1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,800 Speaker 1: Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from I Heart Radio. 2 00:00:12,119 --> 00:00:14,800 Speaker 1: Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 3 00:00:14,880 --> 00:00:18,079 Speaker 1: Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio. 4 00:00:18,120 --> 00:00:21,480 Speaker 1: And how the tech are you? You know? Recently I 5 00:00:21,520 --> 00:00:24,560 Speaker 1: did an episode on the rise and fall of san Sui, 6 00:00:24,800 --> 00:00:29,880 Speaker 1: a Japanese company best known for its audio receivers and amplifiers, 7 00:00:29,880 --> 00:00:32,839 Speaker 1: though it did make other things, and San sue had 8 00:00:32,880 --> 00:00:35,760 Speaker 1: its heyday in the late sixties and into the seventies 9 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:39,600 Speaker 1: and became a sought after brand associated with hi fi 10 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:42,960 Speaker 1: or high fidelity. So today I thought we should talk 11 00:00:43,000 --> 00:00:45,200 Speaker 1: a little bit more about hi fi and the tech 12 00:00:45,280 --> 00:00:50,560 Speaker 1: that feeds into an obsession. So first, what is that obsession? Well, 13 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:56,120 Speaker 1: generally speaking, audio files seek out a listening experience that 14 00:00:56,240 --> 00:01:01,040 Speaker 1: gets them as close to the originally produced sound as possible. 15 00:01:01,600 --> 00:01:05,240 Speaker 1: So in an ideal world, it would sound as you 16 00:01:05,319 --> 00:01:08,880 Speaker 1: listen to playback, it would sound as though you were 17 00:01:08,920 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 1: in the recording studio as a producer was putting together 18 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:16,840 Speaker 1: a master tape you know, of a recording of a session, 19 00:01:17,080 --> 00:01:20,920 Speaker 1: or alternatively, that you were actually in the studio when 20 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:25,120 Speaker 1: say a band was laying down the recording tracks, because 21 00:01:25,480 --> 00:01:27,840 Speaker 1: you know even the act of producing can emphasize some 22 00:01:27,880 --> 00:01:30,679 Speaker 1: stuff all de emphasizing other stuff. So you could make 23 00:01:30,680 --> 00:01:33,839 Speaker 1: a good argument that even the master recording could muck 24 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:36,160 Speaker 1: things up all down the rest of the line. But 25 00:01:36,240 --> 00:01:39,960 Speaker 1: the idea is, how do you create a system. What 26 00:01:40,040 --> 00:01:44,360 Speaker 1: components do you need and in what combination and um 27 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:47,400 Speaker 1: and at what quality in order to get the ideal 28 00:01:47,760 --> 00:01:53,080 Speaker 1: listening experience. And you want to be able to accurately 29 00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:56,440 Speaker 1: reproduce the full range of sound frequencies and harmonics that 30 00:01:56,520 --> 00:02:00,680 Speaker 1: were present in the original sound, and preferably you want 31 00:02:00,680 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: to be able to also boost that to higher levels 32 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:07,760 Speaker 1: of volume without losing any of the precision. Right, So 33 00:02:07,800 --> 00:02:10,440 Speaker 1: the idea being that the louder you turn the system, 34 00:02:10,480 --> 00:02:13,760 Speaker 1: you don't lose it, Like things don't distort as you 35 00:02:13,800 --> 00:02:16,440 Speaker 1: turn up the volume, until you get to a point 36 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:18,240 Speaker 1: where you know you don't want to go any higher 37 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:23,120 Speaker 1: because you're gonna end up in a twisted sister music 38 00:02:23,200 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: video if you do so. This is tricky, not the 39 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:30,080 Speaker 1: part about avoiding being in a twisted twisted sister music video. 40 00:02:30,400 --> 00:02:33,880 Speaker 1: I've successfully done that all my life. But no, creating 41 00:02:33,919 --> 00:02:35,679 Speaker 1: a system like this is tricky because there are a 42 00:02:35,760 --> 00:02:39,519 Speaker 1: lot of different components to a sound system, and one 43 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:44,639 Speaker 1: bad component can mess up pretty much everything else. It's 44 00:02:44,639 --> 00:02:48,080 Speaker 1: not always true that the more expensive something is the 45 00:02:48,120 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 1: better it is, though that frequently can seem to be 46 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:58,360 Speaker 1: the case in the stereo like the high fidelity stereo world. Uh. However, 47 00:02:58,400 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 1: it is fairly safe to bet that the cheapest stuff 48 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:03,200 Speaker 1: on the market is not going to be the best. 49 00:03:03,760 --> 00:03:06,160 Speaker 1: You can be pretty sure that the cheapest stuff is 50 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:08,920 Speaker 1: not going to be great. You cannot be sure that 51 00:03:08,960 --> 00:03:11,560 Speaker 1: the most expensive stuff is going to be the best 52 00:03:11,560 --> 00:03:14,800 Speaker 1: of the best. Now, when you boil down a sound system, 53 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:17,560 Speaker 1: which I should add you should never do because most 54 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:20,760 Speaker 1: of the time they are not waterproof, what you have 55 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:25,440 Speaker 1: is a signal chain. So on one end, you've got 56 00:03:25,440 --> 00:03:29,440 Speaker 1: a component designed to playback some form of media or, 57 00:03:29,480 --> 00:03:31,359 Speaker 1: in the case of a radio, to pick up a 58 00:03:31,400 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 1: transmission of a broadcasted media, and the playback is in 59 00:03:36,840 --> 00:03:41,440 Speaker 1: the form of an electrical signal. And ultimately that electrical 60 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,160 Speaker 1: signal has to make its way to some form of speakers, 61 00:03:44,200 --> 00:03:48,840 Speaker 1: whether they are like a standalone speaker system or headphones 62 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 1: or something along those lines. Now, the whole chain from 63 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:55,680 Speaker 1: that component to the speakers, every part of that chain 64 00:03:55,760 --> 00:04:00,240 Speaker 1: is important, and just like physical chains, your experience tipically 65 00:04:00,360 --> 00:04:03,480 Speaker 1: is only as good as whatever the weakest link in 66 00:04:03,560 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: that chain is able to manage. Like, if there's one 67 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,480 Speaker 1: component in that in that chain that is not up 68 00:04:10,520 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: to snuff, then it doesn't matter how good this everything 69 00:04:14,160 --> 00:04:16,160 Speaker 1: is on either side of it, you're not going to 70 00:04:16,279 --> 00:04:19,480 Speaker 1: get better on the other end than what's going through 71 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:24,039 Speaker 1: that weak link. So this is an idea that an 72 00:04:24,200 --> 00:04:28,240 Speaker 1: entire industry is built upon. So let's consider some of 73 00:04:28,240 --> 00:04:31,640 Speaker 1: these components. And we'll start with the speakers, because that's 74 00:04:31,680 --> 00:04:35,000 Speaker 1: the part that plays the sounds that we hear. I 75 00:04:35,000 --> 00:04:36,960 Speaker 1: could have started from the other end, but I figured 76 00:04:37,040 --> 00:04:39,760 Speaker 1: let's go to the output. So a speaker, when you 77 00:04:39,800 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 1: really get down to it, consists of a diaphragm, at 78 00:04:43,040 --> 00:04:47,720 Speaker 1: least one diaphragm that vibrates according to magnetic signals, and 79 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:52,400 Speaker 1: those magnetic signals correspond with that electrical signal that represents 80 00:04:52,400 --> 00:04:57,800 Speaker 1: an encoded recorded sound. So the electrical signal powers and 81 00:04:57,880 --> 00:05:01,719 Speaker 1: electro magnet which interacts with a permanent magnet in the speaker. 