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 3 responses by tomic601

Self appointed Lord

look into a Cello preamp if you want to “ fix “ a nasty recording but wire it next to the listening chair. Certainly a new generation of cello like featured preamps are in development with killer remote functionality... my REF5se will just have to do.... for now


And I have to say this because being from Seattle, knowing some Definitive staff WELL and hyper importantly both Microsoft and Amazon employees at many levels the hateful screed directed at them by Mr. Miller is uncalled for. Wonder what Nature of towering ego needs to Do that ?
Is Diana Krall really ten feet tall ?

it comes back to your references, well well expressed by @desktopguy AND your preferences for distortions you like or don’t even know why you like them.

two paths forward: systems faithful to the source signal and flavors humans like for whatever reason...

in our short time here, assuming one go many should seek out a system that performs the latter - some of us with multiple systems seek out both and can realize with a big smile the flavorization 

I know of some Artist studios with excellent monitors - say a stacked pair of VLR ( only stacked because of duty cycle and SPL ) where the final work product rows a fine line between Cortez the Killer and Comes a Time.

have fun, enjoy the music and the journey