[BC] Sibilant artifacts in Digital Radio

[Steve]

Rich...

As an announcer (remember that word? <g>) for WorldSpace's Maestro Channel I
beg to differ with you. Maybe here in the U.S. where the dumbing down of
America helped blow away so many classical stations. This is not the case in
Europe, Asia, The Middle East and Africa where our 6 spot beams hit. Yes, we
are satellite delivered and we have receive e-mails telling us they can't
hear any artifacts. Mind you, these are people who throw scopes up on their
systems! Talk about your audiophiles. Now, on a secretly kept internet
monitoring address we use, yes, I hear the artifacts when the string
sections kick in.
While on the subject of the Internet. It amazes me how so many talk about
quality (as you mentioned, you get peptic relief by using your CD's which
will give you that quality) out of one side of their mouth (bit rates must
be 192Kbps or higher or die!) and the computer world is the very world who
brought us back to Low-Fi! Dr. Bose and some others are the only ones who
can build a small speaker that sounds decent. I'll take my JBL Studio
Monitors anyday. (personal opinion)
Caveat: We have come a long way with Codecs. I must admit that. We are
coming around. And when listening to audio on the Internet how much of that
is just too much crap in the pipe?

Steve

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rich Wood <richwood at pobox.com>" <reader at oldradio.com>
To: "Broadcast Radio Mailing List" <broadcast at radiolists.net>
Sent: Saturday, December 03, 2005 12:39 PM
Subject: [BC] Sibilant artifacts in Digital Radio


> ------ At 12:23 AM 12/3/2005, DANA PUOPOLO wrote: -------
>
> >I have my XM home tuner connected up to my re-capped Advent 300 receiver.
> >Speakers are Athena AS-B1, which are considered "Low high end" speakers.
I can
> >CLEARLY hear artifacts on just about everything bit rate reduced
(especially
> >male voices) - even many FM analog stations that use bit rate reduced
audio
> >sources.
>
> The main artifact I hear is awful sibilants on both male and female
> voices. This is both AM and FM IBUZ. The other problem is on
> Classical music, especially stringed instruments. It appears that
> those stations that don't process heavily are the main victims. It's
> hard to tell the difference when the audio density is high. There's
> so much distortion that artifacts are the least of our worries on
> something like WPLJ, New York.
>
> I have 2 NPR stations in HD in the area. Both exhibit the sibilant
> problem. It's not there in analog. If Stradivarius heard his violins
> sound this bad he'd become a musical terrorist. This distortion is
> profound enough to annoy a regular listener. The days of sitting in
> front of a stereo system to enjoy an Opera are going fast. One
> soprano (singer type) and your fine glassware is a thing of the past.
>
> >Here's a (related) question - with all this bit rate reduced audio
everywhere
> >(radio, TV, DVD movies, etc.) that involves psychoacoustic masking, could
our
> >ears be getting 'better' at masking?
>
> In this case my ears are better at masking because my hands are covering
them.
>
> >Could it be that my ears/brain have become better at masking then before
> >because they're being 'exercised' more these days?
>
> I think we all know that the brain adapts. Watch a low quality video
> and, after a few minutes, it becomes acceptable. You stop noticing it
> and concentrate on the content. I don't know that that's true of
> audio unless the content is so compelling that you'll endure any
> torture to listen. Remember that sound and smell are the senses that
> most recall past experiences. Another issue for remastering for 5.1.
>
> Again, when I switch to a CD I get a blessedly clean sound, so I'm
> sure it's not the sound system.
>
> Rich
>
>
> Rich Wood
> Rich Wood Multimedia
> Phone: 413-303-9084
> FAX: 413-480-0010
>
>
>
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