82 00:05:01,960 --> 00:05:05,760 Speaker 1: This creates the attractive and repulsive forces that caused the 83 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:11,280 Speaker 1: diaphragm inside the speaker to vibrate, the vibrating diaphragm begins 84 00:05:11,320 --> 00:05:15,960 Speaker 1: to move air at specific frequencies and amplitudes, and this 85 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:19,600 Speaker 1: generates the sounds we hear when those air fluctuations here 86 00:05:19,760 --> 00:05:23,839 Speaker 1: hit our ear drums. So human hearing spans a pretty 87 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:28,400 Speaker 1: wide range of sound frequencies. At the low end is 88 00:05:28,440 --> 00:05:32,400 Speaker 1: twenty hurts. That's twenty full vibrations per second. So imagine 89 00:05:32,920 --> 00:05:36,120 Speaker 1: a very long string and you pluck the string and 90 00:05:36,320 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 1: you're able to slow down time and count how many 91 00:05:38,600 --> 00:05:41,720 Speaker 1: times it does a full vibration that is, from the 92 00:05:41,760 --> 00:05:43,800 Speaker 1: starting point all the way to the other side and 93 00:05:43,839 --> 00:05:46,800 Speaker 1: back to the starting point again twenty times a second. 94 00:05:46,839 --> 00:05:50,280 Speaker 1: That's the lowest end of pitches that humans typically can hear. 95 00:05:50,760 --> 00:05:53,440 Speaker 1: We have to use words like typical because not everyone 96 00:05:53,480 --> 00:05:55,400 Speaker 1: can hear sounds that low, and some may be able 97 00:05:55,400 --> 00:05:58,520 Speaker 1: to sense them a little bit lower. We can actually 98 00:05:58,520 --> 00:06:02,400 Speaker 1: sense lower vibration, but typically we are not hearing them. 99 00:06:02,400 --> 00:06:08,360 Speaker 1: We feel them, because again we're talking about fluctuations vibrations, uh, 100 00:06:08,400 --> 00:06:11,159 Speaker 1: and you can feel vibrations, particularly if they're at pretty 101 00:06:11,200 --> 00:06:15,000 Speaker 1: high amplitudes. So then on the opposite side of the range, 102 00:06:15,040 --> 00:06:19,080 Speaker 1: we have the highest pitches within human hearing typical human hearing, 103 00:06:19,760 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: and we usually say that this tops out around twenty 104 00:06:22,880 --> 00:06:26,480 Speaker 1: thousand hurts, also known as twenty killer hurts, so that 105 00:06:26,520 --> 00:06:31,159 Speaker 1: would be twenty thousand full vibrations per second. As we 106 00:06:31,240 --> 00:06:34,840 Speaker 1: get older, our ability to perceive the highest pitches diminishes 107 00:06:35,640 --> 00:06:38,039 Speaker 1: mine certainly has. I think I mentioned this in the 108 00:06:38,120 --> 00:06:41,440 Speaker 1: San Sui episode. But this means that if you want 109 00:06:41,440 --> 00:06:44,760 Speaker 1: to keep those punk kids away from your convenience store, 110 00:06:45,320 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 1: you can play a piercing high pitch sound over the 111 00:06:47,880 --> 00:06:50,960 Speaker 1: store's speakers and only the kids will be able to 112 00:06:51,000 --> 00:06:53,600 Speaker 1: hear it. All the adults will have lost that ability. 113 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:59,240 Speaker 1: Fun with physics and ages, um, I guess anyway, twenty 114 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:03,200 Speaker 1: hurts to twenty thousand hurts, that's a pretty big range 115 00:07:03,200 --> 00:07:08,920 Speaker 1: of frequencies, and that doesn't factor in harmonics. Harmonic is 116 00:07:08,960 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 1: a sound wave that has an integer multiple of a 117 00:07:12,000 --> 00:07:16,080 Speaker 1: fundamental tone. And you might think, what are you talking about? 118 00:07:16,120 --> 00:07:18,520 Speaker 1: All right, So this is easier if we talk about 119 00:07:18,640 --> 00:07:21,600 Speaker 1: musical notes. Let's say we've got a musical instrument like 120 00:07:21,680 --> 00:07:25,400 Speaker 1: a guitar, and let's say we pluck a string, and 121 00:07:25,560 --> 00:07:30,120 Speaker 1: the lowest frequency sound produced by that string vibrating is 122 00:07:30,160 --> 00:07:34,560 Speaker 1: what we call the fundamental tone frequency, and if we 123 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:38,160 Speaker 1: were to multiply that frequency by two, we would get 124 00:07:38,200 --> 00:07:41,000 Speaker 1: what we call the second harmonic. If we multiplied it 125 00:07:41,040 --> 00:07:43,880 Speaker 1: by three, we get the third harmonic, and so on 126 00:07:43,960 --> 00:07:47,080 Speaker 1: and so forth, the fourth harmonic, the fifth harmonic, each 127 00:07:47,120 --> 00:07:52,960 Speaker 1: time multiplying by the next highest integer. So if you 128 00:07:53,000 --> 00:07:57,360 Speaker 1: pluck a guitar tuned to middle C the second harmonic, 129 00:07:57,440 --> 00:08:00,720 Speaker 1: you would multiply the frequency of middle C by two, 130 00:08:01,040 --> 00:08:03,440 Speaker 1: and you would end up with C again, but one 131 00:08:03,480 --> 00:08:07,680 Speaker 1: octave up or C ish, because it ends up being 132 00:08:07,960 --> 00:08:11,080 Speaker 1: a little more wibbly wobbly than that. But you're essentially 133 00:08:11,080 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 1: playing another C note, but it's an octave higher. The 134 00:08:15,320 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: third harmonic would be a G, the fourth harmonic would 135 00:08:19,320 --> 00:08:22,960 Speaker 1: be another even higher C. The fifth harmonic will be E, 136 00:08:23,160 --> 00:08:26,160 Speaker 1: and so on and so forth. Now, a musical instrument's 137 00:08:26,200 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 1: tone or tambre is largely shaped by the relative strength 138 00:08:30,360 --> 00:08:34,400 Speaker 1: of each harmonic to the fundamental frequency. This is why 139 00:08:34,440 --> 00:08:36,760 Speaker 1: we've got lots of different musical instruments that can produce 140 00:08:36,800 --> 00:08:40,320 Speaker 1: a C note, but they don't all sound exactly the same. 141 00:08:40,320 --> 00:08:44,199 Speaker 1: They're playing the same note, but they don't sound the same. 142 00:08:44,280 --> 00:08:46,959 Speaker 1: If you played the same note on a clarinet as 143 00:08:46,960 --> 00:08:49,200 Speaker 1: you did on a piano. Well, you would still be 144 00:08:49,200 --> 00:08:51,400 Speaker 1: able to tell which was which, right, you'd say, oh, 145 00:08:51,400 --> 00:08:53,480 Speaker 1: they're playing the same note. But this is a clarinet 146 00:08:53,520 --> 00:08:56,319 Speaker 1: and that's a piano, and that's largely due to harmonics. 147 00:08:56,400 --> 00:08:58,760 Speaker 1: Now there's other stuff too that plays into tamber, but 148 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:01,320 Speaker 1: to it into all that would get us off track. 149 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: Plus I've done an episode about it. So we perceive 150 00:09:04,520 --> 00:09:10,400 Speaker 1: these harmonics as collectively being a single sensation. So when 151 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:13,439 Speaker 1: you hit a C on a piano, what we're essentially 152 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:17,480 Speaker 1: hearing is that fundamental frequency of C. And rather than 153 00:09:17,520 --> 00:09:21,679 Speaker 1: perceiving all the harmonics distinctly, like saying, oh, I also 154 00:09:21,800 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: hear a higher C and a G and an E, 155 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 1: rather than saying that these harmonics combine into what we 156 00:09:30,080 --> 00:09:32,720 Speaker 1: think of as the timbre of a piano, we perceive 157 00:09:32,800 --> 00:09:36,560 Speaker 1: it as a single experience. And if you were to 158 00:09:36,600 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: play that same C on a clarinet or on a 159 00:09:38,840 --> 00:09:42,080 Speaker 1: guitar or on a xylophone, we'd be able to tell 160 00:09:42,280 --> 00:09:46,359 Speaker 1: the same note. But difference in which harmonics are emphasized 161 00:09:46,360 --> 00:09:48,880 Speaker 1: that would determine the timbre of each instrument. We'd be 162 00:09:48,880 --> 00:09:51,640 Speaker 1: able to tell them apart, all right, Now, the reason 163 00:09:52,080 --> 00:09:55,840 Speaker 1: all that is important is that really good speakers will 164 00:09:55,880 --> 00:09:58,520 Speaker 1: be able to play back a wide range of frequencies 165 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:02,360 Speaker 1: with incredible accuracy. And it's important to represent not just 166 00:10:02,880 --> 00:10:06,520 Speaker 1: the individual notes, but those harmonics Otherwise, like your piano 167 00:10:06,520 --> 00:10:09,079 Speaker 1: wouldn't sound like a piano right if it couldn't represent 168 00:10:09,120 --> 00:10:12,040 Speaker 1: all the harmonics that the piano was creating when it 169 00:10:12,120 --> 00:10:16,480 Speaker 1: was being played, then it wouldn't sound right. So this 170 00:10:16,640 --> 00:10:19,679 Speaker 1: range can stretch well beyond human hearing, because the idea 171 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:23,040 Speaker 1: is that harmonics that can even go above where the 172 00:10:23,080 --> 00:10:26,800 Speaker 1: typical human can hear can still shape the notes we 173 00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:30,760 Speaker 1: do here, and it's hard for for speakers to be 174 00:10:30,840 --> 00:10:34,480 Speaker 1: able to represent the full range, even really good speakers. 