Waiting for the Truth

[struth]

I do wonder why folk MUST KNOW how it works and see inside etc. Ive got amps ive used for years and never bothered to look. It looks good, sounds good and to me thats enough.

[RothwellAudio]

^ Yes, I wish I could adopt that attitude - I'm sure I'd be much happier. I've been pulling things apart to find out how they work for as long as I can remember

[Spectral Morn]

I do wonder why folk MUST KNOW how it works and see inside etc. Ive got amps ive used for years and never bothered to look. It looks good, sounds good and to me thats enough.

Yes, when I was young and fresh faced (well mostly lol) I used to get excited by all the tech and figures and such like, how it did it and why, now I don't care a jot. My main interest is how a thing sounds and how it might fit into systems.

Sadly many reviews out there consist of specs, function and very little actual text on how it sounds. The former I can get from a manufacturers website, the later only from the reviewer/listeners first hand experience. That is interesting, the former not so much.

The only time function and operation is of interest is if there is an issue. The current Marantz SA10 review in this months HiFi News, doesn't mention if the mechanism is silent or noisy. The SA7 was somewhat noisy as are Esoterics (except they are really noisy), but no mention in mags

[walpurgis]

I do wonder why folk MUST KNOW how it works and see inside etc. Ive got amps ive used for years and never bothered to look. It looks good, sounds good and to me thats enough.

I open up very bit of equipment I get (apart from cartridges), if only to give the interior a clean. Sometimes I have a tinker though.

[Spectral Morn]

I open up very bit of equipment I get (apart from cartridges), if only to give the interior a clean. Sometimes I have a tinker though.

Klyne pre-amps are beautiful inside, most other kit, not so much.

[struth]

I cant really be bothered now. It is what it is. Been fixing stuff since i was 13. Now i just listen as they are mostly just what youd expect anyways. Must be old age, but glad i dont care. I make exceptions to some mains Chinese stuff and check for earths...for some reason they seem to think anodizing is good enough

[Marco]

I do wonder why folk MUST KNOW how it works and see inside etc. Ive got amps ive used for years and never bothered to look. It looks good, sounds good and to me thats enough.

For an non-builder, audio and music enthusiast, that is ALL you need to know, period!

Marco.

[Marco]

Sadly many reviews out there consist of specs, function and very little actual text on how it sounds. The former I can get from a manufacturers website, the later only from the reviewer/listeners first hand experience. That is interesting, the former not so much.

Spot on. I want the reviewer, via his or her clever descriptive use of language (but not frothy, meaningless prose), to successfully 'paint a picture' in my mind, in a way I can relate to, of how something sounds - and when done right, that takes as much skill to achieve [although of a different type], as that of an EE building a circuit.

Reading reams of technical data, measurements or graphs, in the context of a hi-fi review, for me is sleep-inducing in the extreme, of ZERO relevance to me (as I wouldn't understand what most of it meant), and about as enjoyable as shoving a rusty kebab skewer up my Jap's eye....!

Marco.

[montesquieu]

Spot on. I want the reviewer, via his or her clever descriptive use of language (but not frothy, meaningless prose), to successfully 'paint a picture' in my mind, in a way I relate to, of how something sounds - and when done right, that takes as much skill to achieve [although of a different type], as that of any EE building a circuit!

Reading reams of technical data, measurements or graphs, in the context of a hi-fi review, for me is sleep-inducing in the extreme, of ZERO relevance to me (as I wouldn't understand what it meant), and about as enjoyable to do as shoving a rusty kebab skewer up my Jap's eye....!

Marco.

The trouble with that is that most reviewers have a belief system of one sort or another that means all of that descriptive waffle is just that - waffle. I'd much rather know something about a piece of kit's construction/design approach/if possible measurement - by then I've read enough to fit it into my mental map of kit (of which I've heard loads over the years) to have a pretty good idea how it will sound, without listening to some vague waffle about how it sounds on girl+guitar vs how it handles Wagner. I usually skip over the waffley-descriptive bits as boring/pointless!

Ye cannae change the laws a physics Cap'n!

[Marco]

The trouble with that is that most reviewers have a belief system of one sort or another that means all of that descriptive waffle is just that - waffle.

Indeed, which is why I no longer buy hi-fi mags and almost never read on-line reviews, other than the likes of those posted here by our members, the majority of which are honest and contain no agenda.

However, some journalists have writing skills (David Price and, occasionally, Alan Sircom come to mind), which succeed in allowing you a real insight into what they're hearing/experiencing, especially those who have similar sonic proclivities to you, and *that* tells me much more (of what I need to know) about a potential purchase than any amount of technical gobbledygook.

Anything else, including what you've referred to, I can research and satisfy for myself. The latter is the important bit. The job of the review is simply to pique my interest sufficiently enough in a particular product to take it any further!

Marco.