This is not just another gainclone

[Peter Daniel]

Originally posted by millwood


is all up to our individual needs.

That I would agree.

So what defines those needs?

[millwood]

Originally posted by Peter Daniel


So what defines those needs?

it varies from person to person and even for the same person it varies from time to time. One may desire certain brands due to past experience? others like certain design styles / features? others may purchase on the country of origin? or post-sale support? to name a few.

[Peter Daniel]

Originally posted by millwood


to name a few.

It seems strange though that you didn't mention the sound. You have to understand that not everybody is half deaf.

[millwood]

Originally posted by Peter Daniel


It seems strange though that you didn't mention the sound. You have to understand that not everybody is half deaf.

I didn't mention mechanical vibration - you know, we half-deaf rely on that to listen to music, .

[planet10]

Originally posted by millwood
if musicians have trouble telling valve amps from transistor amps, how many of us can tell a BC polyester cap from a Panasonic film cap?

In my experience, musicians are sometimes the worst listeners to have critiquing a hifi -- they know what it should sound like and often theri brain just fills in the missing bits...

dave

[Nuuk]

This is all getting a little generalised. We can't say that musicians are better, or worse listeners than any other group of people.

Listening, properly, is an acquired skill, rather along the lines of photography where you learn to 'see' rather than just look.

It may also be something that some people can naturally do better than others like seeing the hidden images in those 3D pictures.

There is no doubt that part of what we hear is due to a psychological effect and some due to actual changes in the equipment. Only a fool would argue that it is all one or all the other.

Likewise, there are two aspects of evaluating a hi-fi system. The first, objective, considering each aspect of the sound: clarity, timing, tonal balance, dynamics, transients etc; the second, subjective, ie is the sound enjoyable and how much.

After an awful lot of time spent on this hobby, I now believe that there is poor hi-fi and good hi-fi. Of the good hi-fi not much sounds better or worse than the other, just different in some way. The art is in mixing and matching the components of a hi-fi system to get the compromise (and that's all we can achieve) that pleases us most!

Perhaps we should all remember that the journey is more important than the destination!

[millwood]

Originally posted by Nuuk
There is no doubt that part of what we hear is due to a psychological effect and some due to actual changes in the equipment. Only a fool would argue that it is all one or all the other.

I would agree with that.

I just find hard to believe that some of us can tell apart different sounding resistors. That is pushing the envelope a little I think.

[Peter Daniel]

Originally posted by millwood


I just find hard to believe that some of us can tell apart different sounding resistors. That is pushing the envelope a little I think.

I was there at one time too. But as the journey began I'm not at the same point anymore.

And Nuuk is right, the journey is much more fun than the destination.

[millwood]

Originally posted by Peter Daniel


I was there at one time too. But as the journey began I'm not at the same point anymore.

your personal experience is definitely helpful and every bit as valid. It is just that short of a 3rd party scientific experiement, personal experience isn't convincing.

[Nuuk]

I just find hard to believe that some of us can tell apart different sounding resistors. That is pushing the envelope a little I think.

I would have agreed with you at one point. But it depends which resistors and in which location. I easily heard the difference by replacing the 1% metal film resistors (3 of them) in the feedback loop of my Arcam A60 amps with three Welwyn RC55's.

On other occasions when I have replaced a resistor (or capacitor), I have not heard any difference.

When I was working at a mine in Australia, everybody there (about 700 people) had their hearing tested. Only three of us could hear a test tone at the lowest level and the others tested may have sworn that there was nothing there! Hearing ability is going to be a big factor in whether somebody can detect subtle differences in hi-fi equipment.

I know of one visitor to this forum who is a concert pianist and has perfect pitch hearing. I am sure that he will be able to hear subtlties that I would miss.