Listening to PS Audio's Reference System | Stereophile
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มี.ค. 2018
- John Atkinson (Editor, Stereophile) listens to three of his own recordings played on the legendary IRS V loudspeaker system, driven by PS Audio's BHK 300 monoblocks. Recorded with a Sennheiser Ambeo. Filmed in Boulder, CO January 2018.
Track 1: "It¹s Alright" by Curtis Mayfield, performed by Cantus, from the 2008 CD "Out of the Box" - 16/44.1k ALAC file
Track 2: "Water Night" by Eric Whitacre, performed by the Portland State Chamber Choir, 2015, unreleased - 24/88.2k AIFF file
Track 3: "Toccata" from the Organ Symphony No. 5 by Widor, performed by Jonas Nordwall, 2014, unreleased - 24/88.2k AIFF file
Read the written blog post: po.st/Rl6nY9
Factory Tour of PS Audio: • Factory Tour: PS Audio...
Paul McGowan on DACs and loudspeakers: • PS Audio's Paul McGowa...
More videos with binaural recordings: • Videos w/ Binaural Rec...
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Thanks for sharing your listening experience of PS Audio`s Reference System, I truly enjoyed it!
Wow ,, my studio SONY earbuds almost blew me away with that Toccata bass !! I can just imagine what those things must sound like in person !
i wish all classical music was recorded with this standard of low frequency information
I have to respect PS Audio. Paul says that anyone can come by in person and get a tour, and sit right there in listening room one and experience what John just experienced. How many audio manufacturers will even think of doing that? BTW, headphones needed for this.
Yeah and they charge $800 for a mains cable, this company is pure snake oil.
If boulder wasn't 5000 miles away I'd be there like a shot, but sadly money and distance is a stumbling block, but I appreciate the time and effort ps audio take to share their knowledge and information on TH-cam.
Suzy Siviter so if you have an irs V or a setup that needs two 10,000 usd amplifiers..... there is a marginal improvement to be had with a 800 dollar cable over a 1 dollar PC cable, particularly on a 100k+ USD system. Paul himself will tell you not to buy it for lesser systems.
I fear I'd be "giddy as f£^k" if I were to sit and listen to that system.
@@danielmarshall4587 "I'm not worthy".
Superb music choice, superb recording and reproduction. Very rare to hear reproduced music that is as close to something like the original sound. Really enjoyed your music which is always a good sign of a good system.
I really appreciate the Stereophile team. John, Herb and Michael all have an amazing body ok knowledge combined with a love of the subject and a means to express that is unique. I worry that there will be no one to replace them when their time is done.
Even through a recording of a recording, and all the stuff TH-cam does as far as compression, I can sense the power in that system.
a pretty good recording of the room, the last song got some low and delicious notes in it. i enjoyed it :)
Thank you! Excellent music slection
Thanks for sharing it sounded awesome through my planar magnetic headphones
I could actually feel my headphones shaking with the toccata from Widor.
Is there any way to get the unreleased tracks? Sounds good and I enjoyed the music.
Enough choirs, lets rock
Great to have this record of the IRS V speakers playing well recorded music. Already they are missing from PS Audio and are lost to the public.
that organ track is amazing
Great audio advice from Michael Ondaatje !
That sounded incredible! I am listening on a 2.5 Kw System I felt like I was siting in the chair next to John. MY hair was literally moving back and forth as was the walls The fidelity was outstanding! I could even feel Paul's shit eating grin on his face in the next room! Thank You!!!
You are the definition of a moron.
A wig methinks
You need to release the whole concert from its alright. Sounds like they were in top form and having a good time. If it sounded good through you tube, it must sound awsome directly out of a good system.
Wow this has awesome sound on my system amazing in that room i would love to hear it in person
WOW, SO WONDERFUL!!
that is WOW! listening from philippines!
Is the most natural sound that I ever heard! Awesome!
That second choir track. Is it zvailable? I'd love to have a copy.
A glimpse of how this system really sounds.
OMFG! That bass at the end... Just wow!
