Unpopular opinions for here.

[DaDonGoffed]

I have alot of opinions that maybe considered unpopular here. I encourage you you to share yours without causing a stink.

1, less distortion does not always mean better for enjoyment: I believe there is alot of crossover with guitar amps and audio amps. Alot of people would perfer tube amps to ss because of the distortion. It seems adding just a bit of distortion, like even order seems to be preferred by alot of people.

2, there are more things to consider other than how a piece of equipment sounds: I really hate bad build quality. For modern equipment it's sometimes build like crap, and dies on you in about a year or two. For example a Topping vs a vintage Denon dac. The topping may have 110db SINAD with great modern technology, but I personally think their quality isn't the best. Imagine it failing on you, it being build with SMD and no schematics to repair it, good luck trying to.

 

[mhardy6647]

Dude. Have you seen my hifi?





Our host and colleagues here are very gracious.

 

[JustJones]

A lot is two words.

 

[SIY]

A lot is two words.

Or it's Abraham's nephew.

 

[DaDonGoffed]

A lot is two words.

My mistake. It's very common, however it's so common that it may become a new word.

 

[sam_adams]

A lot and allot are pronounced the same, but they have unrelated meanings.

- A lot is used as a pronoun meaning “many” or “a great amount” and an adverb meaning “very much” or “often.”
- Allot is a verb meaning “assign” or “distribute.”
- Alot is sometimes mistakenly used instead of a lot. However, it isn’t a real word and should be avoided.

 

[Keith_W]

I don't think you would find too much disagreement with your two statements. Re: distortion, nobody is going to argue with your preference if you think that some added distortion makes your music sound better. People will point out that it is no longer "high fidelity", but in general ... different preferences are accepted.

And I don't think many would disagree that there are other aspects to owning gear besides performance, such as build quality, dealer support, warranty, reputation, made in the USA/UK/Germany/etc (and not in China).

ASR is a broad church. Some here own tube amps, turntables, and I have seen a R2R in Amir's system

 

[AudioJester]

If you like distortion, better to do in software than fixed random hardware distortion. Software allows way more control and is adjustable depending on recording etc. I use and have fun with various vst plugins

 

[Axo1989]

A lot and allot are pronounced the same, but they have unrelated meanings.

- A lot is used as a pronoun meaning “many” or “a great amount” and an adverb meaning “very much” or “often.”
- Allot is a verb meaning “assign” or “distribute.”
- Alot is sometimes mistakenly used instead of a lot. However, it isn’t a real word and should be avoided.

I love such pedantry in the service of language, keep it up.

 

[Jim Taylor]

The only opinions that are unpopular here are stupid opinions. If you think your premise through, present it properly (meaning clearly) and base it on facts rather than pseudoscience or emotion, you'll find that it will be respected. There may be disagreement with it, but that is an entirely different matter. The scientific community has a great deal of disagreement, but that doesn't mean that the various factions don't respect each other.

OTOH, Flat Earthers and aliens among us? Ah ... nope.

Jim

 

[DVDdoug]

There's not a lot controversial there.

Alot of people would perfer tube amps to ss because of the distortion. It seems adding just a bit of distortion, like even order seems to be preferred by alot of people.

Probably a lot, but NOT MOST. Most people don't like audible distortion. McIntosh has made tube amps since the tube days and they've always had a reputation for high quality (low noise, low distortion, and flat frequency response.)

A lot of "audiophiles" hear things that they can't hear in proper blind listening tests.

From what I remember about tube amps, they often had rolled-off highs, probably because of the output transformer (or maybe because I was usually listening to AM radio?). Those old radios also had resonant wood cabinets that gave a mid-bass boost.

...I've NEVER heard distortion from ANYTHING that wasn't broken or overdriven.

