Sound Quality of red book CDs vs.streaming

I know a lot of people who work in the world of audio. I have no idea of the people who visit Audiogon so now and then are aware that most reviews are paid ones these days. And that they write things what is not the truth.

When I speak to new clients many of them buy things based on reviews. So it proofs how easy it is to make people believe that those reviews are true. Most maganzines or websites live from that money.

But the question is: do you care more about the money than being honest?

I think far over 95% will choose for the money. I am 180 degrees the opposite of these people. But makes this me a better person?

I don’t see myself as a better person. I am who I am and do things my way. I can only do it this way. Like the people who own a company in audio or a magazine in audio first focus on being able to pay the people who work for them.

I would never want to change my life with theirs. Because I believe and focus on long term thinking. The audio industry is decreasing now for many years in a row. I think and believe that trial and error will make it decrease even more.

Trial and error will not create a better quality for consumers. It is and will always be very ineffective to create a quality what never will become stunning. And I think and believe that only a superior level in quality and emotion can change a demand.

Tru-Fi proves that many people who auditioned it wants to own it. Tru-Fi also proved that women are interested in audio. And like to use the system of their partner. Women have a better developed hearing than men own.

But....men have a lot more interest in audio equipment than women have. But....when you talk about music, women also like music. I did run an audio shop and I had a 2-dimenional system always ready for shootout. And a 3-dimensional system ready for shootout.

Most women never liked to be there and give their opinion about a system or loudspeaker. They where only there for the looks. But.....what I learned was when I demoed and presented the 3-dimensional system to women. They could become enthusiastic as well.

Women are more demanding in quality compared to men. Even children are not interested in trial and error systems. But...when we ask children to listen to a Tru-Fi system, we see the same kind of reaction by women. Each person likes emotion and needs emotion.

But....most trial and error sytems are poor in emotion. Many people are not interested anymore in an incomplete system what only can reveal a limited level in emotion. I understand them all, I would not be interested in it as well.

Of course headphones cannot project that big soundstage way out in front of you like speakers can (ideally) but on the plus side headphones can be very transparent and provide that special you are there sound with the right recordings. The performers can be out in front of you on occasion. Many studio recordings that give “performers in the head” sound with headphones provide a relatively unconvincing soundstage. It’s a trade off. What headphones tend to have in spades is dynamics and detail, whilst avoiding the potentially steep cost associated with room treatments, space, electronics, speakers, cables. And years of effort. 😬

No, but the stage what the more expensive Astell&Kern can create with Jerry Harvey Audio headphones is in stage still bigger than all 2-D systems.

I test new products all the time. We want to know the DNA, we are always looking for products who can reveal all the different aspects/properties of sound.

The biggest limitation in audio is that most audioproducts are 2-dimensional. In the Tru-Fi world this means that the level in stage depth is 1 meter or less. I decided not to talk about brands anymore. Because people overhere often feel offended when I talk about brands that are 2D or miss other aspects/properties of sound.

I will never talk about those brands again which are incomplete regarding missing aspects/properties of sound anymore. So I will not answer any question when people ask me if a brand or product is able to reveal all the aspects/properties of sound.

Because it is not my responsibility which aspects/properties of sound they can reveal. Manufacturers need to take care of the quality of their own products. So they are responsible for this. We will only talk about the brands we use and modify. We will take care of those brands. And no I will not talk about these brands at this moment either.

As humans we can perceive sound in a 3-dimensional spectrum. So it would be more than normal that audio systems would be able to create a 3-dimensional stage. But....the facts proof (and they count) that most brands and products are still 2-dimensional.

In 2017 I tested different fuses. And even most fuses are 2-dimensional. When I play digital audio I use 3 different powersupplies. When I used one fuse who owns a 2D stage, I almost lost all the stage depth of my system. And the individuel focus of voices and instruments was also very limited.

It proofs how difficult it is to create a stunning 3-dimensional stage. Because it is an imporant part of Tru-Fi. You cannot make even 1 mistake to limit the stage depth of a system. When I visit an audio show I always count the faults they make.

I walk in a room and I see the products they use, So I see the DNA. I see how they placed it in the room. And I start counting the mistakes they all make. This goes automatically. When they start playing music the list of mistakes grows bigger.

I always focus on the faces of people and I become aware that they cannot see all those individual mistakes they made. It is not on their radar and it never will be on their radar. Based on the fact that they do not own the insight and knowledge what is needed to understand it.

People often ask me if it is possible to learn how I work. I would need young intelligent people and they are prepared to spend thousands of hours to learn it. It is like programming your brain. Knowledge and insight is something you need to learn all by yourself.

Einstein: “Only one who devotes himself to a cause with his whole strength and soul can be a true master. For this reason mastery demands all of a person”

Since 1998 I had a lot of contact with different specialists. And I still have a lot of contact with specialists in different areas. But....at the end you need to do all the research yourself. But this is what I love and it never costs me a lot of energy. It is in my system and a part of who I am as a person.

Now the end of 2018 is there. We made the biggest steps ever before in both sound&vision. My insight and knowledge becomes bigger each single year. It makes it easier each year to understand it. The speed I can create new upgrades and improvements is growing all the time. It is like you are standing on a higher platform.

After time you can see more information and details which makes it more easy to understand it. The time has come to share it with manufacturers. We want to share it with different manufacturers at different price levels. For us it is important that many people will have the benefit of it.

We also will create a platform in both dutch and in english. We bought a Sony professional 4K camera with different separate professional lenses and different professional microphones. We will show how we work. And we will talk about different products and systems.

It is something what no one does in our world at this moment. It goes so much further in details than you all ever have seen before. We also will give many upgrades and modification options available. Now we only use it for our own clients. But it will become available for everyone.

We modify amps, preamp, sources and powersupplies a lot. But we also started to modify Oled screens. And we can use it for Qled and led screens as well. The results are stunning. We can create a superior level in vision based on our modifications and calibration no other company can even come close.

Also in vision we did a lot of research regarding the influence of smog, magnetism and highfrequent noise to vision. Here we also have a lot of different tools to improve it.

Recently we started to modify subwoofers as well. And in 2019 we will do a lot of more different products as well.

We will introduce Tru-Fi and will proof that we do sound&vision at a new level in quality and result never heard and seen before. For an extreme born perfectionist it is all about outperforming and be better than the best there is now. See it as a mindset and choice you make.

Bo knows!! Merry Christmas to all and to all Tru-Fi audio! Hohoho.

Just to get back to the original post of this thread for a moment.
Does anyone know what source is being used for streaming tracks?
Do record companies allow their master tapes to be used?