Jeff wrote:

Funny story, I feel sad for someone who will buy something they don't like as well because of what their alleged friends would say.

 

 

There was an audio show once where a "cheap and crappy" Japanese integrated amp, I think it was a Yamaha, and a high end tube amp were setup so you could switch between them with a large A/B switch. They let people listen at length and switch back and forth, and recorded their comments, the Japanese amp sounded brittle, grainy, shallow, etc. while the high end amp had amazing depth and soundstage, fluid and lush mids, no grain, etc.

 

 

Lots of embarrassment when they revealed that the switch wasn't connected to anything, they were listening to the Japanese amp all the time. People are funny.

 

 

Personally I enjoy music more with my B&O than with any of my old gear, as I focus on the music and not on the gear...well, I do focus on admiring the looks of the B&O. :-)

I can absolutely believe that story :)

B&O: Being the guest in a Michelin-standard restaurant.

Audiophilia nervosa: Struggling like a an underling cook in the kitchen of that restaurant.

soundproof wrote:

B&O: Being the guest in a Michelin-standard restaurant.

Audiophilia nervosa: Struggling like a an underling cook in the kitchen of that restaurant.

Sums it up nicely! 😁 Excellent! 🤒

Just last Monday, I had a guest for dinner. We started a conversation about the music and then of course about the hardware. He told me that "audiophiles do not take B&O as a serious brand in audiophile world" !!! Upps...

I said come with me to my living room, I'll give you a small demostration. Believe me, I have a really week configuration. 2 Beolab 5000, 2 Beolab 4000 with Beosystem 4500 there (we do not use our living room that often). There is 12 meters distance between 4000s and 5000s and the width of the room is 6 meters.

I invite him to choose a place anywhere in the room and turn the system on. He was amazed with the clearness of the sound (honestly not on max. volume. I can get perfect result up to 60/90 sound level). He was suprised how 4000s (in that small volume) and how 5000s (in that small thickness) perform. I've told him that he should have an information and experiance about the B&O products first then he might have an idea. That was end of the conversation with a huge respect to B&O products.

Just think, If I would have Beolab 5s :)

Biggest problem I see in all this is the quality of the media.

Unless you have certain recording labels, its all a waste of time and money.

I can play certain albums in a BS5/BL5 combo and get completely blown away. On other albums, its just "uuh!".

Not sure how any cable, isolation pad, wooden stylii or valve would be able to polish the turd that is a poor recording. (And I fear with compressed music, portable play systems and little white earphones...they are the majority now of all recordings.

Jeff wrote:

There was an audio show once where a "cheap and crappy" Japanese integrated amp, I think it was a Yamaha, and a high end tube amp were setup so you could switch between them with a large A/B switch. They let people listen at length and switch back and forth, and recorded their comments, the Japanese amp sounded brittle, grainy, shallow, etc. while the high end amp had amazing depth and soundstage, fluid and lush mids, no grain, etc.

 

 

Lots of embarrassment when they revealed that the switch wasn't connected to anything, they were listening to the Japanese amp all the time. People are funny.

Do you have a source to backup this story? Did you read it on the internet...

Why would this particular high end brand, hire an expensive listening room, to prove that their product is on par with a "cheap and crappy" brand? Probably they didn't.. Then who did? You tell me!

Was I that wrong when I changed my cheap integrated amp for an expensive Quad PreAmp + Quad Amp with less features. Was the sound the same? Hell no!

Every year I visited an audio show with 50 listening rooms (it's nearby) and everytime I got blown away with the sound. I do agree there is a lot of crap being told in the audiophile world, (especially when it comes to cables) but the same counts for the non-believers. It's not all that black and white. Not at all.. 🙂

DoubleU wrote:

Do you have a source to backup this story? Did you read it on the internet...

Why would this particular high end brand, hire an expensive listening room, to prove that their product is on par with a "cheap and crappy" brand? Probably they didn't.. Then who did? You tell me!

He never actually said the high end brand set this test up!! I would imagine it would be the Japanese manufacturer.

I would also imagine there will be a lot of high end amplifier manufacturers who would be extremely reluctant to put there wares up against "lesser" competition in a real controlled test!

I once visited the Berlin HIFI fair in the late 70es.

The German HIFI institute had set up a demo of a "almost HIFI"- a "HIFI" and a "top-class HIFI" unit.

They played about 6 pieces of audio from church organ to Jazz, each time within the music switching between those hidden gear. They were marked "A", "B" and "C" by 3 lettered lights but each piece of music they changed the correlation of this A,B,C. They had this demo during the whole fair (1 week) about 2-hourly

I managed to find the right systems for all 6 pieces in their correct sequence.

Not too many people did obviously. My college copied my findings.

I did win an amplifier. He won a turntable (but without system).

That was back in those days when my ears were better 😳 When entering a house I could tell if they had a telly running by the 15.625Hz flyback sound...

I think I'm still capable to detect 128k mp3-files on a good equipment.