175 00:10:34,800 --> 00:10:38,480 Speaker 1: Often high end speakers will have specific voice coils dedicated 176 00:10:38,480 --> 00:10:42,120 Speaker 1: to replicating a certain subset of frequencies in order to 177 00:10:42,160 --> 00:10:45,120 Speaker 1: cover the full spectrum. And this is where we can 178 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:49,440 Speaker 1: get into sub whoffers, whoffers and tweeters. Subwhiffers have the 179 00:10:49,559 --> 00:10:54,320 Speaker 1: largest diaphragms and replicate the lowest frequency sounds, so they 180 00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,560 Speaker 1: need those big diaphragms in order to move enough air 181 00:10:57,720 --> 00:11:01,240 Speaker 1: at low frequencies and large enough and plitudes so that 182 00:11:01,280 --> 00:11:04,880 Speaker 1: we can actually experience them, hear them, or feel them. 183 00:11:04,920 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 1: They also tend to require their own power source in 184 00:11:07,240 --> 00:11:09,800 Speaker 1: order to make this happen. Like they can't just draw 185 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:13,360 Speaker 1: power through speaker wires the way some other speakers do. 186 00:11:13,440 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 1: You typically have to plug these into a wall socket 187 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:19,320 Speaker 1: on their own. Whoofers tend to cover most of the 188 00:11:19,400 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 1: frequencies we experience when we're listening to music from the 189 00:11:22,320 --> 00:11:25,680 Speaker 1: low tones. They're not the lowest to replicating most of 190 00:11:25,679 --> 00:11:29,080 Speaker 1: the tones we hear from musical instruments. Human voices also 191 00:11:29,120 --> 00:11:32,280 Speaker 1: fall into this frequency range covered by whoofers, so these 192 00:11:32,280 --> 00:11:35,400 Speaker 1: are really important for the vast majority of the sounds 193 00:11:35,480 --> 00:11:39,880 Speaker 1: we can distinctly hear. And the tweeters those are speakers 194 00:11:39,880 --> 00:11:43,319 Speaker 1: that are designed to replicate sounds above the threshold of whoofers. 195 00:11:43,760 --> 00:11:47,040 Speaker 1: They can also replicate sounds that go beyond human hearing. Again, 196 00:11:47,080 --> 00:11:49,559 Speaker 1: you might need to have those in order to represent 197 00:11:49,600 --> 00:11:52,800 Speaker 1: those harmonics I was talking about. Now. A combination of 198 00:11:52,800 --> 00:11:55,920 Speaker 1: these speakers is usually necessary to create a true high 199 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:59,480 Speaker 1: fidelity experience, and UH where you put the speakers ends 200 00:11:59,520 --> 00:12:02,839 Speaker 1: up mattering to both because of stuff like stereo or 201 00:12:02,960 --> 00:12:06,880 Speaker 1: quadrophonic sound or surround sound. UH in that you're sending 202 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:10,080 Speaker 1: specific channels of sound to specific directions, So you want 203 00:12:10,080 --> 00:12:13,960 Speaker 1: to have your speaker set up to two replicate that, right, 204 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:16,560 Speaker 1: It wouldn't make sense to have your left and right 205 00:12:16,640 --> 00:12:19,680 Speaker 1: speakers all just directly in front of you. You wouldn't 206 00:12:19,679 --> 00:12:22,760 Speaker 1: really benefit from the stereo sound that way. Uh. And 207 00:12:22,840 --> 00:12:25,720 Speaker 1: also some speakers, like the tweeters in particular, can be 208 00:12:25,840 --> 00:12:29,200 Speaker 1: very highly directional, so you need to have them positioned 209 00:12:29,280 --> 00:12:32,800 Speaker 1: just right. So for true audio files, where you put 210 00:12:32,840 --> 00:12:37,119 Speaker 1: speakers ends up being a very big part of the equation. 211 00:12:37,679 --> 00:12:40,880 Speaker 1: And suffice it to say, cheap speakers typically can't do 212 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:43,800 Speaker 1: all of this. Many of the cheaper speakers are kind 213 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:46,800 Speaker 1: of marketed as full range speakers, meaning they're meant to 214 00:12:46,840 --> 00:12:50,520 Speaker 1: replicate sounds throughout the range of human hearing. But these 215 00:12:50,559 --> 00:12:53,640 Speaker 1: speakers are limited by their size. If the diaphragm and 216 00:12:53,679 --> 00:12:56,440 Speaker 1: the speakers is like of a medium size, well the 217 00:12:56,440 --> 00:12:59,280 Speaker 1: speakers should be able to cover most, but not all, 218 00:12:59,360 --> 00:13:02,240 Speaker 1: of the frequent these we can experience. If it's a 219 00:13:02,320 --> 00:13:04,679 Speaker 1: larger diaphragm, well then you might lose some of the 220 00:13:04,760 --> 00:13:07,040 Speaker 1: higher pitches. You might not be able to replicate those 221 00:13:07,080 --> 00:13:10,079 Speaker 1: as well. If it's a smaller speaker, then you might 222 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:13,720 Speaker 1: end up losing some of the base tones. Materials, wiring, 223 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:17,960 Speaker 1: and engineering all matter when it comes to speaker quality. However, 224 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 1: you can reach a point of diminishing returns, and in fact, 225 00:13:21,720 --> 00:13:23,959 Speaker 1: that is going to be true for pretty much every 226 00:13:24,000 --> 00:13:26,679 Speaker 1: component we're going to be talking about today. And by 227 00:13:26,720 --> 00:13:29,920 Speaker 1: that I mean you might listen to a dinky, cheap 228 00:13:30,000 --> 00:13:33,160 Speaker 1: speaker and then listen to the same music on a 229 00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:36,600 Speaker 1: moderately priced speaker, and you could hear a huge difference 230 00:13:36,600 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 1: in quality. You could say, all right, this, this more 231 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:43,319 Speaker 1: expensive speaker is clearly leagues better than the cheap one. 232 00:13:43,960 --> 00:13:46,440 Speaker 1: But then you might go from the moderate speaker to 233 00:13:46,720 --> 00:13:49,800 Speaker 1: an expensive speaker and you say, yeah, I can tell 234 00:13:49,920 --> 00:13:52,720 Speaker 1: there's a difference, but it's not nearly as dramatic a 235 00:13:52,920 --> 00:13:55,920 Speaker 1: jump as the first one. Then you might go to 236 00:13:56,440 --> 00:14:00,080 Speaker 1: like a luxury speaker, some ludicrously expensive speakers, and they 237 00:14:00,120 --> 00:14:03,000 Speaker 1: are some really expensive ones, and you might not be 238 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:06,160 Speaker 1: able to tell the difference between the you know, expensive 239 00:14:06,160 --> 00:14:10,080 Speaker 1: speaker and the ludicrously expensive speaker. Uh. There are a 240 00:14:10,080 --> 00:14:11,760 Speaker 1: lot of people who suggest that if you were to 241 00:14:11,800 --> 00:14:15,559 Speaker 1: do a double blind study where neither the person administering 242 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:18,880 Speaker 1: the test nor the person experiencing it knows which system 243 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:21,920 Speaker 1: is being played. You probably wouldn't be able to pick 244 00:14:21,960 --> 00:14:24,680 Speaker 1: out too many differences between some of these, you know, 245 00:14:25,000 --> 00:14:28,400 Speaker 1: high end and ultra high end speaker systems. Now, it 246 00:14:28,480 --> 00:14:29,840 Speaker 1: might mean that if you were to take some very 247 00:14:29,840 --> 00:14:34,200 Speaker 1: sensitive electronic equipment to measure stuff like signal loss or 248 00:14:34,240 --> 00:14:37,800 Speaker 1: the purity of tones being omitted, that maybe on those 249 00:14:37,840 --> 00:14:39,920 Speaker 1: instruments you might be able to see a difference, like 250 00:14:40,120 --> 00:14:43,120 Speaker 1: these very highly tuned instruments might indicate that, But that 251 00:14:43,160 --> 00:14:45,800 Speaker 1: doesn't mean your ears and brain would pick up on that. 252 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:49,080 Speaker 1: So that's another red flag for audio files. Just because 253 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:52,360 Speaker 1: something might technically perform quote unquote better doesn't mean you 254 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:56,200 Speaker 1: to actually perceive any meaningful improvements. So don't just jump 255 00:14:56,200 --> 00:14:58,520 Speaker 1: out there and by the most expensive stuff on the market. 