Is simpler better?
I have been adding components in my audio systems and subtracting as well at times. Over some time now, I wondered if I hear better resolution, dynamics, clarity and get closer to the recorded music when I keep the path short and simple. I mean one source, one integrated amp and to the speakers. Or even a digital component to a DAC then to the integrated amp and finally to speakers. Bypassing the preamp or in some cases bypassing a separate DAC. It certainly elimates the need for redundant volume or gain, reducing wires or cables, reducing the chance for incompatible components and keeping the path short.
For those using turntable(s), does the combination of phono preamp, platter, tonearm, cartridge, motor, isolation get to be too much to manage? To get the best sound?
Your thoughts? Your experience?
@barts point(s) well-taken... as a long time educator it has been fun to watch methodological and ideological pendulums swing back and forth. What is evident, though, is more programs, more tasks, more responsibilities, and more fine-grained lesson planning and administrative oversight certainly is counter-productive... more more more rarely means better. And, there are some simple things that have maintained exactly due to their simplicity for centuries. The most effective martial arts fighting techniques is one example; fancy is for losers, in the ring. A sword. The wheel. The pendulum does not swing, for those things. The pendulum itself is simple. There is a universality and beauty to simplicity. Yes, fancy-complex can have it's place, though, too... but it's more complicated and difficult to live with long-term day to day in the home, though admittedly some people just prefer to live that way. I have not found that I've enjoyed having more a more complex home audio system brought me more joy than a simple one. The complex versions have been more burdensome. |
