaninoff Plays Rachmaninoff" to iTrax.com is a huge step forward for those seeking REAL HD recordings and for the future of our site. I'm extremely happy to be able to feature this album in our iTrax.com catalog and I look forward to adding new items as they become available. Thanks John for believing in iTrax.com!

I travel each fall to Denver, Colorado to attend, present and/or exhibit at the Rocky Mountain Audio Festival. Last year, AIX Records and iTrax.com demonstrated HD surround music in a couple of rooms, but overall the time and money spent didn't really pan out for our little company. The show is one of the last bastions of audio focused conferences (although there is a new one called the AXPONA happening in Florida in the spring - check out axpona.com for more information) but the RMAF is decidedly a two-channel, vinyl, tube, traditional audio weekend. So this year, rather than stand in a room hawking our wares and trying to sell audiophiles on the advantages of HD surround digital music, I did a lot more hiking with my wife and sister in the local mountains and dedicated a single day to the RMAF 2009.

 

I was very gratified to be invited by Majorie Stiefel and her advisors to give a presentation on Sunday afternoon, which I entitled, " High-Def, Surround Music Recording, Reproduction & Distribution."  The title morphed into "Myth Busters: HD Music" as I explored the world of HD audio and the falsehoods perpetuated by a number of venders/labels in this space.  It irks me to no end to spend so much of my time and resources producing uncompromised HD recordings only to find that many other companies promote their tracks as "HD" even though they derive from standard definition sources. If you've followed my articles or blog, you know this is not new territory to me. What is new this time is the support of a rigorous set of tests that I performed on a variety of tracks from lots of different sources. I ran spectragraphic analyses on about a dozen tracks from most of the major online "HD" distribution sites as well as "HD" files distributed on DVD-Rs. The results were not really surprising…many of the tracks that are so highly regarded simply do not contain the requisite frequency response or dynamic range that their specifications make available.

It started about a year before when I received a handout during the CEA high performance audio board meeting in Las Vegas. Ray Kimber, a good friend and the producer of some marvelous recordings, gave me a printout that showed a couple of spectragrams of one of his products. One was of a traditional CD resolution track and the other was of one of his DSD recordings, which he released on SACD. It was immediately clear that the CD had limited frequency response…at least compared to the DSD spectragram, and by a very large measure.

If you don't know what a spectragram is, let me briefly explain. The graph plots time along the x-axis, frequency range along the y-axis and the intensity or amplitude of the tracks frequency content through a range of colors (red being quite high in amplitude and blue/purple representing very low amplitudes). As you would expect, music tracks have a lot of reds, oranges and yellows in the low to medium frequency ranges and then the amplitude tapers off as you eclipse around 10-15 kHz. There is still sound up around the highest registers. I've got spectragrams of Wallace Roney playing a trumpet with a harmon mute inserted and he's generating frequencies the plow right through 48 kHz! I will not enter into any arguments on whether these frequencies are meaningful to audio playback…I'm not alone in believing that they do, especially over an extended listening session. But the graphs clearly show the presence (or absence) of music/noise content about 20 kHz.

So when I looked carefully at the graphs that Ray had handed out, I noticed that the DSD track had a very visible red "haze" hovering out there around 35 kHz. The oft maligned "noise shaping" artifacts were clearly visible and showed up with substantial energy. Does this noise affect the final playback sound of an SACD. You bet it does, if it is allowed to pass through to the final encoded and mastered disc. Thankfully, the mastering process removes this HF noise and the final product presents only those frequencies in the low to mid 20 kHz range. SACDs are better than CDs in this regard but not by much. This "red or purple haze" intrigued me so I decided to become a registered member at all of the HD download sites and acquire copies of all of the HD DVD-R files that circulate among audiophiles and test them using spectragrams.

The results were very telling. Can you imagine my surprise to find that the so-called HD downloaded files from one company are actually upconverted analog recordings? There was no difference between the CD original and the same audio plopped in a 96 kHz/24-bit bucket. And there's no way to tell from looking at the offering on the site. One site actually brags about the "HD 96/24 upconverted" downloads that it sells, ignoring the fact that there is no new information added during the upconversion process. The source recording at standard definition is all that can be reproduced. Perhaps the worst offense was the two "different" resolutions that were available from one site. You are asked to pay more money for the 176.4/192 kHz version than the 88.2/96 kHz version…when in fact the two files are sample for sample identical! Audiophiles seem to shop by the numbers rather than with their ears.

There are several companies that are distributing their tracks on DVD-R discs because the files are so large that making downloads out of them is impractical. I have analyzed a number of these files as well and am sorry to say that there is nothing above 35 kHz in any of them. Why bother with 176.4 samples per second when the resultant audio doesn't take advantage of the higher sample rate? It's true that higher sample rates also contribute to easier filtering in the D to A process. But why wouldn't the HF material that is produced by the instruments show up in these tracks? You'll have to decide for yourself the motivations of these other labels.

