[LAU] turning a consumer soundcard into "prosumer" w/ quasi-balanced outs

[Chris Cannam]

On Wed, Jun 9, 2010 at 8:37 PM,  <fons at kokkinizita.net> wrote:
> I can't really comment on 'subjective' descriptions. Since you
> are quite emotionally involved, and this is not a blind test,
> chances are 99.99% that 'it's all in your head'.

It can be surprising how often this is the case -- differences that
you can describe, articulate, and explain in normal listening can
surprisingly often turn out not to be distinguishable at all under
proper test conditions.  Embarrassingly so, sometimes.

You should try to set it up (Niels), not so much because I think
you're wrong in this case as because you seem open to testing things
properly and this adds a rather compelling dimension.

> Or you prefer
> lower quality sound :-)

Smiley apart, this is also not entirely unreasonable.  Every time I
listen to a vinyl record I think how enjoyable lower-quality sound[*]
can be.

Didn't some recent study show that kids these days prefer mp3s to raw
audio?  Back in the day I used to like the squishy sound of tape
cassettes, and they still have a certain something -- particularly for
bigly-produced 80s metal.  Mmm.  *digs out old Scorpions tapes*


Chris

[*] if you find anyone who still believes vinyl is higher fidelity,
try recording their favourite record to a digital file with a decent
soundcard at a sensible sample rate and bit depth -- it should be
completely indistinguishable from the original record.  I've tried
this and convinced myself at least.  Doesn't stop me from playing and
loving records, though!