snilf
Responses from snilf
| Speaker positioning: why do audiophiles neglect this so much? This is a pretty heated "discussion." Surely part of the reason is defensiveness regarding purchases; one might wonder whether the music or the music system is the priority. I’m not judging here, but "audiophiles" are into audio equipment the way ... | |
| Amir and Blind Testing First, the OP reports Amir as claiming confirmation bias in "analytical mode": "when he switched to an expensive cable he heard improvements, but when he switched back to the cheap one, he also heard improvements because the brain switches from 'm... | |
| Check this system out! I’m sorry, but—are you guys serious? Have you looked at those pictures? Have you read the article, and Mr. Gish’s "Audio Tips"? First, I have to agree with those who wondered about that gorgeous cabinet. We have to assume it’s well ventilated, es... | |
| What is it I'm failing to grasp? Interesting thread with many thoughtful contributions. Returning to the OP, he posed two numbered points he found to be mutually incompatible: that (1) audiophiles aspire to "duplicat[e] the experience of hearing live music" on their systems and ... | |
| Will a new Dac improve the sound? Lots of very well-informed advice here already. For what it's worth, I was skeptical about DACs; I've got a Marantz SA8005 SACD player that sounded just fine. Then I found a PS Audio UltraLink DAC at an estate sale, and picked it up for a song ($1... | |
| How long ago did you catch the bug? I’ve been an audiophile since high school. Growing up with a jazz musician/Caltech scientist father, I wasn’t allowed to use the system in his study: a Fisher 400 receiver, an ELAC/Benjamin Miracord turntable (with styli for both 33 and 78 rpm; he... | |
| Question about sound stage It's kind of unnecessary to add anything here, but I will anyway. For one thing, hearing loss in one ear doesn't much affect perception of stereo balance, since so much of the sound is mixed with reflections by the time it arrives at your head. Tr... | |
| Don’t want to freak you out… Sorry, but this thread kind of shocks me. Of course, cupping your hands behind your ears will enhance your hearing of sounds directly in front of you; all of these products merely replicate that age-old trick in a hands-free way. Great for eavesdr... | |
| Speaker shootout question -- do you position the same or differently, depending? "Optimally," one would position each speaker at its "optimal" location (quotation marks because optimality will always be a compromise of one sort or another), and have only that speaker in the room. Then live with that speaker for a week or more ... | |
| Beautiful listening rooms tablejockey: I completely agree that the visual aesthetics of one's listening room are important (unless you listen in total darkness). Still, jssmith has a point: many of the pictured rooms look acoustically dubious. Acoustic concerns have to com... | |
| Need new headphone setup. rvpiano, I've been a headphone believer for decades; currently, I splurged on a set of the HiFiMan HE1000 (an insane $3,000!). But the Sennheiser line is outstanding for the money, if you can use an open-back design. The HiFiMan is so open, by t... | |
| Nietzsche and Runaway Audio Consumption nonoise: in China, and also in Japan, there is a serious market for the kind of hand-painted artistic copies you describe, to the point that particular "forgers" who are exceptionally skilled can sell "their" work for huge sums. The quotation mark... | |
| Nietzsche and Runaway Audio Consumption twoleftears: very interesting suggestion. Benjamin was not in my mind when I wrote what I did, but I see your point. For those not familiar with the famous Benjamin essay, it's certainly relevant. I won't pretend to do justice to its subtlety and... | |
| Nietzsche and Runaway Audio Consumption Thanks, hilde45. How do you happen to be reading Nietzsche? (BTW, when asked what a new composer should do, Richard Strauss answered: "Read Nietzsche!") And thanks, sns, for your insightful questions. They express my dilemma, which is what drew m... | |
| Nietzsche and Runaway Audio Consumption As is often the case with aphoristic works, it can be helpful to look at the context of the given particular passage. In aphorism 302, Nietzsche writes: "The truly unendurable...are those who, possessing freedom of mind [freiheit der Gesinnung; "f... |