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RE: Question for you: what's the take-away from this test for you personally?

From carcass:
"Why I'm asking this...

I hope you would agree that you personally appear more in "objectivist" camp, based on your posts here. I also saw your thread over at HA (isn't that "discussion" great?), where you state "world ... doesn't care for the bizarre/cultish/tweaky nature of much of it (frankly neither do I!)".

Was there anything about the results of this test, that will cause you to move a notch to the other side, and realize that better gear - coupled with good hearing - actually allows for better appreciation of sound quality?

I mean, you can see my response to your test (I put my moniker in the comments), you can see what my system consists of, you can read my - profoundly "subjectivist", whatever that means - posts here. Of course, you'll have to trust my word that it only took seconds to determine which is which, using "Keine Zeit" track.

Does that tell you anything at all?"

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Firstly carcass, yes philosophically, I am more of an "objectivist" these days. If we had a discussion 10 years ago, my leanings would probably be more on the subjective side; having tried out stuff like green pens, CD 'demagnetizers', Peter Belt foils, borrowed numerous expensive cables including power cords, etc.

Over the last few years here I think I have been open with my personal bias (we all have some 'leanings', right?)... if you look back about 3 years for example, I was doing ABX trials with 24/96 vs. 16/44 and posting my impressions here. You can also look on the Squeezebox forum and see my postings over the years and recently as I have been testing out RightMark AA and putting some results out there.

I think most of us who seek out excellent audio reproduction after a number of years realize that there's a whole spectrum of ways around thinking about what it means to be an "audiophile"; along the way I think we all explore various facets. Looking back at the Peter Belt stuff for example, I remember being fascinated by his ideas and although I consider his theories untrue and bizarre today, it was worth thinking "outside the box" about such theories and discussing with other audiophile friends back in those college days.

As for the results of this test, I had always stated that high bitrate MP3 sounds good (remember, this doesn't mean I believe everyone should convert to MP3 or something, but that I'd be quite happy with a good MP3 if a more accurate copy were not available). The results certainly do not show otherwise and from E-mails I've received, am glad that this test has made some people consider this question more deeply. My only surprise was how many people preferred the "double LAME encoded MP3" version! Furthermore to show that there was a stronger preference with more expensive gear was also interesting and presents further questions & hypotheses (as you and audioengr have already posted about). That's good to see!

Since you keep bringing it up: "I mean, you can see my response to your test...". Yes, I see your response... But are you sure you know how you voted?
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Archimago's Musings: A 'more objective' audiophile blog.


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