Kudos to you sir. Fully professional video, when music played tiny wave in the left bottom corner wobbles protecting screen from burn in. Very thoughtful. I'm impressed with PS Audio factory tour as well. If you in Cork Ireland any time soon sir, you can drop in to my place and record bits and pieces with you fancy mic too. Cheers
I don't think you know how burn in works :/
Awesome 🤘
Hi John Atkinson, what a incredible big loudspeakersystem! Thank you for the fantastic video! Where i can listen the original tracks in hidef audio? Where can i buy this songs in your quality? What do you think about naim audio?
I just re-listened through ear buds on a J7. When SHTF @ 14:30 ish damn! Where can I get one of those?😄
That first track alone sounded amazing on my laptop speakers. It only scales up from there, folks.
The image of John sitting motionless as room-height pillars reproduce (audio) reality perfectly in front of him.
Kinda looks like an old, cheesey sci-fi movie. Also slightly dystopian.
What an unique experience. Thank you for sharing
Thanks you sir, Great experience.
Am surprised to hear so much with such simple recording set up.
Yes really make you experience expensive speakers through those poxy PC speakers you have dont they dick?
A wonderful set of recordings. I listened through a pair of Totem Mani-2 speakers running full range using a Red Dragon class D 250-WPC amplifier. The low end was supported by a REL-212SE. The low organ pedals were a thrill, even through YT. Is the original digital file for the organ piece available somewhere? I’ve searched and cannot find it. Thanks for sharing this video.
the bass on tack 3 is superb , the full weight of the organ could be heard and felt
WOW, from here with my headphones, my heart stopped!
@@suzesiviter6083 Too bad you're not the "less" one. You have a chip on your shoulder and airing your dirty laundry isn't going to relieve you of that burden. Nobody even cares if you don't like it. You would be "less" of a moron if you didn't stroke your negative ego and try to attract more negativity into your world just so you have some company in your misery.
@@JeffCounsil-rp4qv Use some f*king common sense, no one can judge a system listening to another system recorded by microphones, its moronic to think you can, even if your system is better than the one you are listening to!
I wonder how these vintage high-end speakers compare with vintage high-end passive Cabasse speakers. Also how the BHK mono amps - IRS V combo compare with the vintage active 4 ways Cabasse Albatros (both setups using the same PS audio preamp and DSdac+transport combo).
How about a critique and impressions?!
Thank you for posting. I'm a bit non-plussed with the Imaging. Do I hear Overload or hard limiting at 17:08 Even with the low average recording level. Or am I just rattling my sad, perforated eardrum off the Anvil? Cheers! Sandy.
Very cool idea. fascinating, sounded great on my Sennheisers. Please post the original files so we can download them, even pieces of them !! just to compare them with the TH-cam audio - thanks
Bet they make your present set up sound even better LOL.
Suzy Siviter STFU!
I grew up 2 miles from where this place is. Man, I wish I still lived there. They'd get tired of seeing my face around there.
I could feel the bass in my stomach with my headphones on. I could hear my stomach with my speakers on.
I'm listening with my ATH-E70s and this system must, in reality, be so transparent and resolving that it seems like the limitations of recording a recording played back over speakers aren't that bad at all.
Despite all the naysaying, one can glean some information from recordings of speakers on TH-cam. Given sufficiently decent microphones and capable speakers/headphones to hear with, it's possible to understand how resolving, transparent and clear a pair of speakers are.
The outcome will by necessity be a gross estimation and will likely deviate from how it sounds like in person but how different is that from living vicariously through a critic's review of any hifi system?
Thanks
It’s a pity so much youtube compression, but still sounds great out of my Tannoy’s👍
At least make sure you force it up to 1080p60. Still compression but sounds way better.
John looks so cool, like a godfather of high end audio. Certainly he is.
Where can we buy that Cantus song in hi-res quality?
Bluemoon Audio Technology Ls3 Italian reference loudspeaker....better than Genesis One and Infinity Irs V ?
Sounds amazing, I'd love to hear them in person
I have heard these from a friend of mine a while back. They do sound very good and pleasing to the ear. But I prefer classic JBL because I wanna hear the truth.
@@sting64az this infinity speakers are better than als JBL's ever made. JBL ist pretty good but the are the reference for many years
JA! Please! How can I get a copy of your files used here! Amazing recordings. I would really appreciate having these as references for personal use in my system set-ups, home and car audio. Thanks.
