Quadio EQ?

[kfbkfb]

Quadio EQ?

The Doobie Brothers Quadios have an upper midrange cut and a treble boost, I don't have the tools to check the new 2023 Quadios, has anyone checked the frequency spectrum to see if it looks like there's a similar cut & boost on some/all of them?


Kirk Bayne

 

[ar surround]

Quadio EQ?

The Doobie Brothers Quadios have an upper midrange cut and a treble boost, I don't have the tools to check the new 2023 Quadios, has anyone checked the frequency spectrum to see if it looks like there's a similar cut & boost on some/all of them?


Kirk Bayne

Didn’t Foraging Rhino respond to the mastering of the Doobies Quadios sometime back? I need to go looking for it.

 

[ar surround]

Quadio EQ?

The Doobie Brothers Quadios have an upper midrange cut and a treble boost, I don't have the tools to check the new 2023 Quadios, has anyone checked the frequency spectrum to see if it looks like there's a similar cut & boost on some/all of them?


Kirk Bayne

See post #550 here:

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...ases-coming-in-june.34267/page-28#post-696796

 

[kfbkfb]

Puzzling about the Doobie Brothers Quadios, another post (AFAIK, not on this thread) mentions the cut/boost, now I'm interested in the discrepancy.


Kirk Bayne

 

[humprof]

Quadio EQ?

The Doobie Brothers Quadios have an upper midrange cut and a treble boost, I don't have the tools to check the new 2023 Quadios, has anyone checked the frequency spectrum to see if it looks like there's a similar cut & boost on some/all of them?


Kirk Bayne

See post #550 here:

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...ases-coming-in-june.34267/page-28#post-696796

Puzzling about the Doobie Brothers Quadois, another post (AFAIK, not on this thread) mentions the cut/boost, now I'm interested in the discrepancy.


Kirk Bayne

Indeed. With all due respect . . . I'm not sure post #550 settles the question.

 

[kfbkfb]

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...quadio-blu-ray-audio.29011/page-3#post-515283
I believe this is the post...I'm using 4 Polk T15s+PSW108 speakers & Pioneer VSX-D514 receiver. I don't hear any shrillness/harshness with any of my 3 2023 Quadios (I also have the [UK] DTS [CD-4 source?] Paranoid quad version from ~2009 to compare).

(if Rhino re-relases the Doobie Brothers Quadios, maybe they could remove this EQ)


Kirk Bayne

 

[ar surround]

Indeed. With all due respect . . . I'm not sure post #550 settles the question.

Indeed. That's what Rhino claims. Regardless, we are all free to mess around with these and other reissues to our hearts' desires.

 

[key_wiz]

Maybe earlier masterings of these albums had a treble CUT and this is the first time they have been mastered flat.

 

[DuncanS]

Maybe earlier masterings of these albums had a treble CUT and this is the first time they have been mastered flat.

I wonder if the original had a high frequency roll-off as it was released on CD4

 

[humprof]

Maybe earlier masterings of these albums had a treble CUT and this is the first time they have been mastered flat.

Or maybe--and this speculation is not original to me--the deck they've been using to do the most recent digital transfers (i.e., from the Chicago box set forward) has a "smiley face" EQ response?

 

[kfbkfb]

IIRC, the Chicago Quadios have the upper midrange cut/treble boost too, I'm glad that the Rhino quad master tape restorations for the 2023 Quadios seem to not alter the frequency response in this way.


Kirk Bayne

 

[dadregga]

Or maybe--and this speculation is not original to me--the deck they've been using to do the most recent digital transfers (i.e., from the Chicago box set forward) has a "smiley face" EQ response?

That's not likely to be the case, pro equipment that has *baked in* EQ curves largely doesn't exist, for good reason - people that buy that stuff want to dial in their *own* EQ curves, if they dial in anything

 

[kfbkfb]

IMHO, the cut/boost crosses over the line from restoration to enhancement, if the Chicago and Doobie Brothers Quadios are re-released (maybe all on 1 or 2 Blu-ray discs), they could be recopied from the analog quad master tapes without using the cut/boost EQ.


Kirk Bayne

 

[Owen Smith]

IMHO, the cut/boost crosses over the line from restoration to enhancement, if the Chicago and Doobie Brothers Quadios are re-released (maybe all on 1 or 2 Blu-ray discs), they could be recopied from the analog quad master tapes without using the cut/boost EQ.

