Does Helix 3.10 sound better? You tell me...

[yeatzee]

I like most everyone else saw the release notes for 3.10 and got super excited when I read about the oversampling. I kept hearing how big a difference Cygnus was for the axe stuff so I decided to record some stuff with the Princeton, plexi/P75, Vox ac30 and the Archon/BE100 models for a variety of tones to see if there was a noticeable difference before and after updating. I know others have showed the difference with super heavy gain stuff but I don't play that level of gain and bet most people play more in the ranges I show in the vid.

 

So curious if A) you hear a difference in the vid and B) noticed a difference yourself with your own Helix.

 

 

So far it seems like most people on Youtube hear an audible difference. Curious what you folks thinks.

[silverhead]

Very interesting. Thanks for doing that. Like you, the earlier comparison had way too much gain for my ears and I couldn't really notice a difference. Your tones are more similar to what I tend to play.

 

The answer to your Question B  is easy. No I haven't noticed a difference. Then again I haven't tried to do an actual comparison as you have. That makes it much easier to notice anything if it's in fact there to hear.

 

The tones are very, very close as far as I can tell. I do, however, notice a slight difference in what I will call the 'fullness' of the sound. It seems to me that there are more overtones apparent in v3.10 than in v3.01. This adds to the fullness. Whether or not that's an improvement is, I guess, a matter of personal taste. To me it is a very slight improvement. But again, nothing I would ever notice unless listening carefully to a well prepared comparison as you have done.

 

Thanks again.

[the_bees_knees22]

Agreed there is a slight fullness and tightness as well to 3.1.  It is slight, but it's there for sure.  I believe it is an improvement for sure.  In my own tones i mostly use the uber and badonk and i notice less crackling when driven really hard. 

[PierM]

I hear no difference, but man, I like that '64 ES-345!!! 

[the_bees_knees22]

It'll really depend on what you're monitoring through. 

I have a pair of Adam A7's and I can definitely hear a difference.  On my laptop speakers though they sound identical.

[silverhead]

I was monitoring through Beyerdynamic DT990 PRO phones.

[MarcDwonn]

Event 20/20bas here. I can clearly hear a difference, the new FW sounds a bit cleaner, not as "rough". Not vastly different though. If i had the time, i would do a blind A/B comparison, just to exclude any bias. But given that you didn't re-amp this comparison with a pre-recorded signal, we already have a skew included. :)

 

With my own Helix i haven't noticed a difference, but i'm using it sporadically these days, no time to play...

[DunedinDragon]

I just watched Jason Sadites video on the the same subject which was a bare bones, comparison removing any and all variables that could potentially cause an unexpected bias by a listener and rotating back and forth between the old and new system and played back on my Yamaha HS7 studio monitors, and I have to say I really didn't hear much at all in terms of a difference.  It may have been there in a very slight fashion, but not enough for me to get overly excited by it.

[yeatzee]

7 hours ago, s_popov said:

Event 20/20bas here. I can clearly hear a difference, the new FW sounds a bit cleaner, not as "rough". Not vastly different though. If i had the time, i would do a blind A/B comparison, just to exclude any bias. But given that you didn't re-amp this comparison with a pre-recorded signal, we already have a skew included. :)

 

With my own Helix i haven't noticed a difference, but i'm using it sporadically these days, no time to play...

Yeah I thought about doing a test where it was pre-recorded and fed into the Helix but I decided not to because this isn't about being scientific. It's about whether there is a difference that's noticeable in the real world. If it's not noticeable here to you it doesn't/shouldn't matter if it does make a difference when a robot is playing (or it's pre-recorded).

 

8 hours ago, PierM said:

I hear no difference, but man, I like that '64 ES-345!!! 

It's a fantastic guitar!

 

9 hours ago, silverhead said:

Very interesting. Thanks for doing that. Like you, the earlier comparison had way too much gain for my ears and I couldn't really notice a difference. Your tones are more similar to what I tend to play.

 

The answer to your Question B  is easy. No I haven't noticed a difference. Then again I haven't tried to do an actual comparison as you have. That makes it much easier to notice anything if it's in fact there to hear.

 

The tones are very, very close as far as I can tell. I do, however, notice a slight difference in what I will call the 'fullness' of the sound. It seems to me that there are more overtones apparent in v3.10 than in v3.01. This adds to the fullness. Whether or not that's an improvement is, I guess, a matter of personal taste. To me it is a very slight improvement. But again, nothing I would ever notice unless listening carefully to a well prepared comparison as you have done.

 

Thanks again.

Ya I agree. Slight change, not an improvement necessarily I think it took something away from some of the tones that I preferred but I understand why someone might think it's a 100% improvement from before. Definitely noticed it a bit smoother at places overall, but not life changing for me :)