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I think that analysis is a problem for many audiophiles!

Two channel audio is ill-defined in the first place - especially when it comes to spacial considerations. Sure there's a left channel and a right channel but what's on each of these channels is up to the recording engineers - there is no standard production.

Some audiophiles try to define the content of each channel in their pursuit of the absolute sound. The reason behind this is might seem to be clear and obvious to many but it's hardly representative of what encounters in the real world of audio recordings. At one time there was a "movement" to use live accoustical recordings to evaluate a systems performance. Given the unspecified nature of a stereo recording in the first place this seemed reasonable as it would negate the importance of quantifying the importance of measurements.

But like anything else audio such philosophies are poorly understood and difficult to implement. What we end up with, like just about anything else related to this hobby, is a bunch of half-assed psuedo scientifical thoughts about the importance of "live" sound. As if "live sound" or "sounding most like live" really is any different than saying best for rock, best for classical or best for folk, etc.

I know a couple of guys who've seen the Gratful Dead hundreds of times, and another guy who's seen Led Zeppelin dozens of times. These guys used those experiences to evaluate the performance of their audio systems. Great for them - what differentiates them from most audiophiles is that they don't hold themselves up as somekind of audio gurus because they use a "live" reference to justify their purchasing decisions. I respect their opinions for what they are worth, and think they can build systems as that are about as accurate as most of those who claim to use live accoustical recordings as their reference. To put it bluntly but with no disrespect intended - not very accurately.

I sometimes think many audiophiles are drawn to the hobby because they are engineer wannabee's or simply because it gives them an opportunity to pontificate. People can spew the most stupidest of shit thinking people might actually be taking them seriously. Well surely some do take lots of the crap as factual.

Considering this is two channel audio, not the Iraqi invasion or the national debt, it's actually amusing to sit back and just watch.
Give me rhythm or give me death!

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