Re: Digital to Analog downloading Question ?

On Sat, 12 Apr 2008 09:46:08 -0700, bob wrote
(in article <ftqp0g02r07@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>):

> On Apr 12, 10:13 am, "Arny Krueger" <ar...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>> "Sonnova" <sonn...@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
> 
>>> Yet we can always tell live from canned - from any of
>>> those seats. That's why live music played in real space
>>> is the one absolute reference in audio
>> 
>> Except that that  live music played in real space is not just one
thing. It
>> is as many different things there are seats in the auditorium and on
stage.
> 
> That's why calling it an "absolute reference" is nonsensical. It isn't
> absolute.

Sigh! I really don't think you guys understand the context. NOTHING sounds

like a live trumpet (for instance). It always sounds like a live trumpet
-in 
any venue, under any conditions. A recorded and reproduced trumpet always 
sounds like a recorded and reproduced trumpet. It never sounds like a real

trumpet. If you know what a live trumpet sounds like, irrespective of
where 
you hear it, you will always recognize it as a live trumpet and the finest

stereo system will never fool you for long. This is what makes live music 
played in real space the absolute reference. Audio will be perfect when a 
stereo system can play back a trumpet in the same room where it was
recorded 
and listeners cannot tell the real thing from the play-back. By
definition, 
that makes the live trumpet the absolute reference. It's what the stereo 
system is trying to recreate (in this case).

> It's really a subjective standard, based (let us hope) on objective
> experiences. And being subjective, it is subject to a whole lot of
> influences (including, ironically, our experiences of recorded
> music!).

The biggest obstacle to using live music as the absolute reference is
human 
aural memory. It's not that good and is easily corrupted by personal 
listening biases.