256 00:14:59,280 --> 00:15:02,600 Speaker 1: All right, where we've got a lot more ground to cover. 257 00:15:02,680 --> 00:15:04,840 Speaker 1: But before we get into any of that, let's take 258 00:15:04,920 --> 00:15:15,320 Speaker 1: a quick break. Okay, we're back now. For speakers to 259 00:15:15,360 --> 00:15:19,080 Speaker 1: be able to play anything at all, you need an amplifier. 260 00:15:19,360 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 1: So an amplifier's job is to take a weak incoming 261 00:15:22,720 --> 00:15:26,760 Speaker 1: electrical signal and boost it to a more powerful signal 262 00:15:27,080 --> 00:15:30,880 Speaker 1: that can drive speakers all the while avoiding the introduction 263 00:15:31,280 --> 00:15:35,160 Speaker 1: of unwanted changes to the signal. In other words, you 264 00:15:35,200 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 1: want to turn up the power without adding in noise 265 00:15:39,560 --> 00:15:43,680 Speaker 1: or distortion. This is easier said than done. Now it 266 00:15:43,720 --> 00:15:45,720 Speaker 1: helps if we think about the nature of the signal 267 00:15:45,800 --> 00:15:49,040 Speaker 1: we need to boost. Uh. And let's take the example 268 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:53,040 Speaker 1: of a microphone, which is typically, you know, the opposite 269 00:15:53,040 --> 00:15:55,680 Speaker 1: of a speaker. You can think of like a microphone 270 00:15:55,680 --> 00:15:59,200 Speaker 1: and a speaker working on the same principle, just in reverse. 271 00:15:59,560 --> 00:16:02,360 Speaker 1: So with a speaker, we have an electrical signal going 272 00:16:02,400 --> 00:16:08,560 Speaker 1: to a device that that electrical signal is essentially encoded 273 00:16:08,600 --> 00:16:12,320 Speaker 1: audio is what it really boils down to, and it 274 00:16:12,400 --> 00:16:15,160 Speaker 1: goes to a voice coil that ends up causing a 275 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:22,400 Speaker 1: diaphragm to vibrate. Those vibrations end up causing air to fluctuate. 276 00:16:22,680 --> 00:16:25,400 Speaker 1: Air molecules start to fluctuate, and our ears pick up 277 00:16:25,400 --> 00:16:28,359 Speaker 1: on that and we hear the sound. With a microphone, 278 00:16:28,880 --> 00:16:31,560 Speaker 1: we have a device that has a tiny little diaphragm 279 00:16:31,600 --> 00:16:35,520 Speaker 1: inside it that vibrates when sound hits that diaphragm, and 280 00:16:36,440 --> 00:16:40,440 Speaker 1: the diaphragm's vibrations generate and a very weak electrical signal. 281 00:16:41,000 --> 00:16:44,000 Speaker 1: Uh And and this is all thanks to electromagnetic physics 282 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: that I'm not going to get into here because I've 283 00:16:46,440 --> 00:16:49,200 Speaker 1: covered it to death now. As you might imagine, the 284 00:16:49,240 --> 00:16:53,720 Speaker 1: diaphragm and a microphone is really small and it does vibrate, 285 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,880 Speaker 1: but the movements are very small as well. So what 286 00:16:57,920 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: you're generating is an incredibly weak electric signal with a 287 00:17:01,800 --> 00:17:06,639 Speaker 1: microphone that represents those vibrations, and it's too weak to 288 00:17:06,720 --> 00:17:09,679 Speaker 1: do anything really useful with it. Right, you wouldn't have 289 00:17:09,840 --> 00:17:13,959 Speaker 1: enough umph there to drive a speaker. The speaker wouldn't 290 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:17,280 Speaker 1: have enough electricity to make the magnets move the diaphragm 291 00:17:17,359 --> 00:17:19,399 Speaker 1: to a point where you could play an audible sound. 292 00:17:20,000 --> 00:17:23,439 Speaker 1: So typically you would then pass this very weak signal 293 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,440 Speaker 1: to what is called a preamp. That's an amplifier that 294 00:17:27,480 --> 00:17:31,200 Speaker 1: can take a very weak signal and make it less weak, 295 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:36,359 Speaker 1: like to align level feed. This would then move along 296 00:17:36,400 --> 00:17:40,280 Speaker 1: to a power amplifier, which would take this slightly stronger 297 00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:42,200 Speaker 1: signal and then boost it to a point where it 298 00:17:42,240 --> 00:17:46,119 Speaker 1: could drive a speaker system. But if you have a 299 00:17:46,160 --> 00:17:51,080 Speaker 1: bad amplifier, one that's prone to introducing noise and distortion, well, 300 00:17:51,200 --> 00:17:55,080 Speaker 1: that signal gets corrupted as it continues down. The signal chain, 301 00:17:55,600 --> 00:17:59,359 Speaker 1: and you know, anywhere could be the point where you 302 00:17:59,440 --> 00:18:02,560 Speaker 1: have a problem. If the preamp is bad, then a 303 00:18:02,560 --> 00:18:06,520 Speaker 1: little change in that week's signal will get boosted into 304 00:18:06,560 --> 00:18:10,920 Speaker 1: bigger changes further down the line. Now, numerous companies have 305 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:14,840 Speaker 1: developed different circuit designs to reduce the possibility of introducing 306 00:18:15,400 --> 00:18:20,239 Speaker 1: background noise and distortion into a signal, or you know, 307 00:18:20,600 --> 00:18:24,040 Speaker 1: introducing disharmonics and things of that nature. There are far 308 00:18:24,080 --> 00:18:28,080 Speaker 1: too many different types of circuits and components to really 309 00:18:28,119 --> 00:18:31,120 Speaker 1: go into here. Uh And it does get very technical 310 00:18:31,320 --> 00:18:35,920 Speaker 1: about how you align these things in order to accurately 311 00:18:36,119 --> 00:18:40,959 Speaker 1: boost the signal without altering it otherwise. Uh. And amplifiers 312 00:18:40,960 --> 00:18:43,640 Speaker 1: are kind of like speakers. Some are really really good 313 00:18:43,680 --> 00:18:47,359 Speaker 1: at boosting signals that represent certain frequency ranges and not 314 00:18:47,520 --> 00:18:51,080 Speaker 1: as great at other frequency ranges. So you occasionally end 315 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:56,160 Speaker 1: up with amplifiers or receivers which very frequently have amplifiers 316 00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,520 Speaker 1: built into them, that get a reputation for being really 317 00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:03,480 Speaker 1: good with certain ranges of sound representation, but not so 318 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:08,680 Speaker 1: good at others. Also, amplifiers can introduce harmonic distortion. There's 319 00:19:08,760 --> 00:19:12,760 Speaker 1: usually a measure of an amplifier's total harmonic distortion plus noise, 320 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:16,760 Speaker 1: so if you ever are looking at hi fi equipment 321 00:19:16,840 --> 00:19:20,240 Speaker 1: and you find that there's a number that represents total 322 00:19:20,320 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 1: harmonic distortion plus noise, you want that number to be 323 00:19:23,080 --> 00:19:27,240 Speaker 1: as low as it can be. The lower that number, 324 00:19:27,440 --> 00:19:30,359 Speaker 1: the better it is. Higher numbers indicate that the amplifier 325 00:19:30,440 --> 00:19:35,399 Speaker 1: is more prone to introducing unwanted signal. Meanwhile, there's another 326 00:19:35,600 --> 00:19:39,040 Speaker 1: metric called signal to noise ratio. In that case, you 327 00:19:39,040 --> 00:19:41,679 Speaker 1: want the number to be very big because indicates that 328 00:19:41,720 --> 00:19:45,320 Speaker 1: the amplifier is is very effective at boosting signal and 329 00:19:46,280 --> 00:19:50,680 Speaker 1: uh suppressing background noise. Then you have a thing called 330 00:19:50,720 --> 00:19:55,119 Speaker 1: cross talk. So with stereo systems, you've got a left 331 00:19:55,320 --> 00:19:58,560 Speaker 1: channel for sound and a right channel for sound. Now, 332 00:19:58,600 --> 00:20:02,520 Speaker 1: ideally you would have perfect isolation for those two channels, 333 00:20:02,560 --> 00:20:05,200 Speaker 1: so that only the stuff that's intended for the left 334 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:08,320 Speaker 1: side goes to the left and only the stuff intended 335 00:20:08,359 --> 00:20:11,399 Speaker 1: for the right side goes to the right. And you 336 00:20:11,440 --> 00:20:13,639 Speaker 1: could even have it where you've got two instruments that 337 00:20:13,680 --> 00:20:16,399 Speaker 1: are essentially doing like a call and response and have 338 00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,760 Speaker 1: them perfectly isolated so that you're hearing like a guitar 339 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:22,520 Speaker 1: on your right and a violin on your left or something. 