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Can even a Novice hear differences in Sound Qualit

Just wanted to relate an experience I recently had with a friend of mine. Those that have read my Threads before, have heard me wax enthusiastically about a DIANA KRALL-The Look of Love-DVD Audio Disk. The Recording has a Multi-Channel Surround Sound version Recorded in 24-bit/96 kHz. The Disk is being played through a Pioneer DV-58AV Universal Player, connected to a SpaceTechLab A-102 Vacuum Tube Headphone Amp, Driving a pair of Grado RS-1 Headphones. Only having 2-Channel capability, the Pioneer can Downmix the Multi-Channel version to two. A 65 year old friend of mind, not an Audiophile with limited hearing, was given a chance to listen to this Recording. His jaw had dropped to the floor. After listening for five minutes, he took the Headphones off and said "why don't they make all of them sound as good"? This Man was unimpressed with the multiple 2-Channel SACD/2-Channel Hi-Rez DVD-Audio Disks that he has heard on this Pioneer. The only thing that I can say is "out of the mouth of Babes...."! Sorry to keep harping on the point, but I believe that this is the only solution to the lack of Harmonic Content on all 2-Channel Digital Recordings, no matter the sampling rate. I also believe that it is the only solution to closing the gap of Harmonic Content between Analog and Digital, minus the ticks and pops. It would be a damn shame to lose it!
pettyofficer
dgarretson
2,394 posts
 
Pettyofficer, the blind testing I was referring to was used to compare coupling capacitors-- which may move some audiophiles to orgasm, while barely eliciting a yawn from non-critical listeners.

I don't discount epiphanies in audio or in anything else. I wish could tease my teenager away from her MP3 toward better audio. Unfortunately that one isn't happening--unless maybe I stop torturing her with Anthony Braxton and Ornette Coleman.
pettyofficer OP
453 posts
 
I remember when I was a teenager, everything had to be for the moment. My attention span was extremely short, and everything had to be about convenience in a rapidly fast paced Teenagers life. I eventually grew out of it, and started to appreciate things of high quality. I learned to have patience, and realized that some of the best things in life are worth waiting for. This hardly fits a Teenagers Paradyne, but my Teenage years were a passing phase. They are now nothing more than a distant memory. I believe that most Teenagers mature, they just need someone with the patience that knows exactly where the Teenagers maturity is inevitably heading. It would be an unusual Teenager indeed, that could appreciate a high end Stereo System. My advice, just wait untill they get a little bigger.
tvad
9,467 posts
 
I believe by "Teenager's Paradyne", you mean the third definition of the word paradigm (not paradyne), explained here.
jdoris
852 posts
 
Thanks Tvad! Let's keep the literary standards around here suitably elevated! J
tvad
9,467 posts
 
There can be only one King of the Malapropism: Norm Crosby.
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