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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.
128x128phomchick
erik_squires
16,069 posts
 
Room acoustics Uber Alles. 

A good room can make a wide range of speakers sound excellent. A poor room will severely limit you, and force your hand. 

DSP is great, but it's benefits are magnified with good room acoustics. 

Most pros I know, recommend room acoustics first, then DSP/EQ. 

Best,

E
aalenik
67 posts
 

Good topic by the OP and an unusually civil discussion!  Thanks to all of you for that  I agree with the OP on many points, but let me add a few on what I've found matters most (at least, to me)...

1.  Recording quality (regardless of format) is essential.  A poor recording will never sound as well as a good one, in any system, in any room.  (Please copy, Michael Greene...)

2. Speakers do the most to create the 'sound' of your system.  But synergy of spkrs. and amp is CRUCIAL for optimum performance.

3. A good room makes a huge difference.  The less tuning or DSP necessary, the better.  But if you have problems, DO tune or use DSP to improve the room acoustics.  Even in the best room, bad spkr. placement will kill the sound, so start with that.

4.  The more revealing your system is (and your ears are), the more cables make a difference.   And yes, some cables do seem to cost ridiculous amounts of cash for 'wires'.  But my experience is that once you've built a nice system, the right interconnects, A/C cords and (to a lesser extent) spkr. cables can take it from 'nice' to 'extraordinary'.  Is that sonic improvement - and the emotional payoff when you listen - worth paying more than you THINK they should cost?  That's YOUR call...

5. Price is not always commensurate with quality... but (sigh) it often is.  I've always sought out 'bargain' components (and cables) that provide great sound, and often found them. (My spkrs. and amp both perform FAR above their pay-grade.)  Other times, you just have to pay to get the best stuff.  But remember that great sound CAN be had at a bargain, and that throwing a bunch of $$ into your gear w/out considering system synergy can be an enormous waste.

I hope this is helpful.  Thanks for reading, and...

HAPPY LISTENING!


audiolabyrinth's avatar
audiolabyrinth
4,555 posts
 
Cable's,  amplifiers,  source, pre-amp,  speaker's!, very good speaker's will yield everything up stream without spending thousand's of dollar's on speaker's! 
lwal22's avatar
lwal22
76 posts
 
Amg56
. Guess you missed the point. I did my test with the intention of  hearing the entirety of my family of upgrades removed to judge the overall effectiveness of the lot of them.  It was more than a bit biased by expectation I suppose, but did show me what the entire group of upgrades summed up to.  
Maybe calling bs was a bit hasty, no?
you assume I was looking to the stripped down system in the hopes of it being a permanent change.  No. Just a bit of education.  And a chance to play with my toys. 
i stand by the results, though I have only a non-audiophile friend  to confirm them. 
I still can’t grasp why a number of forum members feel they should try to save the rest from what they consider unworthy.  No one stole my money and left a bi-wire set in its place.  
bstbomber's avatar
bstbomber
73 posts
 
This is a Great Article.
I have been a Musician for over 50 Years.
I have Recorded in several Hi End Studios and still play live.
I worked for ADS Speaker Co, sold Hi Fi in a retail shop and repaired musical instrument Electronics.
From my learning I was led to believe all Hi Fi is The Reproduction of Music where Recoding is The Production of Music.
They are two different Electronic Standards.
The above article is right on.
Besides budget In Selecting Products its all about your ears and what they know and your personal taste.



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