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 idea indeed and would tend to explain why there are so many contradictions in this field. For example, tubes always measure poorly when compared with SS amps, yet many prefer the sound. Some speculate the reason behind this is harmonic distortion which is pleasing to many. The famous T-amp can also measure poorly, yet it has a cult following. Guitar amps distort pretty horribly, yet electric guitars have been popular for many years. Extremely flat FR speakers are described as being unlistenable. As a counterpoint to darrenyeats' observation, even live music has distortion of some kind. Room echoes, other people in the crowd, constructive/destructive interference from speakers, even the musicians bodies' blocking and interfering with the sound. I suppose the purest sound would be an instrument played by a minimalist machine in an anechoic chamber, and without even hearing it I bet most of us would think it would sound awful. Now I still say cables are the worst parts of the system to "induce" distortion. There's plenty of opportunities for distortion in other components. Cables should not be filters. -- Mark Lanctot 'Sean Adams' Response-O-Matic checklist, patent pending!' (http://forums.slimdevices.com/showpost.php?p=200910&postcount=2) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Mark Lanctot's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2071 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
