Abbath, Abbath
Solo project from ex Immortal front man. It is what the last Immortal album should have been.
Ascendancy, The Dirty Earth
Take out Ozzy from Sabbath and replace with female vocals and you have this album. It is a real stoner Electric Wizard style of album.
Cheap Trick, Bang, Zoom, Crazy…Hello
What can I say a Cheap Trick album, like so many previous albums the classic mix of rock and pop works wonders. Plenty of sing along tunes and riffs.
Purson, Desire's Magic Theatre
Hard to really put this into a genre but it is simply rock music for music fans. Give it a go a fantastic mix of folk, blues, prog, hard rock and psychedelia.
Discharge, End of Days
Discharge do not disappoint with this album. Classic UK punk that makes more sense with the political mess that 2016 is/was.
Electric Citizen, Higher Time
Another female fronted stoner band but what can I say another great album by a female fronted stoner band.
Hinds, Leave me Alone
Love this album to bits, four girls in Spain decided to form a band and through some catchy tunes got a deal for an album. It is a classic garage rock style band that oozes the classic surf rock of the 60's. What I love so much is how much fun they have and seeing them live they play old cheap instruments. I love that so much throwing away the seriousness of the industry for fun.
Margo Price, Midwest Farmer's Daughter
She has struggled and got nowhere for years but 2016 was her year finally getting an album out and to much fanfare and rightfully so this is a great album. Classic Americana that you know the storys are real.
Cult Of Luna & Julie Christmas, Mariner
Mix of two great artists that was done over the net. The end result even ended up with some very quickly arranged gigs together as it worked so well.
Mono, Requiem for Hell
Another classic from Mono, sit back close your eyes and relax.
Head Cat, Rock n Roll Riot on the Sunset Strip
Yes it is a live album but what an album. Classic rockabilly covered but Lemmy and friends. It should not work and well I don't think it did but to my ears it sounds great.
Vektor, Terminal Redux
What a stunning album, you have some big thrash bands out over the last few years likes Metallica, Megadeth, Testament but this flushed them all down the toilet. Both fast and heavy but also technical it really does draw you in. Kids throw the new Metallica album in the bin and get this.
Sturgill Simpson, A Sailor's Guide to Earth
More Americana but this one is a little bit more experimental. Like taking a trip around the world on a boat and each track has different influences. The American leg of the trip is a strange but compelling cover of Smells Like Teen Spirit that on its own is very odd but on here it works great.
Sarah Jarosz, Undercurrent
Loved the music from this lady for a while but this album just clicked for me and many others. Her music skills really are amazing to see, such effortless looking performances that are so amazing to the ears.
Hey Hello!, Hey Hello Too
This was a real surprise as the album was released then pulled by Ginger. Not happy he re recorded much of it but after the singer left he then got in various guest vocalists and wow it works so well. The first album sounded ok and the tunes were good but the addition of these fantastic singers just moves the album up a few levels.
Thursday, 22 December 2016
Saturday, 11 June 2016
Sound battle. £10 DAC vs Essence STX II 7.1
Bit of fun as I have a week off work and also nursing a nasty foot sprain (told to stay off foot for a week) so great time to mess about with that home made DAC I wanted to do.
So built and set up and while listening my ears were very shocked to find how good it was and so good I am taking time to tell you here.
This is more for people who know a little about computers and electronics. But anyone could do this and I really hope someone tries to do so.
DAC of some sort I got this pHAT DAC for £12
Raspberry Pie 2, 3 or Zero £20-£30
SD Card and cables. £10-£30 (I recommend decent cables say £20 or so)
VS
Essence STX II 7.1
Both through a Yamaha AS500 and Eltax Millenium Monitors. Both have similar quality cables.
Now their are many places on the net that shows you how to make this up. So I will not go into it as my review is of the sound in comparison to a Essence STX II 7.1. Above is the price comparison to the Essence STX II 7.1 I got for £200 about five years ago.
