How Science Got Sound Wrong

I’m not sure that I moved the discussion forward or not.

I made some over the top statements to try and drive some of it home, for some of the readers.

Taras called me on it. Not quite his words, but something along the line of calling it ’word salad’ was said, as a more polite euphemism.

So, sure, I made the point of stating the divide between physics/science and engineering...as being more concrete and extreme than it actually is.

As rational comments can get buried and missed, with the rational being tossed aside by all. Reading by the punches, one might say. In rational thinking people there is no issue, they understand the differences. Some don’t... hence the overstatement.

Say I do have some questions on one of the topics brought up in this thread. RE the Teleportation Tweak. I figure since we have been promised some info on it I was wondering about a couple of things.

Will the Solar Minimum allow for better or lesser quality installs over time?
  Does the constant shifting of the true Magnetic North change the install of TT at all?
  I worry about ice buildup or shrinkage at the North and South Poles and Greenland and if current levels change and the Earths roundness is distorted from this will it effect the Van Allen Belts and how would this effect TT?

Without giving away any secrets I can tell you the following. 

1. There is no limit to the distance the TT will work. It would almost certainly work on Mars or the Moon is there were any audiophiles there.
2, Not only does the customer’s system not have to be ON at the time the TT is performed but the caller doesn’t have to be home. In fact, he can be calling from another city or country or from an aircraft.
3.The caller will find his reception has improved a couple of bars after the TT has been performed
4. If the customer’s system is ON and playing music at the time I do the TT I can instantly hear the improvement over the phone as I’m doing it.
5.The customer is free to listen to the TT or not. Some choose not to listen. 😬
6. The TT is permanent until the customer replaces the phone. In which case the TT must be done on the new phone.
7. For best results all phones in the house should get the TT.

There is not "evidence" that:

- Digital is "missing" information w.r.t. analog/vinyl at least information that can in any way be detected or influence our listening

- It is actually a very small group of people who claim "digital sounds horrible". Many musicians say that digital is truer to reality, whether you like it or not.

- Digital "tonality" is essentially perfect (unlike vinyl), and dynamic range of 24/96 is enormous compared to any analog format

- Magnetic tape has issues with noise, wow/flutter, induced signal issues from non linear movement over the heads, etc.  To vinyl add more noise, poor channel to channel isolation, and inaccuracies with RIAA equalization / de-equalization and even less "information" in or close to the audio band

None of which means we should prefer CD, we tend to like over saturated colors, many like too much bass, etc. Like and accurate are not the same thing.  Unsupportable conjectures do nothing to advanced discussions.

geoffkait18,646 posts12-01-2019 12:06pmThere are several topics under discussion. One is why digital sounds so horrible. Especially why digital generally can’t match the tonality or dynamic range of vinyl. Also, why digital playback seems to be missing a considerable amount of information. Agree? Disagree? Talk amongst yourselves.

Musicians. Now, there is a group of people who cannot hear! I’m not sure why but I’m guessing it’s because of being blasted by all those instruments 🎺 instruments 🎻 at close range, but who knows? One of the worst systems I even had the displeasure to hear belonged to the first oboist of the National Symphony. He had great equipment, too, all Cello electronics and monster 8’ Cello speakers. He was a Cello dealer. That Cello stuff ain’t cheap plus he has $10K worth of room treatment. He just couldn’t hear, that’s all. That’s evidence, baby! 🤗