Posted by Mr Vinyl [ 68.212.179.24 ] on August 22, 2006 at 12:33:19:
1) The cable lie
I believe he is correct on this with the exception of one company. That is MIT. MIT wires are not just wires but have "interface" boxes on them. I believe these boxes and the components in them, put them above all other wires. Are they grossly overpriced? Yes. However I didn't pay anywhere near the retail price. Anyone that does is wasting money IMO. Do I hold that against MIT? No. They can charge whatever they want if they can get it. I could care less if they are selling 20 cents of wire for $20,000. If they can stay in business that way then all the power to them. Regardless of price I find MIT wires to sound different and better to my ears than all the others I have tried. Especially when talking about their phono cable.
2) The vacuum tube lie
Again Mr. Aczel, is probably correct when he says "Whatever vacuum tubes can do in a piece of audio equipment,solid-state devices can do better, at lower cost, with greater reliability." But do they sound better? I may just be listening to "tube distortion" but to my ears this "distortion" makes music sound more real. If, as Mr. Aczel suggests, "solid-state design could easily mimic the sound (of tubes) if the designer were perverse enough to want it that way." is correct I would love to find such a beast. I would buy it and I think so would many others. In short, if I or anyone else likes the sound of tubes, (and if listening to music is purely subjective) then who is to say it's wrong?
3) The anti-digital lie.
Sorry but for the reasons stated above I think he is wrong here. Again, it may be distortion but I like it! I would agree with him that almost all of the digital gear I have heard sounds the same to me. Not bad, but not analogue.
4) The listening test lie.
I'm not sure about this. I can't decide if ABX results are meaningful or not. So I'm neutral on this one.
5) The feedback lie.
Again sorry, but I don't know nor do I care.
6) The burn-in lie.
He may be right that it's just your brain that's breaking in. But so what? I can say that I don't like everything I hear even after extended listening so I'm sure I'm not getting "used" to bad sound when considering break-in.
7) The bi-wire lie.
Don't know, don't care.
8) The power conditioner lie.
I have owned and still own a Tice Power Block and Titan power conditioner. It's not in my system at the moment but when it was I thought I heard slight improvements. But there are other reasons to own a power conditioner besides sound. The main reason is spike protection. At the moment I have no power conditioners in my system, but may put one in for piece of mind in the future. I will be willing to admit that the Tice making my system sound better may very well have been in my head.
9) The CD treatment lie.
This I agree with.
10) The Golden ear lie. I also agree with this one.
So there you have it. These of course are just my opinion. Yours my differ. But basically it all boils down to this, If I like ketchup on steak who to say that I am wrong? If I like tubes and vinyl and you like digital and solid state, that's fine with me. Give me your albums and old tube gear. I'll be a happy man. The human brain is a powerful thing. If I "think" something sounds better to me, then it DOES sound better to me.
[ General Forum ] [ Help ]