The Cantus track is on a commercially released CD, though it's out of print. Amazon has some used for sale. The Water Night is still to be released, but you can download the organ recording from www.dropbox.com/s/wjjuj9keg0kvkow/Widor_mixdown.aif?dl=0
That was actually pretty good.. I was able to reference the sound through my AKG's. Was kinda fun to listen to the really low pipe fundamentals. Bass is really easy, yet hard, to reproduce. People slap a sub on anything and can feel this or that.. But true base fidelity (the kind that you hear live) has depth, articulation and imagery (yes, imagery). Base, like treble, is supported by its fundamentals that go beyond most speakers ranges. Some modern speaker and system designers achieve this through processing, but to hear a system that "natively" has this range is a purer approach. And as you can see, like a pipe organ, needs to be BIG. Of course we can talk about modern music engineering practices and it's foibles, but that's another discussion.
is there possible to archive that sound in a car audio high end audiophile. Pls comment and like
Godfather of hi end audio!
Am I the only one who can hear the room? the room reverberationr? I'm not saying it's bad but it's there.
Solo para subir videos videos yes it a very live room
So what am I to learn listening to a recording of a recording played through that system then through my system?
I KNOW RIGHT!!! I love the people saying how awsome the unit sounds (as I can only dream of its awsome ability) on a phone speaker smaller then a dime.
Right. You have to hear them in person, otherwise it's a little pointless. The main thing we can infer from this is that it must sound rather pleasant, but we can't pinpoint the extent to which this system can perform.
Just wondering why the dust covers have been removed from the centre woofers. Is it to change the resonant frequency on these or for the entire cabinet? I don't know if the individual drivers are in sealed chambers.
Paul mentioned in a previous video that they needed to repair the servo sensors on those woofers.
If a 1980s flagship speaker can blow away a listener who's profession it is to evaluate to the most up to date reference systems... it makes me wonder how far we've actually advanced the state if the art in audio.
I think materials have improved somewhat... perhaps for a given price, you can get better sound now. (I listened to a 60,000$ Sony system in Vancouver in 1988 which was excellent, and I am sure you can get that sound for less now even with inflation..). but, yeah, this kind of sound is life altering..... yeah.....
Awesome I know people blab on about you can’t hear through TH-cam but my £80 Sony crappie headphones were flapping on my ears when that organ hit that low note .
This sounds AMAZING...
On my crappy prepay phone with a crappy speaker...
That bass at the end was crazy
Was it?, better than a proper studio recording? LOL
Maybe it's been already asked, but where could I purchase the Cantus recording? I couldn't find it on Tidal...
Brutal
Is my arm hair supposed to stand on end?
No way other than to be there to fully understand the glory of this system and these amazing speakers which I had the pleasure of hearing once in Arnie Nudell's system.....I then went home and kicked my speakers as if to ask them the grow up into full IRS's unfortunately that has never happened to date !
This would have sounded more impressive if John had included the BSG Qol Signal Completion Stage in the component line-up. The applause at the end of the first recording, for instance, would have sounded noticeably more live, as it should. Though I doubt Paul Mcgowan would have allowed it.
wish somehow that I would be able to really hear how it sounds remotely.
Wow I can really hear a lot of depth to this recording, pretty impressive for a 300 mic.
i really enjoyed the recording also, poor mic tries to convey the massive bass output and does distort here and there. but i get the sense of the scale of the bass output in the room.
Were the church recordings also done on iPhone? I find that questionable.
hopefully get to hear them in person one day, thanks for letting us get a taste, sadly the recording in this way was a bit stupid.
Filmed in the Same town PS is located in?
Wonder how these would stack up against a nice pair of Advents?
at 7: 50 who's signing ?
Liked the Cantus track. Is the CD still available? Can’t seem to find it anywhere.
It's out of print but can be found used on Amazon and eBay. See, for example, www.amazon.com/Outside-Box-Cantus/dp/B00DGIH5DS - John Atkinson
Thanks. Will keep an eye out and keep checking here in the U.K.