340 00:20:23,280 --> 00:20:26,280 Speaker 1: But there's this effect called cross talk, which describes to 341 00:20:26,440 --> 00:20:29,240 Speaker 1: what extent the stuff that was meant for the right 342 00:20:29,320 --> 00:20:33,240 Speaker 1: channel bleed over into the left channel, and vice versa. 343 00:20:33,400 --> 00:20:35,840 Speaker 1: So you don't want a lot of cross talk. You 344 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:37,760 Speaker 1: want cross talk to be at a minimum so that 345 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:41,720 Speaker 1: you have as pure and isolated experience as you can 346 00:20:41,880 --> 00:20:44,880 Speaker 1: for the stuff that was recorded for that purpose. Keep 347 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:48,280 Speaker 1: in mind, what I'm describing here is completely dependent upon 348 00:20:48,320 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: the media you're playing. Right, If you're playing back media 349 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:55,440 Speaker 1: that's say mono, well none of that matters because the 350 00:20:55,520 --> 00:20:57,960 Speaker 1: same signal is going to go to every single speaker. 351 00:20:58,320 --> 00:21:01,800 Speaker 1: That's what mono is. If it stereo, but the mix 352 00:21:02,040 --> 00:21:05,439 Speaker 1: doesn't go to that level of separation, then it doesn't 353 00:21:05,480 --> 00:21:09,359 Speaker 1: matter quite as much there either. But generally speaking, you 354 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:12,400 Speaker 1: don't want a lot of cross talk, so you want 355 00:21:12,440 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 1: that number to be low. Uh and we typically measure 356 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:19,119 Speaker 1: that in negative deciples, So the lower the number, like 357 00:21:19,200 --> 00:21:22,520 Speaker 1: negative one decibles, is better than negative sixty deciples for 358 00:21:22,600 --> 00:21:25,360 Speaker 1: cross talk. Now, you might also have a separate receiver, 359 00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:28,960 Speaker 1: which is the device that manages all the input connections 360 00:21:29,000 --> 00:21:33,119 Speaker 1: to your speakers, which would be the output, or you 361 00:21:33,200 --> 00:21:35,960 Speaker 1: might have a receiver that has its own amplifier, So 362 00:21:36,000 --> 00:21:38,520 Speaker 1: the receiver and amplifier are the same piece of equipment. 363 00:21:39,119 --> 00:21:42,639 Speaker 1: That simplifies the signal chain a little bit. But generally speaking, 364 00:21:42,720 --> 00:21:46,360 Speaker 1: the stuff I refer to with amplifiers also largely applies 365 00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:51,720 Speaker 1: to receivers. And again the signal chain is very important here. 366 00:21:51,760 --> 00:21:56,439 Speaker 1: The simpler it is, to an extent, the better it 367 00:21:56,480 --> 00:21:59,120 Speaker 1: can be. The more stuff you're adding in, the more 368 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:03,080 Speaker 1: filters and things adding in, uh, the more opportunities you 369 00:22:03,119 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: have for a point of failure. However, you could also 370 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:09,719 Speaker 1: argue that these are things that could potentially compensate should 371 00:22:10,240 --> 00:22:12,600 Speaker 1: there be another issue with the signal chain somewhere else. 372 00:22:13,400 --> 00:22:16,160 Speaker 1: And then beyond that you have your actual music sources 373 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:20,800 Speaker 1: like a turntable or a tape deck or CD player, radio, 374 00:22:20,920 --> 00:22:24,920 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. These also range in quality. There 375 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:27,959 Speaker 1: are folks who will drop more than ten thousand dollars 376 00:22:28,000 --> 00:22:32,840 Speaker 1: on a turntable alone. So does it ten grand turntable 377 00:22:33,080 --> 00:22:36,199 Speaker 1: sound a hundred times better than a hundred dollar turntable. 378 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:40,920 Speaker 1: That's hard to quantify, especially if you aren't otherwise using 379 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:44,119 Speaker 1: the exact same system from that point forward. Right, if 380 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:47,119 Speaker 1: you're talking about an all in one turntable that has 381 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:50,680 Speaker 1: its own little speaker. Obviously that's going to sound different 382 00:22:51,200 --> 00:22:55,359 Speaker 1: from a high end turntable that's part of a finely 383 00:22:55,520 --> 00:22:59,119 Speaker 1: tuned audio system. But it does get to this point 384 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 1: again of diminished returns, of at what point is the 385 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:10,280 Speaker 1: improvement perceptible or not perceptible. Obviously, components can range from 386 00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: excellent to terrible. A turntable that isn't weighted properly might 387 00:23:13,880 --> 00:23:16,840 Speaker 1: introduce unwanted motion while playing back albums. You might get 388 00:23:16,880 --> 00:23:19,800 Speaker 1: some wobble in there that can end up coming through 389 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,200 Speaker 1: with the playback and you're not going to get an 390 00:23:22,240 --> 00:23:25,439 Speaker 1: ideal listening experience. Or it could be that the stylists 391 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:31,159 Speaker 1: isn't picking up vibrations as since as sensitive as you 392 00:23:31,200 --> 00:23:33,679 Speaker 1: wanted to, so you might be missing some of the 393 00:23:33,760 --> 00:23:37,200 Speaker 1: subtle parts of the recording that you would otherwise get 394 00:23:37,240 --> 00:23:40,840 Speaker 1: if you had a better quality cartridge in your in 395 00:23:40,920 --> 00:23:45,280 Speaker 1: your turntable. So these are all things that matter, but 396 00:23:45,359 --> 00:23:50,800 Speaker 1: again diminishing returns do come into play, and it also 397 00:23:50,840 --> 00:23:53,440 Speaker 1: again depends upon matching the turntable up with the rest 398 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:57,560 Speaker 1: of your components. If everything else isn't tuned properly, then 399 00:23:57,600 --> 00:23:59,160 Speaker 1: you could have the best turn table in the world 400 00:23:59,240 --> 00:24:02,480 Speaker 1: and still not it an ideal experience. At the other 401 00:24:02,600 --> 00:24:06,199 Speaker 1: end of it, um, I will say that I've I 402 00:24:06,240 --> 00:24:08,840 Speaker 1: looked into turntables a lot. I ended up buying a 403 00:24:08,960 --> 00:24:13,000 Speaker 1: very simple one like audio files would immediately consider me 404 00:24:13,320 --> 00:24:17,119 Speaker 1: a total pleab which I am. That's fine, But I 405 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:19,159 Speaker 1: didn't go for one that would need its own like 406 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:22,919 Speaker 1: preamp or amplifier. Uh. It was not that kind of thing. 