Patrick Dixon wrote: > Analogies are never that great, but hopefully you will concentrate on > the point I'm trying to make, rather than just trying to pick holes in > the analogy. > > The reason that source quality is more important than speaker quality, > even though the latter is much more obvious and easier to hear, is akin > to the reason that a reproduction of a great painting, with the brush > strokes and the detail accurately represented but with the colour > reproduction slightly off, will ultimately be more satisfying that a > reproduction of the same painting with lower resolution but accurate > colour. Whilst the latter may be superficially more acceptable, > ultimately it won't get you close to the artist's intentions and keep > you interested for very long. > > I don't think the source first principle has ever been discredited; if > anything has, it is just the numerical percentage split of your budget > source first advocates used to say you should allocate to each > component.
I agree with Patrick. Sure, speakers can colour the sound, but you become accustomed to the sound of your own listening space and don't hear it in normal listening. Whereas, a poor source can cause fatigue problems - I don't get listening fatigue with a good source with mediocre speakers. I remember when I used to use my SB1 through a (modified) Art DI/O DAC. I used to use fixed digital volume so it was more convenient to use the SB1 analogue out if I need to adjust the volume regularly. I therefore used to switch between two inputs on my amp regularly (SB1 and DAC). At one time, I found myself turning off the music regularly as I found the sound tiring. I thought I was listening to the DAC and couldn't understand it. Anyway, after a while, I got up and checked the amp and I was listening to the SB1! I switched back to the DAC and all was well again. Another point here is that the difference between sources is not always immediately obvious within 5-10 minutes of listening. Sometimes it takes a period of extended listening, and not always conscious listening. R. _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
