Home Hi-Rez Highway

New high resolution SACD releases, players and technology.

[ Follow Ups ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Hi-Rez Highway ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

A counter challange Re: A candid exchange with John Atkinson:

Dear Mr. McConnell,

Wow, your post and the resulting flame skirmish really took me back. Ah, the glory days on the Usenet when we discovered our fellows on the rec.audio* news groups and how quickly some came to seethe with the bile of a 1,000 angry men all demanding proof positive of this or that. I think some of those guys had monitor programs running 24/7 parsing out any mention of the word "cable" so they could fire off another post demanding scientifically controlled double blind ABX tests verified by an impartial disinterested party for publication in a peer reviewed journal.

Sad to say I am old enough to have been in this hobby (now my profession) for over 30 years. Bear with me while I list a few of the controversies I have witnessed or read of that pre-date the current CD vs. SACD pay-per-view death match:

LP vs. 45
LP vs. Cassette
33 RPM LP vs. 45 RPM LP (vital for the 50 or so titles released in the later)
RIAA LP vs. DBX LP (vital for the dozen or so titles released in the later)
Tubes vs. Transistors
Bass reflex vs. Acoustic suspension
West Coast speakers vs. East Coast speakers (fortunately not as bloody as the similar later rivalry in Hip-Hop)
2-way vs. 3-way
3-way vs. 4-way
Big woofers vs. little woofers
Big box vs. little box
Paper cone vs. plastic cone
Alnico vs. ceramic
Dome vs. cone
Silk dome vs. metal dome
4-track vs. 8-track
8-track vs. LP
QS vs. SQ vs. CD-4 vs. 4-channel open reel vs. 4-channel 8-track cartridges
Ultra-low THD amps vs. Low TIM amps
Receivers vs. Separates
Separate pre/power amps vs. integrated amps
All wire sounds the same vs. cables are a vital element of your system
Moving Coil vs. Moving Magnet cartridges
Moving Coil vs. Strain gauge cartridges (a J.G. Holt favorate)
High output MC vs. low output MC cartridges
Head amps vs. step-up transformers
High impedance vs. low impedance MC cartridge loading
Idler wheel drive vs. belt drive
Belt drive vs. direct drive
Triode vs. Pentode
Bipolar vs. FET
FET vs. VFET
Balanced vs. single ended
Wide bandwidth design vs. controlled band pass design
Analog vs. Digital
PCM digital vs. DSD digital
Tape analog vs. mechanical groove analog
Dolby NR vs. DBX
Dolby or DBX vs. no noise reduction
Vertical groove modulation vs. lateral groove modulation for mono
45 degree stereo groove modulation vs. Vertical+lateral stereo groove modulation
Feedback is good vs. feedback is bad
Your turntable is the most important component vs. your speakers are the most important component
Linn & Naim vs. the world
Light racks vs. heavy racks
Spikes vs. soft rubber footers
Listening vs. measurements

Now R.L. you tossed down your gauntlet stating the following challenge:

"But until a credible journal of audio opinion, such as Stereophile, steps up to the plate and organizes a formal test setting in which certain claims can be objectively evaluated, I'm afraid the SACD camp and others like it, will enjoy about as much credibility as The Flat Earth Society. It's not enough to talk a good game, sooner or later one must step up to the plate and hit the ball."

Well R.L. here is my challenge to you. Pick at least one of the audio geek controversies I list above, or any other from the 100+ year history of recorded sound, and site for us specific instants when the type of test you proposed JA launch Stereophile into laid that controversy absolutely to rest. Now I know "that scientific methodology is anathema in the audiophile community - especially blind and dbt" but many of the differences of opinion I cite above concerned some of the largest entertainment companies then in existence. I believe when RCA, Decca, and Bell Labs were running the early stereo experiments they had one or two guys in their employ that knew something about scientific methodology. And then of course we have the Audio Engineering Society with their peer reviewed journal and conference papers. All I am asking is that from this century of research, engineering, and duffing around you cite an instance when after the administrator of a blind or double blind test correlated his data and announced the results all concerned were convinced and the course of audio engineering changed. If blind testing is so vital to progress there must be at least one case where it was used to turn us away from a dead end technology and back on the right course.

I doubt you can cite one because that is not how it works. Blind and double blind listening tests can be valuable when they focus in on narrow questions. For example Dr. Toole's research in Canada on loudspeaker characteristics correlating with people reacting "that sounds good". I am certain his research involved changing one small variable at a time gradually building up a body of knowledge the correlation of which suggested further experiments added more data until a final set of answers emerged. What you seem to want is to short circuit the process run one grand experiment and out pops a definitive answer. In technology only very occasionally does it work that way.

Briefly for me the joy of SACD is summed up by the first ad which popped up in the right hand column of my browser after I hit 'Thread: Display' to see all the replies to your post. It read:
"Acoustic Sounds - SACD Selling Every Super Audio CD Made We Have Over 1000 Titles In Stock
www.AcousticSounds.com"

I will close by saying I admire your writing ability and the nuts it took to go straight to the editor of one of the top English language audio geek rags with your challenge. I do not recall any editor or writer for any audio magazine who has ever submitted to prove his hearing in public so to challenge JA to do so took some balls.

happy listening

Norman Tracy
www.audiocraftersguild.com

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Parts Connexion  

Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
You can not post to an archived thread.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]