[Elecraft] u want nice audio?

[Ron D'Eau Claire]

Keith N1AS wrote:
I did the same as Don, but with CD players and power amps.  I figured they
were "all the same" and the high priced stuff was just over priced.

Then I did something dangerous.  I actually listened to good gear and
compared it head to head with the great gear.  I found out in a hurry that I
was dead wrong.  There really is a difference, a difference you can hear...

------------------------

I've done the same thing for decades, whether it's audio gear or Ham gear. A
side-by-side A/B test is, for me, the most important point. As an avid
homebrewer, one of the most important uses for a state-of-the-art rig in the
shack is to do such A/B testing with my homebrew creations. 

But such testing is more subjective than one might think. I know those who
claim that their audio gear sounds better if equipped with a certain brand
of tube (they say true audiophiles don't mess with transistors) or if their
mains power cord was chilled in liquid nitrogen to -330F and then thawed
(it's supposed to realign the copper atoms so the current doesn't get
turbulent as it flows to the equipment ;-)

In short, for them such things make a difference well worth the price they
pay. 

I have a sign over my desk that I have kept for many years. It is a play on
an old phrase. My version says "Believing is seeing". I have found that it
is true. We see (or hear) what we believe we will see or hear. 

It's what us humans do. And that's why so much effort is put into making
truly objective observations. That's very hard for humans to do, if we are
able to do so at all.   

Ron AC7AC