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What Matters and What is Nonsense

I’ve been an audiophile for approximately 50 years. In my college days, I used to hang around the factory of a very well regarded speaker manufacturer where I learned a lot from the owners. When I started with audio it was a technical hobby. You were expected to know something about electronics and acoustics. Listening was important, but understanding why something sounded good or not so good was just as important. No one in 1968 would have known what you were talking about if you said you had tweaked your system and it sounded so much better. But if you talked about constant power output with frequency, or pleasing second-order harmonic distortion versus jarring odd-order harmonics in amplification, you were part of the tribe.

Starting in the 1980s, a lot of pseudo scientific nonsense started appearing. Power cords were important. One meter interconnects made a big difference. Using a green magic marker on the edge of a CD was amazing. Putting isolation dampers under a CD transport lifted the veil on the music. Ugh. This stuff still make my eyes roll, even after all these years.

So I have decided to impart years and years of hard won knowledge to today’s hobbists who might be interested in reality. This is my list of the steps in the audio reproduction chain, and the relative importance of each step. My ranking of relative importance includes a big dose of cost/benefit ratio. At this point in the evolution of audio, I am assuming digital recording and reproduction.

Item / Importance to the sound on a scale of 1-10 / Cost benefit ratio

  • The room the recording was made in / 8 / Nothing you can do about it
  • The microphones and setup used in the recording / 8 / nothing you can do about it.
  • The equalization and mixing of the recording / 10 / Nothing you can do about it
  • The technology used for the recording (analog, digital, sample rate, etc.) / 5 / nothing you can do about it.
  • The format of the consumer recording (vinyl, CD, DSD, etc.) 44.1 - 16 really is good enough / 3 / moderate CB ratio
  • The playback device i.e. cartridge or DAC / 5 / can be a horribe CB ratio - do this almost last
  • The electronics - preamp and amp / 4 / the amount of money wasted on $5,000 preamps and amps is amazing.
  • Low leve interconnects / 2 / save your money, folks
  • Speaker cables / 3 / another place to save your money
  • Speakers / 10 / very very high cost to benefit ratio. Spend your money here.
  • Listening room / 9 / an excellent place to put your money. DSPs have revolutionized audio reproduction
In summary, buy the best speakers you can afford, and invest in something like Dirac Live or learn how to use REW and buy a MiniDSP HD to implement the filters. Almost everything else is a gross waste of money.
phomchick
dumacker
22 posts
 
I began listening to records on a portable player when I was but a child.

If asked, I would say listening is the most important thing you can do when picking up electronics.  While this is the most obvious instruction, people get lost is a sea of statistics and opinion. 

Go to a store and hear what they can hook up for comparison.  Bring your own software and check the amp/speaker pairs for a match using the best signal you can acquire.  At least this is one way to begin your search

We all hear differently just as we all experience the different senses. Everyone deserves their opinion heard but they are just beliefs based on their particular experience.

Share what works for you but never believe that you have the best. That standard expired a week ago.

There is so much incredible equipment, and you do not have to spend that much.  If you have money to burn then give it to someone that needs it.

I will  take my $1000 interconnects with just a sprinkle of  Lark's vomit please...

There is a lot of Larks vomit out there

jhv


rlb61
792 posts
 
I agree that speakers are the place to spend most of your money. I think most people look at tweaks because they can do "something" to try and help their system, usually without spending a ridiculous amount of dough.
glupson
7,842 posts
 
dumacker,

"...That standard expired a week ago."
I have to remember this sentence. Not only for audio equipment, but in general. Short and bright.

"If you have money to burn then give it to someone that needs it."
I am sure that more or less every manufacturer of anything would apply for that donation. They/we all need it.
glupson
7,842 posts
 
duckworp,

Regarding this 50% of the budget going into speakers vs. source. I wonder how that difference in views you and I heard came to be. I do not remember where I actually learned about it, but I was almost exclusively exposed to German audio magazines (Audio, Stereoplay) so that would be my best bet. I had virtually no exposure to British magazines. It was before Internet so things were really word of mouth and maybe it got mistranslated along the way or someone liked the idea of 50% but did not agree with the budget allocation. Who would know. It reminds me that it was, at that time wherever I used to read about audio equipment, often mentioned that British approach to anything was "garbage in-garbage out" so they apparently thought that source was the most important part. That would align with 50% of the budget you heard about.
jsd52756's avatar
jsd52756
473 posts
 
Well I'm in deep do-do, cuz my amp & preamp cost 10K and my Infinity Ren 90's $1500.  Drat the luck.-John

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