Sound quality audio comparison of different Famicom / NES

Started by MaxWar, November 10, 2012, 03:32:35 pm

Previous topic - Next topic

MaxWar

Hello all!

I have made some comparative recordings with all my 8 bit nintendo machines.

I Used 4 systems.
A. Original Famicom ( HVC-CPU-07)
B. Sharp famicom twin ( do not have revision number )
C. AV Famicom (HVCB-CPU-01)
D. North American NES ( NES-CPU-07)

I used 4 game songs. 
1. Casltevania 3 (Akumajou Densetsu) - Intro
2. Lagrange point - Intro
3. Super C - level 1 ( US version)
4. Legeng of Zelda - Intro.  (US version )

*For American NES i only used Super C and Zelda US version, I used the same cartridges on the Japanese machines using a cartridge adapter.
*Also, I recorded the AV famicom in Mono, because basically the audio is mono.
* All recordings were done using a standardized method i always use to do comparative recordings. I wrote about it here : ( https://sites.google.com/site/soundcardcomparison/home/our-standard-recording-method)

Here are the files. 
(mirror 1 ) http://www.mediafire.com/?51trnr4ls75csto
(mirror 2 ) https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzsnL20-4a37M00xYlY3NVgtYWM

I will not elaborate on my conclusions and opinions right now, i will come back for this later.
Instead I hope you guys will get curious and listen to these files and make your own opinions :)



L___E___T

November 11, 2012, 06:32:33 am #1 Last Edit: November 13, 2012, 10:14:19 am by L___E___T
Everything in one! :D

EDIT - how'd this post travel from its original thread???
My for Sale / Trade thread
http://www.famicomworld.com/forum/index.php?topic=9423.msg133828#msg133828
大事なのは、オチに至るまでの積み重ねなのです。

RainLink

Oooh I love me some flac files! I can't wait to listen to these! I'll be sure to post some commentary later about my findings.
"Consider your origins: You were not made to live as brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge." - Dante Alighieri

GohanX

I love these comparisons! I'll try to give a listen when I get home, but I'm not sure my laptop with inexpensive earbuds will be able to discern much difference.

famifan

i can hear low-pass filter on TWIN.
famicoms sound quiet the same.
Not sure but NES has low-pass filter too, but not so aggressive as  on TWIN (or that was my only imagination and fantasy)

MaxWar

The twin indeed has some heavy low pass.

The Nes also sounds like it has a little but its nothing compared to the twin.

Both Famicoms are very similar but i think the AV is maybe a small bit brighter again and it is also less noisy.

Overall the Av famicom would appear to have the best, cleanest sound of all my stock machines.

Howerver, due to how the music is made in some games, maybe a little high cut is sometimes desirable. For instance, Zelda has so much highs you also get some annoying upper harmonics in the mix. I think it can get annoying, maybe i actually prefer NES or even TWIN on this specific title. Less ear piercing. But that certainly could be fixed with lowering treble on your set.

Also, the AV famicom has the sound Balance issues with the games that have expansion sound chips, this is why i used castlevania 3 and Lagrange point, this can be fixed through modding but if I was forced to using a stock system this would certainly annoy me.  

Frank_fjs

Finally got around to examining these files, thanks for all the effort!

Overall I think I prefer the sound from the Twin Famicom the most. The original Famicom sounds nice to me as well, my least favourite was the AV Famicom, it has a grainy/tinny sound to it that I don't like.