Archimago;689959 Wrote: > I thought I'd branch a thread off the Peter Aczel topic and quote > something ralphpnj said since I'm concerned about what seems IMO to be > total intellectual dishonesty in the audiophile media and a recent > assault into computer audio...... > BTW: I'm enjoying "Chimes of Freedom" as well :-)... Hopefully get > through the 3 CD's this weekend.
First I'm honored that one of my many endless rants helped to inspire this thread. Second perhaps we should get going over in the music section on the best covers of Bob Dylan songs. The new "Chimes of Freedom" collection gets a high vote just on volume alone. Phil Leigh;689980 Wrote: > Surely their agenda is so blatant that a 4 year old can see through it? > Unless they can convince a sizeable portion of their readership of > these untruths, they will cease to exist as a money making > publication..... > And this In turn in my view has lead to the proliferation of snake oil > vendors... All promising the earth and delivering precisely nothing - > because there is no REAL science behind any of them, merely sales spiel > and an insecure/desperately unfulfilled consumer base. I'm beginning to think that it is the marketing departments of several manufactures behind all this nonsense. There two factors in play here. First there the shrinking CD player market as more and more people move to computer based audio front ends. And then there is the new, and as yet untapped, market of providing an interface between the computer/digital part and the stereo/analog part. Plus there is also the high end "certified" computer market, we just haven't gotten to that part yet. The new front end is quickly becoming some type of computer and in extreme cases even involves a $300 piece of plastic! I'm referring to the Touch of course. Just remember that little piece of plastic scares the hell out of the high end audio world so they need to tear it down. In addition they are building up some new myths help sell their $$$$$ version of the Touch. The Touch can handle up to 24 bit/96 kHz so therefore make 32bit/192kHz the new high end high resolution standard. The Touch doesn't output USB so make asynchronous USB the new high end digital connection standard. So the manufactures push these new standards and the high end magazines follow along like good little sheep. As their reward they get more advertising and special treatment from the manufacturers. The well heeled audiophile gets to all kinds of new toys to play with. Everyone wins! Archimago;689989 Wrote: > Hi Phil, > I certainly appreciate the photography analogy since I'm heavily > involved in that world as well. > > Upgrading to better audio gear for playback is like buying a better > monitor to show off one's pictures in full resolution, better color > depth, improved contrast... There are obviously good monitors and bad > ones that cannot be properly calibrated or have deficient specs. > > When we take photos, we never hear photographers say that the same shot > will somehow look different if the file is on an SD/CF/memory stick, or > 8x CF is better than 32x. Likewise, nobody is concerned if I have a > crappy slow USB1 card reader or super-duper USB3 reader... God forbid > archiving your precious wedding/baby/family/vacation photos to CD! > > However, they believe that copying a WAV file off a CD drive 1x vs. 16x > makes a difference when they KNOW it's an exact bit-perfect copy. > Imagine the hilarity at a photo club if I announced that one > should/must use only slow Lexar CF cards, USB1 cards readers, and a > computer that is underclocked to 1GHz, otherwise the pictures cannot be > transferred safely with "full resolution"! "I swear, even though the > files are exactly the same, this one looks better my friends because it > was saved with a Lexar card!" > > Yet, this is the kind of GITB (Ghost In The Bit) delusion being > perpetuated in mainstream audio? > > I think it would be fascinating to survey how many 'audiophiles' > believe this nonsense. I wonder if reputable manufacturers ever > complain to the magazines (or better yet withdraw ads so as not to be > associated with these psychotic articles)? Excellent analogy. Phil Leigh;689997 Wrote: > Hmmm... As well as photography I am heavily into astronomy ... Another > area where science/engineering is crucial... And the scientists In this > area make the ones involved in audio look like chimps! (relatively > speaking of course). > > Part of me finds this whole "projection of analogue problem domain onto > digital" rather funny, but only in a slightly sad, ironic way. > > In a slightly more controversial vein, I've always felt strongly that > unless one is a musician or has experience of recording/producing > musical performance to a reasonable standard, one is not really in a > position to realistically or meaningfully comment on the accuracy or > effectiveness of music reproduction systems. I don't want this to sound > pompous, but I'm sure it will. I really don't think that just listening > to music at home or in the concert hall is anything like the same > experience. Not even remotely close. > > ... And yet, who are the golden-ears that write the tablets of stone in > print or in hardware? > There are some exceptions like Christopher Breunig or Anthony > Michaelson... Few and far between. I don't quite agree since I've heard it said by several musicians over the years that they sometimes wish that they could unlearn their musical training so that they could experience just the music without knowing all of the technical details behind it. In other words, hearing the repeated motif in a symphony as a melody instead of as a series of notes offset by one octave from the main motif. In any event your viewpoint is quite valid as well. -- ralphpnj Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels -> Snatch -> The Transporter -> Transporter 2 (oops) -> Touch 'Last.fm' (http://www.last.fm/user/jazzfann/) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ralphpnj's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=10827 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=93549 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
