Jet-lag doesn't affect me as much when I travel to the UK or EU as it does returning home to Jeff's Place in Washington State of the USA.

I'm not sure why that is so, but I suspect it has to do with my excitement surrounding travel, getting to my destination, and the new adventures that await me there - it gets the adrenalin flowing in a good way.

It takes me a little more than one day per hour of time zone change to get back to "normal" when I get home, so I figure it'll be a week or two before I'm fully back up to speed with my normal routines.

Peter Qvortrup of Audio Note UK.

In the mean time I'll keep at my writing - and other duties - until I flame out each day, like I did yesterday while writing Part 1 of this series of posts about Peter Qvortrup and all those at Audio Note UK.

After I flamed out yesterday, I just wanted to soak in some film experiences rather than actively engaging my brain in activities that required my attention so as not to mess it up (like wiring a Duelund-Altec Project crossover, which I'm chomping at the bit to get going on again).

I decided that watching a few episodes of the new Amazon Prime series "Carnival Row" starring Orlando Bloom and Cara Delevingne with my vintage Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre based AV system - that I've dialed in the crossovers for close front-wall placement and near-field listening - would be just the ticket (above), and it didn't disappoint with its mesmerizing vintage theatre-like experience that gave me goose bumps all over!

Man, that's one intense and entertaining show, with some parallels to what happened historically in the Scottish Highlands during colonization, in a loosely and unmistakable fantasy sort of way. I'm 14% Scottish genetically, so I found the allusions to history fascinating and to be a bit frightening.

Carnival Row also has parallels to what's happening in the present day as the world moves to more populist leaders and the social ills that accompany that sort of movement in society.

I found Carnival Row to be very entertaining fantasy with relevant lessons on a practical & meaningful take on morality encoded into the show's content, and it is gripping and entertaining to watch!

However, Carnival Row, as entertaining as it is, is a bit dark with that sort of subject matter, and there's enough darkness in real life in these days, so I decided I had hit my maximum dosage of darkness for the evening, and wanted to move onto some more edifying music listening. I'll be back watching it later, though, it's a good show!

Then I remembered that Peter Qvortrup had given me a couple of CDs to listen to (Thanks, Peter!), and from this particular one we listened to a few tracks on Peter's home system (below).

As you might suspect, being this is from the Chief Wizard of Audio Note UK, Peter Qvortrup, this is not just any ordinary CD, and it's not available on the Audio Note UK music web site (HERE), but I wish it was, as it is perhaps the most mind-blowing test CD I've ever had the pleasure to listen to, it truly lit up my evening with the electrifying excitement of exquisite musical performances from my AV system!

If you're having trouble making out the language on the CD, that's because most of it is in Russian, as it was produced as a test CD for Audio Magazin (The Hi-Fi Journal), the first Russian audio publication about "hi-fi, high end and the appreciation of music." Those last three words are key to what this CD is about.

The people of Audio Magazin have amazingly good taste, as this is easily the best test CD I have ever heard, and if you can find a copy, buy it, you won't be disappointed. Oh how I wish this was available on vinyl too, as it would get constant play on my turntable at audio gatherings at Jeff's Place, as well as just for sheer listening pleasure. This test CD would sell like hotcakes if ever issued on vinyl - I can dream! 

One of the most fascinating aspects of this CD is that many of the "tests" are exquisite musical performances,  and of course there are the obligatory and useful test tracks to help you get your system dialed in.

The test CD is arranged into three sections, the first being "The Sound of Sound" (the first five tracks), featuring purist recordings and customized recording equipment, with the intent being "These tracks are real stereo spectaculars, offering natural sound stage, precise imaging, beautiful tonal color and all the goods you can get from ANY modern recording, audiophile quality or not."

The second category is "The Sound of Music" (tracks 6 -19), which is described as "... the ultimate example of great musicianship of the artists long gone, but never forgotten. Painstakingly remastered from original recordings on custom designed equipment. The performances are, of course, stunning. But you will be absolutely amazed of the sound quality! (I was! - Jeff) This was made possible by a completely new approach to remastering, carefully preserving every emotional nuance. Simply unrivaled!"

