Perceptually speaking ...

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My friend Jim McCullough, owner of Cello, finally hit tilt with my constant harping on analog medium's lack of bass and dynamics. He sent me the following note.
"I understand that it’s the common perception, and the measurements back it up, but it’s a lot (to me) like the perception that all amplifiers (basically) sound the same and there are measurements to back that up. Maybe that’s the case because it gets repeated so often and consistently. I just don’t hear it. But I always find it interesting. Power of words."

Dang if he isn't right and I am wrong; perceptually that is. Technically what I have said about analog recording mediums like tape and vinyl is correct: they are both limited, relative to capturing all that's on a microphone, and what we hear when live music plays. But it doesn't sound that way.

I don't hear that limitation described in the measurements either. On my LPs the bass and dynamics are stunning. As they are on my CDs and streaming media.

This just reminds me how easy it is to fall into the trap of selectively buying concepts that serve a particular point of view when it suits us best.

Guilty as charged.

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Paul McGowan

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