Not that this is new but what do you guys think?

[3 Minute Reviewer]

http://www.schiit.com/about/news/schiit-previews-the-gadget 

It sounds really interesting but also like something that will be SOOOO polarizing in the audio community. A lot of people want to do whatever ever it takes to make the music as true to the original as possible while some people are purely hunting for what will make things sound the best to them personally. What do you guys think? Either way I would love to give it a shot to make a real opinion for myself once it is released.

[Max_Settings]

So let me make sure I'm understanding this right. Schiit is making a processor that takes music, and somehow separates the pieces of that music and almost allows you to remaster a track to your liking?

[3 Minute Reviewer]

Just now, Max_Settings said:

So let me make sure I'm understanding this right. Schiit is making a processor that takes music, and somehow separates the pieces of that music and almost allows you to remaster a track to your liking?

I am just as confused by what kind of dark magic would make this happen. 

 

[Max_Settings]

1 minute ago, kmathieu2220 said:

I am just as confused by what kind of dark magic would make this happen. 

 

So I was right, that is what this thing does?

[3 Minute Reviewer]

Just now, Max_Settings said:

So I was right, that is what this thing does?

I mean I don't fully understand it myself - says it'll be $200 and you can "re-tune" the music without altering the tempo. Not really sure any of the actual technical aspects of it - do you have any ideas?

[Spuriae]

I wish they'd make a box that could get rid of equal temperament. That said, this is going to be a big deal if it can really retune things lower without sounding noticeably worse.

[Max_Settings]

Just now, kmathieu2220 said:

I mean I don't fully understand it myself - says it'll be $200 and you can "re-tune" the music without altering the tempo. Not really sure any of the actual technical aspects of it - do you have any ideas?

No all the wording is very vague. That's how I interpret what it's saying, but I might be wrong.

[Spuriae]

15 minutes ago, Max_Settings said:

No all the wording is very vague. That's how I interpret what it's saying, but I might be wrong.

That's all it is. The goal is to retune A=440 (and others) to C=256 without altering anything else. In real time, somehow (probably some sort of heavily oversampled best-fit FIR filter with a shit-ton of taps, sort of like an ASRC but way crazier).

 

Sort of goes against their philosophy of preserving the original bits, but if the technology is well-designed I guess it's okay.

[anothertom]

There was some discussion of this when it was first announced (in this thread), there's also more detail on the SBAF forum.

[3 Minute Reviewer]

26 minutes ago, Nimrodor said:

That's all it is. The goal is to retune A=440 (and others) to C=256 without altering anything else. In real time, somehow (probably some sort of heavily oversampled best-fit FIR filter with a shit-ton of taps, sort of like an ASRC but way crazier).

 

Sort of goes against their philosophy of preserving the original bits, but if the technology is well-designed I guess it's okay.

I guess I am even a bit lost on what that would do for the sound of the music? more compressed? less compressed? how would the sound change? Guess ultimately I would have to hear it for myself to really understand

 

[anothertom]

23 minutes ago, kmathieu2220 said:

I guess I am even a bit lost on what that would do for the sound of the music? more compressed? less compressed? how would the sound change? Guess ultimately I would have to hear it for myself to really understand

The closest approximation to what this would do is re-tuning the original instruments to a different pitch. But this is done post mixing and mastering, so you won't get the same change in sound that re-tuning an instrument creates. It should have no effect on the stereo imaging, or the presentation of the audio, but then again, neither should any other DAC or signal processing.