I read a commend on Slashdot comparing it to the distortion inherent of vacuum tubes. I hope no one argues in favor of mp3s someday like they argue in favor of the distortion of vacuum tubes. I'm firmly in the soft clipping camp without "sizzle". Those don't even seem comparable.

Well it is Slashdot after all. I've been lurking Slashdot for over a decade now (without an account no less), and there's plenty of off-the-wall comments like that. Whenever someone there claims it's possible for something to sound better than MP3s they get jumped on because it goes against the house groupthink. Actually seeing someone admit MP3 is not perfect is a surprising step in the right direction for the place I'd say.

I'd be amused to see a scientific argument suggesting that the brain filters out MP3 sizzle though.

I'd be amused to see a scientific argument suggesting that the brain filters out MP3 sizzle though.

Not married eh?

Not married eh?

The thread is about the death of fidelity. A little each day man.

This explains why some people like Ultrasones.

Not married eh?

Haha, no. I have nothing against marriage, but the bachelor lifestyle has a certain appeal too. Then again I guess if I was being constantly nagged about spending too much on gear maybe those sizzling MP3s wouldn't sound so bad?

The brain is designed to filter out noise. There are lots of examples of how this works.

Huh? Did you say something?

i like the one on the bottom left.

For you (I liked him, too):

Original(-ish) image

Actually, I really like the pair of them.

Huh? Did you say something?

Does anyone remember the "fuzz" fad that was on head-fi a while ago? Don't know if it's still going on, might be, for all I know. Is that the same thing (as the "sizzle" mentioned in the article)?

Yep Fuzzy's Fuzzbox or something of that nature, I think I had that in my sig for a while. And yeah it generally referred to a preference for tubes, vinyl, Senn headphones, or some similar lush sound. Grados were the anti-fuzz, if I remember the definition right.

Original thread in its' original glory. http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f4/noobs-faq-about-fuzz-128819/

But then, it looks like Dusty's already seen it.

Edited March 14, 200917 yr by NightWoundsTime

Actually seeing someone admit MP3 is not perfect is a surprising step in the right direction for the place I'd say.

Because they choose a nerdier compression scheme like OGG?

That's true. I had forgotten about the OGG obsession Slashdot has. There always seems to be a sizable portion of their user base who will apparently never buy any DAP without OGG support.