The point in my presentation at the RMAF 2009 seminar was to demonstrate that "HD" audio tracks can be analyzed to determine the degree of HF material and the dynamic range contained within them. If a track is truly recorded as an HD track, there will be information above that available on a CD. Sadly, it seems marketing has crept in to the world of HD downloads and disc based distribution. It is still buyer beware in the arena of HD audio.

That's the reason that I personally verify the "provenance" of every track available on iTrax.com. This is the only site that is exclusively providing real HD downloads.

The tracks that I record for AIX Records do contain frequencies above 20 kHz. In fact, most spectragrams extend well above 35-40 kHz! I believe that's why Dennis Burger of Home Entertainment magazine stated, "Longtime readers should already be well aware of my undying love for AIX Records. The company's award-winning, multi-disc DVD-Audio/Video releases continue to be without question, the most pristine recordings these ears have every heard."

The entire seminar from the RMAF 2009 will be available online soon at their web site.

AIX Demos at AXPONA

The inaugural AXPONA (Audio Expo North America) was held last weekend in Jacksonville, Florida and AIX Records was featured with a very high end, HD Audio/Video demo system in the 3700 square foot Port Ballroom. The show manager and driving force behind the event is Steve Davis, a longtime audiophile and equipment vendor. He and I have been friends for many years and when he got the AXPONA show off the ground he called and invited me to participate with both a state-of-the-art demonstration of HD Surround Music AND a couple of seminars on the latest in high definition music servers and multichannel HD music.

It was a welcome relief to learn that the AXPONA show would not only include but feature digital equipment and HD surround software. Traditionalists are comfortable with the usual array of turntables and vinyl discs, but they rarely get exposed to the future of recorded music…a full blown, high definition, audio and video system.

The show was held at the Wyndham Riverwalk Hotel and was easily as large as the Rocky Mountain Audio Festival held each fall in Denver. Vendors came from all over the country to show off their latest audio gadgets, software and hardware. Most of the usual audiophile components were on display to the roughly 2000 attendees that flowed through the hotel on Friday and Saturday. They heard vinyl played on $100,000 turntables, exotic tube amplification systems, expensive power conditioners, cryogenically treated speaker and interconnect cables and all sorts of high end speakers. And they heard what John Atkinson called the, "Best Experience at AXPONA?" in his show report. John went on to say, "The AIX recordings I auditioned ranged from solo guitar and piano to full big band, and all were enveloping in a manner I have never experienced on even the best two-channel system."  I couldn't agree more.

The demo system that we set up at AXPONA consisted of equipment supplied by some of the best manufacturers in the business. There were three 1012 Boulder Pre Amplifiers (we needed three to handle the 5.1 surround outputs of the BD player), various Boulder Amplifiers (3 monoblocks and 1 stereo) and 5 Thiel CS3.7 speakers with 2 SSP 2 subwoofers. All this was connected with custom interconnects and speaker cables made by DH Labs. The HD Video was projected using a DCX-1000 unit from Wolf Cinema onto a Greyhawk 109" screen made by Stewart Filmscreen.

However, it was the source component that drew the most attention. I played back my HD Audio/Video recordings using a $900 Oppo BDP-83 SE (the "SE" stands for Special Edition). I would venture to say that this unit was the least expensive playback unit at the entire show, yet produced the highest fidelity sound (yes, I did manage to get to just about every room at the show)! Visitors to the room couldn't believe the degree of involvement and intimacy produced by our tracks on the Oppo BD player. It begs the question why anyone would spend upwards of $100K on a turntable, which can't come close to approaching the dynamic range and frequency response of a HD Audio BD disc when recorded with care.

I would be remiss if I didn't also mention the incredible video projector that Jim McGall of Wolf Cinema brought to the show. I hadn't heard of this company before talking to a friend that used to work at Runco prior to their sale. He put me in touch with Wolf and they kindly agreed to make one of their units available for the duration of the show. In fact, Jim was there to set up and calibrate the machine AND take the controls of the audio playback when I needed a break.

The DCX-1000 projector produced the brightest, most detailed HD Video image that I've ever seen…and it did so from a distance of over 50 feet back from the screen! No I just have to figure out how to get one for my studio…without having to shell our $85,000. Unlike the Oppo BDP-83 SE player, this unit comes with a price tag that matches its performance.

The first AXPONA show was definitely a hit. Kudos to Steve and Andrew for taking the bold step of putting on an audio show east of the Mississippi…and for making it so inclusive. Everyone had a great time, learned a lot and shared what we all love most…great audio.