407 00:24:22,960 --> 00:24:25,719 Speaker 1: It was sort of an all in one little radio 408 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:30,560 Speaker 1: CD player turntable system, which from my purposes is fine. 409 00:24:30,600 --> 00:24:34,200 Speaker 1: I know I'm not getting the highest quality audio experience 410 00:24:34,200 --> 00:24:36,520 Speaker 1: out of it, but for what I like, it's fine. 411 00:24:37,560 --> 00:24:41,840 Speaker 1: But if you really want that rich audio experience, obviously 412 00:24:41,880 --> 00:24:44,240 Speaker 1: you have to take even more time and put more 413 00:24:44,320 --> 00:24:47,640 Speaker 1: money toward it in order to achieve that. And then 414 00:24:47,680 --> 00:24:49,960 Speaker 1: finally we've got all the wires that we use to 415 00:24:50,000 --> 00:24:53,439 Speaker 1: connect all these different pieces together. There are companies like 416 00:24:53,560 --> 00:24:57,040 Speaker 1: Monster Incorporated that have built up an entire industry around 417 00:24:57,040 --> 00:25:00,119 Speaker 1: the idea of high end cables, some of them with 418 00:25:00,200 --> 00:25:03,560 Speaker 1: like precious metals that are said to provide the absolute 419 00:25:03,640 --> 00:25:08,679 Speaker 1: best connection so you have no signal loss. And here's 420 00:25:08,680 --> 00:25:12,240 Speaker 1: the thing. It is true that really bad cables can 421 00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:15,800 Speaker 1: have a negative impact on a high fidelity experience. A 422 00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:19,679 Speaker 1: cable with poor shielding might pick up interference from radio 423 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:23,919 Speaker 1: signals or other electrical wires, for example, and that will 424 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:27,640 Speaker 1: affect output. You will get noise in the output if 425 00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:32,400 Speaker 1: in fact that's what you're using. But that's like the 426 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:35,640 Speaker 1: worst cables that you can find. Most cables these days 427 00:25:35,640 --> 00:25:39,600 Speaker 1: are decently shielded, and anything better than like the bargain 428 00:25:39,600 --> 00:25:42,440 Speaker 1: bin stuff is likely to work just fine and last 429 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:45,960 Speaker 1: a good long time. Uh. In fact, there are home 430 00:25:46,000 --> 00:25:47,879 Speaker 1: theater sites out there that go so far as to 431 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:50,800 Speaker 1: say that once you get over a thresholder around fifty 432 00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:54,440 Speaker 1: dollars for high end cables, you're not really going to 433 00:25:54,520 --> 00:25:57,720 Speaker 1: see any perceptible difference in output quality, and arguably you 434 00:25:57,760 --> 00:26:01,080 Speaker 1: won't even see it before you hit that d dollar threshold. 435 00:26:01,520 --> 00:26:04,280 Speaker 1: And again, you might be able to tell a difference 436 00:26:04,280 --> 00:26:08,000 Speaker 1: if you're using sensitive electrical instruments that can detect things 437 00:26:08,080 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 1: like a signal leak or anything alone those lines, but 438 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:17,080 Speaker 1: that's again a very finely tuned piece of equipment. The 439 00:26:17,160 --> 00:26:20,800 Speaker 1: human ear would not necessarily be able to register any 440 00:26:20,880 --> 00:26:26,800 Speaker 1: difference or any decline in quality, So buyer beware when 441 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:30,119 Speaker 1: it comes to high end cables. In particular, I feel 442 00:26:30,119 --> 00:26:34,520 Speaker 1: like that, out of all the different high thigh world stuff, 443 00:26:34,640 --> 00:26:38,120 Speaker 1: has got the most snake oil around it. Now, I'm 444 00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,440 Speaker 1: gonna have some really tough news to deliver to audio 445 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:44,359 Speaker 1: files and to people who are interested in getting into 446 00:26:44,400 --> 00:26:49,719 Speaker 1: like a high fidelity situation. Uh, but you know, I 447 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:52,200 Speaker 1: feel like we need to brace ourselves. So let's take 448 00:26:52,240 --> 00:26:55,960 Speaker 1: another quick break and when we come back then hopefully 449 00:26:56,000 --> 00:27:06,439 Speaker 1: we'll all be ready for it. All right, here's that 450 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,960 Speaker 1: harsh news I was talking about. I am sad to 451 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:15,840 Speaker 1: tell you there is no best audio set up. There 452 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:22,680 Speaker 1: is no ultimate collection of receivers, amplifiers, speakers, audio components 453 00:27:22,720 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 1: and wires that categorically makes that system superior over every 454 00:27:28,680 --> 00:27:31,640 Speaker 1: other one on the market. The reason I feel confident 455 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:37,560 Speaker 1: saying this is because of the gray matter between our ears. Yep, 456 00:27:37,640 --> 00:27:42,240 Speaker 1: we're talking brains, the stuff what processes our thoughts and senses. 457 00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:45,960 Speaker 1: It's also Zombie's favorite snack food. And we're gonna talk 458 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:48,680 Speaker 1: about some really obvious stuff here, but it's also stuff 459 00:27:48,760 --> 00:27:51,520 Speaker 1: that we often take for granted or just outright forget. 460 00:27:52,040 --> 00:27:54,520 Speaker 1: So one of the things we tend to forget is 461 00:27:54,520 --> 00:27:59,480 Speaker 1: that our sensory experience is filtered through our brains. You've 462 00:27:59,480 --> 00:28:03,040 Speaker 1: probably heard the philosophical question, if a tree falls in 463 00:28:03,080 --> 00:28:05,400 Speaker 1: the forest and there's no one around to hear, it 464 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:08,359 Speaker 1: doesn't make a sound. Well, on the one hand, you 465 00:28:08,359 --> 00:28:10,760 Speaker 1: could say, well, of course it makes a sound because 466 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:14,760 Speaker 1: sound is vibration. Sound travels through the air because air 467 00:28:14,800 --> 00:28:18,520 Speaker 1: molecules vibrate. We get these little pockets of air pressure fluctuation, 468 00:28:19,000 --> 00:28:22,320 Speaker 1: and when those fluctuations interact with the tympanic membrane that 469 00:28:22,480 --> 00:28:26,399 Speaker 1: is our ear drum in our ears, we then experience 470 00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:30,159 Speaker 1: this as sound. We perceive it as sound, we hear 471 00:28:30,440 --> 00:28:33,560 Speaker 1: the vibrations. And of course it doesn't just travel through 472 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,879 Speaker 1: the air. Sound can travel through solids and liquids as well. 473 00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:40,680 Speaker 1: This is why sound doesn't exist out in space, or 474 00:28:40,720 --> 00:28:43,600 Speaker 1: at least sound doesn't travel in space, rather because you 475 00:28:43,600 --> 00:28:45,800 Speaker 1: don't have enough particles out in space that are close 476 00:28:45,880 --> 00:28:49,680 Speaker 1: enough together to allow vibration to propagate through a medium. 477 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:52,440 Speaker 1: So that's why there's no sound in space. There's not 478 00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:56,360 Speaker 1: enough stuff to wiggle against each other to make sound go. 479 00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:00,240 Speaker 1: So we can be confident that if a tree falls 480 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,720 Speaker 1: in the forest, there will be vibrations. Stuff will be vibrating. 481 00:29:04,160 --> 00:29:07,200 Speaker 1: But then you get to the more philosophical question, if 482 00:29:07,240 --> 00:29:10,400 Speaker 1: there is no one to hear those vibrations, do we 483 00:29:10,480 --> 00:29:14,720 Speaker 1: really call it sound? Or is sound actually what we 484 00:29:14,800 --> 00:29:20,480 Speaker 1: call the experience of perceiving of hearing vibrations, Because if 485 00:29:20,520 --> 00:29:23,200 Speaker 1: there is no one to experience it, well, then maybe 486 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:27,240 Speaker 1: there is no sound. Not that there isn't something to hear, 487 00:29:27,320 --> 00:29:29,360 Speaker 1: but rather there is no one there to hear it. 488 00:29:29,480 --> 00:29:32,600 Speaker 1: And it's the hearing that is sound rather than the 489 00:29:32,720 --> 00:29:35,240 Speaker 1: vibration that is sound. So it all depends on how 490 00:29:35,320 --> 00:29:38,400 Speaker 1: you define it. Now why would I even bother to 491 00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:43,240 Speaker 1: bring up this philosophical conundrum, Well, it's because it kind 492 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:45,680 Speaker 1: of gets to the heart of the matter. The experience 493 00:29:45,680 --> 00:29:50,800 Speaker 1: of sound is a personal one, a subjective one. It 494 00:29:51,000 --> 00:29:55,640 Speaker 1: isn't just physics. It's a point where physics and our 495 00:29:55,680 --> 00:29:59,800 Speaker 1: minds interact with each other. The vibrations are ear jumps 496 00:29:59,840 --> 00:30:03,320 Speaker 1: pick up, get translated into electrical signals that our brains 497 00:30:03,400 --> 00:30:07,760 Speaker 1: process and interpret, and