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Flowery Review Language or WTF?

watchnerd

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I read these gems in the DAR review of the PS Audio Direct Stream Jr:

"we still get kick-ass dynamics, clean layer separation and a richness that tops a slight hint of caffeination with a short layer of cream. Macchiato to the AURALiC Vega’s double espresso."

"the DSJ is a moister cake with a broader range of flavour subtleties than the multibit Schiit Gungnir."

"like the Vega (only less so), displays more evidence of espresso-charged caffeination within its high frequency transient delivery."

I have no idea what any of this really means when it comes to sound.

Feel free to either deconstruct or share your examples.
 

RayDunzl

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I have dynamics, clean separation, richness, subtleties, measurable high frequencies, and transients.

Isn't that supposed to be normal with a high-performance piece?

I don't know what kick-ass, layers, caffeination, cream, macchiato, or espresso mean when applied to sound.

---

Macchiato is an Italian word, meaning "marked" or "stained".

Hmm...
 

Fitzcaraldo215

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I think it is true that over time the audible differences between different equipment became smaller and smaller. That is certainly the experience over my lifetime as an audiophile. But, ya gotta hand it to the younger generation, e.g., Darko, for coming up with an ever newer vocabulary, metaphors, figures of speech, etc. to keep the fantasy world marketing game of unrealistic expectations going with the younger generation.

We are just old fogies if we do not get it.
 

Fitzcaraldo215

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I think someone should call him out on it. If you really don't have anything to say then quit making things up.

Pointless. He has got his own blog/forum, and he can, likely will, just delete your posts and quietly ban you. Others will not even know.

Been there, done that with the even worse Michael Lavorgna years ago. Sniffle. I am utterly banned from Lavorgna's site, unless, of course, I want to spend the 5 minutes to create an alternative set of ID login credentials to avoid that. But, it just ain't worth it. It is like trying to have an honest, objective and rational discussion with fas, thinking you will educated him to see the light. Good luck with that.
 

Blumlein 88

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Pointless. He has got his own blog/forum, and he can, likely will, just delete your posts and quietly ban you. Others will not even know.

Been there, done that with the even worse Michael Lavorgna years ago. Sniffle. I am utterly banned from Lavorgna's site, unless, of course, I want to spend the 5 minutes to create an alternative set of ID login credentials to avoid that. But, it just ain't worth it. It is like trying to have an honest, objective and rational discussion with fas, thinking you will educated him to see the light. Good luck with that.

Yeah what was I thinking. I am banned from Steve Hoffman forums so have the experience which I sometimes forget.
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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I don't know what kick-ass, layers, caffeination, cream, macchiato, or espresso mean when applied to sound.

Exactly.

I realize sound is hard to write about, but the new coffee metaphors don't help me understand what he's hearing.
 

Blumlein 88

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Heard Malcolm Gladwell on a show whether people really know what they want. He said if you ask coffee drinkers what they prefer they all say they prefer a dark, rich, hardy roast. When people pitch coffee it is always about a rich dark hardy coffee flavor. When tested 23% of drinkers like a rich dark coffee, the majority prefer a milky weak coffee. Even then, if you talk to people after the taste test they describe their preference as a richly flavored coffee and others as too weak or overly heavy. Somehow even milky weak coffee is linked in their mind with the idea good coffee is richly flavored.

This immediately reminded me of describing the improvements in every new digital piece of audio gear. Deep darker backgrounds, better soundstage, more air, and smoother more analog like sound. This is just cliche whether you heard a real difference or imagined one that is what has become the concept of what good digital does. It has become so cliche I guess we should give Darko credit for attempting to add to it. Though he really is saying the same thing.

"for vinyl fans who find digital too rigid and uptight"

"an absence of PCM tang"

"comes on like a re-assuring hug from mom"

"greater effortlessness and less nervous tension"

So all of these are variations on softer, gentler, analog like sound.

Well you get the picture. I could add to it, but the mental metallic taste like an overdone cup of joe would become too difficult to loosen from my mind's eye view over the breezy precipice I wish not to befall.
 

March Audio

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Exactly.

I realize sound is hard to write about, but the new coffee metaphors don't help me understand what he's hearing.

Yes, articulating what something sounds like is difficult, but thats taking it to a whole new level of talking bollocks !

