'High-end audio is not dead, it just smells funny'.
Musings from old school on High Fidelity
Old interview in Stereophile of JA interviewing G Holt.
High Fidelity means REPRODUCTION with as little distorion and color as possible and a flat neutral FR within the range of human hearing that retains as much of the original source as possible. This day and age we have the ability to come close but we have chosen the path where High Fidelity means whatever subjective opinion I choose. It might be what one prefers but it isn't HiFi.Do you see any signs of future vitality in high-end audio?
Vitality? Don't make me laugh. Audio as a hobby is dying, largely by its own hand. As far as the real world is concerned, high-end audio lost its credibility during the 1980s, when it flatly refused to submit to the kind of basic honesty controls (double-blind testing, for example) that had legitimized every other serious scientific endeavor since Pascal. [This refusal] is a source of endless derisive amusement among rational people and of perpetual embarrassment for me, because I am associated by so many people with the mess my disciples made of spreading my gospel. For the record: I never, ever claimed that measurements don't matter. What I said (and very often, at that) was, they don't always tell the whole story. Not quite the same thing.
Remember those loudspeaker shoot-outs we used to have during our annual writer gatherings in Santa Fe? The frequent occasions when various reviewers would repeatedly choose the same loudspeaker as their favorite (or least-favorite) model? That was all the proof needed that [blind] testing does work, aside from the fact that it's (still) the only honest kind. It also suggested that simple ear training, with DBT confirmation, could have built the kind of listening confidence among talented reviewers that might have made a world of difference in the outcome of high-end audio.
Yet you achieved so much, Gordon.
I know I did, and my whole excuse for it—a love for the sound of live classical music—lost its relevance in the US within 10 years. I was done in by time, history, and the most spoiled, destructive generation of irresponsible brats the world has ever seen. (I refer, of course, to the Boomers.)
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HIGH FIDELITYVery interesting.... This official definition makes me understand many thing, that was not obvious for me...I am not an engineer so far, nor a working specialist in the audio field.... Only an "amateur" looking for a good sound.... This definition makes me conscious that " high fidelity" is restricted in the very narrow sense of electronical engineering.... This is normal because in the last hundred years it was engineers that gives to us the gear that makes possible the reproduction of recorded sound... But i am an audiophile who dream to gives to himself the maximum S. Q experience possible at the least cost... Is electronics components the only variable able to do so? The answer in my case is a resolute no.... Embeddings mechanically an audio system, controlling resonance and isolating it from external vibrations is not necessarily the results of electronical new application or the results of buying new electronic component...Different passive materials or device can make it happen.... Embedding electrically an audio system to controls the noise floor of the house and room is not necessarily also the results of placing a new active electronic device all along the road of the electrical grid, i succeed with passive materials of my owns all along the road... Embedding acoustically an audio system can be partially the results of using electronical device, i use for example many Schumann generators modified, but generally most use passive materials of requisite properties, and i use also active resonators of different size and kind, and many other passive device of my own.... Then high-fidelity concept is not synonym with audiophile concept.... Distinguishing the 2 concepts is important.... Separating them and opposing them is useless and only the proof of a misunderstanding...There is NO objectivist versus subjectivist war.... Only ignorance on the 2 side.... « Distinguishing without separating»- old Groucho Marx |
I will add that what we listen to at the end comes more from the interaction of the speakers with the room, and comes better if the noise floor of the house and room are low, better if resonant gear are also controlled and tuned and isolated for sure, what we listen to comes more at the end from these controlled conditions than from the choice of any electronic component, be it a dac or a an amplifier in particular most of the times.... That is my experience.... In audio history some evolution of engineering design for recorded sound transmission seems to come first, but the acoustical conditions for the experience were always there, for example in the acoustical design of concert hall or church acoustical function or Greek and Roman theater... High-fidelity and audiophile experience are 2 hands from the same body.....Anyone who want to say otherwise is confused.... :) |
Not bragging, and honestly, no i have not heard many top class systems lately,,but recall some from years ago,,and IMHO , my system now with new IC's, is close to Real High Fidelity. My friend has a Golden Tube amp modded (he is a tech) + AR's + CJ pre modded, sounds really great,, IF you like that warm sound,,, sort likea olive band at a club. Thats not what i am looking for, I avoid *warm*, Mine is quiet, dynamic, fq separation/sound stage, voice pure natural, When I hear a system which has these descripts Midrange fqs::Muddy/murky/smokey/greyish, musht, bland, flat /highs rolloff, voice not natural, like has a covering over the vocals, other things that get on my nerves are ::: ,boomy bass,, highs too extended = plastic and tinny. I usually just stand there and pretend I am interested,, makinga few foot tappings to let the owner know , yeah its a nice sound...when actually i want to turn the vol knob alot lower, real fast,,,or finda excuse to get away from the torture. Here is my latest YT upload, and my system is really comming together now with the 2nd pair of IC's. Humbly, my system to me sounds ~~High Fidelity~~More changes/mods to come,,,, This is the best sound I've ever heard in my life comming froma system. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1gtIouVb6E&t=6s |
This silver IC's do seem a step up from Cu, and the $ not so stratospheric to do so. So I'll say 'good move, and expond further on what you percieve, please. *S* But I'm charmed by the 2x4....and Please, change your fan to a pair of 'puter fans...they're so much quieter...*s* (The shoes beat the socks...;) I'm a 'sandals' guy myself, but spouse sez I've got 'ugly feet', 'hammer toes & ruined big toe nails L&R....'omg'*L*) "Real High Fidelity".....Well, you're almost There... ...for now. ;) OK...Now, Enjoy! If only for the moments you seek on That LP, in that moment. It's seems too damn transient a time for most who haunt here. Not that I belittle the quest in the general sense of the meaning; trust me here (and hear *s*), because I do understand...and appreciate the Quest. I seek in my own fashion, as do (I hope) anyone else that frequents AG. We all have our various Nirvanas....*S* I prefer 'flat' response....to the point of having a separate digital eq that allows room DSP for whatever speakers I'm running. This in a space that has been 'temporary' for far longer than I'd care for, less so to admit to. One adapts....and moves forward....eventually.... I have no problems with 'The Quest', and what we do to attain our goals. 'We' may be a breed doomed to extinction, considered 'extremist', 'driven', or just merely 'nutz'. "Old Skool....and Proud." We Can (perhaps) utilize our experience, our collective knowledge, and ( for that matter), 'tastes' to shape the inevitable future of 'fi'. Make class D live up to its' promise. The 'next Gen' speakers really sound like Real High Fidelity, and for that matter influence the digital processes that 'synth' 3D audio 'environments' to Really Work...every damn time, without sounding like ones' been dumped into a Pollak or a de Kooning of audio fuzz.... ...or we can sit here, and just argue and bitch. How...fullfilling. Anyway...I like the idea of silver cables that don't cost replacing the engine on a car. I recognize the seller, good 'stats'. The world needs more heretics. Cheers, J |
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