John,
The time line is a bit vague. I do not expect a listening review to discuss circuit design, unless for some reason that is the reviewers expertise. I expect a technical review to cover those aspects. If the reviewer is using off the record information he may just be trying to inflate his reputation... Works for me.
Scott,
Thanks,
I ordered some, but of course it can't be any good. It is way too small, not very expensive, easily available and from a reputable manufacturer. I will be sure to get on the list for notice when it gets discontinued, so I can stock up. Then it will probably be a classic design, very desirable and making no sense as to why it was discontinued.
ES
The time line is a bit vague. I do not expect a listening review to discuss circuit design, unless for some reason that is the reviewers expertise. I expect a technical review to cover those aspects. If the reviewer is using off the record information he may just be trying to inflate his reputation... Works for me.
Scott,
Thanks,
I ordered some, but of course it can't be any good. It is way too small, not very expensive, easily available and from a reputable manufacturer. I will be sure to get on the list for notice when it gets discontinued, so I can stock up. Then it will probably be a classic design, very desirable and making no sense as to why it was discontinued.
ES
Fundamental vs harmonic level, complexity and temporal alignment mix is usually the case. This can be illustrated when tuning crossovers in loudspeakers. When a mid-tweeter crossover is being tuned, even just a 'hair' (0.25db and less and temporal--in the mid mix) it can alternately make the bass line seem over-ripe, to seemingly non existent, yet the measurements will show virtually nothing. Drums, for example, get up into the 4k range when dealing with their full spectral and locational (stereoscopic) cues. Then, oddly, the reverse is also true where the acoustic space perceived can seemingly be larger when true infrasonic subs in perfect temporal alignment are added in.
It's tied to how the ear deals with fundamentals vs harmonics in level and timing aspects and organizing such into a 'recognizable signal' for the internal wiring (mind-body) and decoding system.
The 'foldback' on this logic (following through) means that then the amplifier or active circuit design then becomes , to the ear, very sensitive in such areas. So power supplies, feedback, noise structures, etc, all play out to becoming critical or most specifically critical in their micro scale attributes when it comes to tuning issues, or the creation of the overall sonic flavour of the given finished end result. (finished system -preamp, amp, what have you)
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Listened to Sony FM tuner for several hours. Best RF processor that I have ever used, but audio path (I hope it is only the audio path) is a little 'rough' and I prefer listening to it through the TV speakers, rather than the Sequerra speakers. Who knows if I can stand it with the WATT's, that are very revealing. Great bass.
Needs work.
Needs work.
When I need to stick an op amp somewhere under the hood,
I use something crappy like an LM307 so that no one will
get the idea it's in the signal path. Otherwise there's usually
trouble.
Hehehe.
That can work. Though it relies on the person looking under the hood knowing something about opamps. Some people just freak out whenever they see anything with eight legs inside a piece of audio gear.
se
When I need to stick an op amp somewhere under the hood,
I use something crappy like an LM307 so that no one will
get the idea it's in the signal path. Otherwise there's usually
trouble.
Then I have to see this as a very large problem.
If a reviewer is listening with his eyes I would conclude that is because they do not trust their ears. This also results in misleading reviews, and forcing bad allocations of design resources.
When the first digital audio snakes for live sound came out they were offered as mic level in gave mic level out at the other end. I asked why the ferfnockle would anyone be so stupid to amplify mic level signal to get good results from an A/D converter and then drop the level back to do it all over again. The answer was "this is what our customers asked for." They sold lots of them.
John,
What do I need to be drinking to deal with this kind of logic?
ES
Just for humor how about trying a very small LC filter before the buffer.
Ed, that would only be the true if they would knowingly and conciously 'listen with their eyes', which normally would not be the case.
I am sure that those reviewers would honestly be convinced that they could actually hear the detrimental effects of those opamps with their ears. And that they would fully trust their ears. As almost all of us do.
jd
Ed, that would only be the true if they would knowingly and conciously 'listen with their eyes', which normally would not be the case.
I am sure that those reviewers would honestly be convinced that they could actually hear the detrimental effects of those opamps with their ears. And that they would fully trust their ears. As almost all of us do.
jd
Jan,
This gets kind of involved, why did they open the case to begin with? Does a prettier circuit layout matter?
