Colorado is one of but a few States at the heart of the craft beer revival in the US and, coincidently, one of but a few States that has been at the forefront of hand crafted high end audio for years. It strikes me that applying the skill and intent to produce something extraordinary is pretty much the same process whether it's hand crafting beer or Hi Fi.
If you look at the raw ingredients for something as pedestrian as a Budweiser or as wonderful as a great beer can be - you'll find almost no difference - yet the difference in taste between the two is nothing short of remarkable.
The same can be said for a piece of audio gear: transistors, capacitors, resistors, integrated circuits, aluminum chassis are common to the lowest end stereo kit to a high end beauty - yet the audible differences between the two can be remarkable.
It is a combination of the hand crafted nature and the intent of the designers that differentiate the final results. All power amplifiers use essentially the same components, but how they are used and to what end their designer had in mind sets them worlds apart in terms of performance.
When you drink a hand crafted beer designed by someone who really wants a full bodied, rich taste and compare that to a mass produced large scale brew designed to offend no one and be anything but remarkable, think of how that applies to what we do in the high end.
Tomorrow we begin a new series on PCM vs. DSD. It should prove to be interesting.
