High Performance Audio - The End?

Recordings are the unfortunate bottleneck after a certain performance point, not the equipment, and climbing the sonic ladder further will only serve to make that more obvious.

An audio system cannot be evaluated without a source recording, vinyl, cd or files playing.... There is many good one and many bad one....

But you seems to say that the more we improve the system less cd or files you have to listen to because they are too bad sounding...

I get your point...

But it is illogical to say that the best audio system in the world is charaterized by his " resolving" power, and on it at the end no cd or no files sound good...

You catch the absurdity?

The reason is that the best audio system in the world cannot be and is not charcterized by his "resolving" power like a microscope, but by his musical flexibility....

This musical rendering flexibility is reach not by the virtue of money cost invested in but first and foremost by a rightfull embedding of the mechanical, electrical, and acoustical dimensions where it seat...

In my audio system there is bad recordings and good one, but all sound better than ever....All is more musical.... I dont listen to recorded engineering sources only, i listen through my system house electrical grid and room acoustic the more musical rendition of some " bad recordings" by virtue of a system which is not only resolving but mainly musical because rightfully embed....

:)

@mahgister,

’But you seems to say that the more we improve the system less cd or files you have to listen to because they are too bad sounding...’


Not quite.

I’m merely saying, as Steve also said in his video, that beyond a certain point, an increase in resolution can often serve to make certain recordings sound worse.

Not unlistenable. Far from it. Just not as good as you might be used to hearing them on ’lesser’ systems.

Or maybe more appropriate systems?

In fact as I’m listening to my Mamas & the Papas CD I can very well hear the severe limitations of the recording. I still love the songs though.

If I was to use even more resolving loudspeakers than my Tannoy Berkeley’s I would only hear those bandwidth/resolution defects (caused by excessive Phil Spector-style bouncing down) even more clearly.

That’s the point. Certain recordings might sound better on less ambitious systems.

No way I’m giving up on listening to the Sex Pistols or Motorhead just because my system is too revealing for music that was never particularly designed to be played back on it.

Ok i get your point better cd318...

I must admit that all my files ,the worst like the good(classical or jazz or acoustic) sound better than they sounded when played on my past not so good audio systems...

But there is difference between a bad recordings with a microphone for example and a bad mixings....

You mamas and papas it is more a bad mixing and then your point is right, a bad mixing is particularly unlistenable on a too good system...

A bad recording of a Scriabin sonata is another matter, and more listenable on a good audio system....

my best to you....

I think we’re all in agreement in here.. Resolution just for resolutions sake isn’t always the ultimate goal. That concept is actually built into my system, it’s why I personally go by the numbers/measurements for DACs, because I want that piece of the chain to be brutally accurate. If I decide that I want to soften some hard edges after the fact, I’d rather do that with speakers or room treatments. 

because I want that piece of the chain to be brutally accurate. If I decide that I want to soften some hard edges after the fact, I’d rather do that with speakers or room treatments.

dougeyjones

I am not sure to understand your point about the dac brutal accuracy measurements...

But the dac was for me the most difficult thing to buy....It is easy to buy very good used vintage amplifier and speakers for peanuts with some patience.... I had....But dacs are relatively contemporary device with great variable qualities and relatively not as well known like other piece of gear....And the scale of price is stunning for a good one....I was lucky to spot one with a total minimalistic design, a NOS one, tda 1543, Starting Point systems, with an internal battery, powered externally with an Ifipower... I paid it peanuts luckily new on Ebay...I would not and could not pay anyway for the engineering continuous research linked to 10,000 dollars dac.....

Many dac has a sound of their own....Generally their sound is dry or harsh for my ears, or clean and accurate for some.... But i prefer a dac that gives to each instrument his tonal timbre, not details, but his natural color....A cello is a cello....I dont want to hear details of cello first, but tonal accuracy of the timbre of the cello first.... For sure details and tonal accuracy are linked but it is not the same thing at all....When details are flowing in waving unity it is tonal accuracy no more details....

I own this S.P.S. dac and his characteristic is that he goes on with any changes in my system without revealing any limitations to me at all....It seems my dac does not exist at all...

The best characteristic for a dac is not existing by itself....i will never upgrade it....Why? i never lack details on any recording at all each times my audio system noise level is decreased, if my audio system is not too much vibrating and resonant, each times my increasing controls of the room gives to my audio system the space where details can be listen to, my dac goes on without showing ANY limitations....My room is not tweaked to compensate for my dac at all like you seems to want to....The many controls in my room are not use to correct my dac...They are use to reveal the potential of my audio system ....

( By the way the first time i listened to this dac i think he was good but lacking in  details. But truly it was my audio system eclectrical and acoustical embeddings that was hiding the details....) :)

Then my dac really does not exist, i dont sense it at all by all means.... :)

I forget it totally....

However he must exist because i hear music.....

It is the best ever for me....

You dont want and you cannot upgrade something that is no more there..... :)