Slashdot Mirror
The Death of High Fidelity
Ponca City, We Love You writes "Rolling Stone has an interesting story on how record producers alter the way they mix albums to compensate for the limitations of MP3 sound. Much of the information left out during MP3 compression is at the very high and low ends, which is why some MP3s sound flat. Without enough low end, 'you don't get the punch anymore. It decreases the punch of the kick drum and how the speaker gets pushed when the guitarist plays a power chord.' The inner ear automatically compresses blasts of high volume to protect itself, so we associate compression with loudness. After a few minutes, constant loudness grows fatiguing to the brain. Though few listeners realize this consciously, many feel an urge to skip to another song."
"The age of the audiophile is over."
How true. I tried to warn people that their hair would fall out and blindless would ensue but would anyone believe me then? MP3's are the devil's work.
Repent and bow at the altar of vinyl before it's too late.
I think you're just getting older!
Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
that your equipment doesn't have wooden knobs.
Also, you'll find your aural experience greatly improved if the wires are of high quality and raised slightly above floor level. I've also noticed marked improvements if you chill the wires(and generally keep the room cool). Cool equipment = warm sound. Who knew?
It's called the auralgasm setup for a reason!
Maybe you could rip a sample from those LP's to MP3 and put it online somewhere, so we could decide for ourselves if it sounds better ?-)
Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.
...nothing couple of $400 wooden knobs couldn't fix.
But just for good measure - add some super-clean gold-plated copper cables at $1500 per foot.
That will fix it.
Mit der Dummheit kämpfen Götter selbst vergebens
You need to get some of those speaker baffles made from oxygen-free copper.
It's true I tell you, feller at work's next door neighbour read it in the paper.
Hey, this guy actually knows something about compression. Sorry sir, but you'll have to leave. There's no place for engineering in the audiophile debates.
"Well, good luck finding a judge that doesn't run a bestiality site."
Well, to be fair, I've seen at LEAST three articles just on slashdot showing the same findings. Does he really need to cite the obvious?
I tried strumming a power chord once but every time I pulled it tight enough, it just pulled out of the wall socket.