Sound quality of Octave Radio

Here's yet another question about how and why Octave Radio sounds so different than all other internet radio stations. You can tune in to the station here: octaverecords....

[@teguhsoetikno1219]

thank you Paul for sharing tracks on Octave Radio..just listened for the first time yesterday.. sounds really great for a radio, best up to now I have heard

[@garysmith8455]

WOW, never thought I would see the day that Paul would sing a little praise toward a 320kbps MP3 ! I will tell you all, I cancelled my Qobuz account because Spotify Premium sounds surprisingly good. I ran the same track on BOTH services at the same time and toggled back and forth. First off, the volume matching of both were SPOT on and the same!, second, I could not believe the dynamics - separation - frequency response. You could blindfold me, and I don't believe I could tell the difference. Thus, I cancelled Qobuz. Spotify still has the big edge on their library too. Cool thing is (PAUL!), Spotify now has the complete TELARC library on hand! So, there you go. Oh, you may ask what my system is for making this comparo? My laptop streams into a Parasound P2.1 Halo preamp with ESS 32 reference DACs, that into a Parasound Halo A 21 amp, then onto a pair of Martin Logan Classic 9 electrostats in a dedicated 18x24x8' room. Treated and no furniture other then a leather sofa for 3.

[@CANKRAFTWERK]

I noticed that Steely dan Aja sounds better on Spotify

[@bedrosdaoudian8927]

Octave records is a living testament that a recording in DSD sounds much more natural and lively (and gives you the "being there" feeling) even when degrading its quality to mp3. Quite frankly the mp3 coming from octave records radio sound better than my HiRES collection in 192/24. It just sounds NATURAL. I can listen for hours without being annoyed by hearing fatigue. For the time being all I can say is a huge thank you to Paul McGowan and Cookie Marenco for taking the leap to produce the best sounding recordings of our time. The question is what will it take for the mainstream Recording Industry to catch up?

[@JonAnderhub]

You do realize that you are listening to music that has been through at least 3 digital format conversions with the 3rd conversion being a compressed lossy format You are not listening to DSD because all the DSD files have to be comverted to PCM for editing. You are being fooled.

[@InsideOfMyOwnMind]

@@JonAnderhub The characteristics they go for when they track could punch through a wire recorder.

[@bedrosdaoudian8927]

@@JonAnderhub Yes, but it still sounds better than a lot of the HiRes (192/24) collection that I own. This outlines how important the recording process in DSD is. If the recording process is done in DSD, then it sounds better even when downgraded to mp3. Think of it in terms of cameras. If you take a photo with a high end SLR Digital camera the photo (Taken originally in RAW format) is much better even when downgraded it to JPEG than the photo you take with your phone which is also in JPEG

[@Projacked1]

@@bedrosdaoudian8927 I agree here, check my previous comment. This stuff does magic on imaging. Technical stuff is not everything. That is as relative as can be, because of so much different gear in this age. I have a lot hi-res and SACD files, and I know that doesn't mean anything. Sound is absolute, and a crap recording will always reveal itself, period.

[@REX4340]

Please post some of your recordings 🙏

[@bv3713]

It's been a while since the last video. Are Paul and everyone else there fine?

[@citroen2cvnz]

No Listen Now button on my screen using Chrome or Edge but found it eventually using search. Sounds great!

[@boriss.861]

PS Audio Octave Records Pixies & Elves. Using the link for your Internet Radio Can you insert some Metadata as the track is playing.

[@Foxrock321]

My laptopp is connected to my home theatre 7.2.2 system..so it should really sound great..

[@zhongliu5624]

Wow! This is really good

[@bedrosdaoudian8927]

Hi Paul, I hope you'll see this. The link you've put doesn't show the history of the played songs. A lot of times I like a song and I don't know what it is. Then the next song comes and I cannot look at the history to find the previous song I liked and this prevents me from finding the album and from buying it. I suggest on that same page you add a "history" section of the the played songs (for at least the last 2 songs) for the listeners to have a chance to know what was previously played.

[@hoobsgroove]

When are you DJing on the radio Paul I will listen out. I'm into the 1940s British radio at the moment army radio from the 40s very good

[@googoo-gjoob]

as of 8/8/23 at 5pm EST, *Listen Now* is _not_ on the home page

[@Projacked1]

If this is MP3 , it's the best I have heard on that format. I hate it, usually because of really bad software conversions. The image collapses or flattens out so to speak.Octave just pops out of my speakers like it should, and the image is big, and non-fatiguing ...like it should 👌😁

[@Paulmcgowanpsaudio]

Great! I hear the same thing.

[@Projacked1]

​@@Paulmcgowanpsaudio I built a small 4" fullrange speaker (almost a cube, closed box) for listening in mono, both for mixing and also late night listening. Today I finally nailed what I was going for soundwise, mainly with damping the box. Prfff yeah it takes patience and time. It's build from 20mm high quality ply, so super stiff. Even in mono , the difference of the sound is, like the speaker dissapears and the sound becomes more of a bubble in front of you. Very cool , and very obvious. It envelops the whole speaker, in comparison with lesser quality recordings. By the way, I have a very happy girlfriend listening to this right now haha Kudos from the Netherlands 🥰

[@donpayne1040]

...and checkmate.

[@jlwasmer]

Imagine how it would sound if only your provider supported AAC!

[@terriludolf6101]

320kbit mp3 is another horse than 128kbit. It needs good recordings to hear a sltght difference against flac. In my oppinion 80% of all recordings 320kbit is ok.