Volumo

There's always more than one way to skin the audio cat. But people never think of trying anything other than the conventional set-up with regards speakers. I don't claim to have golden ears, but I don't have cloth ones either. The set-up I used clearly did something that a conventional couldn't, and it wasn't simply down to "faults" somewhere being masked.

Yes, there's more than one variant of bias. I do, though, like to think I have an open mind and can be honest with myself.

I thought the chrisp analogy was faultless.
60p a bag though, it's a bit of a non-starter when a multi-pack is £1/1.25

Reading this makes sorting out your vinyl front end seem a piece of cake.

The most common complaint levelled at Chinese amplifiers is that the mains transformers burn out as they're not genuinely rated for UK mains voltage.

How long they last will depend on what your mains voltage is, and how much use they get and what sort of tolerance they have. They're not going to fail overnight.

Not a believer then, Simon?

forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/the-marker-trick-for-cds-why-does-it-work.59487

I'll have to give it another go, I think.

We're getting bogged down in the green pen viper's nest as I feared.

A CD is as close as you are going to get to the mastertape and if the recording was digital then it is the recording. I used to be all about vinyl, didn't think CD sounded up to much. Only one time did I hear a CD based system sounding good. But I dismissed it as a one-off.

Over the years as my system improved around it I found I was preferring the CD player to the turntable. The system started to show the sheer transparency of CD to the recording and that really hooked me. You don't get the euphonic distortion of vinyl though, it's a different kind of fix. 

However I've yet to be convinced that file based audio can be superior in quality terms (and not just what we prefer). Not in theory or practice, 

You can use black. Anyway shade will do.

What's there to get bogged down about? What's there to fear? No one's holding a gun to anyone's head; I doubt anyone's that interested. For anyone that might be - there's a simple course of action: have an open mind and give it a try - what have they to lose? At least then they'll have a genuine base from which to assert for or against.

CDs may well be the nearest anyone has to a master tape. But then some would say that's not actually saying much, including musicians themselves. I seem to remember Neil Young and Ry Cooder being pretty anti-digital. I heard them on a discussion on digital on Radio 4 years ago and Neil Young didn't give digital the lickings of a dog. He was spitting blood. In his mind what came off a cd bore little resemblance to what he was putting on to tape. I seem to remember he delayed his catalogue being issued on cd as best he could. Ry Cooder wasn't quite so extreme in his view.

I'm not pro this anti that. A lot of time I spend watching music vids on YouTube on my mobile, with headphones. Some will comment on YouTube's compression, but you can still find some really excellent-sounding items.

If everything is so cut and dried with digital processing, why do some prefer this way or that way with further fiddling when ripping CDs? Why should it matter?

It might be fine to have harddrives of music files. But what about the artists that get a absolute pittance from streaming? I read a bit about Janis Ian and what she was receiving from streaming, and it was rediculous. Peter Frampton, for 55 MILLION plays of one of his tracks he earned $1,700. Remember the "Home Taping Is Killing The Industry" statement from the 70s/80s? Streaming accountants seem to be now.

Couldn't hear anything untoward with this, Martin; Mr B must have a dodgy set-up(!)

And he's just got another set of speakers.

He's not listening, Martin. He's not listening.

Well like they say, the easiest thing in the world is to be a critic...

Better sound doesn't always come from better engineered equipment. Everything's a compromise, and how those compromises are dealt with can be what matters most.

Do you think Neil Young has defective hearing? Or just deluded?

PONO.

Simple question: why did it come about?

Simple answer: he thought CD/MP3 quality was... er... Sh#t.

Couldn't say. I've never looked at what's in it. Only know it came to be as he (Neil Young) thought CD/MP3 playback was an abomination.

Very, very quiet here today...

I can stay away - and spend the time marking me CDs with a Magic Marking CD Enhancing - You Won't Believe The Different It Can Make! - It Really Does Work! Pen.

Not quite sure what to say, to be honest. You seem reluctant to accept the fact - and it is a fact; I haven't just dreamt it up. It's been in the media, which is where I obviously noted it from. Perhaps it's just bypassed you - that he has issues with digital. Google "Neil Young Anti-Digital" or whatever, and see what you get. I did at dinner break. I noticed that he's barred his music from Spotify. I didn't read it, but I imagine it's in relation to royalties - or lack of them.

Pity you never heard the discussion I mentioned previously. As I said, he didn't give digital the lickings of a dog. If I remember correctly, I think he referred to CD as "A Bastard Medium". And as I said previously, in his opinion what came off a CD bore little resemblance to what he was putting on to tape. As such, it's easy to understand his more than reluctance for his catalogue to be made available on CD.

If you see the above as being something other than being Anti-Digital, then fair enough. Maybe he's just changed his mind.

Found that - it is the compression he objects to, not the cash payments

Young also left the door open to returning to streaming.
“When the quality is back, I’ll give it another look. Never say never,” he said.

It's been done dozens of times, unsurprisingly the only people who can spot differences are highly trained listeners and they only do it by identifying artefacts and fast switching between the two feeds to pick out which version it is audible on. With ordinary punters like you and me, with hi-fi reviewers and with professional musicians and studio engineers no-one gets it right more often than chance would dictate. 

I've tried it myself albeit not in properly controlled conditions (but it was a blind test) and I fared badly. That personally removed any lingering doubts I had although I would not expect that anecdote to convince anyone else.

Meridian are in the business of selling digital audio products, as with anyone who has a vested interest it is best to take whatever claims they make with a big pinch of salt unless they have had them independently verified. Meridian also responsible for MQA and they have had to backtrack on some of the initial claims they made for that technology after it was demonstrated that they were, and let's not beat about the bush here, lying through their teeth.

I 'm not making the case against 'hi rez' audio because it's what I want to believe. I make my living entirely independently of audio, I am just a punter. it costs me money it does not make me money. If I thought for a second that hi rez offered anything extra I'd be all for it. I was all for it to begin with and have the SACDs and DVDA discs to prove it. I want better sound just like every enthusiast. But it is just a colossal waste of time, money and energy, all of which could be directed to something that would actually give us better sound. But the market gets what the market wants and whilst the market remains obsessed with fantasy improvements instead of real ones, that is all we are going to keep getting.