Can even a Novice hear differences in Sound Qualit


Just wanted to relate an experience I recently had with a friend of mine. Those that have read my Threads before, have heard me wax enthusiastically about a DIANA KRALL-The Look of Love-DVD Audio Disk. The Recording has a Multi-Channel Surround Sound version Recorded in 24-bit/96 kHz. The Disk is being played through a Pioneer DV-58AV Universal Player, connected to a SpaceTechLab A-102 Vacuum Tube Headphone Amp, Driving a pair of Grado RS-1 Headphones. Only having 2-Channel capability, the Pioneer can Downmix the Multi-Channel version to two. A 65 year old friend of mind, not an Audiophile with limited hearing, was given a chance to listen to this Recording. His jaw had dropped to the floor. After listening for five minutes, he took the Headphones off and said "why don't they make all of them sound as good"? This Man was unimpressed with the multiple 2-Channel SACD/2-Channel Hi-Rez DVD-Audio Disks that he has heard on this Pioneer. The only thing that I can say is "out of the mouth of Babes...."! Sorry to keep harping on the point, but I believe that this is the only solution to the lack of Harmonic Content on all 2-Channel Digital Recordings, no matter the sampling rate. I also believe that it is the only solution to closing the gap of Harmonic Content between Analog and Digital, minus the ticks and pops. It would be a damn shame to lose it!
pettyofficer
If it is truly my valuable energy, then I can waste it anyway I please! What I don't understand, Mrtennis, is the huge concern that is invested in the High End Quality of a $10,000.00 Stereo System, and the huge disparity when compared to the rather trivial concern of Sound Quality of Recordings! There is a gap as wide as the Grand Canyon here, that you say doesn't exist? Is the idea to spend 10-50 thousand dollars on a System to take that cheap CD/SACD/DVD-Audio disk and make it sing like a Mercury Living Presence Record? At some point, you have to face reality! Gravity is very real, you are not living in the Land of OZ, and you are not going to get one over, "Garbage in-Garbage Out" no matter how much you spend! Why spend so much on such a boondoggle of a Stereo System, just to feed it trivial Sound Quality Recordings? What in the World is your point, stick a Volkswagon Engine in a Lamborgine Coutach, now you have got to sell it, sell it! The problem is, Mrtennis, is that you are indeed buying it, hook, line , and sinker! That is not the end of the problem, Marketwise, you are dragging the rest of us down with you! You are even willing to make so-called intellectual excuses to protect your investment in your collection of High Quality (SIC) Digital Recordings! You are not ready to admit that your Recording Industry Masters have stabbed you in the back with CD/SACD/DVD-Audio! We are all supposed to pretend to ignore that knife sticking out! Are you really going to make me twist it, just to prove to you that it really is there? I would rather much, just take it out, but you and your Recording Industry Masters would probably just hammer me for it!
Let me see, should the priority be on the Garbage in, or on the Garbage out? I don't know, I would say Garbage in, but what do I know? I have my priorities screwed up! I guess you could start with Garbage out, and work your way backwards, that is if you have $20,000.00 to throw away on a Stereo System that you can't quite get it to sound right!
No Heart Attack yet, don't fret, I will continue to expend more energy working on it!
hi pettyofficer:

your concern about "other" audiophiles reminds me of an officious boss. you should be concerned about yourself and not so concerned about what other people do.
Oh, I am surely interested in who is stabbing you in the back! You think that I am going to turn my back on them-nuts! I have every right to be concerned, and watch out for my own back, thank-you very much! Not that I need your permission! Now there is a Mafia Code of Silence for the Recording Industry! Hey, Mrtennis, this is reality, not a Godfather Movie! Unless you plan on putting a horses head in my bed! You gonna break my legs too, Vinnie! Keep your freinds close, but keep your enemies closer! Whoaaa- I'm scared!
hi pettyofficer:

keep up the rant. maybe the men in the white coats will take you away. i think you should join o/c anonymous.
oh god mrtennis give the new age bovine-schiza a rest... pettyofficer is raging/raising a wholly legit point... whether or not you like his style is beside the point... having said that, I like the style because it "emotionalizes" something I feel strong emotions about... music, and the quality of its reproduction... which can be so very very frustrating to get reasonably right because of the source material most of us deal with...

:) listening,

Ed