[Strangelove424]

Quote:

LMAO@Strangelove - that is an amusing pattern you've found in his reviews and the guy sounds like he can't be honest or maybe he won't have any more high-ticket gear sent his way...oh the tangled web we weave, right? Makes me think about the CNET fiasco at CES...
 
Edited for a miniscule grammar error.
 

 Bingo. There's a weird relationship between audiophile boutique gear, the magazine reviewers, and customers who buy the gear. Boutiques rely on reviews to make a name, the magazines rely on gear/ads from boutiques to stay in business, and worse of all, well-heeled audiophiles (who arguably hold the power to end the entire futile cycle) rely on the reviews to artificially prop up their egos and purchasing habits. It's like a delicate circle jerk that nobody is allowed to interrupt. Thankfully, I'm too poor to afford most of the stuff in those kinds of mags, so I don't have to worry about it. It makes for good entertainment though, but I imagine not the kind of entertainment the publishers have in mind. I didn't know about the CNET fiasco, but a quick Google search has caught me up. It reads familiar.    

 

[mikeaj]

Clearly you're just jealous of their wealth, elite auditory capability, and fine sensibilities, which cause them to demand the best and thumb noses at the crass toys of the plebeians.  

 

Spoiler: Warning%3A%20Spoiler!

That said, some high-end gear is quite exceptionally designed, with terrific (overkill?) performance for just music playback.

 

[Strangelove424]

Quote:

Clearly you're just jealous of their wealth, elite auditory capability, and fine sensibilities, which cause them to demand the best and thumb noses at the crass toys of the plebeians.  

 

Spoiler: Warning%3A%20Spoiler!

That said, some high-end gear is quite exceptionally designed, with terrific (overkill?) performance for just music playback.

lol. Well, if I saw a pair of Nautilus speakers sitting on someone's lawn with a "take me" sign on them, let's just say I could easily fall victim to the lure of their bourgeoisie charm. If, of course, there was enough room in the trunk. Or in the backseat. Or out the windows. Or on the roof. Or the hood. Or maybe just abandon the car...

 

[bigshot]

I'd sell the monsters and use the money to buy better and more manageable speakers. I'd use the leftover money to buy CDs.

 

[ultrabike]

You sir are a businessman!

 

[bigshot]

Can someone recommend a good LAME encoder for Macintosh? I'm conducting a listening test for lossy codecs in a classical music group and I would like to include LAME samples in the mix.

 

[anetode]

You can get the encoder itself (command line) at http://www.rarewares.org/mp3-lame-bundle.php. Then you need a front end like http://sbooth.org/Max/

 

[Strangelove424]

Chewy used a LAME encoder by dbpoweramp on his ABX test that sounded really damn good. They have an OSX version. Chewy might have been using a Mac himself, I'm not sure though. All I can say is that all his files sounded really really good. The ABX results being no more accurate than guesses would indicate that as well. 

 

[chewy4]

I don't think the dbpoweramp music converter is supported on OSX. I know people have had luck with running it through Wine on Linux so you'd probably also have luck emulating it on mac since they're both unix based, but you're better off using something native as emulated stuff generally isn't too stable. Not an Apple guy myself so I don't have any suggestions for that.

 

[xnor]

re lame mp3: bigshot, do you mean binaries?

 

[roadcykler]

Quote:

 Bingo. There's a weird relationship between audiophile boutique gear, the magazine reviewers, and customers who buy the gear. Boutiques rely on reviews to make a name, the magazines rely on gear/ads from boutiques to stay in business, and worse of all, well-heeled audiophiles (who arguably hold the power to end the entire futile cycle) rely on the reviews to artificially prop up their egos and purchasing habits. It's like a delicate circle jerk that nobody is allowed to interrupt. Thankfully, I'm too poor to afford most of the stuff in those kinds of mags, so I don't have to worry about it. It makes for good entertainment though, but I imagine not the kind of entertainment the publishers have in mind. I didn't know about the CNET fiasco, but a quick Google search has caught me up. It reads familiar.    

You have crystallized that very well. I'd imagine the reviewers of high priced stuff wouldn't agree, but they don't have the best objectivity most of the time.

 

[limpidglitch]

Quote:

Can someone recommend a good LAME encoder for Macintosh? I'm conducting a listening test for lossy codecs in a classical music group and I would like to include LAME samples in the mix.

 
XLD uses LAME, would that serve your purpose?

 

[bigshot]

Someone ressurected the Virtual Dynamics thread over in the cable forum. That was the dust up that got all of us banished to the sound science siberia. It's pretty interesting reading... Free cables being gifted on the sly to posters, a low level company rep who has a nervous breakdown, and a high up guy in the company who talks out of both sides of his mouth and refuses to answer direct questions. In the end, the guy ran for the hills. The VD ads disappeared from Head Fi and he was never heard from again. Fun reading.

 

[limpidglitch]

Quote:

Someone ressurected the Virtual Dynamics thread over in the cable forum. That was the dust up that got all of us banished to the sound science siberia. It's pretty interesting reading... Free cables being gifted on the sly to posters, a low level company rep who has a nervous breakdown, and a high up guy in the company who talks out of both sides of his mouth and refuses to answer direct questions. In the end, the guy ran for the hills. The VD ads disappeared from Head Fi and he was never heard from again. Fun reading.

 
I can't seem to find it. Is it the one containing rude pictures of Patrick?

 

[Rebel975]

This? http://www.head-fi.org/t/293165/my-cat-tore-up-my-virtual-dynamics-power-3
 
It's a hilarious thread about certain power cables being regular old garden hose filled with sand.