[mbd]

As you can tell from my current post-count, I'm not the most seasoned member on here, and I really don't mean this as a troll post - honest...

I've owned some ER-4Ps for a few years, and a pair of Grado SR-80s for a couple of years. In the past week, I've bought a second hand pair of HF-1s and a Perreaux SXH2 headphone Amp to chase the dragon a little more (but it will stop there, right?).

So, I've been doing research into the whole audiophile world to learn more about it.

One of the obvious places to visit for learning about anything is Wikipedia as it tends to try pretty hard to give a fair explanation of the topics within. So, when I searched for 'audiophile' I can across a link at the bottom of the page pointing to Audio Critic's Ten Biggest Lies in Audio article.

I'm curious what the response to this article is from the head-fi community, given that some of the points outlined in the article seem to quite firmly oppose what is posted regularly here. (particularly the cable 'lie' and the 'burn in' lie).

My personal opinion is that if you hear a difference and you like one thing better than another, it doesn't matter if it shows up a graph, or if it's a placebo, so long as you're happy with what you are hearing, whether based on perception or reality...

But, does the article have some truth? Does a coat hanger work as well as anything else when it comes to cables? Do electronics really not need burn in?

 

[Cjattwood]

That articles been brought up a few times here before. I think it's a load of crap really, and is just trying to get the author some attention from audio fans, just like John Dvorak and Mac fans.

 

[ATAT]

Agree with 1,4,6,7,8,9,10

2 is false, and shows that the writer has no clue what he's talkign about.. 2nd harmonic distortion and clipping characteristics anyone?

3 is sometimes false.. the absolutely abysmal DACs on digital make it sound like most digital sources are piss-poor but im sure the author has never heard a real dac other than his cd player at home

#5.. sometimes true, open loop systems exhibit higher bandwiths and "sound" better. I like negative feedback, but open loop has its benefits, author shows ignorance again.. things like TIM make it so that its possible for open loop to be better

So basically, writer hates audiophiles, lacks understanding of electronics and read up on some articles of critics.. boo hoo?

 

[Uncle Erik]

Hornet's nest, meet Mr. Stick.

This article has shown up here a few times before, and all of these matters are *very* contentious. For instance, you might notice that the Cables, etc. Forum here is "DBT free." DBT is double-blind testing, the same as what the author refers to as "ABX."

For what it's worth, I agree with him on most of his points, especially the cables. I have the July issue of Stereophile here on the coffee table. I just flipped through the ads, and not one of the cable ads makes any claims about the product. They're all just nice photos of the products and sometimes have a quote from a reviewer. No provable claims are made, and I'm sure you can figure out why.

However, I think he misses the point with tubes. Sure, solid state might have lesser distortion, but what about those who don't mind a little distortion? Tubes sound nice, even if not perfectly accurate. Also, tube amps are electrically simple enough for us English Majors to understand and build if we want to. A little off topic, perhaps, but tubes are the best way to build, learn and repair.

 

[setmenu]

Here is the most recent thread on the subject [locked of course]

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=186208

The subject always tends to get heated somewhere along the line, which is a
shame because many interesting points often come up.

I guess the best approach to all these things his to keep a skeptical hat in
place read up on the subjects in question and do lots of listening.
If you are already enjoying your current music/playback system, keep on
doing so and don't get too worked up about these things.
On the other hand if audio electronics/physics/etc holds a fascination then
start the learning process from ground up.

Over at forums such as diy audio : http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/index.php?

And diyhifi :http://www.diyhifi.org/

There are often in depth and heated debates covering all manner of audio
related topics.
Getting bogged down with things such as cable audibility and dbt is all very
well but the whole audio electronics subject is very interesting in itself.



.

 

[mbd]

Apologies if I am dregging up bad or well-worn topics - I actually did a search for 'audiocritic' before posting and was kind of surprised that nothing obvious came up.

I guess my main surprise is that the Meier HeadFive is meant to hit a truer sound after a certain breaking in for a certain number of hours, but then apparently there's no such thing. Obviously this can be a touchy subject, and I'm willing to let people's own opinions based on what they hear to be their guide.

I can say without a doubt that I am enjoying listening to my CDs via my recently acquired equipment though

cheers!

 

[ken36]

I love this thread and all the others.

 

[mrarroyo]

This subject brings out the best in all of us.

I wonder how quickly it will get locked.

Why, because I truly believe controversial discussions are better than no discussion.

 

[captian73]

Looking at the article I kind of do and don't agree with some things. I think 70% of what is said is true.

Some of it is just clever marketing. For example after watching Godzilla, the scene where Godzilla is being chased through the street by three apache helicopters, I realized that I had watched the entire film in stereo mode.

The sound was being thrown around the room like it should, so why didi i need 5 speakers?? Cinema sound is a total waste of time and no-one will convince me other wise.

My other bug bear is noise cancelling headphones. To me it’s like health products that advertise the fact that it has aloe Vera in them. The difference is so minimal but psychologically I believe we want to convince ourselves that they are performing better than they actually are.

And the last thing is that everybody has an opinion.

 

[Patrick82]

It's easier to become a skeptic than a believer, all you need to do is to not listen.

 

[chadbang]

I'm certain about there are definite differences between tubes and SS, which each having their fans. The same goes with cables. Silver wire IS brighter than copper, but I still would never advocate spending over $100 bucks on a set. Some other things I agree with, I've never experienced a tangible burn-in difference, for example. And the whole thing about swapping power supply cables (hospital grade) out always struck me as ludacrist, although I can see the use of a better power supply helping. I personally fell for the Green Stop Light CD pen back in my youth - that was snake oil if I ever heard of it. But the Shaki stone, yeah, that will always remain my favorite.

 

[Sleestack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick82 It's easier to become a skeptic than a believer, all you need to do is to not listen.

It's easier to be a believer than a skeptic b/c all you have to do is be gullible.

 

[Patrick82]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sleestack It's easier to be a believer than a skeptic b/c all you have to do is be gullible.

It's better to be gullible than narrow-minded, because it makes you learn whenever you are wrong.

 

[Kees]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick82 It's better to be gullible than narrow-minded, because it makes you learn whenever you are wrong.

Patrick82 you're in buddy list now!!!

 

[Sleestack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Patrick82 It's better to be gullible than narrow-minded, because it makes you learn whenever you are wrong.

I'd rather not be gullible nor narrow-minded as you can better discern fact from utter BS.