The Way of the Audiophile

As I mentioned in a previous post, my old Total Bithead headphone amp/DAC suddenly lost all sound in its right channel a few months ago. Rather than consider it a setback, I took this as an opportunity to make some long-planned upgrades to make my music sound even better. This resulted in me finally getting these:

And this:

And ordering one of these to put between them:

And later got a great deal in a group buy on these:

A bit of terminology: every digital audio system has four components: the music as bits stored on a hard disk, CD or flash; a DAC (digital-to-analog converter) to translate the bits of sound output into an electrical signal resembling an actual sound wave; an amplifier to bring the signal up to a suitable listening level; and an output to turn the signal into sound waves. Computers and phones all have built-in DACs and headphone amps so you can plug headphones directly into them and listen away. But audio enthusiasts with more demanding ears prefer to use higher-quality external devices instead.

So anyway, my headphones (Sennheiser HD650s) and DAC (an HRT MusicStreamer II+) both came from Amazon within a week. My amp, a do-it-yourself Bottlehead Crack, is from a small company and took almost a month to ship, so I had plenty of time to break the headphones in without it. When it did come, it looked like this:

I was responsible for installing all the parts, soldering and wiring everything correctly, and assembling, staining, and finishing the case, after which it looked like this (the amount of time and effort involved is greatly understated):

So, over a month later, I was finally able to connect all the parts of my system and turn it on. The vacuum tubes in the amp dimly glowed and I knew it was ready to listen.

This amp is specifically designed for high-impedance headphones like the 650s, so I can't easily compare them directly with my previous headphones, Sennheiser's HD555s. I also don't have all the hardware to separately test every component of my system, so I will be reviewing partially the HD650s and partially everything at once.

The HD650s are my first real "audiophile"-grade headphones, a few steps up from my old entry-level cans. They lack some of the convenience features of the HD555s like a single-sided cable and are high-impedance, meaning they sound somewhat wimpy without a proper amp, but they are definitely superior in clarity. Everything sounds just a bit more realistic and clear, especially the treble and transients in my music. It was shocking to hear the headphones that changed my life in 2009 sounding noticeably worse than something else. They appear to lack the "Eargonomic Acoustic Refinement" reflector of the HD5xx line, so the imaging is actually a bit worse, but the superior clarity more than makes up for this.

I didn't test the difference the amp and DAC made separately, but together they definitely get the most out of the headphones. On their own, the HD650s seem a bit quieter on both the high and low end of the frequency range on top of how hard they are to drive in the first place. With the DAC and amp powering them, the high and low ends both sound "just right". The bass is satisfyingly present and powerful without sounding excessive or "boomy" in the least; it sounds balanced over the entire range of my hearing. The treble is similarly sparkling and vibrant, but again not overpowering. Without some really high-end gear I can't comment on how neutral the setup really is, but it definitely makes my music come alive like never before, without overly revealing the problems of my lower bit-rate recordings. The amp seems to drive them effortlessly; I only dare to explore the bottom third of its volume dial's range and I could very easily test which could go louder: the headphones or my ears.

On a design level, the HD650s are probably the most best-fitting headphones I've ever worn. My ATH-AD700s have a softer fit, but I constantly worry about them slipping down or off my head when I move. The 650s are comfortable enough that I can easily forget I'm wearing them, but at the same time I never worry about them shifting at all. They also have a split-pad design on the band to avoid putting pressure on the apparently-sensitive center of the head; I didn't notice this until I put on my old HD555s and immediately felt the contrast. The build quality is excellent overall, with the extendable sections of the band made of metal and the rest made of solid-feeling plastic. They have already survived being dropped once, but I hope not to test this again.

Anyway, as mentioned above, I also found a too-good-to-pass-up deal on some Beyerdynamic DT990 headphones a few weeks after finishing the amp. The DT990s come in three versions with three impedances: 32Ω, 250Ω, and 600Ω. Since my amp can easily drive the HD650s to uncomfortable levels at a quarter of the full volume, I went for the 600Ω version, which is hilariously quiet on my Walkman but still an easy match for the Crack.

