2. misc-audio
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As much as I try, I just don't get it........

A few YouTubers are always making changes to their systems, and having their audience listen ( I imagine you all know the few posters I am speaking about ). The show reviewers are posting some audio samples, and having their audience listen. I can go on and on. Honestly, however I try, I cannot determine what the big deal is, as these videos, with the " audio presentations ", are weak, poor, and tell me nothing. I listen to a lot of YT videos of my favorite artists, videos from some of my favorite recordings, some studio and some live, and many sound quite good.....but nothing from these others I speak about, do anything for me. This is why I admire Steve, at his Audiophiliac channel, Sean at his Zero Fidelity channel, and Paul McGowan at his Ask Paul ( from PS Audio ) channel ( and others ), who speak, and know, listening in this context, is useless. Am I alone in this finding ? Does anyone actually feel listening to some of these posters, with their " audio presentations ", get the impact, or " lack of ", of what they are hearing ? I am in no way demeaning these folks, but my audio and listening background, does not allow me to make good judgements in this way, unless I am in the actual room of the demo. Enjoy, be well and stay safe. Always, MrD.
mrdecibel
barts's avatar
barts
685 posts
 
MrD,
I can't agree more.  There are persons who legitimately believe they
can discern differences in audio equipment over the telephone. This is as bizarre as it gets for me.  YT is no better, how many variables and how many times has this been bisected. I'm sorry, but for all the bloviating about you must hear this piece in your own space and now suddenly anyone putting up vids on YT can influence you...OMG.

That's not to say that I enjoy some of those vids!  Have a nice evening.

Regards,
barts 
glupson
7,842 posts
 
Come to think of it, geoffkait's Teleportation Tweak was years ahead of schedule.

It could improve the YouTube sound, too, I guess.
eganmedia's avatar
eganmedia
26 posts
 
Daj says:
Nice. To me, this blows up the argument of uselessness.

The fact that the mics are better than a camera mic moving around the room doesn't mitigate the fact that Rode are, at best, "meh" microphones.  Nevertheless there is a baseline established and maintained.  That's a step above.  But the placement of the mics lets you know how each of those speakers sound off-axis only, not what the on-axis sound is like at what would be a typical listening position.  Even with a single set of speakers A/Bing them miked from the position shown in the video with mics placed at the apex of a triangle typical to a home listening setup would sound at least as different from one another as multiple speakers miked the way they are in the video.  Position those same mics like that on an electrostatic speaker and it would sound absolutely nothing like how it would to a person in the sweet spot.  At the distance in the video most cardioid mics are still pretty beamy and the distance between drivers of the floor standing speakers will definitely affect what gets picked up.  The stand mounted speakers look to have their drivers more or less equidistant from the microphones so they might well have the advantage of less phase cancellation.
diamonddupree's avatar
diamonddupree
75 posts
 
@eganmedia has it right, IMO. Do the mics in the video capture a sonic difference between the three different speakers? Sure, especially going from the stand-mounts to the full-range. But what's lacking is the character of those changes, aside from the floorstander sounding fuller and more recessed, and the Focal sounding brighter. But the clip tells us nothing about the image presented in the soundstage (I'm listening through Audeze LCD-Xs). There's no information about the depth or height of the image, where the instruments are placed within the soundstage, the tonal differences in Adele's voice, or the piano, from speaker to speaker. I've always assumed that audio demos on YT had zero value from an audiophile POV and I'm quite surprised to hear people on this forum advocating for them. If you're the kind of person who spends substantial sums on power cables, cable risers, TT cartridges, digital transports, and hi res files to get the absolute best performance out of your system, how can you seriously argue that sonic characteristics can be accurately conveyed through a budget recording made with dubious mic placement and streamed over WiFi? I'm dumbfounded that people here whose opinions I highly respect seem to think so.
daj
87 posts
 
" how can you seriously argue that sonic characteristics can be accurately conveyed through a budget recording made with dubious mic placement and streamed over WiFi?"

Probably where the confusion lies, as I don't believe that's what's being argued. I think everyone would understand they are making an extrapolation based on what they are hearing. You guys are holding to absolutes and others, cognizant of the limitations, are still finding value... value, not accuracy, not a replacement for live demo, not even close, but useful information nonetheless. Like many arguments on AG, there are valid points on both sides, and neither is wrong.
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