I now have many albums in HD format and listening through them I honestly can't tell a difference between the to set up. Some albums like Bruce Springsteen, Darkness on the Edge of Town just sound so good on both and I think I edge a little to the DAC (Cheapest set up)
Next up is Iron Maiden with the Book of Souls. Classic Maiden this is a great test of how a new album sounds and again it sounds rich and full on the DAC. Sound card again is very similar. The drums and general whole rhythm section sounds fantastic. When the album goes intot he prog style it is known for both sound again great. Direct and no hint of noise at all in both. It really is amazing to hear. The soundcard and DAC are plugged into my Yamaha A-S400 with the input right next to each other. I even start tracks exactly the same time to click between them. And all results are stunning.
Next up is Countdown to Extinction. I again start the two tracks at the same time and have a very click comparison to the first track that has a very big blast beat drum intro and again it is 10/10.
Just a little bit more definition in the symbols than the sound card. But I mean so so little most people will never tell. Again listening on the sound is flawless.
I try some of the new Ramones HD stuff as well, I notice when I got these how amazing Joey sounded and again I am not disappointed. I find I have to tweak the sound card a little to match the levels but no big problem. The sound card seems to like older music more and it seems to keep a little hint of that classic feel. Could just be my ears used to the old school sound but this is for me a plus.
Aretha Franklin - Spirit in the dark is last up and again both are 10/10. Aretha could sound amazing through a tin can on a string but it is nice to hear this so direct and fresh. The harmonies come out so well here and have room to move about.
Well there you go a quick review and my winner is the DAC. I will be listening to this all week and I am sure other albums will come out on the sound card side but fuck me £12 DAC sounding this amazing is just stunning.
What is great about the DAC set up is the controll for it is via a mobile phone. This lets you see on your USB Drive/HDD and chose the music. The search is also very good and fast.
Reviewer is: 29xthefun
So built and set up and while listening my ears were very shocked to find how good it was and so good I am taking time to tell you here.
This is more for people who know a little about computers and electronics. But anyone could do this and I really hope someone tries to do so.
DAC of some sort I got this pHAT DAC for £12
Raspberry Pie 2, 3 or Zero £20-£30
SD Card and cables. £10-£30 (I recommend decent cables say £20 or so)
VS
Essence STX II 7.1
Both through a Yamaha AS500 and Eltax Millenium Monitors. Both have similar quality cables.
Now their are many places on the net that shows you how to make this up. So I will not go into it as my review is of the sound in comparison to a Essence STX II 7.1. Above is the price comparison to the Essence STX II 7.1 I got for £200 about five years ago.
I now have many albums in HD format and listening through them I honestly can't tell a difference between the to set up. Some albums like Bruce Springsteen, Darkness on the Edge of Town just sound so good on both and I think I edge a little to the DAC (Cheapest set up)
Next up is Iron Maiden with the Book of Souls. Classic Maiden this is a great test of how a new album sounds and again it sounds rich and full on the DAC. Sound card again is very similar. The drums and general whole rhythm section sounds fantastic. When the album goes intot he prog style it is known for both sound again great. Direct and no hint of noise at all in both. It really is amazing to hear. The soundcard and DAC are plugged into my Yamaha A-S400 with the input right next to each other. I even start tracks exactly the same time to click between them. And all results are stunning.
Next up is Countdown to Extinction. I again start the two tracks at the same time and have a very click comparison to the first track that has a very big blast beat drum intro and again it is 10/10.
Just a little bit more definition in the symbols than the sound card. But I mean so so little most people will never tell. Again listening on the sound is flawless.
I try some of the new Ramones HD stuff as well, I notice when I got these how amazing Joey sounded and again I am not disappointed. I find I have to tweak the sound card a little to match the levels but no big problem. The sound card seems to like older music more and it seems to keep a little hint of that classic feel. Could just be my ears used to the old school sound but this is for me a plus.
Aretha Franklin - Spirit in the dark is last up and again both are 10/10. Aretha could sound amazing through a tin can on a string but it is nice to hear this so direct and fresh. The harmonies come out so well here and have room to move about.
Well there you go a quick review and my winner is the DAC. I will be listening to this all week and I am sure other albums will come out on the sound card side but fuck me £12 DAC sounding this amazing is just stunning.
What is great about the DAC set up is the controll for it is via a mobile phone. This lets you see on your USB Drive/HDD and chose the music. The search is also very good and fast.
Reviewer is: 29xthefun
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