we experience it as sound. So 498 00:30:08,280 --> 00:30:13,080 Speaker 1: at least part of what makes sound happen is in 499 00:30:13,160 --> 00:30:16,440 Speaker 1: our heads, and that gets right to the point. Sound 500 00:30:16,560 --> 00:30:19,480 Speaker 1: is somewhat subjective, and I have no way of knowing 501 00:30:19,640 --> 00:30:24,600 Speaker 1: if what you hear and what I hear sounds the same, 502 00:30:24,720 --> 00:30:27,200 Speaker 1: even if it's coming from the same source. I don't 503 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:31,080 Speaker 1: know that your experience is exactly the same as mine, 504 00:30:31,200 --> 00:30:33,520 Speaker 1: and because I have no way of experiencing the way 505 00:30:33,840 --> 00:30:37,720 Speaker 1: you experience it, I'll never know. And that means that 506 00:30:37,760 --> 00:30:40,479 Speaker 1: I could theoretically build out a sound system that I 507 00:30:40,520 --> 00:30:43,440 Speaker 1: find to be a perfect one. You know, to me, 508 00:30:43,600 --> 00:30:47,240 Speaker 1: it reproduces sounds in a way that I find flawless, 509 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:52,720 Speaker 1: that all the levels are perfect, the volume from each 510 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:58,480 Speaker 1: component is perfect, and the tone is sublime. But it's 511 00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,560 Speaker 1: possible that to you listening to it, that the experience 512 00:31:01,560 --> 00:31:04,760 Speaker 1: would seem a little long. Maybe there's some harmonics that 513 00:31:04,800 --> 00:31:07,719 Speaker 1: you can sense that I can't just because of like 514 00:31:07,840 --> 00:31:11,200 Speaker 1: hearing loss that I have, Or maybe there are certain 515 00:31:11,200 --> 00:31:14,800 Speaker 1: frequencies that you just hear better than I do. Because again, 516 00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:17,560 Speaker 1: I'm getting older, so those higher frequencies are starting to 517 00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:19,360 Speaker 1: drop out for me, and I may not be able 518 00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:22,640 Speaker 1: to hear them the way you can, So I don't 519 00:31:22,720 --> 00:31:25,640 Speaker 1: realize that I don't have my system tuned properly to 520 00:31:25,880 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 1: deal with those. There are many factors that might mean 521 00:31:28,920 --> 00:31:32,280 Speaker 1: what sounds good to me doesn't sound good to you. 522 00:31:32,800 --> 00:31:36,680 Speaker 1: Now complicating this is the vocabulary used by audio files, 523 00:31:36,720 --> 00:31:40,440 Speaker 1: and they rely on words like round and warm and 524 00:31:40,600 --> 00:31:45,480 Speaker 1: full and brittle to describe sound, And there they've essentially 525 00:31:45,520 --> 00:31:49,960 Speaker 1: had to appropriate words from other contexts in order to 526 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:54,560 Speaker 1: describe sound properly, because we just never really coined words 527 00:31:54,840 --> 00:31:58,920 Speaker 1: specific to sounds qualities, at least not beyond some pretty 528 00:31:58,920 --> 00:32:02,240 Speaker 1: simple ones like loud or soft, or low pitched or 529 00:32:02,320 --> 00:32:05,000 Speaker 1: high pitched, that kind of thing. Now, I have read 530 00:32:05,960 --> 00:32:11,440 Speaker 1: enthusiastic reviews of high end sound systems, and after reading them, 531 00:32:11,440 --> 00:32:14,800 Speaker 1: I've walked away not knowing what the heck the reviewer 532 00:32:14,960 --> 00:32:19,160 Speaker 1: meant in their review, Like, clearly the reviewer loved the system, 533 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:21,959 Speaker 1: but the words the reviewer used to describe the sound 534 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,080 Speaker 1: didn't have any real meaning for me. So in my experience, 535 00:32:26,080 --> 00:32:30,280 Speaker 1: and I admit this is from my perspective, I have 536 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:34,320 Speaker 1: to actually hear something for myself to kind of understand 537 00:32:34,360 --> 00:32:37,400 Speaker 1: what people are getting at. I don't think I could 538 00:32:37,440 --> 00:32:40,800 Speaker 1: adequately describe what it means when a sound is warm, 539 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,360 Speaker 1: for example, but I know it when I hear it, 540 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:48,040 Speaker 1: so it creates a certain feeling, and that's where perception 541 00:32:48,120 --> 00:32:51,000 Speaker 1: is coming in, right. So the collection of components you 542 00:32:51,040 --> 00:32:54,920 Speaker 1: gather will determine the range of tones and volume that 543 00:32:55,040 --> 00:32:58,200 Speaker 1: you can get out of your sound system, and high 544 00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:01,960 Speaker 1: fidelity systems typically have several controls you can tweak to 545 00:33:02,120 --> 00:33:05,640 Speaker 1: play with the output to get it just the way 546 00:33:05,840 --> 00:33:08,360 Speaker 1: you want it. It might be that you know, out 547 00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:11,360 Speaker 1: of the box it doesn't sound that great, but then 548 00:33:11,400 --> 00:33:14,959 Speaker 1: you spend some time tweaking levels. Maybe you change how 549 00:33:15,040 --> 00:33:18,160 Speaker 1: much base is coming through to the speakers, how much 550 00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:20,800 Speaker 1: of the troubles coming through. You might have have to 551 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:24,360 Speaker 1: deal with the balance slightly because maybe you've set up 552 00:33:24,360 --> 00:33:27,120 Speaker 1: a listening environment where let's say you've got a couch 553 00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:30,560 Speaker 1: set up, and your couch is just slightly closer to 554 00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:32,840 Speaker 1: the left speakers than to the right speakers, and so 555 00:33:33,280 --> 00:33:35,120 Speaker 1: with the balance, you tweak it just a bit so 556 00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:38,000 Speaker 1: that the right speakers get a little more juice to 557 00:33:38,320 --> 00:33:40,200 Speaker 1: make up for the fact that they're a little further 558 00:33:40,280 --> 00:33:43,400 Speaker 1: away from you. Tiny things like this do matter, especially 559 00:33:43,440 --> 00:33:47,320 Speaker 1: if you're trying to recreate the feeling that you were 560 00:33:47,400 --> 00:33:49,760 Speaker 1: there when something was being recorded. A lot of people 561 00:33:49,800 --> 00:33:54,960 Speaker 1: talk about orchestral recordings because with a really good orchestral 562 00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:58,880 Speaker 1: recording in stereo, you get the sensation that you are 563 00:33:59,280 --> 00:34:03,240 Speaker 1: in the middle of the orchestra that you can hear 564 00:34:03,280 --> 00:34:06,200 Speaker 1: the you can hear the position of the instruments like 565 00:34:06,240 --> 00:34:09,960 Speaker 1: they sound like they are ahead of you, into your 566 00:34:10,040 --> 00:34:12,600 Speaker 1: right or off to the left or whatever when you 567 00:34:12,640 --> 00:34:15,840 Speaker 1: have it set up really well. But that requires putting 568 00:34:15,840 --> 00:34:18,000 Speaker 1: in that work right, and a lot of Hi fi 569 00:34:18,080 --> 00:34:23,120 Speaker 1: systems have tons of different controls so that you can 570 00:34:23,160 --> 00:34:26,920 Speaker 1: manage this down at a micro level in order to 571 00:34:26,960 --> 00:34:30,279 Speaker 1: get exactly the experience you one out of it. And 572 00:34:30,320 --> 00:34:33,000 Speaker 1: when you do hit upon an experience that appeals to you, 573 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:37,239 Speaker 1: it can be magical, like it can feel amazing to 574 00:34:37,520 --> 00:34:41,920 Speaker 1: experience music at that level. It's transcendent in some cases. 575 00:34:42,320 --> 00:34:45,399 Speaker 1: But keep in mind that if it feels transcendent to you, 576 00:34:45,560 --> 00:34:48,759 Speaker 1: it doesn't necessarily translate like that to someone else. Right. 