ruthieandjohn
Stumbling towards enlightenment
(Formerly known as kayandjohn.)
The Emperor's New Sound
Many years ago there was an Emperor so exceedingly fond of great sound that he spent all his money on the finest audio components. He cared nothing about the music he heard, the feelings that could be invoked by that music, or the artists who brought those great sounds together. He improved his audio system every day. Instead of saying, as one might, about any other audiophile, "He builds his system to enjoy his music," here they always said, "He uses music to build his system."
In the great city where he lived, there were many sounds and many people. Two strangers came to town one day. One called himself the Perceptionist, while the other said he was the Objectivist.
The Emperor thought, "Maybe these two newcomers can improve my audio system further. I should capture and imprison them and direct them that they had to introduce an improvement to my audio system each day. If they do this for a week, I will grant them their freedom."
So the Perceptionist and the Objectivist were seized, thrown into prison, and soon brought to the Emperor, who related his demand for an audio improvement every day for a week as the price for them to regain freedom.
Monday: High Resolution Audio
The Perceptionist said, "May I introduce to you... High Resolution Audio. While most of your subjects listen to their music on iTunes, at 256 kB/sec variable bit rate, I will give you sound at 20 times that bit rate! You will be able to reproduce sounds that are more than twice as high frequency as what you have now, and you can assign way more bits to each sample. Here it is, your Highness. Give it a listen!"
The Emperor listened, first to the old iTunes system and then the new High Resolution system, and his mouth dropped, agape. "I have never heard such clear sound, such spatial resolution, such sound stage, such PRaT. Perceptionist, you are a Genius!"
The Objectivist was startled, but went to listen to the Emperor's new system. He listened to classical music, he listened to pop music, he listened to good recordings, he listened to bad recordings. He closed his eyes and switched between the new high resolution system and the iTunes system, over and over. Yet he could hear no difference.
Frustrated, and thinking that perhaps his hearing was failing, the Objectivist got out his spectrum analyzer and his time domain delay processor and his total harmonic distortion gauge. He measured, and saw... no difference.
Tuesday: Balanced Signals
The next day, the Perceptionist and the Objectivist were brought before the Emperor for the next round of improvements. Said the Perceptionist, "Your stereo system has two channels, but it only has three separate wires. For real stereo, you need four wires and two completely separate audio channels, all the way from the source and into your headphones. Let me give you... the Fully Balanced System. Not only can each channel have its very own pair of wires, but you can reject any static noise that gets onto your wire pairs, as the signals are differenced and such common channel noise cancels out."
The Emperor listened, first to the old system and then to the new Balanced system, and his mouth dropped, agape. "I have never heard such clear sound, such spatial resolution, such sound stage, such PRaT. Perceptionist, you are a Genius!"
The Objectivist was startled, but went to listen to the Emperor's new system. He listened to classical music, he listened to pop music, he listened to good recordings, he listened to bad recordings. He closed his eyes and switched between the new system and the old system, over and over. Yet he could hear no difference. Frustrated, and thinking that perhaps his hearing was failing, the Objectivist got out his spectrum analyzer and his time domain delay processor and his total harmonic distortion gauge. He measured, and saw... no difference.
Wednesday: Low Source Output Impedance
Wednesday's contribution from the Perceptionist was to lower the output impedance of the source driving the Emperor's headphones. "The damping factor of your headphone is governed by having a source whose output impedance is significantly lower than the input impedance of the headphone," he explained, importantly. "Your source must not only drive your headphone to make sound when a note starts, but must quickly stop it, or damp it, when that note stops. If your headphone impedance changes with frequency, or for low notes in general, you must have a much lower source output impedance than headphone input impedance... the magic number is a factor of eight lower!"
The Emperor listened, first to the old system and then to the new Low Source Impedance system, and his mouth dropped, agape. "I have never heard such clear sound, such spatial resolution, such sound stage, such PRaT. Perceptionist, you are a Genius!"
