Interesting link on hifi stuff (2)

I have just read the entire Ethan Winer website. I can tell you right now that this man has absolutely no clue. There was not one word on that site that was accurate. His attempt at technical reasoning is pure blather. The only thing I can conclude from his writing, is that he has totally deluded himself(probably to save money on gear), and he posted a website to make himself think that if it is on the internet, it must be true. A true idiot.

Seandtaylor, I think that just having a couple of non-controversial points in his otherwise ludicrous essay is akin to putting a couple of drops of coffee in your poison to make it taste better. There is such total disregard for known fact in his article, that the 2 things that you mention cannot begin to lend credence to his ramblings.

One of the problems I have with web sites and articles such as this, is that they portray the audiophile as a sap, who is just waiting for the next magic trick to sink his hard earned money into. I have found that much the opposite is true. The audiophile is generally an intelligent and informed consumer, and knowledgeable about the subject at hand. Quite often he is not rich, and is very interested in getting good value for his dollar. I can't think of anyone here on this site that would pay good money for a power cord upgrade, if they honestly couldn't hear the difference. So, my point is, that these people are actually "trashing" us. They consider us deluded, obsessive lunatics. I resent that.

Seandtaylor, I agree wholeheartedly with your point of view in this latest post of yours. And the crux of my agreement is that the consumer/audiophile should be well-versed and informed if he is to be spending his money on this hobby. Since this is a technical hobby, there are many technical reasons why things work the way they do. If you have a correct understanding of these, you can make a more informed decision. This should not supplant using your ears as a guide, but should help you to know what has a chance at working, and what doesn't. We all know that specs don't tell the story, and can be a pitfall to those who don't learn beyond the marketing ploy of specs. But, we also know that certain electrical characteristics of the equipment will make a difference in sound, and performance with other gear in your system. So it should be audible performance AND proper design parameters that should guide your decisions. With practice and listening, you will be able to "predict" with some accuracy, what gear will sound like, just by what designs it uses. For example, most people would be able to tell the difference between an EL-34 PP tube amp and a SET 300B. These tubes and designs have characteristic sounds. If you know these things, you can "know" approximately what amps of this type will sound like even before you audition them. If you know what the characteristic strengths and weaknesses are, you know what to listen for to see how well they do in these areas. This can be a benefit when auditioning. So the technical aspects can guide you, but the proof is in the hearing.