Guitar amps are a special case and they are designed for "pleasing distortion" when over-driven. Guitar amps are "part of the instrument". They are not high fidelity and nobody wants to hear the whole band through a guitar amp, especially when over-driven into distortion. I read a story once about a technician repairing a guitar amp and while he was at-it he discovered a "design flaw" and he fixed it. The guitar player was not happy with the "improved" sound and he had to put it back the way it was.

 

[Blumlein 88]

Only thing I might point out to the OP, is yes, an old Denon might have better build quality, but a new Denon is probably all SMD and unrepairable just the same. They are selling you their old reputation and providing you not all that much different than Topping or SMSL.

 

[DaDonGoffed]

Only thing I might point out to the OP, is yes, an old Denon might have better build quality, but a new Denon is probably all SMD and unrepairable just the same. They are selling you their old reputation and providing you not all that much different than Topping or SMSL.

Yah, that's true. Eh, I thought you guys would be genuinely more dogmatic. My mistake for judging.

 

[JSmith]

My mistake for judging.

See, we're not as bad here as you thought.

Welcome to ASR.


JSmith

 

[MattHooper]

Unpopular opinions on ASR?

I wouldn’t know anything about that

Dude. Have you seen my hifi?





Our host and colleagues here are very gracious.

That system looks so hilariously fun!

 

[DWPress]

Oh boy! Now we get to be copy editors! Allow me bust out my cartons of red pens!

 

[wwenze]

A lot and allot are pronounced the same, but they have unrelated meanings.

- A lot is used as a pronoun meaning “many” or “a great amount” and an adverb meaning “very much” or “often.”
- Allot is a verb meaning “assign” or “distribute.”
- Alot is sometimes mistakenly used instead of a lot. However, it isn’t a real word and should be avoided.

The colleagues working in production have a different meaning for the word "a lot". Sometimes there can even be two lots, even three

And so is the guy working in the carpark

 

[caught gesture]

Oh boy! Now we get to be copy editors! Allow me bust out my cartons of red pens!

Where did the “to” go?

 

[tomtoo]

As long you not nerve us with snake oil do what you like. If you enjoy to use a marshall as your hifi amp do it. Add a delay and fuzz. All ok. But not try to tell us thats hifi.

 

[dlaloum]

I have alot of opinions that maybe considered unpopular here. I encourage you you to share yours without causing a stink.

1, less distortion does not always mean better for enjoyment: I believe there is alot of crossover with guitar amps and audio amps. Alot of people would perfer tube amps to ss because of the distortion. It seems adding just a bit of distortion, like even order seems to be preferred by alot of people.

2, there are more things to consider other than how a piece of equipment sounds: I really hate bad build quality. For modern equipment it's sometimes build like crap, and dies on you in about a year or two. For example a Topping vs a vintage Denon dac. The topping may have 110db SINAD with great modern technology, but I personally think their quality isn't the best. Imagine it failing on you, it being build with SMD and no schematics to repair it, good luck trying to.

Actual surveys of users, have demonstrated that point 1 is in fact wrong...

I would refer you to the Harman studies of speakers, where users consistently preferred lower distortion and more linear designs when tested blind... - this is a myth.

Having said that - lots of people use their system as a mechanism to "colour" the sound to taste... from things as basic as bass/treble controls, to full RoomEQ and Target curves... - I just don't think there is actual evidence to support your contention that people actually "prefer" distortion.... lots of people talk about it, and lots of articles have been written about the hypothesis that certain preferences are due to specific harmonic distortion profiles.... - but the little work that has been done to try to test that hypothesis, tends to show it to be flawed.

The 110db SINAD is really pretty irrelevant - the threshold for audibility of THD tends to be around -60db, and the threshold for Signal/Noise tends to be around -70db... if you allow an additional 10db for safety margin, anything above 80db SINAD is pretty much academic (except in a recording environment, when other aspects come into play)

But you might find it interesting to experiment with blind testing yourself, and adding controlled amounts of THD (or specifically 2nd harmonic) - to see whether you find it to be audible... and if you do, you could then test to see whether you do in fact find it preferable!