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High Performance Audio - The End?

Steve Guttenberg recently posted on his audiophiliac channel what might be an iconoclastic video.

Steve attempts to crystallise the somewhat nebulous feeling that climbing the ladder to the high-end might be a counter productive endeavour. 

This will be seen in many high- end quarters as heretical talk, possibly even blasphemous.
Steve might even risk bring excommunicated. However, there can be no denying that the vast quantity of popular music that we listen to is not particularly well recorded.

Steve's point, and it's one I've seen mentioned many times previously at shows and demos, is that better more revealing systems will often only serve to make most recordings sound worse. 

There is no doubt that this does happen, but the exact point will depend upon the listeners preference. Let's say for example that it might happen a lot earlier for fans of punk, rap, techno and pop.

Does this call into question almost everything we are trying to ultimately attain?

Could this be audio's equivalent of Martin Luther's 1517 posting of The Ninety-Five theses at Wittenberg?

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Can your Audio System be too Transparent?

Steve Guttenberg 19.08.20

https://youtu.be/6-V5Z6vHEbA

cd318

Showing 1 response by nonoise

nonoise's avatar
nonoise
11,190 posts
 
Steve has always been the voice or reason, and for that, he's suffered the wrath of a lot of purists and measurement freaks. In the end, it's all about how enjoyable your system sounds.

How can anyone enjoy this hobby when they're fretting about the latest and greatest thing to round the corner?

Just like the horsepower wars with cars, there's now a numbers game with how high rez can you go, with more always being better. All the hoopla with MQA and it turns out to be an anti-piracy scheme. Diamond coated tweeters and bullet proof drivers when there are paper based drivers that can make them blush. 

People near to stop and hear the roses.

All the best,
Nonoise 
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