From: pascal@CAM.ORG (Pascal Gosselin)
Newsgroups: rec.audio
Subject: Re: Stereo Review's critical judgement
Date: 5 Jan 93 06:30:13 GMT
Organization: Communications Accessibles Montreal, Quebec Canada

lstowell@pyrnova.mis.pyramid.com (Lon Stowell) writes:
>    [ LET THE FLAMES BEGIN.....]

:-)

>   Of course you make the verrrrrrry mistaken assumption that there
>   is ANY real-world device which comforms to theory.  

My point is simply that beyond a certain point ($1,000), the quality
of the D/A converter isn't going to improve much (if at all).  Sure, the
analog portion can be improved upon, but that's like saying that
400hp isn't enough for driving to the local 7-11.

>>
>>As for those of you buying $1000+ CD players, I'm afraid you are getting
>>taken for a big, expensive ride.
>>
>   They might just have decent analog interfaces and might even
>   sound a bit different than a $29 K-Mart special...

Better mechanics, resistance to skipping, etc... YES!  But there are limits.
How many people need a CD player than can survive a nuclear blast without
skipping ?  (cars don't count, the two car CD decks I've owned both
skipped a lot (and one JVC unit had what were clearly software bugs, like
refusing to play disks unless the unit's power was cycled). 

Fast question:

Is there a CD player on the market with large read-ahead buffer (a-la-
minidisk) that will prevent skipping? It is so simple, I wonder why
nobody seems to have done it yet for CDs.

I mean, the display clearly shows us a skip, why are the control electronics
too stupid to notice it and correct ?


[Compaq vs. Clone discussion]
>   While it is PERFORMING maybe, but what about ability to continue
>   to perform in the presence of power line noise, dust, vibration,
>   etc.  

In the digital domain, noise and dust don't matter. Vibration is a killer
for CDs, agreed.  Analog is of course screwed-up by anything, which is
why I hate analog :-)

>   And maybe one PC just happens to have a better focus on the CRT
>   so your eyes don't water so much at the end of the day.....

CRT, an analog device (ok, ok, some displays are TTL, but that doesn't
change a thing as far as distrotions & focus).

Analog can always be improved upon.  Like that stupid salesman trying
to stiff my father with a GAOO TV instead of a Trinitron. Like NEC selling
that 3FGx (4FG, 5FG, etc..) crap like it was actually even close to
the quality of Trinitron displays.  Not even close.  In the analog domain,
the choice is clear.  In the digital domain, bits are bits are bits.

Good quality clone components (yes, they do exist!) are extremely reliable.
I've run clones powered-up 24 hours a day under extremely harsh conditions
for the last 6 years.  I have yet to see a motherboard failure.
 
>>Speakers, on the other hand, are mechanical devices (like hard drives) that
>>will greatly vary in quality based on price.
>>
>   I hate to burst your bubble, but PC's DO vary greatly in quality,
>   although like CD players it isn't necessarily related to
>   price...although cheap PC's look about as bad and perform about
>   as unreliably as cheap players...

My experience has been that buying stuff like Compaq only locks you into
bad situations (won't format non-Compaq HDs on their controllers, bizarre
keyboard connectors, odd DOS hacks to support extra features, etc...).

I would rather have a 3-of-each standy sparing with clones rather than
rely on a single expensive computer with outrageously expensive parts that
can be tough to come by.

>>If anyone has scientific blind tests proving otherwise, please post them,
>>I'm very curious.
>>
>   Never worked in a QA department, vendor qualification dept, or
>   service department, huh?

Service dept?  Yes.  The early clone days were bad, the modern clone
days were about as trouble-free as modern Macs (lemons like the MacPlus
power supply doesn't count!). Ditto for Apple 800K drives.  Surface mount
technology has done wonders for reliability (and made everything disposable
in the process, but that's another story).

-Pascal
-- 
+--------------------------+-------------------------------------------------+
    Pascal Gosselin        |     Communications Accessibles Montreal  
    pascal@CAM.ORG         |  A non-profit corporation.  Newsfeeds & More.   
  Apple Support Specialist |  For info: info@CAM.ORG or Voice (514) 923-2102 
Newsgroups: rec.audio