Symbiotic wrote: > My questions are these: > > 1) Where can I begin to learn more about the finer points of audio > fidelity as it relates to listening and recording?
This is actually a very hard question. The only serious answer that I know of is "listen" a lot. Thirty years ago, every college guy had a stereo, and a lot of them cared about audio quality. There was a lot of information and a lot of competitive products. These days, the world is split into two parts, the mass market (sold at Best Buy, etc.) where quality sound is impossible to tell, and boutique "audiophile" stores that cater to wealthy middle aged men. Huge amounts of the audiophile market are sold on status rather than quality. > 2) What would be my best route of upgrades for my home components? First, move your speakers around. Pull them away from the wall. Put them on stands about 30 inches high and try placements. > 3) Should I be running analog or digital signal to my receiver? (i.e. > is my SB3 a better DAC than my Denon receiver.) Maybe. Its really hard to tell. Try it and make up your own mind. Its your ears. In general, mass market AV receivers are not sold on their high quality sound, but rather on their features. > I have all my music encoded as Apple Lossless, transcoded as FLAC to my > SB3. The SB3 is connected via optical to a Denon AV receiver. You should do some tests with the RCA analog output. Be sure to match levels, as humans always prefer the louder signal. > I need to keep the flexibility of the Denon (I use this system for music, > video, > and gaming)... In general, serious audio quality and the other two: video and gaming, do not play well together. For example, when I seriously listen to music, its stereo upstairs. Downstairs I have a 5.1 movie system, but that's not for serious audio. YMMV -- Pat Farrell http://www.pfarrell.com/ _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/audiophiles
