"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 04 Dec 2004 09:00:14 GMT, "Steve Batt"
wrote:


"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 04 Dec 2004 03:41:48 GMT, "Steve Batt"
wrote:

"JustMe" wrote in message
...

If I were a recording artist, first and foremost I'd want those
listening to
my music to be entertained, inspired & moved by it. The Audiolab
doesn't do
that for me, the Alchemist does. For all its supposed colour, for
all its
foibles, operational quirks - whatever you like - it is by any
sensible
measure of what a hifi should be and do, better.

Only to *your* ears..............

Indeed - this is, by any sensible measure, what a hifi should do: sound
better to *my* ears. Whether *you* like it or not has no bearing on *my*
choice.

That's why a market full of different-sounding products exists: to cater for
all our different tastes.

Besides, how do you know that my ears don't have an imperfection (whose ears
are perfect anyway?) which counters my favourite amp's own imperfections (or
vice versa) and brings it into "straight-line"? For all you know, the 8000S
might sound terribly coloured to me, regardless of how a machine measures
it.

It's a similar difference that I experience when listening to vinyl
compared
with CD...

Yup, you do seem to love distortion! :-)

Suits me!

A friend had a 8000, was so bland compared to my Cyrus 2 (at the time)

Excellent! Amps are not *supposed* to have character, that's the job
of the performer!............

Yeah, but they ain't sposed to take away from the sound stage or dynamics
etc.

And sure enough, the good ones don't.

OTOH, plenty of amps will *add* what sounds like extra 'depth' and
'punch', but is really just IMD and clipping. Bizarrely, a reduced
dynamic range often sounds more 'dynamic'. All radio station sound
engineers are well aware of this trick.

I have never found the dynamic range compression employed by many radio
stations to do anything more than suck the life, soul and energy out of the
music being transmitted - it sounds ****.

AFAIK this is done for accessibility rather than to give a perception of
increased dynamism (this does sound peverse) - to make the listen tolerable
in noisy environments such as cars, factory floors etc.

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering