Home  Hi-Fi Audio Reviews  |  Audiophile Shows  |  Partner Mags  Music News       

  High-End High-Performance Audiophile Review Magazine & Hi-Fi Audio Equipment Reviews

  High-Performance Audio Reviews
  Music News, Show Reports, And More!

  Celebrating 29 Years Of Service To Music Lovers

 

 

 

Listener

March/April 2001

 

The Intro
The Heart Of Our Hobby
Editorial By Art Dudley

 

  Apart from reminding Listener's readers how seldom I have been arrested compared to George W. Bush (the score stands at "zero" to "three that we know of"), I vow to keep the following observations as non-political as I can.

Today's concern goes to the heart of our hobby. Specifically, what should we, as audiophiles, be doing with our hi-fi gear? Should we use our stereos to lay bare every nuance of sound on our recordings, as faithfully and thoroughly as technology allows? Or should we use them as we would a drug, to achieve a musical bliss-out whenever the fancy strikes us?

And: Is it acceptable for us to even think of these as separate goals?

 

 

The old musical kicks-vs.-fidelity to the master tape argument has been around longer than Goldie Hawn, and it gets trotted out at least every other week on the various internet hi-fi forums. But a recent and very thoughtful letter brought it to the fore for me. Reader Bruce Winstein reacts to our review last issue of the Naim CDS CD player, in which I observe that the CD5's strengths are sufficient to "take a borderline-uninvolving disc and kick it up to another level, where it grabs your attention and keeps your mind from straying until the music is over." Winstein responded as follows:

 

Maybe the "borderline-uninvolving disc" shouldn't be "kicked up to another level." Might it be that the next Naim CD player will "be so true to the original that it takes discs that I had thought very involving but now realize were colored by my previous player?"

 

My first reaction when I hear that set of criticism is, Hey, go pick on the surround sound guys: They're the ones who are perverting things all to hell for the sake of sonic giggles. Which is true. But that doesn't let me off the hook.

 

So then:
I believe that sound reproduction equipment distorts not only the sound of music but the very musical message itself-the pitch and timing information that is of utmost importance. I do not believe that hi-fi gear can enhance, say, the sense of rhythm and pacing in a recording:* I believe that the best it can do is to get all the way out of the way, and allow one hundred percent of the sense of flow and momentum and verve of the original to come
through unabated.

More often than not, of course, the opposite happens, and the timing information in a music recording is diminished - not just quickened or slowed consistently, but essentially distorted.

 

*This effect is largely misunderstood: How many times have you heard someone suggest that the Linn LP-12 turntable has good rhythm n' pace only because its amplitude response has a peak in the upper bass? Once would be too often because that's not just wrong, it's stupid-wrong.

 

—Art Dudley

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

     
 

Quick Links


Premium Audio Review Magazine
High-End Audiophile Equipment Reviews

 

Equipment Review Archives
Turntables, Cartridges, Etc
Digital Source
Do It Yourself (DIY)
Preamplifiers
Amplifiers
Cables, Wires, Etc
Loudspeakers/ Monitors
Headphones, IEMs, Tweaks, Etc
Superior Audio Gear Reviews

 

 


Show Reports
HIGH END Munich 2024
AXPONA 2024 Show Report
Montreal Audiofest 2024 Report

Southwest Audio Fest 2024
Florida Intl. Audio Expo 2024
Capital Audiofest 2023 Report
Toronto Audiofest 2023 Report
UK Audio Show 2023 Report
Pacific Audio Fest 2023 Report
T.H.E. Show 2023 Report
Australian Hi-Fi Show 2023 Report
...More Show Reports

 

Videos
Our Featured Videos

 


Industry & Music News

High-Performance Audio & Music News

 

Partner Print Magazines
audioXpress
Australian Hi-Fi Magazine
hi-fi+ Magazine
Sound Practices
VALVE Magazine

 

For The Press & Industry
About Us
Press Releases
Official Site Graphics

 

 

 

     

Home   |   Hi-Fi Audio Reviews   |   News   |   Press Releases   |   About Us   |   Contact Us

 

All contents copyright©  1995 - 2024  Enjoy the Music.com®
May not be copied or reproduced without permission.  All rights reserved.