Let me preface this by saying that I enjoy listening to music. In any forum except one dedicated to Audiphilia, that may seem to be a simple but telling statement. Here, it may sound as flat as one of those "new" knock-off Mullard tubes pushing a ripped speaker.
The point the article is attempting to make (and I have no disagreement with their facts) is that data streams can, or will be able to, deliver more bits than a CD and more bits = more resolution. More resolution = "better hi-fi". I'm fine with this too, but we've lived thru it before and I play with it all of the time: SACD vs. vinyl. About 30% of all topics on this forum say something akin to "you need to listen and find what works best for you..." or the like. 120% more data flowing form the ether-regions of the world thru my system and into my ears may _not_ equate to even a 1% increase in subjective quality reaching my ear/brain. A prime example may come from my own switch (or "downgrade" as some may say) from B&W 704's with a 300w Rotel amp to my little Omega Grande full-range fostex speakers and a 25/25 watt tube amp. Nothing against B&W - they gave me the foot up into hi-fi and away from the low end audio equipment I grew up with. Where I believe the B&W philosophy will have a big hold is with the sub-audiophile crowd; imagine all of the masses having access to uncompressed 24/96 or greater. To quote the article: > But the format’s ‘lo-fi’ image is somewhat ironic > because digital music actually holds the promise of the highest quality > of all, by making it possible to reproduce in the home environment a > level of quality that is currently restricted to the very best > recording studios. > Music compression formats such as MP3 were first used simply because > the maximum speed offered by dial-up modems in the early 1990’s > made downloading CD-quality digital music impractical. Fifteen years > later, in spite of the widespread availability of hi-speed broadband > connections, most digital music is still offered with compression, > simply because the average user favours convenience over absolute > quality. But this does not mean that digital music has to be supplied > in a compressed format. Good job B&W. I really do hope all audio manufactures - hardware, software, and recording artists alike -- pick up on this sooner rather than later. Oh, and for those who still don't trust downloaded music and want a copy on vinyl or CD... well, I gave up my fax machine and filing cabinet in leu of PDF's and a backup hard drive. My life is easier and much cleaner.... and I can find what I'm looking for. -- kphinney SB3 (x2) and Transporter Rotel RCD-1070 CIAudio VDA-2 w/ VAC-1 PS JoLida 102B Omega Grand 6's AKG K501 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ kphinney's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10409 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=57422 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
