Michael Lavorgna strikes back.......

[Brinkman Ship]

27 minutes ago, Mercman said:

Michael decides what to write about and post at AS. I honestly don't see what the issue is if he wants to discuss MQA. There are plenty of other things at AudioStream to read about.

 

As for me, I take Charley Hansen's view on this subject. But remember, I have never heard an MQA file or been to any MQA demo.

 

Diplomatic answer, for sure. But if MQA is not cared about by the vast majority of audiophiles, Lavorgna must then be clearly out of touch.

 

Or he is looking for click bait. And i am sure he is succeeding. 

[Spacehound]

49 minutes ago, Mercman said:

I didn't say rude things about CA and its members. I just quoted rude remarks made about me. Read again who is saying what.

Not you, you remain polite.  Lavorgna seem to say rude things about anyone he disagrees with. Or ban them. If you didn't toe his  line you would be out too.

 

You seem to be interested in audio, if you want to write why don't you write for someone less aggressive towards his 'customers'   than he is?

[crenca]

23 minutes ago, Mercman said:

First off, I can't exclude anyone from posting at AS. The few that were banned, went far beyond what I would call just posting an opinion.

 

Well, I have a "now now, let me pat your head little child" reaction to this Mr. Plaskin.  ML has been banning people for years, simply for disagreeing in substance with what he says, or worse simply because he was in a bad mood.   You are either ignorant of this, or your simply being contrary...perhaps you should be censored...

[Brinkman Ship]

 

"MQA Partners" have provided The TEN Network with significant income.

 

This is a screenshot of an ad on the Stereophile website;

 

 

[Samuel T Cogley]

3 minutes ago, Brinkman Ship said:

"MQA Partners" have provided The TEN Network with significant income.

 

Or, at least, it certainly appears that way. 

[Mercman]

1 hour ago, Indydan said:

 

I have no problem with Plaskin's appreciation of so called snake oil devices. I don't believe everything he says (or anyone for that matter), but I don't assume he is lying. It is quite possible that he hears these improvements in his system, and he believes the devices are responsible for the improvements in sound quality. At least his opinion is based on actual experience with the devices. Even if I disagree, I don't feel comfortable refuting someone forcefully if I have not myself tried out the product. 

 

But, I am a bit disappointed with Plaskin's recent comments. He has stated rude things about CA and its members (he seems to lump all of us into a homogenous group of troublemakers); and stated it to sound more like fact than opinion. 

 

 

I didn't say rude things about CA members. I did suggest that there was destructive behavior directed at me. Not all members; you guys know who I am referring to. I have been a member here long before some of you were. 

[Ralf11]

3 hours ago, christopher3393 said:

Some recent comments from Steven Plaskin from the Audiostream "Is MQA DRM" post (with responses from "DH"):

 

Steven Plaskin: I am deeply disturbed by the destructive anger that is being encouraged at another site dedicated to our hobby. Most audiophiles I know couldn’t give two shits about MQA. But the vitriol and devise behavior being propagated displays to me some serious issues that need to be addressed - and they are not audio issues.

Here is a direct quote about what I am referring to:

Lavorgna is a jerk

Make an 'objective' comment you are sneered at as a "mere cloth-eared engineer".
Make two and you're off.

And his lackey, the snake-oil freak Steve Plaskin, is even worse, though at least he is reasonably polite about it.

What normal thinking adult would want to be part of this?

When it was brought up that AudioStream turns out more equipment reviews, the owner of the site questioned AudioStream’s quality of writing. Just compare Chris Connaker’s review of the SOtM sMS-200 with mine. Reach your own conclusions.

There is a true disconnect from reality occurring that in the end, will only hurt our hobby.

 

DH: You are correct. But the context is that ML was banned from CA because of HIS language and behavior there, including the use of profanity related to someone's mother.

 

Steven Plaskin: And this language was sent in a private message. If Chris did not want Michael to post on his site, he could have told Michael in a private message. Chris decided that punishing Michael would further his economic goals. Naturally, I cannot know what Chris is thinking, but his behavior and tolerance of abusive posts suggests what I am referring to.

DH: I'm not defending some of the language used at CA. But some of MLs public posts were also not what I'd expect of a professional.

Chris doesn't allow the private messaging function at his site to be exploited for abuse.

I think that's exactly how it should be. I'm not really sure why you are excusing that kind of behavior.
ML isn't the first to be banned from the site for that type of stuff.

 

Steven Plaskin: This isn’t really about Michael’s “street language”. I think you know what I’m referring to.

 

edit: Michael Lavorgna has just added this: Chris allows abusive, offensive, and ...insulting language directed at people who do this for a living on his site - every day. To my mind, this is not the way a professional moderates a forum.

 

 

 

Cool.  It looks like ML has crossed over into the slander/libel lawsuit area.  If anyone does want to further their economic goals, there you are.

[Spacehound]

1 hour ago, Indydan said:

Steve, first of all, I should have stated that I do not condone name calling (jerk, lackey, etc) and outright personal attacks. I have no problem with you calling out people who call you names and attack your integrity. You are justified in doing this.

 

Now for the other things you wrote. I copy pasted some of what you wrote below:

 

"I am deeply disturbed by the destructive anger that is being encouraged at another site dedicated to our hobby. Most audiophiles I know couldn’t give two shits about MQA. But the vitriol and devise behavior being propagated displays to me some serious issues that need to be addressed - and they are not audio issues."

 

You pretty much say posters here are angry destructive people who have serious issues. Is that not what you meant? 

 

I don't mean to be picky, but I believe if you are truly Steven Plaskin, you must identify yourself and your industry affiliation on CA. 

