Passive preamp vs. powered

"...it is true there are those who do not like imaging, bass extension, smoothness or clarity. I've met them, but generally I find that I don't care for their opinions as they are so far from reality"

Hi Ralph,
I'm probably overreacting to my pet peeve but I'm tired of people suggesting that I don't value "reality" because I don't place imaging as highly as others do on my list of priorities. At its best, imaging is the representation of the "miking" in the recording process. It's actually a nice perk that high-end audio has over live events. I know that you are technically correct - that since imaging is on the recording, it should be reproduced. But since pinpoint imaging is so seldom present in my live event experiences, its presence is less vital for me to achieve a sense of reality. In my humble opinion of course.

Phaelon, if the imaging is in the recording and you're not hearing it, why would that be? Not that it should be a goal to have imaging per se, you are right, it doesn't really exist in live music, at least not much in my experience, but if it is in the recording and it doesn't come through in the reproduction doesn't it suggest that something is missing that shouldn't be? It would seem to suggest a loss of information, whether "real" or not.

Hi Paul,
I don't dispute your point. What I took exception to is the assertion that, because I don't walk lock-step with the majority of the audiophile community in certain subjective values, my opinions are disqualified.

Let me attempt an analogy: I assume that one of the goals of a movie set designer, when constructing models of a set, is to facilitate the audience's "suspension of disbelief". High-definition video, like high-end audio, is concerned with extracting all the recorded information. Consequently, I now find that in some movies, high definition reveals Hollywood's magic tricks. Whereas before I was able to suspend disbelief and see a castle, I now see a plastic model. Likewise in audio, pinpoint imaging can sometimes serve as yet another reminder that I'm listening to a recording.

Good points Phaelon.

I always thought imaging/depth was more based on the recording miking technique used by the recording engineer(s) as can be heard on chesky's ultimate Demonstration disk and I am sure there are others as well.