Bob,
Good point. In a way it all often amounts to "insurance".
If your engineering minded then XLR balanced "insures" you a better sound because you know it has theoretically better noise rejection and immunity from RF/EM. In reality RCA is often so good that you cannot hear a practical difference except in extreme conditions - long runs or a rats nest of components in a huge rack. The same can be said for "thermal compression" or "jitter" - the more technical specters that conjure fear in the hearts of technically minded. In the case of thermal compression - you have to play LOUD before it even becomes an issue.
For those less engineering minded then almost any tweak can seem like "insurance"- a magic pebble or a cable elevator. Provided there are a few people who swear by the tweak then seeds of doubt grow into monsters of our "Hi-Fi Id". These insurance tweaks are the preferred route to anxiety over our precious systems. In essence, nothing ever kills the Id monsters (of our subconscious fears) - so we just keep on tweaking and buying and upgrading...
Engineers or non-engineering minded, ultimately I think we are all mostly driven by dark fear or insecurities that we are not quite getting the utmost from our systems...and clever marketing folks pray on these fears.
Ultimately, our deepest subconscious desires and fears conjure invisible Monsters of the ID as depicted in Forbidden Planet and many art forms (Shakespeare's Tempest). Essentially our deepest desires lead to fears which subconsciously drive us in directions to fight them (whether we know it or not).
Good point. In a way it all often amounts to "insurance".
If your engineering minded then XLR balanced "insures" you a better sound because you know it has theoretically better noise rejection and immunity from RF/EM. In reality RCA is often so good that you cannot hear a practical difference except in extreme conditions - long runs or a rats nest of components in a huge rack. The same can be said for "thermal compression" or "jitter" - the more technical specters that conjure fear in the hearts of technically minded. In the case of thermal compression - you have to play LOUD before it even becomes an issue.
For those less engineering minded then almost any tweak can seem like "insurance"- a magic pebble or a cable elevator. Provided there are a few people who swear by the tweak then seeds of doubt grow into monsters of our "Hi-Fi Id". These insurance tweaks are the preferred route to anxiety over our precious systems. In essence, nothing ever kills the Id monsters (of our subconscious fears) - so we just keep on tweaking and buying and upgrading...
Engineers or non-engineering minded, ultimately I think we are all mostly driven by dark fear or insecurities that we are not quite getting the utmost from our systems...and clever marketing folks pray on these fears.
Ultimately, our deepest subconscious desires and fears conjure invisible Monsters of the ID as depicted in Forbidden Planet and many art forms (Shakespeare's Tempest). Essentially our deepest desires lead to fears which subconsciously drive us in directions to fight them (whether we know it or not).
"The Krell forgot one thing: monsters from the id." -- Warren Stevens (as Doc Ostrow), Forbidden Planet