ES
Of course it does! Which planet are you from??
Colorfull shots of richly populated PCB's, with components nicely lined up (forget shortest signal paths), electrolytics stenciled with fancy names in fancy letters, heavy air-wiring in perfect square corners, that's both awe- and trust-inspiring.
You can buy that equipment without any doubt that it will, no must, sound fantastic!
jd
I think we are in agreement sort of. Yes humans are influenced by what they see, touch smell, etc. This does influence perceived sound. However the subconscious influence of seeing an IC in the signal path would be an interesting analysis.
Looking for the parts and deliberately using that as a basis for a review to me is fraudulent.
Knowing that an LM307 is not going to be used in the audio path I think is getting into the conscious class of action.
As to what planet am I from, why were you working the Radar that day?
ES
Unfortunately, you guys are way off, when it comes to the 'Stereophile' review of the HCA-2200 Mk1. Bob Harley most likely did NOT open the unit up, before listening to it. However, 'Stereophile' likes to describe and measure the circuitry in order to attempt some correlation to the listening opinion, derived first and separately.
'The Absolute Sound' does not publish measurements, yet they still seem to track in their subjective opinions, but it doesn't give me much to work with, IF I can make it better. They usually just reject it, out of hand, from first listening.
'The Absolute Sound' does not publish measurements, yet they still seem to track in their subjective opinions, but it doesn't give me much to work with, IF I can make it better. They usually just reject it, out of hand, from first listening.
Iverson Stories
I spent a fair amount of time dealing with john Iverson. He was more than a little bit of a charlatan. My first encounter with him was his preamp and special technology cartridge. He fed me a line about rf or some other magic sensing on how the cartridge worked. I measured every which way and found nothing. Then we figured out it was a Panasonic strain gauge cartridge. Needless to say I was not happy about his game and the ** line on why he lied didn't fly either.
I also spent some time with his class A amp. It was interesting and HEAVY. I don't remember if it really was class A. The ** on that one was that it was used for aiming Tank Cannons. I don't think so. The chassis would never pass "shake and bake". However it passed from the world and was replaced with the Eagle amps, which were much more conventional.
The real extended experience was when he convinced a wealth friend of mine that he had an answer for higher efficiency AC generators. A long dead end around him getting off the grid in Lake Havasu City, running diesel generators at low speed and using his amp to get the AC back to 60 Hz. it was enough of a story to get us to Japan to discuss it with Honda. Never went anywhere. He vanished a year or two later. I heard that he got into a fight (he could be very combative) and soon was no more, or maybe he split to China Mexico or something to avoid the IRS.
The story I got from him on the speakers was also beyond the pale- they were really force field weapons and he had to dismantle them before something bad happened. That and a buck probably won't buy you coffee anywhere today.
Colorful he was, but watch your pocketbook around him. Much more fun than many current audio types (myself included).
I spent a fair amount of time dealing with john Iverson. He was more than a little bit of a charlatan. My first encounter with him was his preamp and special technology cartridge. He fed me a line about rf or some other magic sensing on how the cartridge worked. I measured every which way and found nothing. Then we figured out it was a Panasonic strain gauge cartridge. Needless to say I was not happy about his game and the ** line on why he lied didn't fly either.
I also spent some time with his class A amp. It was interesting and HEAVY. I don't remember if it really was class A. The ** on that one was that it was used for aiming Tank Cannons. I don't think so. The chassis would never pass "shake and bake". However it passed from the world and was replaced with the Eagle amps, which were much more conventional.
The real extended experience was when he convinced a wealth friend of mine that he had an answer for higher efficiency AC generators. A long dead end around him getting off the grid in Lake Havasu City, running diesel generators at low speed and using his amp to get the AC back to 60 Hz. it was enough of a story to get us to Japan to discuss it with Honda. Never went anywhere. He vanished a year or two later. I heard that he got into a fight (he could be very combative) and soon was no more, or maybe he split to China Mexico or something to avoid the IRS.
The story I got from him on the speakers was also beyond the pale- they were really force field weapons and he had to dismantle them before something bad happened. That and a buck probably won't buy you coffee anywhere today.
Colorful he was, but watch your pocketbook around him. Much more fun than many current audio types (myself included).
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