aclane wrote: Whats the best way to choose you mics and your pres?

This seems like the most logical way. They just use 20 different
mics or pres and you get to choose.
It seems like these cds would be really useful.
Have any of you used these cds?
If they're good then they need one for A/D D/A converters.

aclane

Yey're excellent CDs, quite an education. BTW, Lynn Fuston (3dB) has already released a comparison AD converter CD.

They can really only be as good as the references you have to the ones they used. Since none of of us were there when it happened live, we have no real reference other than those mic pre's that we have owned, used or heard. Like all things in audio, it has a lot to do with the conditions of the recording at the moment it was done. It could be done again today, and the results would vary. I would not rely on them as the wholy grail of what each one sounds like exactly. And I surely would not make a purchase decision just based on what I heard from them. But it is the most organized way to get the general idea of comparing one to another that exists on one CD.

IMNTLBFHO they're a nearly complete waste of time and money... you have no reference to the source material, you have no idea of the mic positioning, sound of the room, whether or not the mic chosen was really appropriate for the sound recorded, yet you're supposed to make a judgement about the next step in the chain?

Pre-CD's [or websites like The Listening Sessions] are great for the people that are in the room doing the tests... it gives them a way to do educated comparisons of a whole lot of equipment to which they wouldn't ordinarily have access... unfortunately for the person who buys the resultant product, with out the point of reference, you're totally, totally lost.

M-A did one of those back in '98 and frankly, I sincerely feel that it was possibly one of the most embarassing moments in the 15 year history of the company... as close as we have ever come to slinging snake oil. Producing the disk was a blast, doing the trials educational as all get out... but the CD? Useless as tits on a bull.

Now the AD/CD ... that's kinda worth something... only problem is that the disk is so old and there are so many new converters on the market that bury many of the converters on the CD... it's not really worth getting the CD .

Leave it at if it were my money, I'd invest it in a nice bottle of wine to share with a beautiful woman [or the one you married and haven't paid proper attention in the last few years]... you'll get far more peace of mind than through the added confusion of an audio gear comparison CD [can you believe we actually sell the damn things... disgusting].

Peace.