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referencing vs plug & play

This last couple of months more of you have been getting ahold of me, it's cool don't stop. I enjoy working on your systems and especially enjoy some listening together. Something though is coming up often and it's making me wonder if somewhere along the way someone has dropped the ball when it comes to comparing components. In talking with a few of you I've learned that a lot of you are dropping components into your systems and comparing without dialing your system into the new set of conditions. Back in the early days of referencing, before plug & play, when we made changes to a system we treated the system as if everything was starting from scratch. We knew that if making a component swap took place that we were going to need to make the rest of the audio chain suitable to accommodate the new signal path. "make a change anywhere in the flow and you've made a new flow"

When the plug & play audio clubs started popping up my friends looked at me as if these folks were off their rockers. I just figured they were doing something interesting but weren't really serious about club night, more than a chance to mingle. It's kind of the same thought as a trade show. You don't really take them serious, but it gives a chance to meet and greet. Saying this, I'm starting to think possibly I was wrong and plug & play has become the norm over actually referencing systems. My mind tells me this is nuts, right, but I'm hearing more and more that HEA folks are actually simply dropping components in mid chain and that's it. So I have to ask.

You do realize plug & play is different from referencing a system change don't you?

please be respectful to each other, thanks

Michael Green

128x128michaelgreenaudio
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nonoise's avatar
nonoise
10,618 posts
 
My god, you're a stalker. Ready to pounce.  
What crawled up you and died?
celander's avatar
celander
1,502 posts
 
The problem with Recommended Components from the likes of Stereophile and TAS is that the listing is provided in a vacuum. The listing strips the component from it’s reviewed context, thereby inviting the reader to obtain the item for their system. The problem is that it ignores the reviewer(s)’s system(s) and improperly suggests the item will “work” the same way in the reader’s system. Hence, plug and play. And we haven’t even gotten to MG’s street cred as a tuning guy.
michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio OP
1,019 posts
 

Now the flip side "referencing".

One of the ways to tell the difference between someone who plug & plays and someone who references is the way the listener describes his or her system. Someone who does referencing rarely talks about their system in terms of money. When people come up and talk about how much they have to spend for fair, good or great sound they don’t really understand the audio chain and how it works. These folks think that a component makes the sound as opposed to the audio chain making the sound.

For folks who explore the audio chain there’s a certain maturity level that is recognizable. An importance is given to the entire system start to finish without excluding any part. These listeners don’t make hasty judgement calls and are students of audio not dictators. Someone who references could care less if you’re using a receiver or separates. They could also care less if you listen differently than they do.

But the main difference between someone who references and someone who plug & plays is, the guy who references you can sit in their chair and listen to a piece of music then make a request of how you would like it to sound different and they will know what to adjust to give you that sound or at least be able to show you the variables. Plug & play guys will blame a recording where reference guys will know how to get the most out of a recording. And not only the most by their criteria, but also by another persons view of the way they want to listen to the same piece of music even if it is a different perspective.

Reviewers are mostly plug & play guys, trading out stock for stock. A listener who references has moved beyond reviews and has found tricks within his audio chain that give him the power of system control through variables.

MG

michaelgreenaudio's avatar
michaelgreenaudio OP
1,019 posts
 

"The problem with Recommended Components from the likes of Stereophile and TAS is that the listing is provided in a vacuum."

It was a fun chapter in this hobby but with the internet now I'm looking forward to system threads. On my forum, old and new, we have mostly system threads. That's what I see forums becoming. A place where listeners have threads documenting their system's journey. These give so much more detail than any reviewer's review could.

And the big plus is, there's no need for arguing.

The best years of this hobby are ahead of us, I think, because everyone is an expert in their own right. It's dependent on how far someone wants to go and there's no limit to how far a person can go.

MG

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