[ru9]

Is This true?

-----------------------------------
Steve Hoffman says-

There is no mystery to this. The better the system, the less you will hear the crackle. The magic of music is in the midrange. If a system doesn't have

any or reproduces it badly you will hear what doesn't belong. My computer speakers are crap and the crackle is easily heard. At the studio the crackle is

undetectable, even at full blast volume. When the headphones are plugged in, it is there.

But don't take my word for it. Take your disk to your local High-End stereo store. Try it out on the various systems. Hear for yourself. It's amazing,

the same amazing as when your little vinyl pops and tics vanish on a great playback system.

 

[donunus]

What crackle are we speaking of here?

 

[roadtonowhere08]

The crackle can be one of two things:

1. Distortion on the recording
2. Distortion of the playback system

If the crackle is on the recording itself, no hi-fi system on earth will fix it. In fact, the better the system, the more one will hear the crackle of a distorted recording. If he is referring to distortion on the playback system, things are not right with the hardware or the amps are under-powering the speakers.

Either the quote is taken WAY out of context, or he is full of crap.

 

[LFF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by roadtonowhere08 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Either the quote is taken WAY out of context, or he is full of crap.

As a huge fan of Steve Hoffman, I couldn't agree more.

 

[donunus]

ru9,
The original post doesn't say what music he was listening to and what crackle he was talking about. Can you post a link of where you got this from?

 

[nick_charles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donunus /img/forum/go_quote.gif ru9, The original post doesn't say what music he was listening to and what crackle he was talking about. Can you post a link of where you got this from?

SH Forums - View Single Post - DOORS "Morrison Hotel" AF Gold CD replacement copy NEWS..

Sound like nonsense to me, i.e the kind of "this is a superior system so I will subconsciously ignore any flaws in the playback" stuff that some vinyl extremists use to suggest that vinyl can be quiet

 

[Steve Eddy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by donunus /img/forum/go_quote.gif ru9, The original post doesn't say what music he was listening to and what crackle he was talking about. Can you post a link of where you got this from?

It came from Steve Hoffman's forum. And the disc in question is Audio Fidelity's 24K gold CD of the Doors' Morrison Hotel.

Here's the thread:

DOORS "Morrison Hotel" "AF Gold CD replacement copy NEWS

The Hoffman post in question is post number 85 in the thread.

There are some who take him to task on it, but he doesn't elaborate any further.

se

 

[pedalhead]

I've got this disc & the crackling is clear as day on my fairly decent headphone rig, and also on my not-so-decent Logitech PC speakers. Not sure what Steve was smoking when he posted that nonsense.

 

[roadtonowhere08]

Having read that thread, I am dumbfounded. How is anyone supposed to take SH seriously when he posts stuff that is as insane as what Virtual Dynamics claims? High fidelity speakers are about being true to the recording as possible (that's why they call them high fidelity), and SH, as a mixer and engineer, should be preaching that. After all, that is why people prostrate to him, because he has a reputation for fidelity. Having said that, when he posts all that garbage about magical midrange, he comes off as a loon and an audio tweaker rather than a professional. And the fact that he neither clarifies nor recants that lunacy is a huge strike against him.

I am all for tweaking sound to taste, but let's call it like it is: that is audio tweaking and not high fidelity. High fidelity is the pursuit of a "from the masters to your ears" sound.

I love his work, but that post reeks of crazy pills...

 

[Riordan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nick_charles /img/forum/go_quote.gif SH Forums - View Single Post - DOORS "Morrison Hotel" AF Gold CD replacement copy NEWS.. Sound like nonsense to me, i.e the kind of "this is a superior system so I will subconsciously ignore any flaws in the playback" stuff that some vinyl extremists use to suggest that vinyl can be quiet

but that kind of magical thinking can actually work, can't it? (question to a psychologist, if memory serves...) subconsciously ignoring flaws because of strong beliefs would be an interesting psychological phenomenon - becoming nonsense rapidly when the outspoken magical thinker isn't the consumer but the mastering engineer...

 

[nick_charles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Riordan /img/forum/go_quote.gif but that kind of magical thinking can actually work, can't it? (question to a psychologist, if memory serves...) subconsciously ignoring flaws because of strong beliefs would be an interesting psychological phenomenon - becoming nonsense rapidly when the outspoken magical thinker isn't the consumer but the mastering engineer...

Indeed, that kind of thinking can work and you can "tune out" stuff , like the golfer (Tony Jacklin) who when asked if the train rolling by affected his concentration on a 60ft putt remarked in a puzzled way "What train ?".

If you believe A is better than B, you may very well perceive it so, and ignore problems that would be obvious to others without the same "investment" , hey this has happened to me many a time, we are all human and these things are part of us.

It is one thing to say that with a better system you will be inclined to ignore stuff, but to say that it actually goes away is another matter.

 

[TStewart422]

Steve's always been a tweaker. This is no surprise. Remember, he hated the k701s before he got them recabled. Now he loves them. Strange.

 

[cujobob]

As mentioned, if a crackle is in a recording, a good system SHOULD have that crackle. Why is this even being discussed?

 

[tom hankins]

Quote:

Originally Posted by nick_charles /img/forum/go_quote.gif SH Forums - View Single Post - DOORS "Morrison Hotel" AF Gold CD replacement copy NEWS.. Sound like nonsense to me, i.e the kind of "this is a superior system so I will subconsciously ignore any flaws in the playback" stuff that some vinyl extremists use to suggest that vinyl can be quiet

Well color me an extremist. but i have records that have surface noise, pops and crackles that have been there since day one. And as i moved up the latter to higher end Cartridges and phonostages. Magic, no more noise and even more resolving and detailed at the same time. I think when they say a cartridge is capable of digging deep, this is what they are talking about. Only cost me $2-3K for the cartridge to find out.
No idea about CDs though. cant dig through noise on the shiny silver stuff.

 

[Wmcmanus]

I don't think this is a crazy statement at all. There is no doubt at all that a great vinyl playback system will take out most of the pops and ticks.