Having had time to compare them, the DT990s really seem like a perfect counterpoint to the HD650s. The clarity and imaging are of fairly similar quality, but the frequency responses could not be more perceptually different. As the graph below shows, the DT990s have a big bass hump at around 100-200 Hz, and the highs are 5-15 dB louder. This difference in the highs cannot be overstated and is almost hard to get used to at first; after wearing the HD650s, the DT990s seem blindingly bright, even sibilant; the other way around, the HD650s seem dead and muddy. After some more listening, I'm more able to appreciate each headphone for what it is as well as the differences between the two.



Fit-wise, the DT990s are also very different from the HD650s. They have much, much less clamping pressure, which is kind of a relief, and the earpads are incredibly soft and comfortable. They do lack the split-band design of the HD650s, though, and actually get less comfortable (at least on the top of the head) after a few hours' use. It's not nearly as big an issue as with my Grado SR60is, though. They also have a handy single-sided cable design (which, sadly, is not detachable) and nice construction incorporating more metal. Despite this, they still manage to be amazingly light.

Overall, I think I actually prefer the DT990s. Yes, it's much less even, with a small boost in bass (which seems like it was overstated in peoples' opinions of the headphones) and massively boosted treble. This means that the drums (my favorite instrument in my music of choice), particularly the bass drums and cymbols, sound more emphasized with them, whereas the vocals and guitars feel stronger with the HD650s, which make metal sound a bit more substantive with their balanced approach to the mids. Both are great for metal in totally different ways. For lighter, particularly acoustic music, the DT990s are clear winners. If you ever feel like trying my setup and ruining sub-$250 headphones for yourself forever, let me know and I will be happy to oblige.

The Hours That Remain

Mercenary's 2008 album, Architect of Lies, with its great blend of melody and raw aggression combined with innovative and catchy songwriting, has become one of my melodic death metal mainstays. I've found that once I get really into one of a band's albums, it serves as a sort of beachhead from which I can easily explore the rest of their catalog. In this case, I have recently gotten into their previous 2006 album, The Hours That Remain.

Two things immediately strike you about The Hours That Remain. One is that it is almost devoid of harsh vocals and is consequently not much more extreme than a DragonForce album. Mercenary is between harsh vocalists on this album, so Mikkel Sandager, who did the clean vocals on Architect as well as earlier albums, does double duty here. So The Hours That Remain doesn't benefit from having two vocalists like its successor or the band's earlier work. But Sandager nonetheless does a fantastic job in his singing and takes the album in a  more polished, melodic, (dare I say it) "poppy" direction. And it works. One other lineup thing to note: the bass on this album is played by none other than Jacob Hansen, who was the vocalist on a certain other Danish metal album I immensely enjoy.

The other thing is that this album is ten minutes longer than Architect of Lies at 62 minutes, despite having the same number (ten) songs. Doing the math, this means each song is on average a minute longer, allowing the band to take their time in their epic compositions (two of which span over eight minutes) and play plenty of guitar solos. The production on the album is excellent, with a reverb-heavy (and just plain heavy) guitar sound similar to Dream Evil, but for how polished the album sounds it feels as raw as a Mercenary album should.

The opening song "Redefine Me" is a good, relatively succinct musical summary of the style of this album. The guitarists cycle through an arsenal of riffs, including a slow arhythmic one with keyboard melodies sneaking underneath in the verses and a fantastic, ultra-melodic riff with the kind of guitar strumming/bass pedal synchronization that is more easily experienced than described. So experience it!

Another highlight is song #5, "Lost Reality", the first of the two epic-length songs. Its main riff has a strong synth melody over/roughly following an equally melodic guitar riff. The effect of the guitar-and-synth cooperation along with Sandager's notably impassioned vocals is spine-tingling, dramatic, and cathartic. It's not exactly an epic in the progressive sense, as there are no clear divisions of the song into parts, but there are plenty of gear changes in riffs, vocal sections, and moods. This has become one of my favorite Mercenary songs.

As one more case study, see the second epic/final/title track, "The Hours That Remain". Nothing radically different about it: again heavily focused on clean vocals, with a strong, driving main riff exhibiting strong guitar/bass drum synchronization. The tempo is (relatively) slower, though, and relatively steady; it sounds almost like a combination of "This Black and Endless Never" and "Public Failure Number One" from Architect, with a slower, more expansive chorus reminiscent of "Execution Style". (Remember, though, that this song came first) Once again, just give it a listen and it might take your breath away.

