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'Absolutes' in listening.


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G'day all, of late I've been switching between my two favourite DIY phono stages, the simple Bruce Heran op amp (OPA2134) design and my ESP P06 (with LM4562's).  They are both excellent phono stages yet are 'different' sonically and they force me to wonder about 'absolutes' in listening. 

 

I guess that we all hear things 'differently', but are there any true 'absolutes' in listening?  I've possibly raised this general subject before yet listening to these two fine DIY phono stages, this 'gulf' seems as wide as ever!

 

I 'think' that I prefer the Heran design for its 'musicality', but the dynamic and transient performance of the ESP P06 is just as impressive in its own way!  Don't you hate analog audio?  Well, actually I love it!  Regards, Felix.   

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If there were indeed absolutes in this hobby, everyone would aspire to exactly the same gear...................and wouldn't that be boring? :)

 

Of course, this is distinct from iconic products, which can and do exist at any price or performance level for a variety of reasons and this is another way of looking at or answering the question.

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G'day all, of late I've been switching between my two favourite DIY phono stages, the simple Bruce Heran op amp (OPA2134) design and my ESP P06 (with LM4562's).  They are both excellent phono stages yet are 'different' sonically and they force me to wonder about 'absolutes' in listening. 

 

I guess that we all hear things 'differently', but are there any true 'absolutes' in listening?  I've possibly raised this general subject before yet listening to these two fine DIY phono stages, this 'gulf' seems as wide as ever!

 

I 'think' that I prefer the Heran design for its 'musicality', but the dynamic and transient performance of the ESP P06 is just as impressive in its own way!  Don't you hate analog audio?  Well, actually I love it!  Regards, Felix.   

The only absolute, I can think off is perfect fidelity to the original recording but even with sota equipment we seem to remain far from that. IMO , you pays your money and you make your own choices about what represents acceptable comprimise .

Edited by Ozcall
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The only absolute, I can think off is perfect fidelity to the original recording but even with sota equipment we seem to remain far from that. IMO , you pays your money and you make your own choices about what represents acceptable comprimise .

Gordon,

You and I any many others have been on this merry-go-round quite a number of times before.

It morphs into the ole accurate vs musical discussion/argument and subjective vs objective debate ie measurements and dbt etc etc

I have asked in each of those wonderful interchanges for somebody to give an absolutely definitive list of ALL of the parameters that will fully define the degree of 'perfection' of the reproduction as compared to the source ---- which I presume for said discussion to be the vinyl, cd, tape, digital download etc rather than the original live performance ( if there happened to be one).

I have also asked for what values of all of said parameters equates to better and at what value of each parameter can no improvement be heard.

In addition, this also relates to what set of defined parameters are required such that I could email a set of numbers to Freddy in Ding Dong such that he could absolutely reproduce what I hear sitting in my seat in my room.

Every single time the discussion has gone elsewhere with nary a response.

So it would appear that absolutes may be a bit of a tricky thing to find.

the only absolutes that I feel are important are:

In the words of Mario. Enjoy your journey

Ie enjoy tinkering with your system if that is what floats your boat, but remember to keep a mind open enough to accept that you may hear things that do not fit within your paradigm, and

Remember that the experience most of us seek is to enjoy the music we are listening to.

Perfect or not, enjoyable is what counts.

Rawl

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Gooday Felix.

Interesting question even if there is no right answer!

One way to answer the question is to try the Phonos on another system and see if they are better or worse than the usual phono on that system....

There is no right answer, it's like what's your favourite wine or song or painting??????

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