The Objectivist was startled, but went to listen to the Emperor's new system. He listened to classical music... (etc., etc... etc.) He measured, and saw... no difference.
Thursday: Headphone Cable
On Thursday, the Perceptionist pronounced, "Your Highness, your cables are Too Cheap! Proper cables are bought separately from the headphone, never with it, and should cost at least one eighth the cost of the headphone. More is better! So your $3,000 headphones must be driven by cables costing at least $350! Expensive cables allow the music to breathe, as it passes not only the normal electrons but also the Premium Electrons that make up that final, best one percent of your sound. Your highs will become more airy; your mids will become more liquid, and your bass will become more tight."
The Emperor listened, ... agape... (etc., etc.).
The Objectivist was startled, but went to listen to the Emperor's new system. He listened to classical music... (etc., etc... etc.) He measured, and saw... no difference.
Friday: Power Cable
As he walked in, the Perceptionist pointed at the power cord which ran from the wall plug into the Emperor's new system. "Balderdash," said the Perceptionist. "Do you realize that your power cord is polluting your sound? For one thing, it is no thicker than that lamp cord coming out of the other socket, yet your audio system is 100 times more expensive than that lamp. You must justify its existence with a properly tailored power cord, one that is shielded, made of the finest cold-drawn purest metals, bound in the braid known only to be found in unicorn manes, and sheathed in the finest of cloths. Furthermore, you must rewire that plug from your castle's fuse box, incorporating even more of my special wire within your castle walls."
The Emperor listened, ... agape... (etc., etc.).
The Objectivist was startled, but went to listen to the Emperor's new system. He listened to classical music... (etc., etc... etc.) He measured, and saw... no difference.
Saturday: USB Cable
Said the Perceptionist, "I fear you are falling for the fallacy, 'Bits is bits!' You are using an Amazon Basic USB cable! You probably think that unlike a headphone cable, which carries analog signals, the USB cable with its digital signal cannot go wrong. You think that the only thing that can go wrong is bit error rate, which would immediately become obvious. But I tell you here and now that that is MALARKY! Cheap USB cables can have a fluctuation in the threshold between the "one" and the "zero" state. Even worse, they can let in analog noise, just like ants entering cracks in your royal kitchen floor, which then causes noise in your system."
The Emperor listened, ... agape... (etc., etc.).
The Objectivist was startled, but went to listen to the Emperor's new system. He listened to classical music... (etc., etc... etc.) He measured, and saw... no difference.
Sunday: Your Mind
The Perceptionist began to complete the last day of his journey to freedom by stating, "Your stereo system is good, but it does not comply with Community Preferences. For example, the SunHigher headphone is known to have a spectral peak at 6 kHz, making it too bright. You must have that modded or equalized away. And No One allows Beats headphones within 100 feet of their system. To really have good sound, you must buy components that have been vetted by community reviews! Simply knowing that your system has been vetted in the court of informed public opinion will greatly improve your enjoyment of its sound. If you manage to pay full retail price for each component, it will sound even better!"
The Objectivist, having been unable to contribute to the quest for freedom for six days, had had enough. "Stop," he said. “What measures is not what matters. What you like is what matters! Some listeners like bright sounds, some like dark sounds, and some like sounds that come from attractive headphones. What is wrong with that? "
The Emperor was taken aback by the Objectivist's fervor. "Do you mean, that what I actually LIKE is more important than bit rate, balanced, impedance, or cables?"
"Absolutely," said the Objectivist. "I know that you are particularly fond of jazz and classical music and do not care for hip hop, pop, or country music. That is OK, and there are a lot of people who prefer the music you don't care for over the kind that you prefer. Likewise, you may not care for dark heavy sounds with bass so strong that you can feel it, but you may like bright, transparent sounds that make you think that you are there with the music! That is what determines your best listening system, not all this other stuff."
Enlighted and enraptured, the Emperor exclaimed, "You have served me well. I now enjoy my audio system with more enthusiasm than ever. Go... you both are Free!"