It's not anger, it's contempt. For both MQA, The MQA company's constant obfuscation and sometimes being 'limited with the truth', and for  its commercial 'pushers' for helping them.

 

If it's destructive of MQA, good.  It demonstrably degrades the music, doesn't save space to  any worthwhile degree, often not at all, is rarely 'authenticated', and  anything above '96'  is totally fake, even the noise.   So it's all bad.

[Ralf11]

2 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Remember not to personally attack anyone. Feel free to question someone's argument or published work, but not their person. This includes me as well. There's only one set of rules here at CA. 

 

can you post your published work?

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, Ralf11 said:

 

can you post your published work?

It starts on page 1 and goes through page 87 :~)

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/

[Ralf11]

1 hour ago, Mercman said:

You are amazing! You can  see a picture of just one wall and know the room sounds terrible. 

 

I'm done posting at CA for today. This is just too much! I think I liked you guys better when you called me names.

 

Well, you can certainly see one photo and wonder how in the world someone would deal with the glare from the window and the frequency spectrum imbalance on the two speakers - not to mention the comb filtering...

 

It would be wonderful if there was a DSP device to fix this suboptimal setup but I don't think there is one yet.  Maybe there is a coating of snake oil on the window?

[plissken]

2 hours ago, Mercman said:

You are amazing! You can  see a picture of just one wall and know the room sounds terrible. 

 

I'm done posting at CA for today. This is just too much! I think I liked you guys better when you called me names.

 

I've heard Michaels room on the YT videos. Very sub-optimal unless you are into highly reverbrent rooms. 

 

That was over YT no less. 

[Ralf11]

9 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

It starts on page 1 and goes through page 87 :~)

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/

 

agh - thought I'd see something in a peer reviewed physics journal 

[beetlemania]

4 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

Maybe there is a coating of snake oil on the window?

An example of Plaskin's "vitriol and devise behavior being propagated displays to me some serious issues that need to be addressed - and they are not audio issues". BTW, did you not notice the blinds on the windows? Or maybe that's "snake oil" to you?

 

BTW, Chris. I hope you took note of the "jerk" and "lackey" post. Not sure why this should get a pass in light of posts from a recently-banned member.

[kumakuma]

2 minutes ago, beetlemania said:

I hope you took note of the "jerk" and "lackey" post.

 

"jerk" and "lackey" are terms of endearment in Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan.

[Ralf11]

beetle,  If he lowers the blinds when listening then he should have stated that in or near the photo (not that the photo itself should have been taken with the blinds down).

 

And, yes, most blinds are not very effective so let's go with partial snake oil, or some snake oil effect.

 

If you would like ot do some reading on acoustics I will be glad to post some books for you to read, but start a new thread on it - in Sandy's favorite forum...

[beetlemania]

Nearly all of my front wall is glass and I have a large window on my left wall. I have a pretty good idea of how simple it is to address these pitfalls, thanks. Blinds very much make a difference, among other simple features (I have blinds and plants along the front wall). The only way any of us can know what Steve Plaskin's room sounds like is to go listen. But that's not as much fun as blasting the man for his "snake oil". smh

 

Can we please go back to blasting MQA which has real (bad) consequences for our hobby?

[Ralf11]

I'd love to see the journal articles showing that Blinds very much make a significant difference.  My other criticisms still stand.

 

I am well aware of suboptimal rooms as I have one.  I like to see out my windows.  More info at the Giant Black Things in my Living Room thread.

 

 

 

MQA is bad for your audio health.  Like a parasitic infection.

[beetlemania]

I don't need a journal article - I have ears. Coated with snake-oil, no doubt . . .

[Ralf11]

The ears don't complete the process of hearing.  The coatings are myelin (hopefully).

[Spacehound]

34 minutes ago, beetlemania said:

'An example of Plaskin's "vitriol and devise behavior being propagated displays to me some serious issues that need to be addressed - and they are not audio issues". BTW, did you not notice the blinds on the windows? Or maybe that's "snake oil" to you?

 

BTW, Chris. I hope you took note of the "jerk" and "lackey" post. Not sure why this should get a pass in light of posts from a recently-banned member.

He did. And posted so in a 'general manner', not directly at the poster.

 

But in most forums, possibly including this one,  'insults'  are tolerated more when they apply to 'outsiders. Which is what Plaskin was at the time  and Lavorgna was banned. .

[Spacehound]

11 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

The ears don't complete the process of hearing.  The coatings are myelin (hopefully).

And the snake oil serves only psychological purposes. Mostly affecting one's imagination.

 

If it didn't where are the  the manufactures Nobel Prizes for discovering new physics?

[Ralf11]

one of them is in England - not audio related

[Spacehound]

12 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

one of them is in England - not audio related

On a "bound to happen sooner or later" basis  I expect  there is a non-audio related  Nobel Prize winner  in England, even though it is  only part of the UK, like New Jersey is part of the USA. Presumably we  are no dumber than anyone else  

[John_Atkinson]

3 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I saw John Atkinson at the McIntosh event in NYC last week. He told me that it's a popular saying in Russia and isn't seen as something negative. 

 

 

Not quite. I said that I was told by my Russian-speaking daughter that while the phrase GFYM can indeed be meant as a literal exhortation, it is also in use as a general exclamation. A quick Google search retrieves this: "ёб твою́ мать which literally means '(I) fucked your mother', but . . . may also be used as an exclamation in which it can mean 'I’ll be damned!'" As in ""CA sure has a lot of posts about MQA - GFYM!"

 

Perhaps Michael Lavorgna has Russian ancestry :-)

 

John Atkinson

Editor, Stereophile