I agree with Fitz. The difference between much equipment has become significantly smaller (speakers excepted). However there still appears to be a large section of audiophiles that exagerate those differences out of all context not helped by excessively verbose bollocks as we see above.
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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On another site, someone noticed I had a particular pair of tubes and wondered how they sounded.

I decided to be a bit of a troll and wrote something that, to me, sounded waaay over the top, describing notes of honey, vanilla, and almonds.

I thought it was obvious satire, but people took it seriously, give it lots of likes.... o_O
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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Pointless. He has got his own blog/forum, and he can, likely will, just delete your posts and quietly ban you. Others will not even know.

Been there, done that with the even worse Michael Lavorgna years ago. Sniffle. I am utterly banned from Lavorgna's site, unless, of course, I want to spend the 5 minutes to create an alternative set of ID login credentials to avoid that. But, it just ain't worth it.

Lavorgna is apparently a fan of either rolloff, aliasing distortion, or both in his preference for NOS in his latest review:

"So I am, and will continue to be, talking about the Spring DAC in NOS mode which offers an ease of presentation and a natural sense of musical flow that is addictive."

"When run in NOS mode, it brings music to life in such a way as to allow me to forget about everything but the music."
 

Blumlein 88

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Lavorgna is apparently a fan of either rolloff, aliasing distortion, or both in his preference for NOS in his latest review:

"So I am, and will continue to be, talking about the Spring DAC in NOS mode which offers an ease of presentation and a natural sense of musical flow that is addictive."

"When run in NOS mode, it brings music to life in such a way as to allow me to forget about everything but the music."

Alternate way to describe the situation.

When run in NOS mode, it brings a mind numbing quality to music.
 

DonH56

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I am allergic to dairy so everything I write about relative to my audio gear, would involve soy milk and such. No layer of milk here.

I can do that:
The B&W 800 D3's had a rich, full-bodied soy flavor but unfortunately the smaller 805's were tonally lactose intolerant. The Salk SongTowers, on the other hand, were as smooth as Silk.
 

Sal1950

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Yeah what was I thinking. I am banned from Steve Hoffman forums so have the experience which I sometimes forget.
Yea, and most of us have been banned from WBF. LOL
What I still carry as a badge of honor is that Mikey Fremer came all the way over and joined CA just so he could attack me in his very first post, Threatening me with a lawsuit from the big guns of The Enthusiast Network for "besmirching his character". ROTFL :p
 
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watchnerd

watchnerd

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Yea, and most of us have been banned from WBF. LOL
What I still carry as a badge of honor is that Mikey Fremer came all the way over and joined CA just so he could attack me in his very first post, Threatening me with a lawsuit from the big guns of The Enthusiast Network for "besmirching his character". ROTFL :p

Whoa, what? I'd love to read that. Link?
 

Blumlein 88

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Whoa, what? I'd love to read that. Link?

I don't have the link, but remember that happening. I also seem to remember Chris over at CA having a public rift about analog vs digital that got Mikey all inflamed. Chris was on a panel I think at the Rocky Mtn thing and made comments Michael didn't like.

It was dealt with in this CA thread.
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f...clueless-equally-bitter-and-uninformed-24696/

I don't recall being threatened with a lawsuit, but had commented about Wireworld's claims in a white paper. It caused the principle there to sign up and dispute what I was saying. In time he promised more research in the future. Made excuses for not having results for about 6 months and hasn't been heard from since I don't believe in those forums.
 

Sal1950

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Whoa, what? I'd love to read that. Link?
Sadly little remains of that "debate". In a discussion of vinyl's true SQ I make my opinions known, so first there was this,
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f...analog-editorial-and-review-30513/#post602750
After that I told Mikey "in the very direct manner I'm known for" what I thought of his motivations and integrity. He responded by telling me if I didn't retract my comments I would be hearing from The Enthusiast Networks lawyers for "besmirching his character". Then a number of CA's regulars jumped on him with comments like, "oooh big man, gonna get my lawyers after you" LOL. At that point Chris stepped in and deleted all of that.
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f...orial-and-review-30513/index2.html#post602834
Only this last response to him from me still remains and he hasn't returned to CA since.
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f...orial-and-review-30513/index2.html#post602865
 
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