Radio Paradise 320k stream

Posted by: DomTomLondon on 06 November 2013

I'm a big fan of the 320k Radio Paradise steam we Naim owners get access to.

I'm a little intrigued how good the sound quality is however.

 

Has anyone figured out what RP are doing to the

music? is it going though some kind of EQ? Compression?

I'm not complaining, just curious.

 

A lot of the music they play, I have on CD, ripped to FLAC, on a NAS server.

I have not done a direct comparison, just from memory, but the RP versions seem to sound better, or maybe they're just louder.

 

What do others think?

Posted on: 06 November 2013 by BigH47

Never compared, but it does seem pretty good, mind you I don't tend to sit a listen seriously to it.

I leave serious listening to what I choose. By serious listening I mean sitting my chair, not in front of the iMac.

Posted on: 06 November 2013 by Simon-in-Suffolk

Hi, the AAC signal will be being compressed and eq processed for the AAC conversion process at least. If done optimally 320kbps should sound good. We are in the realm of good car hifi sound quality ( perhaps exc Bentley - Naim) IMO  as opposed to realism and vibrancy of lossless digital or analogue.. But certainly ok for background...

when and if PCM/ FLAC  feeds start the whole experience should take a major step forward, and there should not need additional  compression and eq processing for transcoding.

Simon

 

Posted on: 06 November 2013 by gert
Originally Posted by DomTomLondon:

A lot of the music they play, I have on CD, ripped to FLAC, on a NAS server.

I have not done a direct comparison, just from memory, but the RP versions seem to sound better, or maybe they're just louder.

 

What do others think?

I also have the impression that the RP music sounds much more comfortable. It comes with a warmer bass and less extreme highs (Listening with an Uniti 1 and Neat Motive 1 speakers). Also there are no big sound quality and volume differences between the tracks, so I guess there will be an EQ involved.

 

(The missing bass and extreme highs are very often a problem for me on some CDs I own. E.g. older prince CDs (purple rain, lovesexy), Cameo CDs (WordUp, Machismo), or Chaka Khan (I feel 4 u). It is no fun to listen to them anymore. I still wonder if this is a problem of the uniti, of the speakers or an acustic problem in my living room!?)

 

Gert

Posted on: 07 November 2013 by Salmon Dave

The RP 320 stream is certainly among the best iRadio streams out there, though their 192 stream is v good too. However when a track comes on which I know well I generally feel it's not up to my CD replay of same.

 

'1967 Plus' anyone?

Posted on: 07 November 2013 by Scooot
Hi,
I listen a lot to rp alough like many mostly background music.i have stumbled across some artists I have not even heard of prompting me to purchase the album.so for me a great easy listen and platform to find new music.

Scott
Posted on: 07 November 2013 by DomTomLondon

Thanks for the comments guys.

 

Most of the time I have RP on when I want background music on, but occasionally I'll sit down after a long day and just enjoy the great sound quality and variation of music.

I also found many new artist by listening to RP that I now own on CD. It is a great way to discover new music.

 

To me, there is definitely some form of 'Normalisation gain' going on with the RP music stream.

 

For more critical listening I tend to go to my 24bit albums.