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

[fons at kokkinizita.net]

On Wed, Jun 09, 2010 at 09:29:40PM +0100, Chris Cannam wrote:

> 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.

Yes. And even being 'experienced' doesn't make one
immune to this. 

> 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.

The real interesting stuff happens when you can relate
objective measurements to subjective effects.

> > 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.

But is it the 'lower quality' that makes it enjoyable ? 
Everything was different in the vinyl days - recording
techniques, mixing, mastering, and of the course the
music itself, or for classic, the interpretation.

> 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*

Some people today seem to prefer concert hall acoustics
(for 'classic' music) that have most of the reverb from
the front, as when listening to stereo... Some halls have
even been designed on purpose for this.

> [*] 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!

You convinced yourself of _what_ ?

Ciao,

-- 
FA

O tu, che porte, correndo si ?
E guerra e morte !