Hallo I'm an Italian music passionate I really love that it's alright arrangement, do you think it's fairly possible for you to send me the alac file you recorded during the 2008 live session in Minneapolis? Thanks anyways! The you two are doing a great job thanks Fabio
Why is he John wearing a headphones while listening? :)
PSA:
listing with headphones gives the best spacial sounds and it sounds like you are in the room.
listening with proper speakers will let you feel the deep bass in the organ music.
so you actually have to have both to hear the most you can out of this recording.
And even then, the sucky You Tube compression ruins the whole experience. Nevertheless, it still gives you a "taste" of what it might sound like if you were in the room.
Might be a little inappropriate for JA to answer, but I was hoping he would have given a quick synopsis of the experience and how it ranks to other great systems he's experienced.
This is exactly what I wanted to hear, and waited to hear!
Went up there myself about 4 years ago, and it didn't sound perfect back then. That was before the BHK though, so I'd love to hear John's impressions.
Amir Jubran in a way he did, not verbal but look at the small hints you get from his body language.
First from behind, he leans back at the first number, that could mean that he find that the music goes out to him, that he does not have to lean forward to enjoy the music.
Second he does almost not move at all, so the "air-guitar effect" are lacking, ok we cant see his front but when you look at his face after the first two numbers, he is neutral and emotionless. It is only after the third number, he has emotions.
So the conclusion could be that it sounds good, detailed and so on, but it does not touch him musically.
On the other hand, he has only selected one number that test the system, the two first, could a small amplifier with smaller speakers easily play.
Does anyone live in those tower blocks ?
What about the sound?
No review thoughts? What was the point? Perhaps it’ll be a write up in the magazine?
Wooooow that deep low frequency of the the pipe organ gave me ear massage! Try to listen this with a good set of headphones and it will give you a very good representation of what he felt in this room. Amazing binaural effect. Try some Fostex T50 RP MK3
Wow better than an original recording eh?, you idiot.
Well my friend. Calling me an idiot it's the easy way to do things. But that way your are not telling me what i did wrong. Why don't you try to help me first? After all my comment is about what "i felt" by hearing "this recording" and we all know the individuality o human hearing... And something to think... Do you know if i ever heard an original recording or maybe a live performance? Have a good day. :)
P.S. English is not my native language so i might gave you a misleading explanation
I cannot make judgements on your intelligence, but your statement was less than intelligent. No one can possibly make comment about a recording of an expensive speaker; its a question of bottlenecks.
Well if calling me an idiot is not a judgment of my intelligence than maybe i am missing something. But... let me try again to explain what my statement was all about.
As i told you before my comment was all about what i felt. Not about the quality of the speakers neither the sound quality or anything else.
This is a binaural recording and the psychoacoustic effect is reproduced very well but only through headphones. It gives you a pseudo dimensionality. This is why i wrote that it will give you (a very good representation of what he felt in this room) Try it your self i am sure you will like it to. ;) I hope that helped you understand what my comment was all about.
By the way. In my native language and in any other language that i know, calling a person an idiot IS a judgment of his/her intelligence. So i will call this a moment of bad judgment.
Have good day. :)
Well perhaps you are far too sensitive to be writing TH-cam comments)
I'd like to know where to get the chairs.
james brotherton
IKEA. Poang chair.
@@riverandzen5874 Thanks. Nice looking chairs and cheap! I see 30 million have been sold. Guess I'm a little late to the party.
This sounds so good on my old Nokia phone.
Where is the report?
Listened to this on stax electrostatic headphones and old koss esp6 headphones via my ipad and a cheap Cambridge Audio amp. Vidor’s toccata bass awesome with the Koss esp 6 headphones.
LOL, oooh impressive, does that get you lots of girls?, or can they see thru your thin veneer of bullshit?
Suzy Siviter as opposed to your thick layer of bullshít?
My headphones couldn't handle the organ track on the really low notes. AKG K100s
- attempt no.2 with jbl in-ear headphones + headphone amp. The clarity of the hand clapping on track #1 was very clear. But, still craps out on the organ track.
Three cheers to Stereophile and John Atkinson for taking the trouble to give us (the laymen and less well-heeled) a taste of this most legendary IRS Mk V system. Thank you.
