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RE: Musical Fidelity V90-DAC rating

"I certainly know that there is no hard relationship between price and quality, however, the suggestion that any $299 DAC deserves a Class-A..."

Well, you just blew your premise out of the water. Obviously you ARE with the vocal majority here who so strongly believe that price is the only specification that matters that you condemn the poor critter unheard, unmeasured and unknown. Actually I'm very surprised because I know that you're a lot brighter than that.

Focusing on the audio reviews themselves you shall now be subjected to MY opinions as punishment for your transgressions: Reviews are 'infotainment' with the weight on the 'tainment. That sort of works for me as I find many of them amusing and interesting. As far as helping to select gear however they fall quite short unless you can either find a reviewer that is technically competent enough to provide useful information or one that seems to share your tastes, sensitivities and system preferences.

For me one of the latter would be Sam Tellig. I find that Tom seems to have a similar view to mine WRT what sounds good and represents good value so I suffer his travelogs willingly.

I have yet to find a reviewer of value in the former category although I think JA may have the potential but not the fire. That's rather understandable since measuring stuff is really a sideline to his real job and I find it amazing that he manages to do it at all. I also realize that really sorting out the weaknesses and strengths of products beyond the capability or interests of the manufacturers or distys themselves would engender few friends amongst them and that it's really their advertising which allows me to enjoy Stereophile so affordably each month.

It's tricky designing products that strongly couple to human senses, been there, done that. But it's not impossible to learn if you stick to it and there are a lot of good manufacturers around that have done that very thing. It's amazing to me how very discerning our hearing really is but I suppose millennia of survival in the jungles does that for you. I also think that audiophiles dig themselves into holes by becoming over-sensitized. Even though their survival is no longer at stake their joy is and they keep raising the bar to the point of dissatisfaction. No matter how "good" something sounds other stuff equally "good" may still sound differently.

So what are we to do? For some the answer is to spend more money: Yes, you can really buy happiness if you believe that you can. For others the answer is synergy: Eventually trial and error can result in great satisfaction. For others the answer is specifications: Umm DC-infrared, who could ask for more? For others the answer is tweaking: Hanging that rubber monkey with the diamond in it's navel on the wall has locked the soundstage in like a maximum-security prison. For others the answer is competition: My speakers are bigger than your speakers. And so on ad-nausea.

The very crankiness of systems and sensitivity of our perceptions along with the amazingly strong emotional difference that they can make is why I am fascinated with audio. How do you ever REALLY know if if you've 'arrived'? I love listening to my stereo and do so a lot, so I could regard it as a solved problem. Or an instance of the amazing coupling between sounds and human emotions. Or... I have no clue why people like sports, I could care less in general however that's prolly exactly what the bubba on the 50 yard line thinks of my interests. What a dull world it would be if we were all the same...

Regards, Rick



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