RIP -The Audio Critic , Peter Aczel

[infinitely baffled]

10.My greatest disappointment after six decades as an audio journalist is about today’s teenagers and twentysomethings. Most of them have never had a musical experience! I mean of any kind, not just good music]

That bit is patronising and wrong. There's nothing wrong with the sentiment that we should all experience live music, but that is not the only way to have a musical experience

 

[NorthStar]

versus ...

I have zero comment; live music speaks for itself, this is just one example. We're all free to make a choice, or not.
My soul is in the high comfort zone with the first video, and zero zone with the second.
The music speaks to me, live or recorded.

Again ...

versus...

And remember, those are just examples; it could have been much more worst and much better too. This is just the idea, as I understand life's meaning as written by Peter.
This is only my personal interpretation, it is now my expressed opinion, just my understanding of the words written by one of the great audio writers; and that is all she said.
The music speaks for itself in the hearts of children, in the hearts of us.

Please, take the time, listen attentively, follow all your heart, follow your deepest soul, down to the crevasses of eternal light ...

versus ...

______

There are no words to describe the soul of a child, of a woman and of a man. ...Only the music playing for each one of us.
Guess which music videos above speaks directly to my soul?
Then take that music, put in on a well recorded CD (16/44) or an LP, and listen to it @ home on a good pair of loudspeakers, in a room where you are @ peace with all your surroundings.

I don't need any words, any drawings, the music speaks all by itself, and the listener is one with the music.
There are no gold trims, no graphs, just the music...from a good pair. ...Well recorded music, live or in studio.

R.I.P. Peter ? - Number one to ten ... and beyond.

 

[audioguy]

I subscribed to his magazine for a long time. While, quite frankly, I agreed with most of his philosophy (including the 10 points listed above), it was his dogmatism that annoyed the poo out of me. But what finally turned me off was the speaker he designed and built. If that was his idea of accurate or good or any other positive adjective, he was clearly clueless ..... or seriously hearing impaired.

All of that said, he was an important player in the world of audio.

 

[KeithR]

10.My greatest disappointment after six decades as an audio journalist is about today’s teenagers and twentysomethings. Most of them have never had a musical experience! I mean of any kind, not just good music]

That bit is patronising and wrong. There's nothing wrong with the sentiment that we should all experience live music, but that is not the only way to have a musical experience

I tend to agree with IB here. And since the same teenagers and twentysomethings are responsible for the headphone boom, not sure what the point is.

 

[opus112]

That bit is patronising and wrong.

Looks to me its wrong not least because its inconsistent with Mr Aczel's 'objectivist' philosophy. He wrote :

The iPods, iPads, iPhones, and earbuds they use are of such low audio quality that what they hear bears no relationship to live music.

We can only presume he was completely ignorant of the measurements of an iPhone. For example here : http://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/iphone-6s-plus-audio-quality.htm

 

[NorthStar]

I think that the high quality sound with earbuds today from our iPhones, is even superior (measurements) to many loudspeakers.
But it's just not the same; the music they listen to in ultra high resolution audio (the kids) with their ultra high resolution earbuds from their iPhones is perhaps not Classical music of high caliber?

Also, when you go to a live acoustic music concert, do we wear headphones?
@ home some people do, from recordings of course, and they are very accurate some of them, revealing of all details, used for monitoring some of the best high end music recordings.

And! Electronic, punk, rap, hip-hop, trip-hop, heavy metal rock, pop, ...music; does it require extra high fidelity audio equipment?
And! Perhaps Peter was referring to the music they listen to and with headphones on. Maybe it's not word for word what he meant, but the emotional stress he was conveying? ...Like an alarming degeneration away from the conventional music wisdom?

I think we can all interpret what we want but when familiar with his writing we know what he's talking about.

 

[infinitely baffled]

Looks to me its wrong not least because its inconsistent with Mr Aczel's 'objectivist' philosophy. He wrote :

The iPods, iPads, iPhones, and earbuds they use are of such low audio quality that what they hear bears no relationship to live music.

We can only presume he was completely ignorant of the measurements of an iPhone. For example here : http://www.kenrockwell.com/apple/iphone-6s-plus-audio-quality.htm

That's really impressive analysis and an equally impressive set of results

 

[Gregadd]

We are all fallable. Let's not forget his foray into speaker manufacturing. He used his magazine to promote it.