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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
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In Reply to: Is burning-in real? posted by Scott Thomson on January 23, 2001 at 18:54:51:
It never ceases to fascinate me how nearly all audio forums will, at some point, degenerate into a widespread bitch session about 'cables' and 'burn in'. With almost religious fervor the two camps bellow and dispute & very rarely do the twains meet, even for a cup of tea. Although it is a very relevant concept to consider and well worthy of debate, I am still rather amazed that people really care THAT much about what other folks beliefs are with regards to the topic, (as many others would concur with their "just enjoy the music, alright" :) summaries).I have personally concluded, through my modest experimentation in the audiophile realms, that we are dealing with a very abstract notion here. I think components and systems do ultimately rely on an intricate synergy of wire, transformers, capacitors, plugs, etc. which all combine and interact in a unique fashion that certainly creates a particular sonic character. Is this character 'better' than another system? Maybe...maybe not. Are you hearing what I'm hearing? Probably not. One system's technical specs may measure out in a most immaculate fashion, but sound good to no-one. I will say, and this is not simply my notion, that we cannot conclusively measure everything we hear with empirical scientific data. Just as you cannot measure everything you taste, feel, and smell with your other senses and how they are thus interpreted by your mental faculties. Technical specs can certainly relay valuable, even crucial, information with regards to equipment performance, but Reality (ie. that which one hears, sees, experiences, and enjoys) cannot be measured with data and statistics.
Specs could probably measure out equally on two different units but exhibit entirely different characters. Why? I don't really know. It is a very complex issue and many of the hard-core audio tweakers would probably argue that they have experienced a realization that the interaction of materials and their relation to and interaction with sound is something that steps into the abstract at times. I have even, in my minor tinkerings, come up with some results that really did make me scratch my head and wonder "what the...".
The audiophile hobby often approaches a passion akin to that of the alchemists from days long past. It may have been their ultimate quest to "turn lead into gold" as it were but the ultimate result was a transformation of themselves in the process. I have encountered references to an interesting field of scientific thought that certainly enters the realm of abstraction inherent in fields such as quantum physics. A gentleman by the name of Heisenberg (if I remember correctly) established the principle of Indeterminism which recognized the discovery that the act of measuring always alters that which is being measured. This, of course, turns our everyday experiences into a continuous and unrepeatable evolutionary process. So, as they say, "just enjoy the music".
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Follow Ups
- Is it real, or is it "real"? - centurymantra 15:16:37 01/24/01 (1)
- Re: Is it real, or is it "real"? - CutThroat 16:01:17 01/24/01 (0)
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