325xi;234370 Wrote: > The problem lays in common misbelief that the best thing for audio is > zero-distorted signal. This is correct for mastering, but clearly > contradicts psychoacoustics when taken in context of end-user > listening, aimed for enjoyment rather then evaluation. There are > certain types of distortion that must be there for music to be > listenable and enjoyable. They are not well researched though, but many > audio gear makers achieve that in purely empirical ways. > > So many audiophiles suffer from trying to achieve two contradictive and > somewhat elusive goals: to have reproduction as close to the original as > possible in a way of using least-distorting gear, and at the same time > to have enjoyable sound. It will be a problem for as long as there's no > scientific clarification on the positive impact of certain types of > distortion on listening experience.
This is a very interesting observation. It leads me to several follow-on thoughts: 1. If the goal of gear is psychoacoutics, it is clear that gear makers can (and dare I say do) use this to their advantage - paying outrageous sums has to have a positive psychoacoustic affect! (at least in the volumes required to make very tidy profits) 2. I have a small problem with the concept that psychoacoustic affects are the goal of the gear. Shouldn't psychoacoustic affects be captured in the signal in the recording and mastering, and therefore be perfectly reproducible on a reference system (for example, the studio monitors?) Until somebody figures out how to make a recording and playback system that is the equivalent of having the musicians in the room with you, I personally would prefer to be hearing exactly what the recording engineer intended - no extra psychoacoustics added. -- nicketynick Wireless SB3, Denon DRA-F101, Mission M31 loudspeakers WinXP SP2 Slimserver, SMC WBR14g router http://www.last.fm/user/nicketynick/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ nicketynick's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=1511 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=38902 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
