Fleib, we could go much much more in-depth with some of these topics and so far only the surface has been scratched here. But, you are correct in that it's probably "Enough of this for now". If there is further interest on your, or anyone else's, part I would be glad to delve deeper into this. I would simply say that if you are interested you research the prices that vintage flutes and saxophones fetch compared to new ones; there is a reason for this and it has nothing to do with collectors. Anyway, the main reason that I feel any of this is relevant to our audio hobby is as a reminder of just how deep some of this stuff runs, and that at the end of the day all our audiophillic endeavors relate back to the MUSIC, and what takes place in the the process of music making. There are many parallels between what an audiophile concerns himself with and what a musician does. There is a tendency to want the new and the more technologically advanced to be "better", and to rely on technology to exlain most of what we hear. I believe that there is an unavoidable (at least to a degree) conflict between what the essence of music is and some of what technology brings to the table. To recognize this is not being a Luddite or anything of the sort; it's simply respecting the fact that, ultimately, what separates music from simply sound, the emotion, can't be broken down to nor fully explained by numbers.
****I always thought perfect pitch was something one had to be born with, to possess, and ear training was limited to relative pitch. Turns out, perfect pitch can be learned.****
Precisely one of the reasons for my comment about it not being an indication of superior musicianship, since a lot of these things are often shrouded in mystery and many feel that perfect pitch is an indication of musical genius of some kind.
Happy New Year!
