Audiophiliac gives Audio Science Review channel a plug

[don'ttrustauthority]

What's so funny about all this is that the quality of gear has very little effect on how much one enjoys music.

 

[Phorize]

The audio mags are not meant for making purchase decisions. They are selling a fantasy, much like the in-flight magazines full of reports from fancy resorts that nobody travelling in economy could possibly afford. Nobody fantasises about owning a Toyota.

That’s any consumer mag one could think of, how many people with middling amateur photo skills buy pro level cameras, or get the latest £8000 carbon fibre mountain bike to do 1 hour a week on the local footpaths?

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

That’s any consumer mag one could think of, how many people with middling amateur photo skills buy pro level cameras, or get the latest £8000 carbon fibre mountain bike to do 1 hour a week on the local footpaths?

You may not be aware of the tendency for features in expensive equipment to migrate to the lower priced equipment. Hobbyists like to keep track of these features and read about new ones not to fantasize, but to be aware of them should the price come down as it always does.

 

[mhardy6647]

I had a 2 year expat assignment to UK and lived in a little town called Birchanger.

People referred to “hoovering” the house, not vacuuming.

Now that’s brand success!

Yeah, but they (the Brits) also made "Tannoy" synonymous with "loudspeaker" -- or at least with "PA speaker".
That said, there are Tannoys and there are Tannoys.

upon reflection, I guess "vacuum" as a verb is a little... what? Counterintuitive? Cognitively dissonant?
Given that a vaccuum is, arguably (don't be goin' all modern physics on me, please, this is satire!), nothing. The absence of thing. Can one do that?
Maybe vacuuming is on par with annihilation as a verb... as an action?



(or maybe I just need more coffee)


Just remember:
"Verbing weirds language"

and...

https://dilbert.com/strip/1995-11-24

 

[Robin L]

That’s any consumer mag one could think of, how many people with middling amateur photo skills buy pro level cameras, or get the latest £8000 carbon fibre mountain bike to do 1 hour a week on the local footpaths?

And for more proof, take a gander at ancient copies of National Geographic.

Question: Which came first, the desire for unobtanium or the hawking of unobtanium? Think of all the myths and fairy tales about that one magical object that transforms one's life, Aladdin's Lamp, Arthur's Excalibur, Owsley's Acid.

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

I had not heard of him before but just watched a few of his videos. He does bring good technical depth to topics but is not afraid of moving past what is supported and proper stance of audio science and proper engineering. As such, you can easily be misled by what he is saying. His great British accent and eloquent speaking can appeal to one's softer side to believe what one should not.

Are you saying that people find his accent attractive in some way and appealing to them in ways they can't quite explain? Hmmm.

 

[SimpleTheater]

What's so funny about all this is that the quality of gear has very little effect on how much one enjoys music.

To a point. I personally hate listening to music through my Amazon Show 8.

 

[Phorize]

Are you saying that people find his accent attractive in some way and appealing to them in ways they can't quite explain? Hmmm.

Your handle should be donttrustyourcognition:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect

 

[mhardy6647]

And for more proof, take a gander at ancient copies of National Geographic.

Question: Which came first, the desire for unobtanium or the hawking of unobtanium? Think of all the myths and fairy tales about that one magical object that transforms one's life, Aladdin's Lamp, Arthur's Excalibur, Owsley's Acid.

the most holy grail...

 

[don'ttrustauthority]

Your handle should be donttrustyourcognition:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halo_effect

I'm well familiar with this effect ... it's why I can't have my photograph up. Too much HEHE.

wait, are you saying the halo effect is not accompanied by laughter? So why are they laughing when they see my face?

 

[mhardy6647]

I'm well familiar with this effect ... it's why I can't have my photograph up. Too much HEHE.

wait, are you saying the halo effect is not accompanied by laughter? So why are they laughing when they see my face?

Here, this will may make you feel better about that.

 

[Nullproblemo]

Steve Guttenberg and his ilk of very nice, subjective reviewers almost ended my childhood love for everything audio. There was a time pre-digital where Stereo Review and other magazines would let you know which turntable kept more accurate speed, which cassette deck had less wow & flutter. I can’t pick the exact year, but sometime in the 1990’s better equated to more expensive. Not to pick solely on Stereophile, but did anyone actually drop $20,000 (about $31,000 in today’s money) for a Linn Sondek CD12 CD?

