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How close to the real thing?

Recently a friend of mine heard a Chopin concert in a Baptist church. I had told him that I had gone out to RMAF this year and heard some of the latest gear. His comment was that he thinks the best audio systems are only about 5% close to the real thing, especially the sound of a piano, though he admitted he hasn't heard the best of the latest equipment.

That got me thinking as I have been going to the BSO a lot this fall and comparing the sound of my system to live orchestral music. It's hard to put a hard percentage on this kind of thing, but I think the best systems capture a lot more than just 5% of the sound of live music.

What do you think? Are we making progress and how close are we?
peterayer
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timlub
2,039 posts
 
I guess it is all perspective, I can tell you that on the small jazz ensemble that I told above. Instrument placement is outstanding as is height and width, the realism of the instruments also right on. I have had more comments than I care to mention along the lines of "wow, it couldn't get any better without having the artist with you"... There is no way 5% draws those comments.... Of course..... being perspective?
Good Listening, Tim
xti16
1,525 posts
 
Elizabeths answer +1 - I'll go as far to say BOSE is better than 5%. OTOH if the recording is bad - well it may very well be less than 75% - That's my opinion
lrsky
1,118 posts
 
Assigning an actual percentage would be an exercise in intellectual futility and meaningless as nobody would agree...it's enough to say that I've not heard reproduced sound, sound anything like the real thing, EVER.
Varying degrees of 'wow', but not enough to fool anyone.
OK, not enough to fool me, I can't speak for others.

Larry
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uru975
684 posts
 
Recently heard some tapes by the Tape Project played back in a recording studio. It was at times better than real could be and left me not caring that it was more so. It was just so enveloping. How near or how far matters less than how involving. If it gets to you its great if it doesn't it is just a group of sounds but no matter how well produced it is NOT music. So what percentage, it depends on the set up, the room, the recording venue and the recording engineer's ability and equipment. Each is different so sometimes 5% sometimes in the best situations perhaps 90%.
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