The biggest scams in hifi

I know people that can't tell the difference between 128kbps and a SACD so how do i know ye are not one of these people?

Nope the original version called sound blaster live costed alot when it was relased back in 97!

And yes Sound Cards with built in tubes exsist so no im not joking!

Lindsay Lohan wrote: Nope the original version called sound blaster live costed alot when it was relased back in 97! And yes Sound Cards with built in tubes exsist so no im not joking!

Such a soundcard would be VERY noisy with the tube exposed to all the interference inside a computer.

Here's what I find to be the crux of the argument here:

Any "noise" you may hear in a computer-based audio system is largely based on improper shielding of cables, and with an internal soundcard, possibly some "crosstalk" between the system bus and the audio signal paths of the card. That's why I always recommend D/A converters in an external housing.

As far as D/A converters affecting the actual timbral quality of an audio signal, that's just nonsense. Some systems do some "upsampling" tricks to simulate higher res (as Mike explained) , but in the end, the 16-bit/44.1 kHz audio on the disc is precisely what was pressed into the disc (any bits/samples added later are interpolated). Any decent CD player worth it's salt has a low fault tolerance for dropped samples, and will interpolate seamlessly until the damage or interference with the readable surface of the disc is fairly significant.

I'm amazed no one's mentioned the Fletcher-Munson curve. The human ear accentuates certain frequencies (just a product of evolution), and as a result, certain frequencies require more or less amplification to be perceived by the human ear as being the approximate same level.

Much "audiophile" gear is simply tailored to accentuate the Fletcher-Munson curve, in order to make playback sound more "pleasing" or "musical".

In reality, current digital technology is more HI-FI. (More of an accurate representation of the actual recorded vibrations).

So then any of you digital freaks gotten to class D amps yet?