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RE: The way I would put it is...

Posted by Jim F. (A) on December 22, 2009 at 11:52:13

In Reply to: The way I would put it is... posted by riboge on December 22, 2009 at 06:15:40:

> Audio tweaking begins from the enjoyment of music seeking
> to have it better reproduced and to give the tweaker an
> active role in it. It can however take on a life of its own
> to the point of putting the music itself and even fidelity
> second (but not "aside"). When this happens, tweaks take
> on an idiosyncratic and inordinate value in relation to
> simply reproducing the music well.

Perhaps. And it's true of system "upgrading" too (i.e.,
buying new equipment), not just "tweaking" (pounding furniture
glides into the floor and propping your speakers and amplifiers
on them, putting Webster's Unabridged -- poor man's Shun Mook --
on top of your CD player to "damp" it, etc.)

What happens though, is what B. F. Skinner called a "variable-ratio
schedule of reinforcement". Sometimes, you get a real jolt
of the sweet (dopaminergic neurons squirting out neurotransmitter ;-> )
as a result of something you've done. I can still remember
the first time I heard Audio Research tube gear back in 1976
(particularly the SP-1-a preamp) -- what a rush! Other things,
fairly few and far between, have given me a similar thrill
over the years. Yes, putting my Quads on furniture glides
tightened up the bass very satisfyingly (no, I don't have
spikes on the bottom and sand inside the Arcici stands these
days -- I use a separate powered woofer instead. ;-> ).
A big project I did back in -- '94? '95 -- involving a
Radio Shack Optimus CD-4300 battery-powered CD transport
feeding a pair of battery-powered DTIs feeding a Theta
DS Pro Prime with its DAC chip also battery powered gave
me quite a thrill. And hearing Eximius DVD2One software CD
upsampling was another unexpected thrill (By contrast,
cheap ASRC-based upsampling did not give me the sensations
Jonathan Scull experienced reviewing the dCS 972, though
my first such device -- a Bel Canto DAC-2 -- was very nice
indeed, though probably, I now realize, for other reasons
than simply the upsampling. Later instances of the same
thing -- "I've got 24/96, now give me 24/192!" -- were not as
edifying.)

And so it goes. Other things, while eagerly anticipated to
the point of frenzy, like the Compact Disc itself, turned into an
almost heart-breaking disappointment when they finally materialized
(and thereby hangs a 25-year-long tale).

And that brings us to the second source of the problem.
Consumer audio reproduction has always been poised right
at the threshold of the "barely acceptable". It could almost
have been designed to lure susceptible people into a
kind of gambling behavior by providing just the occasional
tantalizing glimpse of paradise[*]. (It could almost have been
done deliberately, but I don't believe in conspiracy
theories -- it's just the way things work, what with the cost
and technical difficulty of superior audio reproduction,
the cost-constrained nature of consumer manufacturing, and
the need for economies of scale to keep costs down --
manufacturers need to target the mass market, and the
mass market **just doesn't care**.) That's part of the
heartbreak of digital audio -- it was supposed to be **better**
than adequate by a substantial margin (compared to
mechanical tonearms and cartridges and analog grooves
pressed in vinyl) -- it certainly looked like it was going
to be, on prima facie evidence (whooped up by both
marketers and "true believing" engineers). And then it
turned out to be **worse**!! And nobody in the "responsible"
press -- only the "crazies" at The Absolute Sound --
would even admit it! Talk about Charlie Brown and the football.

So, digital has turned out to be every bit as difficult to
get right as analog ever was.

And the beat goes on.

[*] Talk about "glimpses of paradise". Long before there was a buzz
about RFI and power-line interference, back in the mid-70's,
I was continually frustrated by the fact that, when I listened
to my (LP) system before going to work, it sounded **great**.
I'd anticipate returning to it all day, and then when I got
home at 5:30 and turned it on again, it would sound like **crap**.

I always thought this was a psychological phenomenon (and maybe
it was, but I don't think so -- in a similar way, I independently
discovered 1) inner-groove distortion and 2) listener fatigue,
before I ever heard the terms). I now realize that this was
probably because power is dirtiest in the late afternoon, when
all the household appliances are on. I now have all my systems
on power conditioning (PS Audio Power Plants) and, sure enough,
I get consistent sound.

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