The one thing that kept me a subscriber to Stereophile for so many years were the measurements. Not that I could afford a Linn Sondek CD12, but you always had the measurements to verify the recommendation. But was it really better than the Marantz CD-7? It wasn’t reviewed, and that’s part of the rub, would a car magazine make the argument that an Audi is the best mid-sized sedan without testing the Toyota/Honda models? Admittedly there are a ton of electronic manufacturers, but the main competitors (at any given time) have to be included.

I was sick and tired of every magazine, every website giving glowing reviews to everything they reviewed, only differentiating products based on options (“While product x is a bargain, product y adds support for ...”) and ending every review with either “You have to hear this for yourself”, “This has to be on your short list” or “Punches well above its weight class”. I read the reviews to whittle down my choices, not add to them.

Was every audio product great in its respective price class and better meant spending more, but that’s how you tweak out better sound?

And then I saw a headless panther!

Exactly how I feel, well said !

 

[_thelaughingman]

What's so funny about all this is that the quality of gear has very little effect on how much one enjoys music.

Shouldn't this be the notion and holy grail for how one should feel about enjoying music.

 

[mansr]

Yeah, but they (the Brits) also made "Tannoy" synonymous with "loudspeaker" -- or at least with "PA speaker".

I can't recall ever hearing "Tannoy" used in that sense, or any other for that matter, in everyday conversation. Maybe it was once used in that manner, but if so, that practice has faded away.

 

[mansr]

That’s any consumer mag one could think of, how many people with middling amateur photo skills buy pro level cameras, or get the latest £8000 carbon fibre mountain bike to do 1 hour a week on the local footpaths?

I didn't mean to imply that audio was the only area where fantasies are being sold. The phenomenon probably exists anywhere the concept of luxury or high end does.

 

[Phorize]

Steve Guttenberg and his ilk of very nice, subjective reviewers almost ended my childhood love for everything audio. There was a time pre-digital where Stereo Review and other magazines would let you know which turntable kept more accurate speed, which cassette deck had less wow & flutter. I can’t pick the exact year, but sometime in the 1990’s better equated to more expensive. Not to pick solely on Stereophile, but did anyone actually drop $20,000 (about $31,000 in today’s money) for a Linn Sondek CD12 CD?

The one thing that kept me a subscriber to Stereophile for so many years were the measurements. Not that I could afford a Linn Sondek CD12, but you always had the measurements to verify the recommendation. But was it really better than the Marantz CD-7? It wasn’t reviewed, and that’s part of the rub, would a car magazine make the argument that an Audi is the best mid-sized sedan without testing the Toyota/Honda models? Admittedly there are a ton of electronic manufacturers, but the main competitors (at any given time) have to be included.

I was sick and tired of every magazine, every website giving glowing reviews to everything they reviewed, only differentiating products based on options (“While product x is a bargain, product y adds support for ...”) and ending every review with either “You have to hear this for yourself”, “This has to be on your short list” or “Punches well above its weight class”. I read the reviews to whittle down my choices, not add to them.

Was every audio product great in its respective price class and better meant spending more, but that’s how you tweak out better sound?

And then I saw a headless panther!

It was the 90s for sure. I bought the pdf archive of Sound Practices magazine just to have a gander. It’s all triode amps etc. It’s funny as many from this scene had great technical knowledge, but bought into some real hocus pocus. Not all bad of course, not least because some excellent horn innovation sprung from the horns and triode amp thing, not least in the form of Bjorn Kolbrechs excellent work on the subject:

 

[Phorize]

I can't recall ever hearing "Tannoy" used in that sense, or any other for that matter, in everyday conversation. Maybe it was once used in that manner, but if so, that practice has faded away.

I still occasionally use the term whenever referring to a public address system at a station etc. It has a very idealised colonial era sort of feel, brings up images of boys listening to England thumping the Aussies at the Ashes on homemade crystal sets, gentlemen racers and pipe smoking RAF captains. Turns out it’s part of the less problematic end of the colonial era lexicon. I’m only 47 but when I think of some of the things that were in common parlance it makes my eyes water!

 

[Thomas savage]

View attachment 119223

We worship data..

 

[mansr]

I still occasionally use the term whenever referring to a public address system at a station etc.

That makes sense. Those things seem like they're built t'annoy.

 

[Robin L]

That makes sense. Those things seem like they're built t'annoy.

THIS was built to annoy, the incomparable Short and Parsons Auxetophone: