1. General and Purpose
A link to the web page containing this short guide will be posted by
the
author to the r.a.o newsgroup at appropriate frequencies determined
by the
author. The guide may be used and transmitted by others provided
they quote
it in whole without modifications.
The Guide's purpose is to help readers of the r.a.o newsgroup
efficiently use
the
newsgroup and understand a few of the key issues discussed therein
without
having to wade through thousands of posts. It is not a frequently
asked
questions (FAQ) guide to r.a.o. Newsgroup FAQs list commonly
asked questions
and provide answers to help prevent recurring individual posts
containing
questions that have been asked and answered many times before.
I've been a user of r.a.o for several years (using my real name, not
my AOL
alias). My posts are mainly replies to requests for
assistance.
I read some
of the argumentative threads, but generally do not participate in them.
The views expressed in this document are strictly my own.
Suggestions for improvements are welcome and appreciated.
Flamers
and trolls
will be cheerfully ignored.
2. R.A.O Use
The newsgroup contains some helpful discussion about important
issues
related
to audio. It also has become a place where some post personal
attacks, flames
and trolls that really are of very little use for most users who are
interested in those important issues. Bandwidth is wasted for
endless arguments that will never be resolved. Users waste their
bandwidth
downloading these headers, and in some instances, all such
articles.
This is unfortunate.
There are proposals floating around to create various forms of r.a.o
in a moderated
form. These proposals may or may not lead to success. Even
if a moderated
form of the group is established, there are still questions about who
should
moderate, and this original group will still exist without moderation.
Healthy debates and discussion about serious audio issues should be
encouraged. But serious users of the group should:
- Post only on-topic information related to the discussion of
audio related
issues.
- Refrain from personal attacks. If you have to duke it
out, take it to
personal email or a private chatroom.
- Don't participate in endless arguments that will never be
resolved.
Learn
to agree to disagree.
- Ignore flames and trolls. Here is one web page that
outlines
some good
behavior for another group that contains good advice:
http://orangefox.svs.com/rem/other/lame-posts-faq
I'm sure there are other sources of FAQ type information on
appropriate
usenet
behavior if you search for them.
For those who can't control themselves and won't follow the above,
consider
adding a tag to your subject header indicating that the post is not
audio
related, such as OT, NAR or NAC (off topic, not audio related or not
audio
content). At least that way, serious users may ignore or filter
such posts
out.
- Use newsreaders that allow filters to be set up to filter
out
posts by
authors who have a history of inappropriate posts.
3. Issues that Will Never Be Resolved
Bandwidth is wasted on arguments in this group about a few key
issues. I recommend that you form your own opinion on these
issues
by reading
about them outside of this group and not get into flame wars with
people
over
them. The first place you may want read about audio issues and
to educate
yourself is the rec.audio.* FAQ periodically posted to all the
rec.audio
groups by Bob Neidorff. This document can be found archived at
Dejanews and
on various web sites. It may be found by entering rec.audio.*
FAQ into the
Google Groups search engine or your favorite web search engine. I
also found it
at:
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/AudioFAQ/
Here are brief overviews of a few of the issues, concentrating on
home
audio,
and my own opinion on them. Again, feel free to form your own.
3.1. Purpose of Home Audio
For music, the primary purpose of home audio systems is to provide
sound
that
is good enough, based on personal preferences, to not interfere or
distract
from the enjoyment of a musical performance. The audio delivery
chain,
including the studio/live recording, production, reproduction into
a home
audio format and playback on a home audio system itself should be
designed
to
provide an experience that is a close as possible to what the producers
intended for the music being reproduced. That said, I believe
there are
cost/benefit considerations to take into account when purchasing a
home audio
system.
There are a lot of products out there that provide very little
additional
benefit for a great deal of additional cost. Each user should
decide how much
money they wish to devote to meeting their own goals for their system,
but
keep the primary purpose, above, in mind. I believe a lot of
money is wasted
because people start to concentrate on secondary goals that are less
important
than the primary purpose, such as impressing their friends, satisfying
an
audio dealer, or having the best looking or most expensive
equipment.
Often,
people are fooled into thinking very expensive equipment or some tweak
or
cable sounds better based on a dealer's or friend's word, without
actual
scientific evidence that they do.
3.2. Cables
This issue boils down to whether specially manufactured, and often
more
expensive cables, for connecting audio components to each other and
speakers
to amplifier outputs, are better than mass produced, more standard
component
connectors and regular speaker wire or electrical wire ("zip cord").
My opinion is if you use reasonably good component connectors and
keep
the
connections free of corrosion, you will not hear the difference between
them
and the more expensive connectors. In other words, special
expensive
cables
don't hurt anything, but they are a waste of your money. I use
mass consumer
grade RCA phono plug connectors for my components and 12 gauge "zip"
cord for
my speakers. If you have money to burn, then there is nothing
"wrong" with
using them, especially if it makes you feel better about your
system.