Lyrically, like Mercenary's other work this album takes a break from mythology and dragons for more abstract lyrics about personal tensions and inner struggles. Though they are written poetically enough to connect with just about anyone, they don't come across as "emo", partly because the music is quintessentially European metal and partly because of Sandager's superb vocal performance on both fronts. He is as passionate and powerful in his singing as the best, and even his harsh vocals, heard for the only time on this album, are pretty nice and underrated. This album is "poppy" in that it is rather more focused on the vocals than most melodeath, but this is hardly a bad thing with how well it works.

This is almost, almost, my favorite Mercenary album. Perhaps even more than its successor, it succeeds wildly at being ultra-melodic and intensely heavy, not trading off but in a simultaneous metallic cocktail. What this looks like in practice is songs built on a solid, head-bang-worthy foundation of dual guitar and keyboard riffs, and some of the best vocals of their career. My main criticisms of it are that while it has some very strong songs like the above ones, it also has several relatively forgettable ones (that may just be overshadowed by the good ones), and while Mercenary does work admirably well with one vocalist, that fact certainly doesn't do them any favors. While this album isn't as good as Architect of Lies in my view, it seems to lay down a lot of the raw material that is machined and polished into its successor album, and has managed to give me a great time over many listens.

The Sound of Space

This is not music. This is a recording of electromagnetic radiation from Jupiter, translated into sound waves, made by Voyager as it passed by.

The description:

From an original CD: JUPITER NASA-VOYAGER SPACE SOUNDS (1990) BRAIN/MIND Research
Fascinating recording of Jupiter sounds (electromagnetic "voices") by NASA-Voyager. The complex interactions of charged electromagnetic particles from the solar wind , planetary magnetosphere etc. create vibration "soundscapes". It sounds very interesting, even scary.
Jupiter is mostly composed of hydrogen and helium. The entire planet is made of gas, with no solid surface under the atmosphere. The pressures and temperatures deep in Jupiter are so high that gases form a gradual transition into liquids which are gradually compressed into a metallic "plasma" in which the molecules have been stripped of their outer electrons. The winds of Jupiter are a thousand metres per second relative to the rotating interior. Jupiter's magnetic field is four thousand times stronger than Earth's, and is tipped by 11° degrees of axis spin. This causes the magnetic field to wobble, which has a profound effect on trapped electronically charged particles. This plasma of charged particles is accelerated beyond the magnetosphere of Jupiter to speeds of tens of thousands of kilometres per second. It is these magnetic particle vibrations which generate some of the sound you hear on this recording.

I find it absolutely astounding that we can listen to signals from places in the universe we consider to be desolate, places with no relation to us that we knew nearly nothing about before the space age, and hear sounds that aesthetically resonate with us so strongly. Can this be accidental?

Also, iTunes apparently has a ten-track compilation of these kinds of sounds recorded from all over the Solar System--over five hours for $10! Listen to some music that's literally out of this world. (Sorry, bad pun)

Time (Part I)

Okay, with that Kamelot review up, time for the other long-awaited album I received that week.

Wintersun's first, self-titled album has been a favorite for melodeath fans for years, all of whom have eagerly (and patiently) awaited Jari Mäenpää's second creation, the very aptly-named Time. Finally, six years in the making and eight after the first album, the Finnish Chinese Democracy is here (the first half of it, at least).

Wintersun was an unprecedented experiment that seamlessly blended the genres of melodic death metal, black metal, power metal, and numerous others. As diverse as it was, Time I completely blows it out of the water, as the alphabet soup of genres I've tagged it with shows. This album took six years to make and sounds like it's been sent back from the distant future. Part of the reason for the delay was that Jari had to wait for computers to become powerful enough for him to produce it. The epic songs apparently have upwards of 200 tracks. The insane attention to production and detail on this album make comparing it with other metal like comparing St. Peter's to my church's cool, but relatively plain hundred-year-old Swedish-built building. Let me assure you that Time I does not disappoint.

