Originally Posted by
Macca
Enough of this gay banter.
Here's my ten Audiophile busted myths, take them or leave them. You'll probably leave them, Bad move but it's a free country (except it isn't):
1) You can overcome plaebco and expectation bias without listening blind . No you can't unless you are Jesus and have powers. (You're not Jesus).
2) High resolution digital is better. No it is just different mastering or if it is the same master and you still think it is better see 1) above.
3) There are things that matter in audio but we can't measure them yet. No, there really are not. There might be things we rarely measure or don't ever measure but there's no mystery science theatre going on.
4) Some equipment is better at conveying the 'emotion' of the musicians better. No it is probably just technically better and/or better engineered. There's no 'emotion' op amp or resistor you can buy. You'd think the Japanese would have invented it by now but they haven't ( see: Ken Ishiwata). And it's mostly in your mind and your mood at the time of listening anyway.
5) Speaker cable and interconnects can make a big difference. No they can't (see myth 1 above). At best they make a tiny difference.
6) All the really good kit is very expensive for good reasons. No it isn't, although I suppose it depends what you mean by expensive. You can't make anything good on the cheap. But a £10K item of kit is at most just 500 quid worth of parts once the maker, distributor, dealer and HMRC (the VAT) have had their cut. That's scary when you think about it. If you are capable of building your own equipment you are laughing. Wish I was.
7) There are a lot of poor recordings. No there are not unless your collection is mostly tapes of your band recorded in the garage on a Sharp ghetto-blaster. If you find any professional recording, from any era, sounding unlistenable, that's a problem with your system. A good system will always convey the intent of a recording even if it is not a Diana Krall album.
Which neatly brings us to
8) Diana Krall albums are worth listening to. No they are not. I don't think an explanation is necessary. If you don't know what I mean then you probably didn't read this far anyway.
9)A good test for a system is a painstakingly superb recording of a woman singing while a bloke hits a block of wood with a stick. No it isn't, that will sound good on an Amstrad. A good test for a system is 'Thin Lizzy: Live And Dangerous' at generous SPL. When you are next at a show and they are playing the woman/block of wood thing, ask them to put on the Lizzy at volume. See how many will. Obviously let the block of wood thing finish first before you ask.
10) You can't knock it until you have tried it, no matter how wacky it is. Oh yes I can. Cable lifters, crystals, those things that look a bit like lecterns that you stick around the room to 'define the listening space', Peter Belt tweaks, colouring your fuses with a marker pen, special bowls you put on the speakers... there's a million more. See busted myth 1 and read a book on human psychology. Or at least skim-read it.
Number 8 is NOT an audiophile myth. Everyone knows that those albums are pure drivel.
I'd replace your Number 8 myth with the myth that there is no difference in various pressings of an LP. The differences in various pressings could be enormous.
Another myth busted
Don't you just hate it when you cannot detect where the post ends and a signature line begins?
Alex.