Brian A

Just their ER2XR. Owning custom earpieces, I now have the cart before the ox; I had to buy the earphone that fit my earpieces rather than shopping the whole product line. Last time I had to replace my earphones, I telephoned Etymotic to ask which product would fit my earpieces. The technician wasn't really certain and thought the ER2 were the most likely. They do fit fine, but I am unsure what else in their product line would have also been okay. I do find that the XR version, with its slight bass boost, to be beneficial for the custom earpieces. I no longer use any profile adjustment on my music player and just run it "flat."

To Chris' point, I like small so that I can sleep on airplanes with ear on pillow and have them stay comfortable during a 12 hour flight. Etymotic had a promotion years ago for custom molded earpieces requiring a visit to an audiologist. I got a pair and love them; I guess I am hooked on "bottom-of-the-pyramid" Etymotic IEMs (on my third set). I don't mean to be a troll; I'm just thinking out loud about how we all value things differently. I compromise (apparently!) sound quality for comfort. Frankly, for me, I don't know why I would want such high-end "earbuds" when I prefer other options for listening in quiet environments. My Etymotics stay in my travel backpack.

I think of speakers like this – those nearing the limit of possible audio performance – as needing a listening room such as yours to fully decern and appreciate their capability. It is interesting how their advertising photos show the speakers in a conventional living room. I wonder how much their capability is compromised in such a compromised listening space.

The other "how" I am very interested in learning about is how Atmos recordings are made. Herbert von Karajan passed away in 1989. Did the recording technicians of the era actually somehow anticipate the likes of 7.1.4 and take the steps to capture the necessary data?

I obviously don't know much about this stuff. How much 7.1.4 source material is available? Are musicians recording in that format or is it for other forms of audio than "plain" music? I read with great interest last year's articles by bluesman about realism vs accuracy and came to respect what recording technicians have to deal with and the soundstage they have to construct.

I wonder how many artists take an interest in the sonic image. Certainly Pink Floyd did with all kinds of sounds flying around all over the place. On the flip side (har, har), I sometimes wonder what the sound engineer is thinking. One of many examples that jumps to mind is "My Dear Companion" on the "Trio" album. Most of the song is fine with Emmylou Harris crisply placed on the left, Dolly Parton in the middle and Linda Ronstadt on the right. However, toward the end, Harris and Ronstadt abruptly float to a combined position kinda sorta a bit to the left of Parton. It drives me nuts. I wonder why it was done?

Fascinating read. Thank you!!! The article certainly moots criticism of the likes of Gilles Martin rejiggering the sonic image (did I use that term correctly?) when remastering the Beatles stuff.

I think the answer to the question as to why there is so much turmoil on this forum is also the answer to the question why audiophiles even need an online forum. It strikes me that all forums have a big social aspect to them. In addition to the stated practical purpose for any forum – be it living with stage 4 cancer or rebuilding carburetors – people come to a forum because of the community. If that community has a common purpose, people need each other, support each other and help each other; dealing with their cancer or rebuilding their dang carburetors. I struggle to be able to clearly state the purpose of a general forum for audiophiles. The solution to the “equipment problem” is very subjective; lots of obvious options all of which are personal value judgements. There is no right answer. As for music, musical taste is a very personal and private thing that absolutely should not need to be justified to others. I was an intensive poster on this site a few years ago. Now I just visit intermittently. The reason for my change in behavior was that I did have a “problem” that the audiophile community could help me solve. My problem was that I wanted to migrate my large music collection from CDs to digital files. This site was a tremendous help in teaching me how to rip CDs and guiding me toward the extra equipment I needed to optimize playback. I am very grateful for the help you all provided. Socially, I found the forum more challenged. While I recognized that I needed to participate intensively at the social level to gain credibility with the community, I didn’t enjoy the banter very much. I cannot deny that it was a one-way street in that I didn’t have much technical information to contribute, but is was surprised at the number of acidic responses I received to my questions. I interpreted the behavior as posters seeking validation, some desperately, of their subjectivity. Perhaps it is because music is an emotional thing; not so much about thinking.

Wow. Just wow. I love it. To me the only thing lost in the new release is the documentation of the recording constraints of the era. I can’t imagine those recording/mixing compromises made in 1967 were part of the Beatles’ artistic intention. All I hear is goodness.