One unexpected turn this album takes is its use of Japanese folk influences, which are nowhere more evident than in the instrumental intro track, "When Time Fades Away". Its gently rolling melodies interweave more standard synths and orchestration with beautiful strings seemingly inspired by Japanese folk music for a song that seems to ebb and flow like swirling, falling snow. It creates a gradually thickening atmosphere of myth and wonder that fits the album's crazy-awesome psychedelic graphic design perfectly.

And then it transitions seamlessly into the first epic, "Sons of Winter and Stars". This 13-minute song is amazing. If Wintersun had just released it and called it the new album they'd been working on for six years, I'd only have been slightly disappointed. This song is entire dimensions beyond anything I have heard from Finland in the past, even on Wintersun. It is broken into four parts for easier processing:
Rain of Stars: After the soft melody of the intro track continues for about half a minute, it is suddenly eclipsed by a huge guitar fanfare, which is quickly replaced by an even louder torrent of blast beats and soaring orchestrated horns. It is at this point that you realize and fully appreciate how much a band can advance in six years. The whole first part is almost like an anthem or invocation for the rest of the song, with a repeating call to "Rise!".
Surrounded by Darkness: Less insane than the first part but still fascinating. It is largely built around a quick, steady synchronized guitar/bass drum riffing pattern with synth and orchestral harmonies prominent over it. It's the most progressive-metal part of the album and sounds very futuristic.
Journey Inside a Dream: As the last chord of part II fades out, it is replaced by a lone acoustic guitar. This part is a quieter interlude, the calm before the storm; all the vocals in this part are clean and it is surprisingly close and personal after the grandeur of the first two parts. The end of this part almost sounds like a lullaby with twinkling synths and ethereal strings providing the only instrumentation/ It provides a nice breather and perfect contrast to the final part...
Sons of Winter and Stars: I'll just skip right to the hyperbole, because all of it is fully deserved. Part IV is the single most epically, over-the-top awesome thing I have heard in any metal song, ever. The lyrics approach DragonForce-like levels of narm/awesomeness and surpasses even Rhapsody of Fire in sheer scale and bombast. Especially the last repetition of the chorus with the whole band singing choral vocals. For anyone with a soul, this is pure ecstasy. Not recommended for anyone with a heart condition.
All told, "Sons of Winter and Stars" is a perfect epic, masterfully composed, amazing to listen to, like nothing I've ever heard before. Probably one of my favorite songs of all time.

The next song, "Land of Snow and Sorrow", is relatively short at eight and a half minutes and, for a welcome breather, is considerably slower and less intense. Like "Sleeping Stars" on Wintersun's first album, it flirts with doom metal, built largely around a slow, grinding, climbing riff that sounds equal parts snow and water, with prominent synth harmonies echoing overhead. It evokes the image of a vast, desolate, snowbound expanse. It is considerably overshadowed by the much more exciting "Sons of Winter and Stars", but is still a strong song in its own right, better than "Sleeping Stars".

Before the second epic is another instrumental prelude, "Darkness and Frost". Considerably less organic and more spacey than the first one, it is largely a cool solo for plucked strings (can't tell which of the voices is the guitar) with a healthy amount of "raygun"-type synths that help create a picture of swirling snow.

And then the second epic, "Time", continues some of the musical themes of the prelude in metal fashion. This song kind of has two "modes" it switches between, each with its own chorus about time: a slower, majestic pacing which is the continuation of the prelude, and a faster, louder 3-time rhythm more similar to something in "Sons of Winter and Stars". Overall, "Time" has more of a synthesized, almost futuristic feel to "Sons of Winter and Stars"' symphonic metal sound, notwithstanding the moment of epic at around 6 minutes in just before the guitar solo and switch back to the slower mode. Then it switches back to the faster mode for the epic climax, with repeated invocations of "TIME/Fades away!" just before everything fades away for a final piano solo, leading into an ambient outro similar to the album's beginning.

