From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!seismo!rocheste!FtG
Newsgroups: net.audio,net.physics
Title: Re: Digital Vs. The Audiophile.
Article-I.D.: rocheste.326
Posted: Fri Dec 17 07:59:46 1982
Received: Wed Dec 22 00:10:46 1982
References: eagle.694

This digital discussion reminds me of the great hi-fi debate of so many
years ago. It seems the "experts" knew that there was no point
in reproducing high frequencies since human beans couldn't hear them.
Well... somebody performed an experiment using live musicians (as 
opposed to dead ones?) separated by a system of baffles from the
listeners. By adjusting the baffles, high frequencies could be
damped out. The listeners noticed a significant loss of fidelity.
The experts hadn't taken into account the huge difference between
detecting a single tone and "sensing" a full range of harmonics.
Thus hi-fi was born. (Coming next week, Uncle Ferd will tell you
the story of stereo!!!)
It seems that the digital people should know about these experiments
and taken into account the complex nature of hearing. In any case, I
can easily imagine the experts to be wrong again.
				FtG