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So here are a list of 20 topics that pop into my mind - and into discussions here at the Asylum, and into discussions I've had with friends (musicians and Audio Enthusiasts)
If it helped or helps the cause of Audio "+" and if it hurts "-" - do not hesitate to elaborate (As if I could stop you)
1. Transistors
2. OpAmps
3. Julian Hirsch
4. Test equipment reviews with measurements
5. Removable Power Cords
6. Cassettes
7. Microprocessors
8. LP12
9. Bose
10. The Compact Disc
11. Quadraphonic sound
12. Dolby Labs
13. iPod
14. Music Videos & MTV
15. Country Music
16. The Beatles
17. Japanese Audio Companies
18. Monster
19. Bob Carver
20. The Internet
"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat" - Confucius
Follow Ups:
So you post a big series of 'questions' with no starting discussion. Sort of like Sudz would.
I call it lazy.
And I am certain my post will generate some discussion...
But at least i DEFINED my own position at the start.
...don't say it a third or he'll return ala Beatlejuice.
See ya. Dave
http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/general/messages/69/696659.html
"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat" - Confucius
1. Transistors ++
2. OpAmps +
3. Julian Hirsch 0
4. Test equipment reviews with measurements +
5. Removable Power Cords 0
6. Cassettes -
7. Microprocessors +
8. LP12 +
9. Bose 0
10. The Compact Disc +
11. Quadraphonic sound -
12. Dolby Labs +
13. iPod +
14. Music Videos & MTV 0
15. Country Music 0
16. The Beatles 0
17. Japanese Audio Companies +
18. Monster -
19. Bob Carver +
20. The Internet ++
Edits: 04/07/15
1. Transistors +
2. OpAmps +
3. Julian Hirsch ?
4. Test equipment reviews with measurements +
5. Removable Power Cords +
6. Cassettes +
7. Microprocessors +
8. LP12 +
9. Bose + (see below)
10. The Compact Disc +
11. Quadraphonic sound +
12. Dolby Labs - (see below)
13. iPod +
14. Music Videos & MTV +
15. Country Music
16. The Beatles
17. Japanese Audio Companies +
18. Monster -
19. Bob Carver +
20. The Internet +
21. Subjective equipment reviews +
22. Blind audio testing -
23. Vacuum tubes +
24. Music downloads +
25. Classic rock
In general I think it's almost all positive.
I'm not going to comment on genres of music.
One vote that I wanted to explain further is Dolby Labs. I don't like them. They are patent trolls. I also don't think they have done anything to advance the state of the art of audio reproduction. Whenever I've had the opportunity to compare a straight analog recording against a version using Dolby analog NR, I prefer the straight recording. And I've always thought Dolby matrixed surround (ProLogic) is pretty horrid. Their first good format is TrueHD, but that's just an implementation of Meridian Lossless Packing.
Another one to explain is Bose. I was too young to experience the original wave of 901 hype, so my opinion of Bose is not tainted by that speaker. Among my friends, they were a gateway brand, inspiring interest in audio even if they didn't deliver the performance. They were also one of the companies to pioneer low profile "lifestyle" systems, which paved the way for a lot of other low profile/built-in/whole house audio systems. So overall, I think Bose has been good for audio.
1. Transistors + prior to digital age, - during digital age. The biggest technological casualty of digitized audio.
2. OpAmps + Made it easy to design amps. It's easy to do worse with discrete electronics if one doesn't know what he's doing.
3. Julian Hirsch + Made people familiar with basic audio measurements. Also the least editorializing reviewer, ever.
4. Test equipment reviews with measurements + It's best to know you're getting good sound for the correct reasons.
5. Removable Power Cords + A means to tailor the sound of a component.
6. Cassettes + Provides a working knowledge of record and playback.
7. Microprocessors - Convenience, but RFI generation is always a setback.
8. LP12 + Provided an example for other designers to build good sounding vinyl rigs.
9. Bose + Only because it helps people what not to listen for, in regard to speakers.
10. The Compact Disc + and - ... Opened the door for active digitized audio, but is still the best sounding actively digitized format.
11. Quadraphonic sound - No standards. Was more a technological tangent than anything else.
12. Dolby Labs + and - ... Great noise reduction when implemented correctly.... The problem is consumer Dolby rarely was.
13. iPod - .... Never heard one that I thought sounded good.
14. Music Videos & MTV Big - .... Introduced visuals into music, which later became bigger than the music.
15. Country Music + and - ..... A great music form, but almost all of it today is Auto-Tune'd.
16. The Beatles + .... Builds an appreciation of great songwriting.
17. Japanese Audio Companies + .... Designs audio to more demanding standards.
18. Monster +, then -. Was once a good company, until the heads decided to sue everybody over the trademark.
19. Bob Carver ?? Was just another designer.....
20. The Internet + .... I discovered more artists via YouTube than any other way.
People express affinity to those with the same ideas, and acrimony to those who do not.
one's opinion is based upon their empirical evidence and experience - as opposed to being swayed by *tests* or *graphs* or other less meaningful methods.
