Please help
I bought a new Bridge 2 from eBay without SD card… now I am little bit confused: I don’t see recommended DirectStream DAC 12-061-99-2 firmware on PSA download webpage. Is it really necessary (if so, where can I find it??) or can I install Yale directly?
thanks Denis
Just install Yale, and you are ready to go.
Dennis
Ted Smith said If you are curious about whether the changes you hear are DSP based or not . . .Thanks for the detailed response! I can't tell you how much I appreciate your work (as well as your energy and patience), and the attitude of PSAudio in general.
Note that I prefer the bridge, so DSD comparisons between PP and Yale are problematic.
That said, I was definitely bitten by a bad upgrade to Yale. Now after an extended period of listening, Yale’s benefits are more apparent - better detail (but not “analytical” at all), tighter base, etc. Impressive. However, the change in soundstage is still an issue for me. The narrower presentation does not give me that sense of “magic” that I used to feel on some of my favorite recordings. It would be great if the next firmware upgrade would accommodate system/ear/brain combinations like mine!
Thanks,
dcr
dcr said However, the change in soundstage is still an issue for me. The narrower presentation does not give me that sense of "magic" that I used to feel on some of my favorite recordings. It would be great if the next firmware upgrade would accommodate system/ear/brain combinations like mine!Until that time, perhaps play around with a VST plug-in such as the Voxengo MSED?
What players recognize VST plug-ins?
By the way, MSED is a mid-side decoder/processor. It works only on a raw two-track mid-side recording - which is not what you will ever find on a Redbook CD. MSED does not work on a conventional stereo recording to widen or narrow the image. There are other processors for this.
Elk said What players recognize VST plug-ins?JRiver can use VST plug-ins.
And there are multiple VST adapter plugins for foobar2000, tho I don’t know how reliable they are. On the other hand there are a lot of DSP plugins for foobar2000 that might be a more direct fit for this kind of manipulation.
Elk said What players recognize VST plug-ins?By the way, MSED is a mid-side decoder/processor. It works only on a raw two-track mid-side recording - which is not what you will ever find on a Redbook CD. MSED does not work on a conventional stereo recording to widen or narrow the image. There are other processors for this.
Another option is in the analog domain (BSGT’s QOL and Rupert Nerve’s Portico 5014). I don’t have experience with these.
More discussion here: Stereo Field Processing
Yes, mid-side processing on a conventional stereo signal may produce a certain sense of spaciousness as it manipulates the left and right tracks. But it is not widening or narrowing the stereo image. It is doing something entirely different.
Here is an easy to understand article on mid-side recording: Here It explains what mid-side is and how it works. Notice that the mid-side technique does not record a left and right channel. Instead, it records a complex matrixed signal which needs to be decoded into left and right tracks. Applying this matrix encoding on a conventional left/right signal does not widen or narrow the image. But it will do some amusing things to the sound.
There are however many plug-ins which will widen and narrow a stereo signal. Do appreciate however that they are not transparent and have their advantages and disadvantages.
(I am intrigued to learn there are players that accept plug-ins. This makes many things possible, although it takes a good amount of CPU resources to run them in real time - and many cannot be run in real time on a personal PC.)
Thanks Elk, nice summary of mid-side recordings. And yes, the mid-side microphone recording technique produces a matrixed signal with features from the side elements and the center cardioid mic. A different beast than a stereo pair of mics.
But the MSED processor plugin’s raison d’etre is to take a standard L and R recorded stereo signal and convert it to a mid-side pair signal analogous to the matrix signal achieved from a mid-side recording technique. This allows the MSED plugin to further process the signal by user controlled adjustments to the levels of the mid (common signal to both L and R channels) and side signals. Once completed, it decodes the signal back to two channel stereo. The QOL device employs a similar approach.
With the processor you can easily narrow the signal to that of a mono recording. But that’s not where its at. By selectively enhancing the side gain, users have reported:
“a soundstage to die for; wide, deep, airy and expansive while maintaining instrument placement and timbre”
while one reviewer found “the soundstage not only became wider and deeper, but the most significant difference was in the sense of individual images existing independently from other images. That is, the soundstage became less homogenized, congealed, and closed in. The sense of air and distance between images was suddenly palpable. Instrumentals and vocals were no longer “stuck” to each other, instead expanding outward, forward, and backward.”
That’s why I thought dcr might be interested in checking it out.
The Voxengo MSED is a free download and not that CPU intensive. With JRiver its easy to play with. Would like to hear dcr’s and your impressions. I know we have one poster enthusiastic with his Directstream coupled with the QOL.
Encoding a stereo image, manipulating it, and decoding once again makes sense. Are you chaining two plug-ins? One to encode and the other to decode/manipulate the image?
M-S decoding is indeed not CPU intensive. I have made mid-side recordings to try the technique, but have not been that impressed. It is a very neat concept however.
Why not just use a plug-in specifically designed for manipulating a stereo image? There are a good number of them.
No need to chain two plug-ins, it does encoding, manipulation, and decoding. Here is a link to the Voxengo site’s product description and free download site: Voxengo MSED Overview
I’m not saavy enough to suggest/compare other plug-ins that use different approaches to stereo field processing. What are you thinking?
I can say the mid-side processor approach has gained a lot of attention both as DSP and commercial hardware products. In addition to the QOL and Rupert Neve, a couple of devices have been just released specifically for headphone use.
It is interesting that it encodes and decodes simultaneous in a single pass.
The plug-ins which manipulate stereo image of which I am thinking are pro products, such as iZotope’s Ozone mastering suite. They are not free. 
Thanks for all of the comments/suggestions.
I did purchase the MSED and Ozone plugins some years ago, as well as other plug-ins and algorithms, using J. River as the player app. My favorite was the built-in J. River algorithm found at “DSP Studio…Effects…Environment”. Just the smallest amount of processing seemed to satisfy my needs on most recordings. However, using too much processing (no matter which algorithm) seemed to introduce noticeable distortion in the signal, even with the 64-bit processing chain used in J. River.
However, AFAIK DSP processing is not available to DLNA streams in J. River, so Bridge users are out of luck.
dcr
There are always artifacts/side effects even in the best DSP. Every processor must be used carefully and judiciously to remain transparent. It is one of the important skills of a mastering.
A great article on Stereo Shuffling (mid-side), Alan Blumlein’s concept and its application. Click here
Just starting to use Blumlein’s arrangement to make recordings. I’ll give this a careful read.
Let us know what success you have with the approach. My results have been mixed. I like the author’s suggestion of shuffling only the bass frequencies.
I am planning to try the author’s recommended near-coincident crossed overlapping cardiods (fig. 5 if I recall correctly).
I’ll give that a go as well. I’ve recently stepped up my game with recording and have been spending more time gaining experience. Added an AT 4050 to my mic stable so I’ll give it a go as the M channel. Learning about Logic in a more in depth fashion as well. Lots to know. Makes me remember what a real novice I am!
It is remarkably complex. First, there is all the theory and the practical issue of learning how to use the equipment. Then, it is the long process of learning to apply the knowledge.
But, for me, this is what makes it fun.