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Also, Guttenberg maintains that the tester's ears are psychophysiologically biased by the sound of one product while listening to the next product. Finally, the conditions under which the test is conducted are rarely the same as those in any given consumer's room, so the results mean nothing in terms of deciding what to buy.
Do you agree? Are blind comparisons of audio products valuable? On what do you base your position?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
Reviewer and long-time class-D detractor Michael Fremer was finally won over by the new Class D3 amp used in the SC-57 (shown above), but many audiophiles still scoff at this technology, preferring the sound of purely analog class-AB designs. What's your take? Have class-D amps finally achieved a performance level commensurate with class-AB?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
On the other hand, I do consider myself a videophile—I spend hours calibrating my displays to meet the standards established by the industry, and I can't help noticing the smallest faults in a visual image. Of course, I also want my surround system to sound as good as possible—audio is at least half the home-theater experience, after all—so I carefully select and set up the audio components as well. But home theater is a fundamentally different experience than 2-channel music with no accompanying video.
What about you? Are you more of a 2-channel audiophile or home-theater videophile? Or do you pursue both hobbies about equally?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
Those who prefer the sound of analog will probably vote that digital will always be distinguishable from high-quality analog, no matter how high the resolution is, and I'd really like to know why you believe that. What is it about digital audio that will always allow humans—at least those with trained ears—to identify it as digital?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
Remember the old commercial—"Is it live, or is it Memorex?" The question of whether or not recorded music can be indistinguishable from a live performance has been bandied about since the first days of Thomas Edison's "talking machine," when many listeners claimed the recorded sound was identical to the original.
Of course, our modern ears are more refined than that, but so are modern recording and playback systems, so the question remains, and much has been written about it. Stereophile editor John Atkinson documented an interesting experiment in which he recorded a live piano recital and immediately played the recording for the same audience, and Michael Lavorgna addressed the issue in Stereophile here. Steve Guttenberg provides more food for thought in an article for Stereophile and his Audiophiliac blog on cnet.com.
So I ask you: Do you think it's at least theoretically possible for recorded music to be indistinguishable from a live performance, perhaps with a massively multichannel recording and playback system? Or is the question moot, since they are two different things altogether?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice; I look forward to reading your thoughts on this one.
In addition to exceptional picture quality, both TVs have something else in common—a very hefty price tag. The PRO-60X5FD lists for $6000, while the 70-inch version is a whopping $8500. (The 60-inch PRO-141FD was $7000 in 2009.) In my opinion, such high prices lead to the demise of the Kuro, because a best-possible-performance, cost-no-object flat panel is unsustainable in today's—or even yesteryear's—economic climate. So I'm concerned that the new Sharp Elite TVs will suffer the same fate as the Kuro.
Do you think ultra-performance, ultra-expensive flat panels can succeed in today's marketplace? Or are they simply too expensive to manufacture and sell in quantities large enough to make business sense?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
Here at HomeTheater.com, we've certainly observed that poor measurements do not necessarily mean poor subjective performance, and that good measurements do not necessarily reflect good performance. On the other hand, in our experience, measurements sometimes support—and even explain—a reviewer's subjective observations, which are always conducted before the measurements.
Do you think that objective audio measurements using test tones correlate with subjective sound quality playing music? If so, is it a strong or weak correlation? In the comments, I'd love to know how much weight you give the measurements found in our reviews compared with the reviewer's subjective assessment.
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
This news leads me to wonder about where you buy your home-theater gear—online or at brick-and-mortar stores? Why do you shop online or in-store?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
Now, I'd like to know how you feel about 3D in the home. Perhaps you own a 3D TV or projector, or you've seen one at a friend's place. And even if you own a 3D display, you might or might not enjoy that particular feature—after all, 3D TVs often provide the best 2D performance, so you might have gotten one for that reason, even if you hate 3D. So I ask you: Do you enjoy 3D in a home setting?
As always, I really hope you'll leave a comment about your choice, especially if you enjoy 3D only with certain types of shows. In your opinion, what programming works well in 3D, and what does not? In any event, I strongly encourage you to leave a comment no matter which choice you make—your fellow readers and I want to know what you think!
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
As always, I really hope you'll leave a comment about your choice, especially if you enjoy 3D only with certain genres. In your opinion, which genres work well in 3D, and which do not? But I strongly encourage you to leave a comment no matter which choice you make—inquiring minds want to know what you think!
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
How about you? Do you have carte blanche to do whatever you want in your home theater, subject only to budgetary considerations? If you have no spouse, the answer is obvious. But if you do—be it a legal marriage or domestic partnership—have they placed limits on what you can do in that room?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
I'm delighted that so many of you have posted comments with the last two poll questions—thanks to all who did!—though I wonder why only about half as many voted and commented in the poll about 3D at home as in the one about 3D in commercial theaters. If you have any thoughts on this, I'd love to read them. In any event, I really hope you leave a comment elaborating on your vote in this week's question. For instance, which 3D display do you have or plan to get?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
In addition, multichannel recordings offer more options than 2-channel—in particular, a choice of perspectives. Mixing engineers can put you in the audience with ambience (room reverb, audience noises during live shows, etc.) in the surround channels, or they can put you in the middle of the ensemble, what AIX calls the "stage perspective." On the other hand, the sweet spot for multichannel is much smaller than for 2-channel—a point in the middle of the speaker array instead of a line perpendicular to the plane of two speakers.
Which leads me to ask: When you sit down to listen to music, do you prefer 2-channel or multichannel recordings? If multichannel, do you prefer the audience or stage perspective?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
There are many pros and cons to consider with each technology. Active-shutter glasses unequivocally provide full 1080p resolution to each eye, but they also block more light from reaching the eyes than passive glasses, so the image is typically dimmer. In addition, many people complain about seeing a flickering effect with active glasses that is nonexistent with passive glasses, and active systems are more prone to crosstalk/ghosting. And don't forget that active glasses are much more expensive than passive glasses, not to mention that active glasses are heavier, bulkier, and require replaceable or rechargeable batteries. On the other hand, while FPR displays often have a wider horizontal viewing angle, they have a much narrower vertical viewing angle. And they might not deliver full 1080p to each eye, though this is hotly debated, as discussed in my recent blog.
So which 3D flat-panel technology do you prefer—active-shutter glasses as championed by Panasonic, Samsung, Sharp, and Sony, or FPR with passive glasses as espoused by LG, Toshiba, and Vizio? If you haven't actually experienced them, which one seems more appealing to you?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
At the heart of all home theaters is a central signal switcher/processor to which all the source devices are connected and one or more power amps to drive the speakers. These functions can be performed by separate components or combined into one unit called an audio/video receiver (AVR) or, in some 2-channel audio systems, an integrated amp.
Most enthusiasts agree that a separate preamp/processor (or pre/pro) and one or more power amps provide the best possible sound. On the other hand, such a system is more expensive and more complex to set up than an AVR, and the performance of AVRs has steadily improved over the years. On the third hand, if any function of an AVR fails, you must replace the entire thing, whereas a failure in a system of separates means replacing only the defective device. And even if there's no failure, separate components can be upgraded in a piecemeal fashion rather than all at once as with an AVR or integrated amp.
All of this leads me to wonder: Which do you prefer, the convenience and economy of an AVR/integrated amp or the ultimate performance and flexibility but greater hassle and expense of a system based on separate components, and why?
Vote to see the results and leave a comment about your choice.
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