On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 19:01:12 +0100, Signal wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" emitted :

Good. Got there. The reason for the claims of superior cable sound is
'pride of ownership'. Phew. Now, evidence please.

For the same reason someone may buy a designer T shirt at many times the
price of a supermarket one, when the supermarket one may actually be
better made.

Do you have any objection to designer T ****s?

I usually **** tea rather than ****ting it...............

However, one can reasonably argue that attaching a 'designer' label to
what is an absolutely standard T-shirt, and charging thirty quid for
it, is a basic idiot test, much like 'designer' cable.

--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 18:50:22 +0100, Signal wrote:

"Stewart Pinkerton" emitted :

Hmmm.. isn't the A3 based on the same platform as the Golf V?

Yes, but the 3.2 has monster brakes and 4WD.

OK.

Well
yeah.. the chipped GTi should clock in *well* under 6 seconds on the
straight.

Not with FWD, sunbeam....................

Don't assume. Volkswagen Driver got 6s flat 0-60 on a *stock* MKV GTi.

'Well under' 6 seconds takes *much* more traction. More power won't
help!

Here's some footage somebody took achieving the same..
http://members.optushome.com.au/coon...th%20count.avi

That's on the speedo, of course...............
--

Stewart Pinkerton | Music is Art - Audio is Engineering

In article , Signal
wrote:
"Jim Lesurf" emitted :


I've also been interested by Oohashi's reports. However they strike me
as questionable news for SACD given the high amount of ultrasonic
'hash' that DSD tends to require. Haven't been able to decide if his
work is 'good news' or 'bad news' for SACD...

Interesting point Jim.

Have you heard SACD?

No, afraid not. So I can't make any comments on the sound quality as such.

However FWIW I have spent some time looking at the details of DSD/SACD, and
also have exchanged discussions with a couple of the people at Philips. I
do have some technical concerns about it which are slightly different to
those voiced by Lip****z and others, but may be related to them.

One problem is that the specific details of the 'ADC' (DSD modulator) which
Philips/Sony recommend/use are proprietary, yet I have found some 'quirks'
of the published examples. Since they refuse to publish the details of
their modulators I can't assess if they have the 'quirks' I have
encountered with openly published examples.[1]

I am inherently wary of systems that have proprietary and confidental
details which affect the behaviour. I also feel this is a problem in
information terms. You can only convert 'data' into 'information' if you
have complete and unabiguous information on how the data was produced.

I've been meaning to write an article on this for HFN sometime. However I
haven't yet been able to:

1) Get it into a form short and simple enough for magazine publication as
the 'background' to some of the things I found takes some explaining.

2) Satisfied myself that SACD won't just die - thus making 'techical'
articles on this about as relevant as one on Elcaset. :-)

For all I know, though, SACD may give excellent results in terms of audible
quality. All real systems have their limitations and snags.

[1] I may borrow a player for assessment sometime. However to do a proper
assessement of the points I have found I'd need to be able to create my own
SACDs as well as have some carefully specified ones from Philips/Sony. This
is rather problematic at present.

Slainte,

Jim

--
Electronics http://www.st-and.ac.uk/~www_pa/Scot...o/electron.htm
Audio Misc http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/AudioMisc/index.html
Armstrong Audio http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/Audio/armstrong.html
Barbirolli Soc. http://www.st-and.demon.co.uk/JBSoc/JBSoc.html

Stewart Pinkerton wrote:
On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 19:37:24 +1000, Tat Chan
wrote:


so a turbo charged Impreza WRX STI would outperform your A3?


In speed and handling, yes. In terms of comfort, quality and residual
value, no.



I guess residual value depends on the market. In general, Imprezas over in Oz
tend have a higher resale value than A3s, in terms of depreciation value.

Eiron wrote:

Tat Chan wrote:

Stewart Pinkerton wrote:


There *is* no street cred in a WRX if you're over forty............



I have seen people in their 40s driving a brand new WRX ... surely a sign
of a mid-life crisis (especially if they have their windows wound down
with
bass heavy music pumping from the stereo)


Don't you just hate it when the over forties drive by with a loud
one-note bass thumping out from the car stereo:
Dum de dum de dum de dum, dum de dum de dah dah.


No, I hate it when just about anyone drives by with the noise pollution that
they think is music coming out of their stereos ...

Signal wrote:

"Tat Chan" emitted :


Small difference - I don't claim that my A3 *outperforms* a Scooby,
except in terms of the overall compromise mentioned above......

so a turbo charged Impreza WRX STI would outperform your A3?


Maybe it would, but it's a Subaru :-(

So you prefer a European car then?



One mans meat ...

Signal wrote:

"Stewart Pinkerton" emitted :


so a turbo charged Impreza WRX STI would outperform your A3?

In speed and handling, yes. In terms of comfort, quality and residual
value, no.


And looks. A mate recently bought one in classic blue with the gold
rims.

Ah, the blue that looks like a pack of ciggies with yellow trim?

Some sort of extra tall spoiler **** appended to the back. It's
a bleedin' eyesore.

Agreed.

Chris Morriss wrote:

In message , Signal
writes

"Tat Chan" emitted :

Small difference - I don't claim that my A3 *outperforms* a Scooby,
except in terms of the overall compromise mentioned above......


so a turbo charged Impreza WRX STI would outperform your A3?


Maybe it would, but it's a Subaru :-(


The WRX is the all-time 'chav' car,

I thought chavs were the youthful "working underclass" in the UK. How would they
be able to afford a WRX (and associated insurance costs)?

but the 3-litre Legacy estate is a much nicer kettle of fish.

a practical family car that is also fun to drive, apparently.


Far too big for me, but a sensible alternative to the Audi/Mercedes wagons.

Over here in Oz, Subarus are much better priced than European cars
(Volkswagen/Audi/etc), so they offer much better value for money. The nearest
Audi equivalent to the Legacy (the A4?) is almost twice the price of the Legacy
here.

"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 04 Jun 2005 19:01:12 +0100, Signal wrote:

"Dave Plowman (News)" emitted :

Good. Got there. The reason for the claims of superior cable sound is
'pride of ownership'. Phew. Now, evidence please.

For the same reason someone may buy a designer T shirt at many times the
price of a supermarket one, when the supermarket one may actually be
better made.

Do you have any objection to designer T ****s?

I usually **** tea rather than ****ting it...............


Thank you for sharing...!! :-)


However, one can reasonably argue that attaching a 'designer' label to
what is an absolutely standard T-shirt, and charging thirty quid for
it, is a basic idiot test, much like 'designer' cable.


No, I'm still having trouble with this POV - *if* the purchaser can afford
it without resorting to crime or starving kids/old people/animals to get the
money together, where's the harm if *they* perceive benefits and are pleased
with their purchases....???

"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 4 Jun 2005 13:33:08 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:


"Stewart Pinkerton" wrote in message
. ..
On Fri, 3 Jun 2005 15:49:45 +0100, "Keith G"
wrote:



'Mumsy lilac'....???

:-)

More deceptive than hooligan yellow, which is another option!

(No wonder you got a nice big discount on the car! ;-)

Actually, I like it - it's not boring silver, and it's not boring
black or 'lava grey', which seem to be fashionable ATM.


Agree *entirely* on the 'silver' (done to absolute death) but I always
though the German stuff looked very good in 'steely grey'.....

(If it's yellow, it needs to be an Alpha or a Ferrari, in my book....)

Or a Honda S2000.


Or a Ducati.....