Many years ago there was an Emperor so exceedingly fond of great sound that he spent all his money on the finest audio components. He cared nothing about the music he heard, the feelings that could be invoked by that music, or the artists who brought those great sounds together. He improved his audio system every day. Instead of saying, as one might, about any other audiophile, "He builds his system to enjoy his music," here they always said, "He uses music to build his system."
In the great city where he lived, there were many sounds and many people. Two strangers came to town one day. One called himself the Perceptionist, while the other said he was the Objectivist.
The Emperor thought, "Maybe these two newcomers can improve my audio system further. I should capture and imprison them and direct them that they had to introduce an improvement to my audio system each day. If they do this for a week, I will grant them their freedom."
So the Perceptionist and the Objectivist were seized, thrown into prison, and soon brought to the Emperor, who related his demand for an audio improvement every day for a week as the price for them to regain freedom.
Monday: High Resolution Audio
The Perceptionist said, "May I introduce to you... High Resolution Audio. While most of your subjects listen to their music on iTunes, at 256 kB/sec variable bit rate, I will give you sound at 20 times that bit rate! You will be able to reproduce sounds that are more than twice as high frequency as what you have now, and you can assign way more bits to each sample. Here it is, your Highness. Give it a listen!"
The Emperor listened, first to the old iTunes system and then the new High Resolution system, and his mouth dropped, agape. "I have never heard such clear sound, such spatial resolution, such sound stage, such PRaT. Perceptionist, you are a Genius!"
The Objectivist was startled, but went to listen to the Emperor's new system. He listened to classical music, he listened to pop music, he listened to good recordings, he listened to bad recordings. He closed his eyes and switched between the new high resolution system and the iTunes system, over and over. Yet he could hear no difference.
Frustrated, and thinking that perhaps his hearing was failing, the Objectivist got out his spectrum analyzer and his time domain delay processor and his total harmonic distortion gauge. He measured, and saw... no difference.
Tuesday: Balanced Signals
The next day, the Perceptionist and the Objectivist were brought before the Emperor for the next round of improvements. Said the Perceptionist, "Your stereo system has two channels, but it only has three separate wires. For real stereo, you need four wires and two completely separate audio channels, all the way from the source and into your headphones. Let me give you... the Fully Balanced System. Not only can each channel have its very own pair of wires, but you can reject any static noise that gets onto your wire pairs, as the signals are differenced and such common channel noise cancels out."
The Emperor listened, first to the old system and then to the new Balanced system, and his mouth dropped, agape. "I have never heard such clear sound, such spatial resolution, such sound stage, such PRaT. Perceptionist, you are a Genius!"
The Objectivist was startled, but went to listen to the Emperor's new system. He listened to classical music, he listened to pop music, he listened to good recordings, he listened to bad recordings. He closed his eyes and switched between the new system and the old system, over and over. Yet he could hear no difference. Frustrated, and thinking that perhaps his hearing was failing, the Objectivist got out his spectrum analyzer and his time domain delay processor and his total harmonic distortion gauge. He measured, and saw... no difference.
Wednesday: Low Source Output Impedance
Wednesday's contribution from the Perceptionist was to lower the output impedance of the source driving the Emperor's headphones. "The damping factor of your headphone is governed by having a source whose output impedance is significantly lower than the input impedance of the headphone," he explained, importantly. "Your source must not only drive your headphone to make sound when a note starts, but must quickly stop it, or damp it, when that note stops. If your headphone impedance changes with frequency, or for low notes in general, you must have a much lower source output impedance than headphone input impedance... the magic number is a factor of eight lower!"
The Emperor listened, first to the old system and then to the new Low Source Impedance system, and his mouth dropped, agape. "I have never heard such clear sound, such spatial resolution, such sound stage, such PRaT. Perceptionist, you are a Genius!"