577 00:34:49,080 --> 00:34:51,400 Speaker 1: That's why I go back to saying there's no universal 578 00:34:51,560 --> 00:34:55,680 Speaker 1: perfect sound system out there. Uh. There are lots of 579 00:34:55,800 --> 00:35:00,440 Speaker 1: really expensive systems and components out there. Some of them 580 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:04,080 Speaker 1: are very very good. They have a very high build quality, 581 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:09,480 Speaker 1: They have tried and true circuitry that reduces the level 582 00:35:09,520 --> 00:35:13,120 Speaker 1: of distortion and noise that get introduced to a signal. Uh. 583 00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:17,239 Speaker 1: There are speaker systems that are known to be able 584 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:22,520 Speaker 1: to replicate sounds faithfully and with minimum distortion, even at 585 00:35:22,640 --> 00:35:26,480 Speaker 1: high volume. But there are plenty of them out there 586 00:35:26,480 --> 00:35:29,719 Speaker 1: that are overhyped considering what they're capable of. I mean, 587 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:33,080 Speaker 1: I took a quick peek online just to find, you know, 588 00:35:33,600 --> 00:35:35,799 Speaker 1: what some of the most expensive speaker systems were, and 589 00:35:35,840 --> 00:35:39,000 Speaker 1: I found some that were over a million dollars just 590 00:35:39,120 --> 00:35:42,560 Speaker 1: for the speakers, that's without anything else. And I feel 591 00:35:42,560 --> 00:35:45,720 Speaker 1: pretty confident to say that I personally would be unable 592 00:35:45,760 --> 00:35:48,560 Speaker 1: to tell the difference in quality between a million dollars 593 00:35:48,680 --> 00:35:51,680 Speaker 1: of speakers and a two thousand dollars set of speakers, 594 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:56,040 Speaker 1: maybe even less. And that's me, like, that's that's because 595 00:35:56,080 --> 00:36:02,000 Speaker 1: of my capabilities and my limitations. I also will admit 596 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:03,840 Speaker 1: that there could be people out there who could be 597 00:36:03,880 --> 00:36:05,719 Speaker 1: able to tell the difference. I don't know that it 598 00:36:05,719 --> 00:36:08,200 Speaker 1: would be such a dramatic difference that you'd say, oh, 599 00:36:08,239 --> 00:36:11,440 Speaker 1: it's night and day um. And I do think that 600 00:36:11,480 --> 00:36:13,200 Speaker 1: if we were to do a lot of double blind 601 00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:17,160 Speaker 1: tests with some of these components, you would find that 602 00:36:17,239 --> 00:36:20,040 Speaker 1: most people would not be able to tell significant differences, 603 00:36:20,160 --> 00:36:25,240 Speaker 1: assuming that each system was set up with comparable settings. 604 00:36:25,680 --> 00:36:27,360 Speaker 1: And by that, I mean like if you had the 605 00:36:27,400 --> 00:36:30,440 Speaker 1: two thousand dollars set of speakers set up, but you 606 00:36:30,520 --> 00:36:33,440 Speaker 1: turn the base way down for those, and you didn't 607 00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:35,680 Speaker 1: do that for the million dollars, says speakers. Of course 608 00:36:36,160 --> 00:36:38,480 Speaker 1: there'd be a more perceptible difference. You have to make 609 00:36:38,480 --> 00:36:41,960 Speaker 1: sure that everything else is as equal as it can be, 610 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:45,120 Speaker 1: and then test to see if there's a perceptible difference. 611 00:36:45,120 --> 00:36:48,080 Speaker 1: And I don't think, especially at the high high end, 612 00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:53,160 Speaker 1: that you come across that much. Anyway, A true audio 613 00:36:53,200 --> 00:36:56,480 Speaker 1: file seeks out the system and settings then most closely 614 00:36:56,520 --> 00:37:01,840 Speaker 1: matches their perception of acoustic perfection. This is also a 615 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:05,880 Speaker 1: point of debate in the audio file world. I mentioned 616 00:37:05,880 --> 00:37:08,960 Speaker 1: in San Sui that you know, you have amplifiers out 617 00:37:08,960 --> 00:37:13,000 Speaker 1: there that still work with vacuum tubes, and you've got 618 00:37:13,000 --> 00:37:17,080 Speaker 1: amplifiers that work with solid state transistors, And there are 619 00:37:17,160 --> 00:37:20,480 Speaker 1: proponents in both camps. There are some who say the 620 00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:25,440 Speaker 1: acoustic amplifiers are really the best because they create a round, 621 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:29,760 Speaker 1: warm sound. There are others who say no transistor based 622 00:37:29,760 --> 00:37:33,560 Speaker 1: amplifiers are best because they are the most accurate in 623 00:37:34,719 --> 00:37:39,319 Speaker 1: representing the original sounds signal. Right, you you get the 624 00:37:39,360 --> 00:37:44,520 Speaker 1: most true copy or boosted copy of the original signal 625 00:37:44,560 --> 00:37:48,880 Speaker 1: with transistor based amplifiers, and this debate goes back and forth, 626 00:37:49,160 --> 00:37:51,759 Speaker 1: and I think it really just comes down to your 627 00:37:51,760 --> 00:37:56,239 Speaker 1: own personal preference. And again me, I'm simple. I'm a plebium. 628 00:37:56,239 --> 00:37:58,560 Speaker 1: I love a good sound system, but I have so 629 00:37:58,640 --> 00:38:01,520 Speaker 1: far resisted the sirens all to become obsessed and to 630 00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:04,799 Speaker 1: dive into the world of high end audio. It's not 631 00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:08,319 Speaker 1: to say that I won't ever do it. I think 632 00:38:08,440 --> 00:38:10,959 Speaker 1: as far as hobbies go, it's one that I would 633 00:38:11,000 --> 00:38:15,280 Speaker 1: probably find a lot of pleasure in, assuming that I wasn't, 634 00:38:16,320 --> 00:38:20,240 Speaker 1: you know, spending an irresponsible amount of money to pursue it, 635 00:38:20,280 --> 00:38:22,680 Speaker 1: which is a big assumption because again, some of these 636 00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:26,520 Speaker 1: components get into like tens of thousands of dollars. I 637 00:38:26,560 --> 00:38:29,799 Speaker 1: can't ever imagine spending money on a sound system, you know, 638 00:38:30,000 --> 00:38:33,879 Speaker 1: at that level. But um, you know, I I could 639 00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:36,680 Speaker 1: see myself getting kind of into this hobby. I just 640 00:38:36,760 --> 00:38:40,560 Speaker 1: worry that there is no kind of I feel like 641 00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:43,399 Speaker 1: once you start, it starts to pull you in, kind 642 00:38:43,400 --> 00:38:46,319 Speaker 1: of like tattoos. I got one, said that was it, 643 00:38:46,520 --> 00:38:49,400 Speaker 1: and none. I've got two more after that, and I 644 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:52,319 Speaker 1: keep thinking about getting another one. So I already know 645 00:38:53,200 --> 00:38:58,279 Speaker 1: that pathway would lead me to a dangerous place. But anyway, 646 00:38:58,480 --> 00:39:00,799 Speaker 1: I thought it was important to talk about because it's 647 00:39:00,800 --> 00:39:05,120 Speaker 1: not that the audio files are delusional or anything like that. 648 00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:12,680 Speaker 1: It's that it's difficult to talk about an experience so 649 00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:20,000 Speaker 1: subjective as the perfect listening experience and then pourt that 650 00:39:20,200 --> 00:39:24,520 Speaker 1: over into a discussion about what technical equipment allows you 651 00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:28,400 Speaker 1: to achieve that, because it's two different things. It's almost 652 00:39:28,480 --> 00:39:32,120 Speaker 1: like trying to make an art a science or vice versa. 653 00:39:32,600 --> 00:39:34,160 Speaker 1: And that I think is where a lot of the 654 00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:37,600 Speaker 1: frustration for me comes in when I look into things 655 00:39:37,640 --> 00:39:41,319 Speaker 1: like the audio file world. But that's me. I thought 656 00:39:41,360 --> 00:39:43,480 Speaker 1: that would be great for a tech Stuff tidbit. There's 657 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:46,799 Speaker 1: another long tidbit episode. Hope you enjoyed it. If you 658 00:39:46,840 --> 00:39:49,280 Speaker 1: have suggestions for topics I should cover in future episodes 659 00:39:49,280 --> 00:39:52,040 Speaker 1: of tech Stuff, please reach out to me. You can 660 00:39:52,040 --> 00:39:54,080 Speaker 1: do so on Twitter the handle for the show's tech 661 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:56,960 Speaker 1: Stuff h s W and I'll talk to you again 662 00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:06,080 Speaker 1: really soon. Text Stuff is an I Heart Radio production. 663 00:40:06,280 --> 00:40:09,120 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I Heart Radio, visit the I 664 00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:12,480 Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 665 00:40:12,520 --> 00:40:13,440 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.