325xi;234244 Wrote: > Ok, as a physicist, do you believe that cable geometry and material > (particularly isolation) properties don't make any difference in > audible spectrum? That would be strange because at least geometry > directly affects RLC numbers... But then cables made from perfectly > identical Belden wire may differ drastically?
I'm not sure I understand the question. Certainly different cables can have measurably different performance in the audible range. The question is whether those differences are large enough under reasonable circumstances to make an audible difference. 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. I totally disagree. When we talk about distortion in an audio system, we mean that the digital or analogue recording is not being translated into sound waves perfectly. That means you're not hearing what the engineer heard when she made the mix. Furthermore you have no control over that distortion - you can't change it (at least not easily). So EVERY recording you listen to differs from what the engineer intended in some specific ways. If you have tastes which differ from every mixing engineer in some particular way, then fine - choose a system that adds that particular coloration. But it's hard to imagine how that's even possible - not all mixing engineers have the same taste, and they all have systems with their own differing distortions, etc. So the safest option for the end listener is just to minimize distortion. > > ...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. That level of distortion has, so far as I know, never been shown to be audible except when the amp clips. Tubes clip much more gracefully than SS amps, but under normal circumstances that's not an issue. IMO the real reason is that tubes are pretty (I know, I have a tubed preamp) and that many audiophiles are nostalgic Luddites. Mark Lanctot;234392 Wrote: > > Guitar amps distort pretty horribly, yet electric guitars have been > popular for many years. That's because distorted electric guitar sounds good. But why would you want your audio system to distort a recording of an already distorted electric guitar yet again, in a different way? > > Extremely flat FR speakers are described as being unlistenable. Nonsense. A study was done recently which found an extremely robust correlation between listener satisfaction (to a specific system in a controlled environment) and flat frequency response. A non-flat response is again a type of distortion; it means you're not hearing what the engineer heard. If you want that, buy an equalizer. -- opaqueice ------------------------------------------------------------------------ opaqueice's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=4234 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