If I hadn't made it clear already, Time I is amazing. Simply amazing. The band shows the kind of development you'd expect from six years of touring and studio work. For one, the band has doubled in size, now boasting a dedicated guitarist and bassist, and allowing Jari to focus more on singing and keyboards. His singing in both styles has improved noticeably, allowing the vocals on Time I to share center stage with the amazing instrumentation. Completely expectedly, the production is top-notch; the album is a real treat to listen to on my audiophile-quality setup. It takes the disparate elements that Wintersun played with--melodeath speed and intensity, Jari's epic viking metal roots, synthesizers everywhere, and surreal winter-inspired lyrics--and flawlessly combines them into some truly glorious metal. And it adds a few new surprises, like the blend of European and Asian styles of folk music and the vastly increased emphasis on orchestral parts--both of which, in my book, are improvements.

If Jari had kept Time as one album, it would be objectively perfect, by far better than Wintersun, the best album of 2012 (or 2013), and one of my favorite albums of all time. As it is, the only, only problem with Time I is that there isn't more of it; it clocks in at just 40 minutes with five tracks. Get this album. It was completely worth the wait. Get it now.

One more time...

WE ARE THE SONS OF WINTER AND STARS
WE'VE COME FROM AFAR BEYOND TIME
FOREVER THE FIRE BURNS IN OUR HEARTS
OUR WORLD SHALL NEVER DIE!
IN THE ARMS OF THE WIND WE RIDE 'TILL DAWN
AS THE WAVES OF THE OCEAN GRIND SO STRONG
WE WANDER THE STARS UNTIL WE'RE GONE
OUR FATE IS SEALED BY ETERNAL SUN!

Silverthorn

I got Kamelot's new album on Halloween. Let's get started, shall we?

Like DragonForce's new album The Power Within earlier this year, Silverthorn is Kamelot's first album with a new vocalist, in this case Swedish singer Tommy Karevik of Seventh Wonder. I've made no secret of the fact that Khan was one of my favorite metal singers of all time. And yet, shockingly--Karevik is very nearly his equal. Rather than go for a completely different-sounding vocalist which would almost certainly have been a losing bet for Kamelot, they tried to find as close a replacement for Khan as possible, and in Karevik they have succeeded as much as anyone possibly could. He doesn't just fill the same need like Marc Hudson did for DragonForce, but manages to sound (and look) very similar to Khan. He has nearly all of Khan's passion, nuance, and raw power that made albums like The Black Halo so memorable, at times sounding like a slightly pitched-shifted version of his precedessor. Though I still prefer Khan  perhaps because I was more used to him, the vocals on this album are all superb by any standard--certainly better than on Khan's first album with Kamelot, Siege Perilous.

Overall, Silverthorn is a bit of a turning from the quasi-progressive experimentation of Poetry for the Poisoned back to the symphonic grandeur of Ghost Opera or earlier albums. The songs are generally more normally-structured, like on Kamelot's earlier albums. It is, however, a concept album, though like with The Black Halo this may not be evident on first listen. The storybook I got with the deluxe edition of the album helps. Also like The Black Halo and unlike Epica, the songs are less narrative than they are thoughtful and introspective, the musings and remembrances of an imprisoned man looking back on the tragic course of his life. It's a good story, but I won't spoil too much of it here.

Anyway, on to the actual songs. The first song "Manus Dei" is a bombastic, choir-and-orchestra driven intro along the lines of Rhapsody of Fire and Nightwish, the first sign that this album is more symphonic and less experimental than the previous one. The first we hear of Tommy Karevik is his recitation of the first verse of "My Confession" at the end. And then we launch into the album standout, "Sacrimony (Angel of Afterlife)". My jaw dropped as soon as this song started and I was practically rejoicing by the time it ended. Beginning with a booming guitar riff with echoing horns above and double-bass drumming below, it easily surpasses the energy of anything on Poetry, beyond even the title track of Ghost Opera or "When the Lights Are Down" on The Black Halo. It has a standard soft-loud contrast between the verses and chorus, but what a chorus--possibly the best of any Kamelot song, ever. (Especially the penultimate time, when it is echoed by guest vocalist Elize Ryd) Quite possibly my favorite Kamelot song ever.

