A warning. There is a new web article going aroud that is a crock of schmidt.

[j_j]

https://www.fairobserver.com/more/s...ital-audio-science-news-william-softky-39078/

It is an absolute crock of excrement of the worst order, showing that the author does not understand any of the following:

1) Information theorem
2) Nyquist theorem
3) Human hearing

It is, none the less, being promoted as "the TRVTH that science won't admit".

I sent them a complaint letter with my professional creds listed. So far, nothing.

Unfortunately there is no "comments" section to excoriate this pile of composted dung.

 

[scott wurcer]

Global heath catastrophe of digital music? I lost it at the "micro-timing" stuff, this is too much nonsense to worry about.

And of course Tesla invented everything.

 

[amirm]

Another guy who doesn't know the simplest math in the world to figure out timing resolution and 44.1 and instead rattles off lay intuition based on frequency.

 

[amirm]

Then there is the bit about many people creating music think digital screws it up. Very scientific that is considering that 99.99% of music in the world is created using digital technology.

 

[scott wurcer]

Another guy who doesn't know the simplest math in the world to figure out timing resolution and 44.1 and instead rattles off lay intuition based on frequency.

But he supposedly has a PhD from CalTech.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Is there a sentence in that article which is true? It is almost completely bizzarro world applications of the ideas being knocked about. I don't know who the tech turncoat is, but I'm getting a strong impression from this article just not a positive impression. One of those Orwellian feelings that something named the fair observer is instead its very opposite.

 

[jhaider]

The URL tells you everything you need to know: if they have to proclaim that they're a "fair observer," then usually they're not.

 

[amirm]

I wrote them a strong letter too, correcting his misconceptions about timing resolution.

 

[Dant]

I read the entire article.

I want my time back, now. It doesn’t matter how “variable” the information sampling of your neurons are, we know that for sound, it doesn’t exceed 20-22khz. The same rules of Shannon-Nyquist matter just as much for the ADC and DAC as it does for your own neurons, and any other wave that may or may not ever exist. No experience can change that.

And then, the reminiscing about the “lifelike” nature of analog telephone...

 

[astr0b0y]

So many logical fallacies! immediate appeal to authority with the Neil Young opener.

 

[maxxevv]

But he supposedly has a PhD from CalTech.

PhD in what field ? His thesis might have been all about cow shit.

 

[orangejello]

What can one say? Probably best to just ignore, as the ignorance that it promulgate is pretty harmless. There are much more worthy things to save your fury for.

As my vinyl collection and turntable shame me from the opposite wall, I’m mainlining some digital just now - and probably headed for hell.

 

[Zog]

https://www.fairobserver.com/more/s...ital-audio-science-news-william-softky-39078/

It is an absolute crock of excrement of the worst order, showing that the author does not understand any of the following:

Unfortunately there is no "comments" section to excoriate this pile of composted dung.

I'm no acoustic engineer but as a trial lawyer I have a sensitive BS meter. This dude certainly talks the talk and that counts for a lot, at least it would in politics. This guy has the lingo!! Sheeze Louise. Others here may well debunk him and I would not be surprised.

 

[Blumlein 88]

A companion piece of sorts by the same author.
https://www.fairobserver.com/more/s...tion-science-news-physics-culture-news-34891/

 

[Blumlein 88]

Dr. Softky is listed as having a Caltech PhD in computation and neuro-systems in 1993.

Apparently an interdisciplinary program at Caltech. Most of those from that program appear to be expert baffle-gabbers.

Here is an example.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28599118

 

[gvl]

Does he have a hidden agenda or is he truly confused ?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Does he have a hidden agenda or is he truly confused ?

No his agenda is human wholeness and a naturally tuned and calibrated life. It is you who are truly confused by the digital disorientation we've created in our world. You should probably go take a sound bath as soon as possible.

 

[amirm]

Does he have a hidden agenda or is he truly confused ?

He is just an audiophile who believes in voodoo in audio and likes to say that is due to his understanding of science. Which it is not.

 

[Blumlein 88]

He is just an audiophile who believes in voodoo in audio and likes to say that is due to his understanding of science. Which it is not.

I think you have mis-characterized him. He does believe in some voodoo of course. I don't think it is in audio as much as it is at a deeper level. Quite something to behold really. I think if he did some real science, IE experimentation to confirm or not his ideas he'd learn something. I've a feeling he is more interested in teaching something philosophical without getting his hands dirty.

 

[amirm]

I think you have mis-characterized him. He does believe in some voodoo of course. I don't think it is in audio as much as it is at a deeper level.

Just read this:

This is about audio. He starts with a false premise and tries to explain the reasoning using his own training/knowledge. The premise is wrong but is typical of audio subjectivist beliefs that engineers and true fidelity are at war with each other.