fas42 Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 I have zero practical knowledge in using Ethernet anywhere in the vicinity of an audio replay setup, but I can say with complete conviction that dealing with every sort of electrical noise that can impact the reproduction chain, no matter how unlikely or "theoretically impossible", is paramount - and, it gets worse: the more 'transparent', 'revealing' the rig, the more effort needs to be expended to totally isolate the circuitry from these effects. Yes, you'll "get away with it", not worrying about such things if the right money is spent on making the SQ impressive in other ways; but you'll never hear the recording completely accurately if you don't take interference factors into account. Over three decades of experience dealing with these issues has shown me that the audio industry has barely moved in its understanding of the importance of this; meaning that most enthusiasts have to spend lots of time and effort futzing "with everything", sorting this out in a way that makes their listening more enjoyable ... and 'snake oil' will live for as long as the designers keep ignoring or paying only minimal attention to these issues ... Markus8 1 Link to comment
fas42 Posted October 18, 2021 Share Posted October 18, 2021 Unfortunately, certification to meet some standard completely unrelated to audio sound quality, when used on a system with components that are not engineered as well as they should be, is no guarantee of anything ... it might make you feel warm and cosy, using 'proper stuff!"; but SQ may very well suffer unless other measures are taken to improve the integrity of the chain, elsewhere. Link to comment
Popular Post fas42 Posted October 19, 2021 Popular Post Share Posted October 19, 2021 The fundamental here is that nearly all audio systems, meaning the components and/or the cables, etc, linking the parts, are not engineered or specified well enough to prevent electrical noise from impacting the behaviour of the circuitry to the point that it's audible - everyone who spends inordinate amounts of time trying to eliminate this, or 'adjust' it so that its effect is more pleasant to the ear, knows what a tortured path this is. The correct solution is to understand exactly where the weaknesses are, and to improve the integrity of those areas. But this is not done, by those who manufacture the items - most are just fooling around, trying this and that, until something that is acceptable to the ears emerges. Real progress will only occur when the industry overall accepts what the situation is, investigates it properly, and then builds everything well enough so that the problems completely go away ... Markus8 and TomJ 2 Link to comment
fas42 Posted October 20, 2021 Share Posted October 20, 2021 1 hour ago, One and a half said: Computer audio is riddled with interfaces. A manufacturer can only 'guarantee' their little part in the chain. To listen to music consists of many parts to form the chain. With more or less infinite combinations of product, there is a need to find a balance to make the system listenable and this is where trial and error can win. There are those, though, that experimentation is beyond logical, approaching such silliness as with @fas42, so please try to read not too much into his posts for your sanity 😀. And here we find an example of the "silliness" that pervades the audio game ... it seems that it is almost impossible for many people to grasp that competent replay is a result of a SYSTEM working at a high level of integrity - and that if any, and I repeat, any, part of that system is performing below par, then it can easily drag the performance of the whole shebang down, severely. The fantasy that that endless combining of bits and pieces will one day magically produce "perfect sound" might titillate some - but it's not a very smart approach ... I suspect having people with that sort of attitude would not have helped, say, NASA get man on the moon in the time frame they did - when you have a goal, work out where the issues blocking the achieving of that are; and solve them ... Link to comment
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