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From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: rec.audio,sci.electronics
Subject: defects improve sound
Message-ID: <8729@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 8-Oct-87 13:45:16 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.8729
Posted: Thu Oct  8 13:45:16 1987
Date-Received: Thu, 8-Oct-87 13:45:16 EDT
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 37

The Audio Update column in the November issue of Radio-Electronics is very
much worth reading.  Some samples:

"Dedicated audiophiles, who would never dream of adding `artifical'
enhancement devices to their systems, eagerly seek out those components --
including special cables -- that they believe `naturally' add desirable
sonic properties.  In this, they resemble the food faddists who insist
that vitamin C extracted from rose hips has far greater virtue than
vitamin C derived from chemically-produced ascorbic acid."

"Out-of-phase crosstalk between channels... will de-emphasize the center-
recorded sounds, thus increasing the depth and width of the stereo stage...
There was one highly esteemed British phono cartridge whose coils had a
matrixed output.  If the coils were not properly adjusted... there would
be a high level of out-of-phase crosstalk that provided (for some ears)
a wonderfully open, wide-stage quality.  Those cartridges that were
properly adjusted didn't manifest that effect and were therefore considered
defective by many US audiophiles..."

"...a small bump in frequency response at about 300 Hz... may contribute
to subjectively-enhanced depth..."

"...many moving-coil cartridges -- and some electronic components -- have
had a rising high-end response that is frequently interpreted as "airiness"
and increased depth..."

"...a *small* amount of *stereo noise* (random hiss) added to otherwise-
clean program material can add to the subjective appearance of airiness
of the stereo image...  Bob Carver [demonstrated this to me and] mentioned
that there was early resistance to [Dolby] because the reduction of tape
hiss resulted in a subjective dulling..."

He mentions that the crosstalk and hiss effects may have something to do
with audiophile complaints about CDs, since CDs have neither defect!
-- 
"Mir" means "peace", as in           |  Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
"the war is over; we've won".        | {allegra,ihnp4,decvax,utai}!utzoo!henry