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    Ferrari FXX K

    Well when you put it that way it makes a sports car seem quite silly indeed.:D
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    Magico S5's in the house...

    When you say "below 40 Hz" I wonder if you really mean, between 40-100 Hz? Try downloading a free tone generator to hear what 40Hz sounds like exactly, and see how much bass you generate at 20 Hz, 30 Hz, 40 Hz, 50 Hz, etc.
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    Double Blind tests *did* show amplifiers to sound different

    I for one find that it is valuable to know what is or is not audible, using only your ears. People have experiences which are perceived as sound, but which can't be shown to start at the eardrums, either from looking at the sound itself (as sampled by a microphone and analyzed with software) or...
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    I am done with HDTracks

    My understanding is that dynamic compression brings up "nuances" including noise floor. These results are screwy, including what you note about noise floor and crest factor. It doesn't look like this is a comparison of more vs. less compression, just two versions of the song that have several...
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    I am done with HDTracks

    To me the important point in the article is that at least according to the author, the lossy MP3 with less dynamic compression sounded clearly better than the "high res" file with more dynamic compression. I haven't made the comparison with this album but would expect to agree with this...
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    Designing vs. Voicing and Tweaking circuits and crossovers to get that sublime sound?

    There are design tweaks and then there are consumer tweaks. A design tweak might be changing an edge radius on a cabinet, which lo and behold makes a meaningful difference. A consumer tweak might be putting your cables on little telephone poles, which gets into the "all in your head" level of...
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    project... power amplifier

    I think the first reply was essentially "don't ask". ;) Tons of expensive parts here, and beautiful work too.
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    Reflections on cable pricing insanity

    Not the point. Ron is questioning whether there is an audible difference. It's kind of amazing that this continues to be "unknown".
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    Cycling-hell of the north

    Um, ow. Better to keep your weight on your feet.
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    Speaker knockoffs

    There is an implicit assumption here that uber expensive speakers have exemplary sound quality, and furthermore that if someone were to achieve similar sound quality with a knock-off speaker, it should sell itself based on performance. Neither assumption is necessarily valid. As for the first...
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    Speaker knockoffs

    Gregg, you ask if cloning an esteemed high end speaker could produce a "viable product", and I think the answer is no. Even at 50% savings it would still be expensive, would still be targeted to high rollers, and they would prefer the original. However if you are talking about cloning a high...
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    New Xiph.Org video: "Digital Show & Tell"

    I for one am thrilled to see Opus and Xiph in discussion, even if I can't entirely follow. This could only help shed some light on what Opus has been discussing in other threads, for those of us who have trouble judging the technical merit of his ideas.
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    Samsara

    I saw this at a local theater and was pretty wowed. I think this is the best film yet in the genre (the dialogue-free visual documentary).
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    Is the high end gear driven or source driven?

    Greg, I think you're onto something here. In some ways the opposite seems true for much of the last few decades of popular music recordings. There is a chicken/egg conundrum though, because the poor quality of so many recordings suggests that the studios check their work on poor quality...
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    Compression-before and after

    Yes, and more depth when the stick lands on the drum. Funny some audio products like power conditioners claim to "blacken the background" or "create space around the instruments". I think dynamic compression causes audiophiles to want this type of improvement, and the solution is uncompressed...
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    Compression-before and after

    Just came across this recording sample: 30 second drum solo, 15 seconds uncompressed followed by 15 seconds compressed. Try playing this good and loud and repeat several times. No headphones! This is mild compression and meant to show the benefit of the compressor. Here's the source...
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    Logical assumptions - Predetermined biases

    True, I twisted your words. What I meant about hypotheticals and generalizations is statements like this: "A DAC upgrade could transform this system" "I wonder if your DAC upgrade would survive a blind test" "I don't think you can prove anything with a blind test" "I hear ___" "I don't see how...
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    The Hyperbole thread

    Just came across this, from an Audioholics review by Gene DellaSala of the Status Acoustics Titus 8T loudspeakers: “The Status 8T system has an uncanny ability of sounding larger than life yet focused like a laser. Their sound transcends their physical cabinets, which is grandiose and in your...
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    Logical assumptions - Predetermined biases

    I agree. These conversations go too far into hypotheticals and generalizations, and reality gets left behind. Imagine if a dozen audiophiles were together in a room and comparing a DAC upgrade vs. a speaker upgrade. Then see who thinks the DAC is making a bigger difference.
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    Does anyone just listen to music anymore without critiquing their system

    When I was 16 I had some $100 speakers that sounded badass playing Nirvana, and I could easily get lost in the music. Or isn't that what you mean?
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    Smokers celebrate as Wash. legalizes marijuana

    Someone should say this: legalizing weed can't hurt the audio industry. Calmly sitting back and enjoying an album is the kind of thing people do under the influence. Maybe this is a good sign for the future of the audio hobby.
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    The cable conundrum

    About hearing differences, huge or otherwise: This goes back to how you know what you know. You hear something--but what is it? How do you know it's caused by ___? People say they "listened to ABC cable" or "listened to XYZ component rack" or "listened to 123 power conditioner", but they were...
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    The cable conundrum

    Yes, there's no hope to reconcile religious perspectives. The big question is: how do you know what you know? And, don't believe everything that you think.
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    The cable conundrum

    Oops, another cable thread got closed today! This topic doesn't lead to agreement or resulution. Here's a thread that goes on for 1,490 pages.
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    The cable conundrum

    I'll make an automotive analogy: the role cables play is comparable to that of the tubing that carries fuel from the gas tank to the engine. If it's not there, you get no performance. If it's too small you may get limited performance. If there's something wrong with the tubing it may leech...
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    Audiogon phishing email

    Yes! I am just old enough to have learned how to diagram a sentence when in the 4th grade. Using language this precisely is a lost art.
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    Are the best speaker cabinets truly silent? And should they be?

    Wilson speakers do use some kind of super dense panel, and the primo Sony speakers (SS-AR2) use specially made hardwood plywood. Look at the measurements page of Stereophile reviews, where they have accelerometer readings from cabinet walls. The YG and Magico and Wilson cabinets are indeed...
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    Time alignment

    Thanks Amir. I've been lurking here for some time and felt the impulse to chime in.
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    Time alignment

    I'm not a technical expert and should maybe put that in a signature, because my comments may sound definitive even when not strictly accurate. Don, maybe you're referring to the Bessel filter (link). It sounds like a good idea and is a solution available to speaker designers, but are there...
  30. T

    Time alignment

    Now that is funny. Design process is a constant battle between mutually exclusive goals. You have to ultimately choose priorities and make tradeoffs. Normally any speaker crossover with a rolloff steeper than 6 dB per octave will warp phase and screw up time alignment. That's not a fatal...

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