'Till the Break of Dawn

I have not mentioned this year's Home Entertainment show yet, but I just read an interesting article about one of the events from this years show. Apparently the folks over at Zu put together a rave using some custom built speakers in an attempt to both demonstrate their gear and at the same time try to bring a younger crowd into the Hi-Fi world. I read that this was going to happen and I thought it sounded pretty darn cool. Of course I am under 30 (at least for a little while longer) and most Hi-Fi enthusiasts are significantly older, but I thought it would be well attended.

Apparently it was not. It seems that there were never more than 100 people at the rave at one time when they were hoping for 800. It sounds like those that were there had an amazing time, but it did not turn out to be the great gateway event that the organizers had hoped for. Check out the article for more information. It definitely makes for some interesting reading, both on the event itself, and as commentary on the state of the Hi-Fi world.

Good Tunes

I have been listening a lot recently to the audio from the David Gilmour DVD David Gilmour in Concert and I have to say it is amazing. I do not know what rock I have been hiding under, but I have only recently discovered the goodness of Pink Floyd, and my friend Ben showed me this DVD and I had to pick it up for myself. So I did, and while watching the concert is great, I have also thoroughly enjoyed just listening to it.

The ensemble that Gilmour has put together for this concert is incredible, and the only word I can come up with to describe the performance is flawless. It sounds impossibly good for a live performance. Each member of the group seems to be so in tune with one another that the transitions between songs and movements within songs are amazingly precise. The concert, for me, brings together the precision of a studio album with the synergy of a live performance to create a wonderful musical experience. As you can probably tell, I highly recommend checking it out.

Makes You Go Hmmmm....

So I was reading my latest Stereophile and I came across one of the most interesting bits of audio voodoo I have yet encountered. The author makes three claims about listening to music from CD-R discs as opposed to the original disc.

The first is that a copy of a CD burned at a slower speed will sound better than a copy burned at a higher speed. Ok, I can buy that. When burned at a slower speed the laser has more time to really get the job done when burning a pit into the disc.

The second is that burned copies of discs sound better than the original. Huh? Duplicates sound better? I mean, I do not really expect them to sound worse because bits are bits, right? But better? Here again he makes a plausible argument. On original pressed discs the pits are actually bumps on the surface of the disc. This, supposedly, causes light to scatter when it hits them. On burned discs the pits are actually pits, or holes burned into the surface of the disc. Since burned copies have these pits light does not scatter, or at least not as much. Ok, maybe I can buy that.

The third claim the author makes is that color of the surface of the disc that is burned makes a difference in the sound. Wha? This one I have a much harder time believing, but the author claims it makes a noticeable difference. However neither he, nor the experts he consults can offer an explanation. The only thing I can think of is that the different materials that are used for the discs and then burned into have different properties, and for some reason one of them sounds better. But other than that, this one seems totally crazy to me.

I must say that I have not tried any of these options to do a comparison and test out one of these theories, but I also kind of doubt that even if there are differences my system is good enough to really notice. Though it would be interesting to try. I mean blank CDs are cheap, so why not?

An Interesting Development

So I went over to one of the local hi-fi stores yesterday to listen to a few integrated amps, and see what was what. Only I didn't get to listen to any. The sales guy insisted that it would not really do me any good. He said since they did not have the speakers I had, and he was not familiar with them to provide a good alternative, it would not really be useful for me to listen to any amps. He suggested I bring my speakers in and try the amps all out that way.

I guess he has a point. Well, he definitely does. There would be no way to pick the best amp for my speakers without listening to them together, but still. I was a bit surprised that he would not even let me listen to anything. Now, granted, the place was rather busy, and the room with the amps I wanted to listen to had the door closed, which usually means someone is in, listening intently. But still, I was a little put off by the experience.

I mean I know I should listen to amps with my speakers, but with such a long list of possibilities, it is impractical to do that with all the options. I had hoped to listen to a few and get an impression of their characteristics relative to each other. Was one warmer than another? More forward? More clinical? I felt I could have done that their in the space. But oh well, I will just go to another store first and see what happens there.