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"religious?" Of course not:, Carcass' well reasoned comments

Posted by Sordidman (A) on September 5, 2014 at 10:30:30

In Reply to: RE: Just to confirm - in your experience, the changes (drivers, players etc.) on computer side.... posted by Tony Lauck on September 4, 2014 at 17:15:21:

never are......

These are experiences. Indeed, (hopefully), the goal of all of this is to enhance the "experience." That's what we do when we listen: garner experiences.

It is a question of beauty.

A reasoned, (scientific), investigation has as its basis: caring, honest questioning, testing, and conclusions. We should not be denigrating experiences as "less scientific" because these types of tests are part of "evidence gathering" and have their validity within the context of the goal: "superior sound."

The act of listening takes a lot of abuse from "pseudo-scientists" who often don't understand the principles of reasoned scientific investigation. Some people here denigrate & cite listening experiences as being arbitrary & being subject to bias. In fact the process of active & attentive listening is a very valid test rivaling many formal measurements, and assumptions about the rated spec of various sub components in every system. In fact our listening ability is capable of distinguishing very subtle queues in the timing & timber of sound waves. An example of this is being able to tell when an instrument is out of tune. More experiences with both live events, and different recorded events on playback systems also build an amalgamation of "what sounds right." Much of our core scientific knowledge comes from questioning, observing, testing: it is the fundamental core of knowledge advancement.

Of course this varies from person to person, but people who pile up more experiences come together in surprising fashion. In short, people who pile up listening experiences across multiple types of systems, come to similar conclusions. And those conclusions are that the computer transport is a very important part of the system. These conclusions are similar to those that have lots of experiences with CD/SACD transports, and also turntables.

What makes Carcass right here is that he has heard a lot of equipment, and he is in a unique position in that his DAC is the same as his disc spinner. This gives him an excellent opportunity to make an assessment as to SQ of different transports. Of course those assessments likely will change again due to other downstream changes. Certainly the affects of different computer transports (as well as adjustments, changes, and yes, some tweaks), will play out differently with AvanteGaarde horns vs Harbeth vs a Sharp boombox (as examples). In other words, context.

Saying that one of the two, Computer Transport or DAC, is the more important of the two: is silly, wrong, and can lead to some erroneous conclusions. (Similar to saying that the amplifier doesn't matter, and that the only thing that causes a system to sound different is the speakers). Likewise, - using statements that sound like facts, or firm conclusions on the basis of one experience, with one system: is again a recipe for grossly erroneous conclusions.

Carcass should be lauded for sound reasoning on the basis of many experiences, AND, his ability in his system to isolate out the transport(s). IN THIS VERY CASE: Carcass RIGHTLY points out the breakdown in logic in the DACs designers. Where they say that the transport is not important while their main emphasis is on the DRIVER from the transport. AND, they neglected an opportunity to build a superior DAC by not including very important elements that go into a great DAC. This was realized by Mercman not by reading schematics, engineering design copy, or measuring: but in listening experiences. From all of their conclusions, ExaSound produced just another middle-of-the-road DAC, from which there are hundreds, and of course, - rendering their theory, - pointless, or at best inconclusive.

Saying that "our ears can't be trusted" is a straw man, as it is much more than our ears. It is our documented, active, and rigorous (and qualitative & quantitative), experiences both with playback equipment AND live music, that help us to improve those experiences.

Cheers,

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"Asylums with doors open wide,
Where people had paid to see inside,
For entertainment they watch his body twist
Behind his eyes he says, 'I still exist.'"

Edits: 09/05/14

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