The third category is "The Sound of Test Tones" (tracks 20 - 70), and feature a "useful selection of tones to check whether your speakers are correctly wired and properly interacting with your room. Some tones and noise signals may be used for precise measurements of your audio equipment technical specifications. (Be careful not to play the test signals on high levels, because in some cases it may damage your speakers.)"

"No digital editing, noise reduction or any time domain tampering was applied during the preparation of music of this CD."

I haven't yet mentioned the most fascinating aspect of this CD, which is its great music that includes, "... the immense treasures left to us by the artists active in the beginning of the century. Old acoustical and early electrical recordings of the artists in the test CD are, of course, monophonic. They have some surface noise and limited frequency bandwidth. What they do have, though, is the unsurpassable wealth of emotions hidden in every note, the great tension of expectation of every sound coming from the violin of Kreisler or Heifetz or the unique chiaroscuro of Gigli. No classical sensitive music listener can find the level of emotional involvement in any modern performance."

I might add that the original 78 recordings rpm records were from the collections of A. Likhnitsky and G. Mikaelian, who possess remarkably refined taste in music.

I don't know if you have ever heard the recordings on Classic Records where they compare the same song cut at 33 1/3 rpm on one side to one cut at 45 rpm on the other side. If you have heard these records you know there is a huge gulf in the quality between the two sides, vastly favoring the 45 rpm side.

The reason is that more data from the master tape gets laid down on a record cut at 45 rpm than at 33 1/3 rpm, and the difference is not subtle.

Well that's sort of the same thing that you find with these old 78 rpm records, which have abundantly more musical information encoded into their grooves than 33 1/3 and 45 rpm records, which from what I can hear, manifests itself as abundantly more emotional involvement relayed as the music plays.

One listen to this disc has me hoping for a 78 rpm record revival!

It also begs the thought of what if we were to record, or remaster, and make 78 rpm records today, incorporating the best ideas of audio history with the best ideas of today?

Update: After reading this post, Peter reminded me that he had told me that he sponsored the CD way back when (which I didn't recall while writing this, I'm blaming jet-lag!), and there is good news, as Peter is looking at rereleasing this test disc "as a tribute to my friend Anatoly Likhnitsky who did the fabulous 78 transfers."

Well, I was wide awake at 1 am this morning courtesy of jet-lag, and when I started writing this Part 2 post of my adventures with Peter Qvortrup at Audio Note UK, I had intended to continue with the tour and to tell you about all the exciting things I learned about during that tour, but I got a little side-tracked with a listening adventure.

I'll continue with the Audio Note UK tour in my Part 3 post, with some other related choice things discussed as well, and at some point in future posts I'll be telling you about the other CDs that Peter gave to me while visiting - yes, this is just a preview of that!

I've mentioned before that there's a wisdom tradition in audio and recording that some of the very best developments that occurred were early on in audio and recording history, and Peter Qvortrup's perspective - which I happen to share - on when the branches of the music reproduction chain in audio were at their peak points of development, were during 1950-1960 for the recording quality peak, the software quality peak occurred 1950 - 1960, the amplification quality peak occurred 1920 - 1930, and the loudspeaker quality peak occurred in late 1930s. and was lead by cinema sound research & development. 

Since those historic times in hi-fi we've often seen diminishing returns, or even diminishment in performance, and all you need to do is attend a few audio shows and listen to many of the current offerings to drive that point home.

But there's more ... what if someone took those important audio and recording arts development peak points in history, and then built upon them as a system-wide approach that would allow you to hear the best of those peaks in development for every system component, from recordings and software, and source to speakers, in one system?

That would be exciting for sure, and that is exactly what Peter is doing.

To whet your appetite I might mention just a few things that the Audio Note UK research & development teams are working on, like the prototype compact high-sensitivity field-coil speaker designs, or the advancements in vacuum tube designs through materials research, or completely custom audio electronics that can be built for those with exotic tube collections. 

Or to quote Shakespeare from Hamlet, "There are more things in heaven and Earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy." 

By combining the best of the historic developments with the best ideas of today, we may be very well entering into a period of audio and music renaissance, which is an exciting thought indeed - a dream of mine for sure! 

There is much more to come!

As always, thanks for stopping by to visit me here at Jeff's Place, and may the tone be with you!