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RE: Inexpensive can = good enough or .... ?

Tony said: "If you are a discipline of B.F. Skinner's behaviorism then please continue to "enjoy" your flat life which views experiences as being "real" only when they can be measured like a pigeon in a laboratory cage by some third party, thereby accumulating "knowledge" and "evidence".

Whether one can "hear" something consciously under test conditions such as DBTs is of secondary importance to someone who does not subscribe to this religion of "scientific" materialism. We consider music to be a connection to the Infinite, a concept and experience that is not in accord with materialism. We listen to music for enjoyment. What matters to us is how much impact we get from the music. We also listen for the "wow" factor of realism, when we get moments where the willing suspension of disbelief enables us to imagine that the musicians are actually present. If there are to be any statistics, the key statistic is how many hours we listen each week. We have learned (through introspection) that the conscious mind does not capture our whole experience, and that two systems that sound "identical" in common tests need not come close in this important test. (The simplest example is that one system might result in a slow buildup of listening fatigue, making it unpleasant to listen for hours at a time.)"

True, Tony. Music is not about the geekiness of measurements and the "qualia" of the experience certainly can give us a glimpse of the numinous. If we reduce all music to the (milli/micro/nano/pico)seconds, the whole endeavor would be a complete waste of human effort.

However, this topic was talking about the EQUIPMENT with the OP asking about inexpensive DAC's, not the music. Along this line, the thread unfolded into these graphs and measurements...

One can certainly sense the beauty in a mono 1950's vinyl pressing as much as a modern remaster with original tapes transferred with the best ADC to 24/96. But by all means, lets examine the TECHNOLOGY with measurements, blind testing, etc... if we're trying to answer the question/comment which the OP started. "Fidelity" (answerable by engineering/scientific methods) is more important than "beauty" as it pertains to this topic.

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Archimago's Musings: A 'more objective' audiophile blog.


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  • RE: Inexpensive can = good enough or .... ? - Archimago 02/14/1308:16:57 02/14/13 (2)

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