Can even a Novice hear differences in Sound Qualit

Dgarretson, again you are focused on the Specific Components, the Garbage Out side of the equation. What about the Garbage In? Why don't we pay as much attention to the Garbage In as we do to Specific Components? Just because, "They shoot horses don't they" doesn't mean you have to eat their waste products, trying to convince me and everyone else that it can be quite satisfying! I suppose that it might be, if that is the only thing that you have ever had your entire life! I suppose that you can call me a liar, when I say that there are better tasting things in this World. Yeah, I know, how do I know if I have never tried it (nuts)!
You know, both issues have a common thread, what is in question isn't the price you are paying for either, but the level of Quality you will be receiving for that price. In both Recording Industry Formats and Gov't Funded Health Care, the Quality seems to be a blank slate. Convenient, for someone who wants to write anything that they damn well please in there. Why not just have Congressmen serve as greedy CEO's of Insurance Companies at the same time, it is the same damn thing! Someone with twice the Power to screw you out of your Health Care Benefit, no matter how much you pay! Trusting Congressmen over greedy Insurance CEO's, out of the frying pan, and into the fire!
You can start by changing your attitude, Mrtennis, and trust me, that is doing a whole Hell of alot! I think that, that is just about all you can handle right about now! For the rest of us, my suggestion is to pressure the Recording Industry into accepting the Standard proposed at the beginning of this thread, as the Standard for all recordings! Utilize the two extra Channels to put back the Harmonic content that is missing from all Digital Recordings. Provide for a 4 Channel, if the user wants it, provide for a 2 Channel Downmix to get the best out of Digital Recordings. Don't tell me it can't be done, It already has been done by an Overacheiving Recording Tech, with one particular Recording. I can listen to it as I am typing this! Part of the problem is that we have all been trained to try and listen to the Music signal as unaltered as possible. This presumes that the Signal is perfect to begin with, but once it has been digitized it is completely bleached of all of its Harmonic Content! The damage is too severe, listening to this signal in its purest form is bound give anyone splitting headaches. If Downmixing of a Surround Sound Version puts back the Harmonic Content in spades, how dare we alter the original signal! We dare because it is a step in the right direction, out of the Rabbit Hole, not further into it!
The first step, as I have said so many times before, is to change everyones attitude about Sound Quality. Any Plan, Mrtennis, of course is going to fall flat on its face if you can't persuade anyone to change their attitude! How can you hope to change anyones attitude if you can't even change your own! It seems to me that being apathetic, not caring, and being satisfied, is a plan that is working quite effectively! It is just working fine for your Recording Industry Masters and their bottom line, at your expense! It is working so well, one has to ask, just imagine what doing the opposite can do?

hi pettyoficer:

i mentioned several labels in my last post which i believe exemplify excellent recording quality. depending upon your taste(s), you can find examples of high quality recordings.

there are small labels which produce decent-sounding redbook cds.

Point well taken, Mrtennis. Didn't mean to sound like all 100% of Digital Recordings are horrible. It is just that when you listen to this Diana Krall Multi-channel DVD-Audio in downmix mode, it will hit you like a brick wall, "So this is what has been missing from Digital for 30 years, even the 2-channel SACD/DVAudio"! Has anyone even tried this Disk, on a separate Universal Player, in Surround Sound or Downmix Mode? Friend of mine tried this Disk with the Pioneer going thru his Stereo System and Speakers(Downmix mode). Said that Diana Kralls voice sounded too forward and bloated. Don't quite get the same effect with RS-1's. He had to concede, however, that this Digital Downmix Recording has the most Harmonic Content of any Digital Recording that he has ever heard! The Harmonics seem to trail off into infinity, the Soundstage is twice as large than any Digital Recording than I have ever heard, even 2-Channel SACD! It kind of took me by surprise, it almost sounded like listening to a Record! You don't get that with any other Digital Recording that I am familiar with!
Small Labels certainly do a better job than the Mass Produced Recording Industry Labels. The problem is that it is the Big guys who own all of the Original Master Analog Recordings. If there is a certain Pop Music Artist that you like to listen to, it is the Huge Recording Industry that usually owns the rights to it. That is the main reason why you won't find most Popular Music being released on Audiophile Recordings. Someone is putting the big squeeze on! It is certainly not to benefit us!

Everyone has been harping on a plan. IMO it is nothing more than Red Meat for the so-called intellectual Nay-saying Dogs to feed on! They shoot Audiophiles, don't they? Here is the Plan, Bon-Apetite Adolph!
1. Try to establish if Downmixes of Multi-Channel SACD
or High Rez. DVD-Audio have the greater potential
for Sound Quality. Everyone could sample, everyone
could vote untill a concensus is formed.
2. Try to contact Recording Engineer that developed the
Format for everyones favorite type of Downmix. Share
Details of how this recording was made with other
Audiogon members. Inquire about any plans for future
similar Recordings.
3. Contact Manufacturing Company that released this
Recording. Send a petition showing interest in this
Company making more of the same type of Recordings,
utilizing this same format.

The bottom line, is that the Idea for the Original Recording Format was not only sold by a clever Recording Technician, it was also already bought by a Recording Company. They are just waiting to see if there is actually a Market Response. I am sure that part of the reason for the lack of decent Sound Quality, is that no-one even bothers to ask for it. It is sort of like the prettiest girl at the Prom who never gets asked out on a date, everyone thinks that they are not good enough for her. It is your choice to be one of those Idiots, I am asking you not to. You know, if everyone believes that they have no say in Sound Quality, then the illusion becomes reality. Everyone believes that they are not good enough. The door opens wide for the opportunity for one lucky Son-of-a-_____, to actually ask the Girl out. The rest of us Idiots are left wondering, what the Hell does she see in him? Lousy Sound Quality in the next Format doesn't have to be a self-fullfilling Prophecy! That is, unless, you prefer self-mutilation. It doesn't have to be that way! Who is going to be the first one, with enough courage, to step across the dance floor to ask the Girl out?

No-one! Then the Girl never gets asked out, and we all become part of the Idiots suffering under a self imposed Illusion! An opportunity for better Sound Quality, quickly slips away, because no-one will grasp it in time! This is the Audiophiles Plan for better Recorded Sound Quality, delude yourself into believing that a lesser Format will have adequate Sound Quality! And the next lesser Format after that, same thing? Why bother calling yourself an Audiophile, why not just call yourself a Beggarphile! I don't want to be an Audiophile anymore, because I don't want to be a self imposed Loser anymore! Audiophile- someone who spends an inordinate amount of money on Audio Gear, while looking for the cheapest, and lowest quality Format to play on it! An Oxymoron-heavy on the Moron! Someone who desperately seeks lower quality Formats, while obsessively chases ever Higher Quality Audio Gear to play it on! An Enigma, a Contradiction, a fool who enjoys and embraces futile attempts to improve on ever lower Quality Formats! I have decided, that these words will no longer pertain to me!