| From: | greenboy |
| Date: | 9 Aug 2000 at 18:08:56 |
| Subject: | RE: CDs & Record Decks |
> Martin Nicholson :
>1. Most people have only compared a cheap (sub £50) turntable, with a
>more expensive (circa £250) CD Player. Try comparing like with like. A
>Mini is a good little car, but I'd rather have Jaguar.
Really? My turntable and cartridge (which are moderately cheap) cost
more than any of my CD stuff. For that matter it cost more than the DVD
players I am seeing these days.
>4. People get too caught up with the technology and with measurements.
>While Hi-Fi is to some extent quantifiable, it is also qualitative to
>some degree. One man's meat is another man's poison. For example,
>Greenboy, who obviously knows his stuff, in one post mentions tweaking
>the sound using graphic equalizers, etc. Me, my amplifier doesn't even
>have tone controls. I stripped the equalizer and tone controls and
>balance out years back. The headphone socket went too :) Why? Because
>every switch is also the source of RF interference. SO you have some
>people who like minimalism in Hi-Fi, and those who don't, and of
>course you have the flashing pretty lights brigade and their *stereos*.
Minimalism in hi-fi equipment may be desirable to some, but good design
overcomes the problems you mention. If you are worried about crap in hi-
fi gear one of the first places you should look are the RCA jacks, which
are one of the most gawdawful connectors ever. In a good system more
noise is introduced in the tonearm/cartridge/vinyl than the rest of the
signal chain in use, combined. Especially at higher volumes.
Good circuitry - and tons of it - from the MI is used for mastering
both records and CDs. EQs are part of the picture. They are omnipresent
in all aspects of live music making, recording, and playback. For good
reason: they are efficient at audio problem solving. Unfortunately,
much of the circuitry in cheaper home hi-fi is not up to snuff in design
and at the high end purist tunnel-vision tend to dominate.
As far as your "People get too caught up with the technology and with
measurements" statement: listeners benefit from people who actually use
measurement to hone designs and debunk fake science, and are beholden
to technologies in extreme - without "technology" there would be no
advance in music making, recording, or archival.
Instrumentation is in heavy use by the people in the industry making
music, and it informs the standards which engineers compete with. The
people with golden ears are that developed partially because things
have been quantified and held up as examples. People who listen for
pleasure are benefiting from that whether they ever attempt to develop
their understanding and ear further or not.
Technology makes better acoustic and electronic instruments and playback
possible at better prices. It also makes playback in the home possible,
where a level of performance only royalty may have enjoyed in past ages,
is commonly available today. Anybody who is dissing technology and
listening to or playing music hasn't thought very deeply on it, or is
either a fool or a hypocrite.
>If whatever you have can make music, the numbers won't matter. The
>whole point of HiFi *should* be that the equipment doesn't get in the
>way of the music.
The numbers matter. That's partially how the good stuff gets designed
in the first place. That's how technology can be historically compared.
If you are listening to a good CD or vinyl on a good system numbers
were very much involved in the recording and the mastering process. And
instrumentation keeps engineers and product honest.
>Vinyl wasn't killed off by a superior system, it was killed off by
>superior marketing.
1) Vinyl hasn't been killed off. I have two meters plus of vinyl to
attest to the fact. And are new records not being made?
2) At this point marketing has little to do with vinyl not being top
dog. The industry that makes music - the actual workers in the industry
- recognize the tradeoffs sonically and mechanically. They will never as
a whole be that interested in vinyl except that it is a market. See 3)
3) Marketing has largely been responsible for a resurgence in vinyl
issue. There's money to be had there. Record companies and manufacturers
are tapping into a market that will pay ridiculous sums for technology
that often gets by on spin (pun intended). There is some good affordable
stuff out there, but make no mistake - there are some profit ratios that
make sure snake oil is available and flowing copiously.
<-- greenboy ---<<<
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