Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1996/10/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]At 02:59 15/10/96 +0100, you wrote: >Then, to come to the point: Testing high end equipment leaves the >range of measurable data. Wer'e talking about top quality equipment >(and it wouldn't be top quality/high end/call it as you like if you could > _measure_ a flaw!). It's the same case for high end hifi equipment >BTW, all units will deliver excellent test results. > Unfortunately, this is not true regarding high end excellent sounding audio equipment. You can design equipment which will test excellent on the bench and sound terrible. Early transistor designs were a proof of this. The were designed to have both thd, im distortion and frequency response which would beat tube equipment, but sounded absolutely terrible. Even today, most transistor designs of low and mid hi-fi components have tests results which are better than say Audio Research, new Dynaco, etc., but the tube equip still sounds better. Also, there are very good solid state designs today which don't test any better than the mid-fi equipment, but kill it sonically. Both audio equipment and lenses exhibit certain nuances which I think to date can not of have not been quantified by objective criteria. I am not sure that given the state of technology and its current direction that either industry is actively working on developing these tests. When I was a comptroller for a speaker manufacturer in New England, we had a lab full of equipment and enough R&D budget to develop almost anything. As each prototype was developed, the 'golden ears' of the company and others in the community would do blind tests on the speakers. At the end, the speakers were modified to reflect the consensus of the listeners, regardless of what the numbers showed. Oh, the speakers were not on the cheap end of the spectrum. It wouldn't surprise me that lens design is not done in a similar manner considering that I remember in several readings that there are Leica prototypes occasionally showing up on the block. Brian Levy, J.D. Toronto, Ont. dlevy@worldy.com