Hi Chris, Thank you for writing this interesting and thought-provoking article. Interesting stuff. I have been browsing your website in recent days after a long hiatus. I returned to it curious about how the thinking of audiophiles has evolved (or perhaps stayed stagnant) related to digital. Also interesting stuff. I agree with your observations about tactile attractiveness of vinyl records, of cameras and of paper photographs. I wonder though if it is deeper need, related to memory. I would not call myself a “materialist” but I have a lot of possessions which I value highly. I keep lots of things and I keep my things a long time. Each “special” object, no matter how practical and pedantic, is a reminder to me of something; it helps my memory, often times not an aid to recall of a specific event (movie scene style) but as a recall aid for a feeling or mood. It “feels good” to handle the object. I agree that it is not solely nostalgia, but I would argue that nostalgia as one of the elements in the set of emotions that could be brought about by interacting with objects. On that basis, I can’t help but wonder if LPs are just another object which help us recall certain feelings. A well-made LP cover may arouse our curiosity, but it is the music therein that triggers the memory cycle: the cover then becomes the emblem for the emotions provoked by the music and afterward looking at the cover evokes those emotions before the music even begins to play. This need for a physical world is interesting. I don’t cook (well), but I am astonished how many of my male friends have embraced cooking as a creative process and as a means to work with tools. There is a physicality to the activity that I can relate to as they chop, stir and fry. I have also wondered and watched the “next generation”, those raised with a virtual reality surrounding them. I honestly think they are the same as me. I have a fancy car (a 1983 Ferrari 308 GTS Quattrovalvole) (you missed out; they used to be cheap to buy). I went to McDonald’s late Friday night and got the single prime brightly lit parking spot in front of the entrance between the Handicap spots. When I exited, the car was surrounded by high school boys. It felt like an “oh crap” moment, and I wondered what they had done to my car. Instead, when they found out I was the owner, their faces brightened and they peppered me with questions about the car. They knew all about it. They called it a “real” Ferrari and disparaged the new “computer controlled” cars. One guy said he raced with a virtual 308 on one of his video games, but really wanted a real one. Another said that he already knew how to drive a stick shift. It was a conversation about “physical things”; how they pined for the real not the virtual. There is a primal human need that both you and Mr. Sax have touched upon.

I have considered that, but concluded the notion is invalid. Since the test was experiential and subjective, there is no such possibility of concluding incorrectly. My conclusion is valid for my reality. All I can say is that, for me, differences between the sample files did not exist. For others, they may. For me, the bottom line is that even if I am “cloth eared”, I am also happy.

A few years ago, when I more actively posted on the Computer Audiophile website, a character with ScreenName "Julf" posted a test for us all. He took a high res source file, downsampled it into various lower res formats and then upconverted them back to the original high res format (to make them all look the same). He asked us to play them to see if we could tell the difference between the various resolutions and post which one we liked best. One sounded better to me and I picked it. All the rest sounded the same. Well, the file I picked was the lowest res version but one where he had bumped the volume one (paltry) dB. Tricky guy that Julf. What the exercise taught me was that my ears are not good enough to tell the differences between various resolutions. I pity those who hear differences in resolutions above 44/16. I remain blissfully ignorant.

Yes, closed. Its an organized annual event, complete with police controlling entrances, fire trucks, ambulances (and presumably hearses) on standby. The closed road is 5.2 miles. The course record was broken this year by a 950 hp Nissan GT-R. You need hp for a hill climb; my 33 year old car is relatively gutless.

Thanks. I really like the equipment, some of it now has sentimental value to me. In particular the power amp is special. It was given to me for free by an old audiophile over 20 years ago. I used to enjoy taking a breaks at my office and walking a couple of floors down to talk a guy named John Lishman, who was over 60 years old at the time. He told stories about being an audiophile in the 1950s, where you had to match your cartridge to your phono preamp to your preamp to your amp to your speakers because all the components had idiosyncrasies which had to be offset by a component that had the opposite bias. His claim was that he had excellent sound in that era. It struck me how much easier it is for us to get great sound now and all we do is split hairs when we get fussy. Anyway, he talked and I listened. One evening, I got a call at home. It was John. He apologized for bothering me and said he found my home phone number in the phone book. He also said that he and his wife were selling their house and moving to a condo as John prepared for retirement. He then said that he had found that old Dynaco Stereo 70 power amp that he had spoken so fondly of and that it was now in the back of his son's pickup truck and would be going to the dump in an hour. He told me if I wanted it, to come and get it. I was there within 30 minutes. Neither of us knew what it was worth and it was an honest naïve transaction. The amp has been really good to me. A few years ago, the "tin foil and wax paper" capacitors finally shorted out and the amp went dead. I searched around the internet and found Joe Curcio who, it turns out, lived only 45 minutes away. Joe is another character and I have really enjoyed talking with him. I bought a bunch of "kits" off of him and have brought John's amp back to life. It sounds much better too. A lot of people don't like Joe's kits, but I am a believer. I am very happy with my system and part of the fun has been keeping all this old stuff working.

If you enjoy the car hobby, the Virginia City Hill Climb is awesome. All makes of vehicles are welcome. I was really "scared of myself" misjudging speed and getting myself into trouble. The reality is that the corners are predictable (no decreasing radius, only one off-camber; marked with a red flag, etc) and it is easy to run at your own safe comfortable pace. All the people who attend are track rats. Good fun.