It is a shame that the meter reader crowd loves to use terms like "snake oil", "voodoo", etc. to describe what they do not understand or have not experienced.
...or anywhere else on the internet.
I don't understand the acrimony.
Politics or religion sure, but not audio.
This is a topic we can revel in our differences of opinion - as naturally as we affirm those that think similarly?
The greatest guru in Audio - Richard Heyser - knew this was the case. Wrote about it at length - Audio Reproduction was his passion - not his profession. And, I had a discussion 17 years ago with Per Brüel (Just past away @ 100), about the audio, and audio testing, in which he stated, how music transcends measurement, instrumentation, recording techniques, and sometimes even the performers, themselves, to move us in emotional ways.
Let's find that common ground, for the good and the + of the hobby. I think I could argue a + for everything on the list!
"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat" - Confucius
Richard Heyser is one of my audio heroes. The guy was insightful and knew what he was talking about.
Google Michael Gerzon. He "got" this stuff, too.
:)
I thought you were asking about changing opinions or educating.
The internet was designed by Trolls.
1. Transistors - great technology if used properly in audio
2. OpAmps - same as above
3. Julian Hirsch - one of the reasons the underground mags flourished
4. Test equipment reviews with measurements - JA's stuff has a lot of potential
5. Removable Power Cords - important tweek, especially with digital
6. Cassettes - outdated mid-fi medium
7. Microprocessors
8. LP12 - showed the importance of turntables and the front end
9. Bose - mid-fi for the masses
10. The Compact Disc - imperfect sound nearly forever
11. Quadraphonic sound - fun effects in the 1970s
12. Dolby Labs - creative
13. iPod - my favorite component
14. Music Videos & MTV - "I want my MTV"
15. Country Music - music I mostly don't care for but some good rock/bluegrass crossover
16. The Beatles - greatest songwriting band ever
17. Japanese Audio Companies - mass merchandisers
18. Monster - popularized specialty cables and lawsuits
19. Bob Carver - frustrated genius
20. The Internet - ubiquitous
21. Subjective equipment reviews - created audiophile culture and high end
22. Blind audio testing - wasted time
23. Vacuum tubes - still the most musical
24. Music downloads - MP3 is the cassette of today making music more accessible than ever
25. Classic rock - my favorite genre and it's better with a great system
if digital sound is "imperfect sound "and ipood's are your favorite component. Well, did you think that through? To me digital music is like HDMI cables.. part of the "audio for idiots". But a lot of us use them.
The one artist that I think changed audio the most was Michael Jackson. I would have liked to hear comments on that artist. I always thought his recordings were "clean"
...early digital, or at least its implementation, sucked.
I think LPs can still sound better.
But CDs and my iPod (all recorded from CDs in Lossless) are good enough.
I disagree about MJ.
There are many others who are perfectionists in the recording studio like Paul Simon, Steely Dan and Neil Young to name a few.
Compare the original CD or "Thriller" with the latest remaster. The new one is completely dead. Louder, but dead dynamically.
"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat" - Confucius
Here are mine
1. Transistors + (once we got the hang of them) I happened upon my old Fairchild Transistor handbook and it's amaazing what we knew in 1970.
2. OpAmps + (see response above) without them I would never had been able to design my own preamplifier)
3. Julian Hirsch + Everymans' Reviewer.
4. Test equipment reviews with measurements + nerds like me love that stuff "To measure is to Improve"
5. Removable Power Cords - You cant trust the designers????
6. Cassettes - That cost me $1100 to get a recorder that sounded almost as good as my RTR 8 tracks and radio were fine for the car! Cassettes did take up less space, however.
7. Microprocessors + Yeah I'm I'm on board - if only for the convenience factor.
8. LP12 - Cult worship is a bad thing
9. Bose - Marketing is everything & and price control over dealers is "Awkward"
10. The Compact Disc + Almost as amazing as NASA's Moon program. Now past it's prime. lasted 30 years though :)
11. Quadraphonic sound - How to screw up a good idea
12. Dolby Labs + how to make money through technology and marketing doing interesting engineering along the way
13. iPod - Imagine how it would have been if Sony or Harman had though of it.
14. Music Videos & MTV - How dare they force their image og the music on what my mind creates in it own warped way.
15. Country Music - Some of the best recording out there - with lyrics so annoying you can focus on the music!
16. The Beatles + Mostly the worst recordings ever made - so I switched to Jazz
17. Japanese Audio Companies + it was the poor managerment of the American industries that allowed Japan to enter the Audio marker - and the the Automobile Market. Maybe because we were focused on the Moon!
18. Monster - - - - What a silly premise to start a company and waste resources.
19. Bob Carver + Every Industry needs a Rebel
20. The Internet + I've streamed more new artists and music (at least for me) this last 3 day weekend, that i would hear in a month of KNX - FM (AOR) in 1978 Los Angeles
"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat" - Confucius
21. Subjective equipment reviews
22. Blind audio testing
23. Vacuum tubes
24. Music downloads
25. Classic rock
but I've decides to listen to music instead.... Enjoy!
"The hardest thing of all is to find a black cat in a dark room, especially if there is no cat" - Confucius
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