It's
your money.
I've added a DVD player and Dolby Digital receiver and decided
to try the
cheapest digital audio cable connection first. I used a good
quality, 3 foot,
75-ohm antenna wire connector made by my cable company that wasn't
being used
anymore, with good quality male f-connectors at the end. I added
cheap female
f-connector to male RCA phono plug converters ($2 apiece at Radio
Shack,
$2.50 for
gold plated) at each end. Worked great, with no noise, artifacts,
interference, etc. This may not work for you, but my message
is, don't always
believe you need a special or expensive cable to make a good
connection.
3.3. CDs vs. LPs
Some claim LPs and purely analog sources of audio will always sound
better
than CDs or other digital sources for various reasons. Some claim
the process
of making and playing digital recordings will add artifacts to the
sound,
remold or redefine the sound unacceptably or make it sound "unnatural"
or
harsh.
In my opinion, the technical recording and playback method, if done
reasonably
well, should not make that much of a difference. A well produced
LP played
back on a good system should sound similar enough to a well produced
CD of the
same recording played back on a good system to allow you to enjoy the
performance without distraction due to the overall sound quality.
LPs do have
a lesser dynamic range and sound a bit noisier. But I have some
CDs that
sound worse than the same recording on LP and vice versa - this is
due to the
mastering process, not the format itself. When considering
various
recording
formats, I feel the most important consideration is what other problems
not
related to the actual recording and playback process you are willing
to put up
with. For example, LPs are much harder to maintain than
CDs.
They must be
kept very clean and played back on good equipment with an unworn stylus
("needle"). They have surface noise, such as clicks and pops
that are
difficult, if not impossible to avoid. I am often distracted
by LP surface
noise and I find their maintenance tiresome, so I generally prefer
CDs over
most LPs.
3.4. High End vs. Mass Consumer Grade Equipment
Some feel that you must have "high end" equipment to get the best
sound.
The
exact definition of what is "high end" is somewhat fuzzy, but it does
include
equipment that is made with the best electronics, in limited
quantities,
found
in high end shops (and other retailers too with the mass consumer
stuff)
and
with high price tags.
My opinion is the relationship between sound and price becomes
asymptotic
beyond a certain price range. You will get very, very little
additional sound
benefit beyond a certain price. For most listeners, there will
be very little
benefit to going beyond good mass consumer grade equipment.
However,
for some
listeners, I would recommend listening to high end speakers if you
find you
don't like the sound of the mass consumer grade ones. The
characteristics
of
the listening room and your speaker placement have a much greater
impact
on
the sound quality than the benefit derived by going beyond good mass
consumer
grade stuff. Like the cable issue, if you have money to burn,
there is
nothing "wrong" with purchasing high end equipment, especially if it
makes you
feel better about your system.
3.5. Objectivism vs. Subjectivism
Objective testing determines audio equipment performance based on
measurements. Subjective testing determines the performance based
on
listening. One way to minimize the skewing of subjective results
due to human
biases is to use double blind listening tests.
Some claim there are clearly defined groups in r.a.o that have only
objective
or subjective opinions on audio issues. Apparently, the objective
group will
only believe scientific evidence, such as actual measurements, to
substantiate
a claim, and the subjective group will believe a claim strictly based
on
listening and do not feel scientific evidence is needed.
I'm not so sure everyone can be fit into such clearly defined groups.
I believe there is a place for both approaches in the audio
field.
Some
issues can really only be correctly resolved with mainly one or the
other
approach. An approach that includes both objective and subjective
methods is
needed for other issues. For example, when selecting an audio
system for your
home, objective testing information from an audio magazine is important
to
determine if a piece of equipment, such as an amplifier, delivers the
performance the manufacturer claims. You will want to look at
the features of
the unit. But you will also want to listen yourself to the
amplifier,
which
is a subjective activity, but the features and the performance are
more
important. Selecting speakers is a more subjective activity than
selecting an
amp - this is really subject to your personal preferences (and your
room
acoustics!). That's why I recommend you consider high end
speakers
if you
don't like the sound of mass consumer models, as speaker selection
is really a
matter of personal preference. But I would want the objective
testing
information about the speakers too - it is just less important.
In my
opinion, deciding if certain kind of speaker wire is better than
another
should be based on objective testing.
Audio quality has improved to the point where certain pieces of
audio
equipment, such as good consumer grade and high end CD players and
amplifiers
and receivers (but not their tuners) in the same power range, modify
the audio
data stream so very little that the differences in their sound is
difficult,
if not impossible, for most people to hear. The quality of the
CD recording
and the nature of the speakers and the listening room have a much,
much
greater impact on what we hear than these components do. That
doesn't mean
they "sound identical", just that the differences aren't very
important.