Stereophile Article - Holt telling it like it is.

JGH represents, IMHO, that group of folks around when HiFi was a group of DIY hobbists who had far more interest in 'sound' than in music. Train's and planes anyone? Lots of fun experimenting in those days.

His holy grail of 'live music' as a goal is virtually unobtainable and when seriously pursued only results in the expenditure of lots of money and frustration.

Todays 'hobby' is about collection and synergy which will result in a system which results in its owners satisfaction when listening. Its not about perfect replication about recorded sound....so what.

IMHO, JGH is in fact a frustrated old man why has see 'his' hobby devalued. Whats new! Lets talk about 'digital v film' 'dark room v computer' photography for examply. Personally I still like film and darkroom, but I ain't bitching about digital. I just bought a digital camera...and I love it (for what it does well). Ditto for many other hobbies and professions as well.

Good thoughts Emailists,

Funny, that BBC dip thing. IMHO it works very well in closely recorded, often multi-miked and mixed, music. Sort of balances out and can sound a bit more realistic. But if the music is recorded with a mike from a more distant location such as might be used in binural recordings by 'audiophile producers' it will sound dull. IMHO Gordon must have liked hearing all of the sibilence one would pick up from a 'mike in the mouth' so long as the speaker's FR was flat. His choice. He was also fond of ambiance systems, made it more 'realistic' for him - wonder what he did to compensate for the the ambiance already mixed into the recording. Personally I would seek out a different audio god if I wanted to deify someone.