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Opinions on a different way to judge equipment and cables
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Posted on August 7, 2003 at 07:08:03 | ||
Posts: 3754
Location: South Florida Joined: November 16, 2001 |
I hope this is the appropriate place to post this message. A fellow inmate turned me on to an article and I am curious how others feel about the validity of the methodology. I wish I had the URL but I will have to post it later. Basically, what the article states, is that most of us try to play music we are familiar with and then try to listen and see if it sounds the way we remember that it should sound based on past listening experiences. This would apply, for example, to those of us who have a collection of "reference" CD's that we use when auditioning. Instead, the author states that we should audition with a wide selection of music, recorded on different mediums and in different times and places of differing genres. This should be music we are not familiar with. Then, instead of comparing how one system sounds relative to another or some memory we have we should instead pay attention to which equipment reveals the greatest difference between recordings. His ascertain is that different recordings have to sound different due to the vast differences in recording equipment and sound engineers tastes and monitoring equipment. I am sure we can all agree that there is a vast difference between at least some recordings. The author's point is that the equipment that reveals the greatest differences between recordings must be the one best suited to faithfully reproducing the inherent differences that exist in these said recordings. The more I thought about the article the more sense it made to me. I realized that I tended to use a mixture of the two techniques, comparison by remembrance versus comparison by contrast, depending on what I was trying to evaluate. I certainly find it easier to simply listen to an entire selection of CD’s and albums and simply note rather I hear any appreciable differences in tonal qualities, sound stage, and etc. between them rather than trying to do a bunch of quick A/B comparisons. So what do you guys think and how many of you already use this methodology? Sincerely, |
Re: Opinions on a different way to judge equipment and cables, posted on August 7, 2003 at 08:15:24 | |
Posts: 10297
Location: Seattle Joined: December 29, 2000 |
Howdy I think there is some truth there: I haven't explicitly done it that way, but when I'm considering a purchase I do listen to lots of different things. I've been fooled before by having a component sound great on everything I listened to and then fail after I bought it on a different genre. Looking at it another way, if I find that I'm doing quick A/Bs of a lot of material, I now take it as a warning that something is uninvolving. Perhaps tangentially related is a post from TBone over on Digital: http://www.audioasylum.com/audio/digital/messages/70054.html -Ted |
Re: The URL, posted on August 7, 2003 at 08:54:19 | |
Posts: 3754
Location: South Florida Joined: November 16, 2001 |
Here ya go.
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Thanks [nt], posted on August 7, 2003 at 09:20:23 | |
Posts: 10297
Location: Seattle Joined: December 29, 2000 |
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