Post by pablolie.. She winced as the cable bit deeper into her flesh. He seethed "You
stupid cow, keep still behind the stereo rack and switch the XLR
connectors without making such a fuss. It's impossible to conduct an A-B
test with you! .."
I am a bit amused that the topic quickly turned into universal
condemnation of HiRez tracks established via a lab measurement... and
not by a listening test. :-) Does that partially imply that -rationally-
we should all be perfectly happy with an iPhone and a par of good
earbuds and some well recorded 256k VBR music?? :-D One could make the
point given the fact the person interpreting the files states (somewhat
carefully) that at 320k he probably wouldn't have been sure if he
measured a roll-off.
Typically I say, let people do what they do and feed their own
psycho-acoustic preferences. If it makes them happy, let 'em stack up
100ks worth of equipment and some voodoo unobtanium-enriched
super-conductor cabling and hey, it's no beef of mine. People ought to
chill and let each other chill. Then again, I have seen a guy storm off
in disgust when he lost a gentleman's bet about his 450k system not
sounding better -in fact, consensus was worse- than another gentleman's
25k system, to never be seen in the same wine bar again.
On this HiRez thing, in general I don't see the point of 1960s analog
tapes supposedly being taken out of a vault after 50 years
(deterioration anyone?) and sampled at 48/384; when the studio originals
prolly barely merit 192k MP3. I mean, I worship Bill Evans' "Waltz for
Debby", and I *do* own a 320k MP3 rip from CD I made with my original,
painful conversion run in 2005-2007 using dbPoweramp when Allmusic's
database was patchy and you had to enter the entire info for many albums
manually. (BTW I also FLAC'd it, but could never tell the difference).
When it was offered online at 24/192 I went for the test. Sure, they
cranked up the loudness some. But not a nuance more detail, in fact I
seemed to prefer the original rip. The clinking glasses, the bass or
piano aren't an ounce clearer.
With that I am not saying I don't believe in some additional envelope
beyond the 16/44 commandment that was seemingly burned into clay tablet
in ancient times. But with some post-1995 recordings that are pristinely
recorded, if I can get a 20/44 or 24/88 hey I will get it. Perhaps one
magic day I'll tell myself I did hear the difference. :-) (And what a
shame for some of the original DDD recordings, the harsh tiring nature
will be there forever).
In the end - I am glad we have the choice between the different formats.
I agree with almost everything you so nicely stated except that in your
statement:
"Typically I say, let people do what they do and feed their own
psycho-acoustic preferences. If it makes them happy, let 'em stack up
100ks worth of equipment and some voodoo unobtanium-enriched
super-conductor cabling and hey, it's no beef of mine. People ought to
chill and let each other chill."
What if the "people" are just ordinary people, such as friends or
relatives, but paid reviewers of audio equipment spouting off something
that runs completely counter to proven scientific facts? And the sole
purpose of their writing is to instill FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt)
in the mind of the reader?
Well then I take issue with that writer's motives and call BS on their
"observations".
However if the "people" in your statement are just ordinary people then
I try to present the facts which show that what they think are hearing
cannot be so and hope that they will see the error of their way.
Living Rm: Transporter-SimAudio pre/power amps-Vandersteen 3A Sign. &
sub
Home Theater: Touch-Marantz HTR-Energy Veritas 2.1 & Linn sub
Computer Rm: Touch-Headroom Desktop w/DAC-Aragon amp-Energy Veritas 2.1
& Energy sub
Bedroom: Touch-HR Desktop w/DAC-Audio Refinement amp-Energy Veritas 2.0
Guest Rm: Duet-Sony soundbar
Garage: SB3-JVC compact system
Controls: iPeng; SB Controller; Moose & Muso
Server: SBS on dedicated windows 7 computer w/2 Drobos
'Last.fm' (http://www.last.fm/user/jazzfann/)
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