Unfortunately, after the mind-blowing amazingness of "Sacrimony", the album can't help but go somewhat downhill from there. Where it soars through the clouds, "Ashes to Ashes" chugs along more slowly, with a much heavier atmosphere and some cool riffs in the chorus that would not sound out of place on a Meshuggah album. (Only with Karevik's sparkling vocals on top instead of crazed death-howls) Its other highlight is the cool dueling guitar and synth solo. It would be a fine song if it hadn't come right after such a strong one. "Torn" is considerably more melodic and "power metal" and showcases more of Karevik's higher register (fine chorus; again, it's just hard not to compare it with "Sacrimony"). If my audiophile gear and ears are not mistaken, the verse also has an interesting harmony going between the guitar and bass.

After that, "Song for Jolee" is a fairly excellent ballad, with piano and synth-orchestra as the only instrumentation for most of the song before a marching drumbeat prefaces the whole band joining in for one last hurrah. Like "Eva" for Nightwish, this song serves to show that Kamelot's new vocalist is still great when he's not going full-throttle. And don't worry--the lyrics are part of the album's concept and the song doesn't come off as cheesy. It's no "Abandoned", but surprisingly good.

"Veritas" has more of a marching rhythm (as long as I am comparing this album to previous ones, like "March of Mephisto"); its main feature is the choir that sings the Latin part of the increasingly-raucous chorus. (You know it's proper Latin because Luca Turilli of Rhapsody of Fire is credited as "Latin consultant") I'm not as big a fan of Karevik's vocals on this song. Also of note: the cool accordion outro in the end.

"My Confession" starts with a rather awesome phased chugging guitar pattern over a string quartet (this album has a lot of guest talent) Karevik's vocals in the chorus flow like a picturesque river and make this song another of my favorites. The during/after chorus riff on this song has a great, driving tempo to it that catches my ear. "Silverthorn" seemed like one of the album's lowlights at first, but it's been growing on me. Thomas does an excellent job on the guitar, seeming to take the spotlight and yield it to Karevik at just the right times. The slow, meandering vocal style in the chorus almost reminds me of Khan in "The Edge of Paradise". Truly Tommy is a singer of many talents.

"Falling Light the Fahrenheit" is one of the slowest songs, kind of in the same vein as "The Mourning After (Carry On)" and carrying a kind of stately majesty in its deliberateness. Sadly, though, it is not as cool as its name sounds. "Solitaire" (the second Kamelot song of that name), by contrast, is a considerably faster song, with prominent and rapid double-bass drumming (with synchronized guitar!) in the intense chorus, a welcome shift after the last few songs. It also has one of the best lines of the album, as Karevik/the narrator drinks a glass of "I forgot the name" in the first verse.

The epic of the album, "Prodigal Son", is a three-part compositional masterpiece. Though they are nothing alike, it's hard to resist comparing it with "Memento Mori" as they are nearly the same length, a comparison in which "Prodigal Son" doesn't fare well. It's still fascinating, though. The first of three segments evokes a funeral mass, with tolling bells, a quiet, solemn organ melody, and very subdued vocals. The second time through the verses, these are replaced by an acoustic guitar followed by, drums, bass, and strings. It could almost sound like a ballad as the second part gets considerably heavier and more passionate, keeping the same plodding tempo. Finally, things really start to pick up in the third part, which ditches the funeral pretense and is one of the strongest parts of the album, as if all the musical threads Kamelot has been spinning in this album come together for one majestic conclusion. After this, symphonic piece "Continuum" winds down with Cinzia Rizzo (last heard singing cabaret in Italian on The Black Halo) doing an ethereal, wordless vocal solo as if to transport us back to the mortal realm.

I hesitate to call Silverthorn a disappointment, but it kind of is. Perhaps because of their focus on replacing Khan (which I think they succeed at), Kamelot doesn't really reinvent themselves on this album as they have been in the habit of doing. Maybe the album just needs more time to grow on me, but it seems like for every amazing, memorable song ("Sacrimony", "My Confession", "Song for Jolee", "Solitaire", "Prodigal Son"), there is a merely so-so song; there is less distinction than on previous albums. So-so for Kamelot is still, of course, good by any standard. I was hoping that Silverthorn would have more power metal influences from Epica and earlier, which it does not. Still, the orchestral turn this album takes does work, moving them a bit more into the vein of Nightwish than before. It's a great album for fans of the band (for whom I highly recommend the limited edition with the storybook and bonus disc), but people interested in Kamelot from my constantly promoting them would do better to start with The Black Halo or Ghost Opera.