machead
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Cantus "Cantus" -- is anyone else having problems?
dbowker
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Have it tried through some speakers? Even crummy computer ones. If it's actually on the disc you'll know it right away.

Editor
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Quote:
I listened to this disc for the first time on my brand new He Audio 1.2B electrostatic phones. All was well until I got to track 10, in which the choir is accompanied by a large drum. The first drum strike (about 5 seconds into the track) gave rise to a "crackling" sound that immediately had me thinking the 1.2B diaphragms were hitting the stators. Each subsequent strike---there are 4 or 5 altogether---produced a similar effect...I have to conclude that the sound is actually encoded on the CD.

It isn't on the master nor on the pressed CDs. However, the footstomps on this track (not drums) do peak at 0dBFS (without clipping). I just checked the master file on my laptop and it was fine. I would have suspected that your DAC overloads with this signal, except that you used 3 different ones. Are you sure you are not just hearing the slapping sound of the footstomps?

John Atkinson
Editor, Stereophile

machead
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Foot stomps, eh? I guess, then, that the strong periodic nature of the waveform (~80Hz) must have been the fundamental resonance of the stage! I'll listen again with that in mind and see if I can convince myself that the "hash" is actually caused by lots of not-too-tiny feet. Maybe the singers just got "rattled".

I did try scaling the track (using Audacity) by -6dB and -12dB and found that the sound in question did not change in nature or relative level. That pretty much rules out DAC overload as a contributing factor.

Elk
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Quote:
I guess, then, that the strong periodic nature of the waveform (~80Hz) must have been the fundamental resonance of the stage!


This sounds about right. The big "thumps" in hip hop are typically in the 80hz to 120 hz range.

I now wnat to buy the recording just to hear what you are referring to.

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