Surely they would do a flat transfer, keep that as the archival digital version, and then EQ to taste when creating products? You don't want to keep going back to the analogue master tapes, they're fragile and will likely get worse on every use.

 

[quicksrt]

IIRC, the Chicago Quadios have the upper midrange cut/treble boost too, I'm glad that the Rhino quad master tape restorations for the 2023 Quadios seem to not alter the frequency response in this way.


Kirk Bayne

IMHO, the cut/boost crosses over the line from restoration to enhancement, if the Chicago and Doobie Brothers Quadios are re-released (maybe all on 1 or 2 Blu-ray discs), they could be recopied from the analog quad master tapes without using the cut/boost EQ.


Kirk Bayne

Or degraded? As "enhancement" seems to not really describe what you are referring to here, no?

 

[ar surround]

IMHO, the cut/boost crosses over the line from restoration to enhancement, if the Chicago and Doobie Brothers Quadios are re-released (maybe all on 1 or 2 Blu-ray discs), they could be recopied from the analog quad master tapes without using the cut/boost EQ.


Kirk Bayne

Surely they would do a flat transfer, keep that as the archival digital version, and then EQ to taste when creating products? You don't want to keep going back to the analogue master tapes, they're fragile and will likely get worse on every use.

Or degraded? As "enhancement" seems to not really describe what you are referring to here, no?

The recordings in the Chicago Quadio set sound within the acceptable range of EQ for modern releases of vintage recordings. Not all of the discs have the same 'sound' with some of the later albums having a bit more treble than the earlier ones.

Also, the cymbal crashes on Feeling Stronger Every Day have had a messy character in every incarnation of that recording that I have ever heard.

Regardless, I am grateful just to have the set.

 

[kfbkfb]

Surely they would do a flat transfer, keep that as the archival digital version, and then EQ to taste when creating products? You don't want to keep going back to the analogue master tapes, they're fragile and will likely get worse on every use.

I was thinking of the worst case scenario - the EQ was done when the original quad analog tape was digitized.

I don't understand the rationale for the cut/boost, I'm glad it seems like it wasn't done on the 2023 Quadios.


Anyway, many thanks to everyone at Rhino associated with the Quadio program for continuing with the Quadio series, IMHO, Blu-ray with DTS-HD is a great idea, it's a help to listeners like me with just a DTS core decoder in my modest 4.1 surround sound system.


Kirk Bayne

 

[par4ken]

IIRC, the Chicago Quadios have the upper midrange cut/treble boost too, I'm glad that the Rhino quad master tape restorations for the 2023 Quadios seem to not alter the frequency response in this way.


Kirk Bayne

Back in the day everyone except for a very few "purists" used smiley face (Bass and Treble boost) equalisation when listening to music. It was often necessary to make up for both deficiencies in the medium and the equipment as well as to suit personal taste. It is sad that modern equipment often lacks such basic tone controls. With digital recording, room equalisation ect, it is thought that basic tone controls are unnecessary people should be listening with everything set flat. I think that the Chicago and Doobie Bros sets sound fantastic, with little or no added tone correction and so are more in line with the sound of modern recordings.

I have no problem with flat transfers either but they sound best with a bit of smile face equalisation added on playback. And all those harsh sounding brick walled CD's sound best with a treble cut!

 

[mandrix]

Back in the day everyone except for a very few "purists" used smiley face (Bass and treble boost) equalisation when listening to music. It was often necessary to make up for both deficiencies in the medium and the equipment as well as to suit personal taste. It is sad that modern equipment often lacks such basic tone controls. With digital recording, room equalisation ect, it is thought that basic tone controls are unnecessary people should be listening with everything set flat. I think that the Chicago and Doobie Bros sets sound fantastic, with little or no added tone correction and so are more in line with the sound of modern recordings.

I have no problem with flat transfers either but they sound best with a bit of smile face equalisation added on playback. And all those harsh sounding brick walled CD's sound best with a treble cut!

Well today's AVR's have EQ that you can set however you like. Mine will store up to 3 I think and can be switched between whatever 3 presets you (I) come up with. I tend not to use it however. I do have basic tone controls even on the remote but they don't work for all modes of input, (I use the Direct mode only).

 

[par4ken]

Quadio EQ?

The Doobie Brothers Quadios have an upper midrange cut and a treble boost, I don't have the tools to check the new 2023 Quadios, has anyone checked the frequency spectrum to see if it looks like there's a similar cut & boost on some/all of them?


Kirk Bayne

It sounds great, whatever was done!