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Topic: Are We Hi-Fi Bores (Read 5624 times) previous topic - next topic
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Are We Hi-Fi Bores

There was a review of the 50000 pound Linn Exakt in The Mail On Sunday [UK & Ireland] yesterday
In which reviewer Rob Waugh says talking about Studio Master files.

"This £50,000 machine's an evangelist, and it's difficult not to believe in Studio Master after it.
Despite decades of waffle from hi-fi bores. CD does NOT ofter perfect sound - its compressed,
It's 16-bit, & sound is lost in transit. With Studio Master files, nothing goes missing on the journey from the performer to your ear."

So are we hi-fi bores

can't find the review on-line yet.

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #2 –
Got to love the Daily Mail

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #3 –
You just clipped off the best quote of all...

"To me, it’s a greater upgrade to music than HD or even Ultra-HD is for TV."

Yes, it is saying we're bores.

But the Daily Mail website is click bait. Given the zero comments, it's probably failing with this one. Leave it alone and they won't bother with this topic again.

Cheers,
David.
P.S. Some of the complementary Linn "Studio Master" downloads are compressed, in terms of volume-maximising emotion-squashing dynamic range compression. We've had a thread about this.

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #5 –
Listening to everything as they did in the studio?

I can do that for less than $1000 with a good set of active studio monitors, a 192kHz/24bit-capable DAC and high-res downloads. Compared to audiophile favorites, good-quality studio gear is very affordable. It doesn't magically make high-res material sound any better than a decently-mastered CD to me, so big whoop.

£50K is absolutely insane. Read the specs, there's a separate DAC for each driver unit in the speakers, that's just crazy on a whole new level. And the real beauty is that it locks you into buying Linn gear only if you ever feel the need to upgrade. As a marketing exercise aimed at crazy audiophiles with a lot more money than sense, it's absolutely brilliant.

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #6 –
Quote from: KozmoNaut on
Read the specs, there's a separate DAC for each driver unit in the speakers, that's just crazy on a whole new level.
Not really - a dedicated digital filter + DAC + power amp per speaker drive unit makes perfect sense. Not economically, but if taking an objective do-the-best, cost-no-object approach it's the way to go.

There are no advantages to passive analogue speaker crossovers, or driving the whole lot from a single amplifier, other than cost. The cheaper approach can be more than good enough, but digital active cross-overs with built-in speaker correction can deliver ruler-flat on-axis frequency amplitude and phase response. When I worked with a team developing this stuff, I could rarely hear any benefit from the phase correction in a blind test, but the amplitude correction was audible. There may be drivers that have a sufficiently flat response to make digital amplitude correction unnecessary.

I don't know what Linn does.

£50k audio systems are designed to appeal to a range of people who can afford to spend £50k, not necessarily the subset of those people who wish to carefully select hi-fi components based on sound alone.

Cheers,
David.

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #7 –
Whenever I see those nicely rounded sums in high end audio equipment I can't help wondering where precision is on their priority list.

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #8 –
Quote from: KozmoNaut on
Read the specs, there's a separate DAC for each driver unit in the speakers, that's just crazy on a whole new level.

Most DSP studio studio monitors do just that. The DSP does the crossover filtering among some other things.
Music: sounds arranged such that they construct feelings.

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #9 –
Quote from: ktf on
Quote from: KozmoNaut on
Read the specs, there's a separate DAC for each driver unit in the speakers, that's just crazy on a whole new level.

Most DSP studio studio monitors do just that. The DSP does the crossover filtering among some other things.

The DAC is, or should be, one of the least expensive parts of the system. High quality capacitors and inductors, on the other hand, can be quite expensive.

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #10 –
Point taken that some active speakers with digital inputs actually work the same way.

My point was that the entire thing is overbuilt to a ridiculous degree and even more ridiculously priced.

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #11 –
Quote from: KozmoNaut on
My point was that the entire thing is overbuilt to a ridiculous degree and even more ridiculously priced.

At some point in my education I had a few courses on business economics and marketing. One thing that I remembered had to do with the pricing of products. Once you've worked out some reasonable price points for your product range, you can opt to increase the price of the cheapest and the most expensive products, because there are some people that always buy the cheapest of the line (when your brand has some status and someone really wants to buy a product with your brand name on it) and there are always people that buy the most expensive, no matter how little added value it has over the second most expensive product.

There are a few brands (and they don't even have to be famous or something) that make products for these extreme price points simply because there are people that always buy the most expensive stuff. I can't think of any sane reasons why except bragging rights. But just having a very expensive product, a prestige or reference line generally improves the way people think of your brand (you can overdo it of course) and you might actually sell a few for big $$$.
Music: sounds arranged such that they construct feelings.

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #12 –
Quote from: ktf on
there are always people that buy the most expensive, no matter how little added value it has over the second most expensive product.


Back when I was an apprentice at Bang & Olufsen, the company actually received a 100% serious request from one of their dealers in the Middle East, asking if they could increase the price of their most expensive plasma TV at the time. It was not "exclusive" enough for their customers.

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #13 –
As an analogy on the marketing side, back in the late 60s/early 70s, there was a German Lager beer introduced to the UK called Lowenbrau. It was roughly the same price as every other lager beer and didn't sell particularly well. It was withdrawn and relaunched about 6 months later at a premium price and advertised as the most expensive lager in the world. Sales went through the roof! What does that tell you about the power of marketing and the gullibility of the buying public!

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #14 –
It tells me I really should get into the "high-end" power cable business, there's profit to be made selling lamp cords encased in garden hose at ultra-premium prices.

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #15 –
The Daily Fail.

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #16 –
Quote from: KozmoNaut on
It tells me I really should get into the "high-end" power cable business, there's profit to be made selling lamp cords encased in garden hose at ultra-premium prices.



IME there aren't a lot of lamp cords configured as an IEC power cable.

Therefore the sights need to be set higher - to power cables for rice cookers!

Are We Hi-Fi Bores

Reply #17 –
Quote from: Arnold B. Krueger on
IME there aren't a lot of lamp cords configured as an IEC power cable.

Therefore the sights need to be set higher - to power cables for rice cookers!


No no, Asian electronics are much too harsh and brittle sounding.

You need something warm and pleasant, like an old British tea kettle cord. Cheerio and God save The Queen!