@Nightmix
First you don't believe your ears, and now you don't see what is clearly shown to the eyes?

 

yea i think any DSP is destructive to a finished track. i dont really see the point in remastering to be honest, audiophiles can go fuck themselves. i understand the temptation, but i dont think its worth it. use that time making something new

 

Well, if the guy did some quality reverse engineering to improve PCM format [on-the-fly], that surely can not be a bad thing [Anyway PCM was not invented by God himself and so it's possibly prone to improvement]. And it should not be considered as remastering but rather a pure physical (acoustic) improvement.
What I suppose about Bughead player from listening experience is that it just reduces quantization effects (and jitter) and makes music sound significantly more like analogue, in a way much more efficient than available 'analogue' emulating audio production processing software.
With such a player, you do not need to 'remaster'.

 

You are right concerning human taste, but some algorithms can lead to better physical approximation (in our case = fidelity of reproducing naturally produced acoustic waves).

 

foobar2000 is my jam-- great customizable interface and lots of plugins for different functionalities.

 

honestly, it all sounds a bit snake oil to me. i would love to see this guys step by step examples.

 

i got photoshop installed and started trying to figure things out again. i have got it to work but cant quite get the effect i wanted. i think i could be remembering things slightly wrong. i think audio effects applied to images is what has predictable results, rather than the opposite as i first thought.
im still getting interesting results though. i will see if i can perfect it then make a guide.

 

What sounds a bit snake oil? The sound it produces, or the theory upon which it supposedly works?

 

both really. i cant imagine how "sharpening" audio will make it sound better. things like that are usually just marketing bullshit. some people will hear an improvement though because of the placeebo effect.

 

Maybe this 14 page forum discussion about BugHead Emperor will be of some help:
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/19392-bughead-emperor/

 

Sharpening = sound definition. I think it is pretty clear what it means. (Just remember/imagine sound definition of 1940s recordings, for instance).
Concerning placebo, I really welcome it, because it gives you improved listening enjoyment at no cost. For you it is an absolute experience, never mind the others unluckily deprived of it.

 

Very good, but I would not neglect Topaz...

 

For that you'll have to go to Japan (with a translator /not Google/).

 

to me, definition means resolution. so sharpening would just be to convert the format.
usually when people make things sound "better", they adjust tonal qualities and things like that. it would be much more convenient to make those changes using audio DSP rather than image DSP.
to just say that a sound is sharper is very vague, even when talking about sharpening it using image editing algorythms.

 

To me the optimal sound definition is the difference between hitting a cymbal and sound of the cymbal recorded so it sounds like hitting the lid of a pot (at same resolution).

 

they are problems you fix in the recording stage. a good recording will sound good when replicated accurately. no processing (audio or image) can make up for a bad recording, they can only roll it in glitter, which is what people do with tone and dynamics adjustments in the player.

 

Fnal mastering is just a set of processing procedures. Who says that it was done perfectly, in the first place, and also that there is no possibility of further processing that it will make it even better? Further, for instance, a new better software was introduced in the meantime, or new, better methods of mastering have been found.
So it could be the case with Bug Head Emperor. It is obviously based on some new methods. I can not say for sure, but my hearing says it significantly improves the audible result of 'perfect mastered' recordings played on best conventional audio player known. Its functioning is maybe 'destructive', but it 'ruins' the good for the sake of building better.

 

Anyone tried Jie Extreme player? I have v3.1 [2014], but it will not work on Win 10.

 

i understand your points, but we could go back and forth forever :D

 

Reminds me a bit of the discussion between audiophiles if studio monitors or hi-fi loudspeakers are better.

No comment about this from my side----