The Objectivist was startled, but went to listen to the Emperor's new system. He listened to classical music... (etc., etc... etc.) He measured, and saw... no difference.
Thursday: Headphone Cable
On Thursday, the Perceptionist pronounced, "Your Highness, your cables are Too Cheap! Proper cables are bought separately from the headphone, never with it, and should cost at least one eighth the cost of the headphone. More is better! So your $3,000 headphones must be driven by cables costing at least $350! Expensive cables allow the music to breathe, as it passes not only the normal electrons but also the Premium Electrons that make up that final, best one percent of your sound. Your highs will become more airy; your mids will become more liquid, and your bass will become more tight."
The Emperor listened, ... agape... (etc., etc.).
The Objectivist was startled, but went to listen to the Emperor's new system. He listened to classical music... (etc., etc... etc.) He measured, and saw... no difference.
Friday: Power Cable
As he walked in, the Perceptionist pointed at the power cord which ran from the wall plug into the Emperor's new system. "Balderdash," said the Perceptionist. "Do you realize that your power cord is polluting your sound? For one thing, it is no thicker than that lamp cord coming out of the other socket, yet your audio system is 100 times more expensive than that lamp. You must justify its existence with a properly tailored power cord, one that is shielded, made of the finest cold-drawn purest metals, bound in the braid known only to be found in unicorn manes, and sheathed in the finest of cloths. Furthermore, you must rewire that plug from your castle's fuse box, incorporating even more of my special wire within your castle walls."
The Emperor listened, ... agape... (etc., etc.).
The Objectivist was startled, but went to listen to the Emperor's new system. He listened to classical music... (etc., etc... etc.) He measured, and saw... no difference.
Saturday: USB Cable
Said the Perceptionist, "I fear you are falling for the fallacy, 'Bits is bits!' You are using an Amazon Basic USB cable! You probably think that unlike a headphone cable, which carries analog signals, the USB cable with its digital signal cannot go wrong. You think that the only thing that can go wrong is bit error rate, which would immediately become obvious. But I tell you here and now that that is MALARKY! Cheap USB cables can have a fluctuation in the threshold between the "one" and the "zero" state. Even worse, they can let in analog noise, just like ants entering cracks in your royal kitchen floor, which then causes noise in your system."
The Emperor listened, ... agape... (etc., etc.).
The Objectivist was startled, but went to listen to the Emperor's new system. He listened to classical music... (etc., etc... etc.) He measured, and saw... no difference.
Sunday: Your Mind
The Perceptionist began to complete the last day of his journey to freedom by stating, "Your stereo system is good, but it does not comply with Community Preferences. For example, the SunHigher headphone is known to have a spectral peak at 6 kHz, making it too bright. You must have that modded or equalized away. And No One allows Beats headphones within 100 feet of their system. To really have good sound, you must buy components that have been vetted by community reviews! Simply knowing that your system has been vetted in the court of informed public opinion will greatly improve your enjoyment of its sound. If you manage to pay full retail price for each component, it will sound even better!"
The Objectivist, having been unable to contribute to the quest for freedom for six days, had had enough. "Stop," he said. “What measures is not what matters. What you like is what matters! Some listeners like bright sounds, some like dark sounds, and some like sounds that come from attractive headphones. What is wrong with that? "
The Emperor was taken aback by the Objectivist's fervor. "Do you mean, that what I actually LIKE is more important than bit rate, balanced, impedance, or cables?"
"Absolutely," said the Objectivist. "I know that you are particularly fond of jazz and classical music and do not care for hip hop, pop, or country music. That is OK, and there are a lot of people who prefer the music you don't care for over the kind that you prefer. Likewise, you may not care for dark heavy sounds with bass so strong that you can feel it, but you may like bright, transparent sounds that make you think that you are there with the music! That is what determines your best listening system, not all this other stuff."
Enlighted and enraptured, the Emperor exclaimed, "You have served me well. I now enjoy my audio system with more enthusiasm than ever. Go... you both are Free!"
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