Quote:
Originally Posted by Alan's MagicEye
I personally like the "distortion introduced by single ended triode amplifiers,
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Now that is a level of honesty rarely seen in audio discussions. I'm afraid we're all much too used to people saying things in a somewhat desperate attempt to justify their preference. Preferences don't have to be justified, people can just get on and enjoy them. It is very difficult (and pointless) to criticise someone who says "Well, I just happen to like it."
The reason behind a preference might not be real, but the pleasure and happiness which can come from it can be perfectly real.
The contention comes in when claims of accuracy, rightness etc are made. Those of us involved in electronics can measure the amounts of distortion, flatness of frequency response, and delay or ringing of transients. We know that some things are much less accurate, but are preferred by some people. We also know that some things don't make any difference which could possibly be discernible also get some people voicing strong preferences. Those preferences are also perfectly OK. Some things work no better, but are nice to have. Some work worse and are still nice to have. I have a model of car which is both famously luxurious and famously unreliable. I can make no rational justification for my choice. It is a simple preference. I'd look a fool if I tried to justify it.
The human race seems ready to polarise on any issue.
The golden ear brigade treats the scientific types as if they are cloth-eared and missing some great truth. The scientific types think the golden ear brigade are deluded or gullible. This can seed unfriendliness.
If the golden ear gang could drop the pseudo-scientific mumbo-jumbo justification and just stick to saying "I prefer this" then even the most extreme hard-science type will find no crack to get a lever in, and they can stick to their world of test-tubes and spectrum analysers.
Astronomers and statisticians must have similar problems with astrology.
David