here's a recent gem .. just skip the 'linguistic misundestandings' and read the last paragraph. Goes likecan you point me to a couple.
Harmonic distortion does not sound "good"...[lalala]... It never sounds good.
The poll seems to be telling the real story.
here's a recent gem .. just skip the 'linguistic misundestandings' and read the last paragraph
I prefer to have as accurate a system as possible to provide a good basis or starting point. I do not want my system adding distortion or unknown frequency response aberrations. From that (hopefully) uncolored start I manipulate to my preference. I can listen as the artist intended, remembering it is not just the artist but also the mixing, mastering, and perhaps corporate input driving a frequency response that may or may not be what the artist actually intended. Decades ago when I had some (very limited) involvement in the process, mastering was a fuzzy target given the recording had to sound "ok" in systems from high-end home stereos to 8-track car players. It was my exposure to the circle of confusion long before I knew that term. It did teach me that adjusting the sound in my system to sound what I liked was not some sort of sin against the recording gods. In fact, most recordings were created IME/IMO to sound good on more modest systems and sound OK in the car, and were not EQ'd to sound great on a more accurate system.<elided>
So my questions for ASR are: do you think signal integrity is important? Do you avoid all manipulation to the signal? If you did manipulate your signal, how did you choose your target curve? Do you think there is a role for preference when it comes to signal manipulation?
It was going so well until you decided on bashing The Super Fuzzbox..Some people here do feel quite strongly, one way or the other. The times I see flames start is when someone claims their Super Fuzzbox gives a more accurate presentation of the music than lesser equipment could ever hope. Some obligatory measurement-bashing is usually thrown in for spice.
It is though. It's used to rank it in the review where there are actual tiers like "poor" "great" etc.I know .. that's how I figured that the money line had a lot more success
Same time though, there is a lot of what I'd call "preference/fidelity police": holy signal, distortion suks etc...
Here's a 'funny' experiment:
- Go into the measurement thread of a 50-SINAD device and post something like "it sounds good to me". You'll get answers like "prove it" or "no way" or "DBT or it did not happen" or "you're hearing crickets" or the clasic "sucker likes distortion".
- Then go into the thread of a 120-SINAD device and say the exact same. Nobody asks for DBTs, everyone instantly believes that it sounds 'better' than your previous device, everyone congratulates you.
Why so? That THD-number is still not correlated with either audibility or preference. And both posts are just stating a very subjective preference.
Ain't that (a tiny bit) of double standards?
true.We're just an iconoclastic bunch.
Yeah. Frustrating. I can EQ bass humps just fine, thank you. Give me usable tone controls!From there it is up to the recordings, which I found to be all over the map, at least to my ears. Some seem way too "piercing" in the highs, others have very "boomy" bass. I'd love a simple bass/mid/treble set of tone controls I could easily change from the listening position. One of my frustrations with modern processors is that they have gone all-in on room correction and target curves, exhibiting tremendous processing capability, but don't offer a simple way for me to do just the basic "tweaks" I used to do all the time with my tone controls.
It's an expensive addition. But worth it!It was going so well until you decided on bashing The Super Fuzzbox..
Do you just hang around here to needle them? I mean, I guess somebody has to do it, but...true.
And who's most annoyed & vocal when their own oppinions/institutions are challeged: iconoclasts
*Nervously raises hand. But is unsure if his opinion is valid*Oh nice, who does not love a debate about epistemology!
So my questions for ASR are: do you think signal integrity is important?
I see a house or target curve as an overlay on a flat transfer response, to increase the probability that any random recording will sound good, in our listening environment.Do you avoid all manipulation to the signal? If you did manipulate your signal, how did you choose your target curve?
How can it not ???Do you think there is a role for preference when it comes to signal manipulation?
that depends a lot on your (own & personal) definition of "better". Yours seems to be close to "better fidelity". Quite popular around here that definition ... but not necessarily anyone else's.Sorry, I was referring to SINAD. Whether harmonic distortion sounds "good" or not is up to you I guess. That's a preference thing. Otoh, if you're going to try and claim that having some added harmonic distortion is "better" or "more musical" or "something that improves system SQ" in any sort of general sense rather than just a personal thing you happen to like, well we might have an issue.
Don't we all !?!Do you just hang around here to needle them? I mean, I guess somebody has to do it, but...
an excellent summary of ... all my looong posts...
*good = the sound I like.