Explain how recording an expensive speaker can possibly give us a taste Sherlock?
If you don't know it by now, you"d never know, Suzy Siviter.
Suzy Siviter I’ll give you a taste of something....
That bass can scramble your Dna😅
The speakers are somewhat hesitant to become invisible :)
The perfect speaker doesn't exist, of course, but there are a few moments here when these reach a certain nirvana. Please keep bringing us these recordings of different systems. They absolutely give a sense of what it's like to be in the room. Thank you.
Do they Mr Golden ears?. You knobwipe, use some common sense.
Suzy Siviter get some better headphones.
You cant judge a speaker unless you use better speakers and better microphones than the speakers under test, this test was a complete waste of time, its called a bottle neck dear..plain old common sense!
Suzy Siviter I disagree. And by the way, get some manners.
MrCatalysis101 of course you would disagree, I am only rude to people who say moronic things as per your statement.
I still get a sense of the majesty of this system! While I agree with the comments about youtube compression etc, the arguments are a little like saying water isn't blue because of light absorption and the litany of other scientific lingo. the fact is: water is blue and (personal tastes aside), this system sounds amazing. listened to it on MacBook air and AKG 240's
How can he no say more about the listing experience,or articulate it better, don't understand why.
Brown trousers moment bass
Sounded as good as my speeaker setup ! Heheh..
What model USB stick?
An iDiskk. Lightning connector at one end, USB at the other.
Its the HS-BS version.
I was lucky to hear these speakers back in 1996 at a dealers house. Can't remember the source, but do remember the song
Rodger Miller " King of the road" I was godsmacked!!
How did the maker of this speaker phase aligned all those speakers?
Duh, Red to Red, Black to Black, what are you smoking?, do you know anything about electro-magnets, left hand rule etc?
Mmm, no, phase alignment is NOT just matching wires. Multiple speakers need to be phase-aligned by slightly modifying their timing, so they act like a single source.
Verdi Adhanta: No, phase alignment is purely electrical, I think you are getting confused with speaker response or how fast that driver can change due to a step-input which is a combination of speaker compliance and magnetic strength.
The phase response depends on the filters; unless you are talking about a ported box design and matching the rear reflection with front radiation at a specific frequency.
Actually, no. Some speaker like Barefoot systems uses DSP to time align its speakers. But even a two way cheap speaker system is to a degree time aligned by considering the position of the speaker.
But, that is not the point. And no, I'm not talking about transient response or crossovers.
The point is multiple speakers need to be time aligned, if not, the difference in distance of each of speakers to listener's ear will end up messing up the phase coherency. Because if you translate all that difference of distances into wavelengths, you get a number of sound sources that deliver one same signal into you ear at different times (phase shifted) that long enough to messed up that original signal that supposed to be delivered to your ears.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loudspeaker_time_alignment
www.minidsp.com/applications/dsp-basics/time-alignment
Verdi Adhanta: Whether you use analogue methods or DSP, they are using filters to change the frequency response, phase change occurs during roll-on or roll-off on a filter.
As for time-alignment of drivers; only the distance between tweeters and mid will be effected, the wavelength of anything below are such large wavelengths anyway; a few cm's will not make ANY difference to sound.
If you dont believe me plot a chart of wavelength to frequency.
Your link backs this up; its the time alignment between tweeter and mid-range, mulitple mid-range drivers do not need to be time aligned.
However I do admit I did jump on you a little quickly; perhaps you did mean the tweeter to mid all along.
The test is relatively straight forward; you apply a very short pulse to both Tweeter and mid, and record the microphone on a DSO, then measure the time difference between them; its a little more complicated; but thats the short answer.
With a speaker system like this, my main worry would be how they are managing to bandpass each one of those drivers whilst keeping the phase response relatively constant; its almost impossible using analogue.
Where is a link to download your recording? So we can listen to this with a pair of good headphones on a good audio system?
TH-cam is a terrible source for audio comparison. Plus most people will be watching this with computer speakers or laptop speakers.
Get a clue.
Wait, what?
Very nice system, but I think there are a lot of sounds bouncing of the walls. In other words a much bigger room is needed to truly appreciate the whole set up. Thanks!