OK, I've been lurking for 3 or 4 months, time to come out of the
 woodwork, I guess...
 -=> Quoting David Marheine to David Schmoll <=-
 DM> I doubt if mass-produced video tape is quite what was being referred to.
 And if it was, I doubt that VHS videotape was the subject. To illustrate
 what a dinosaur I am, I still believe (passionately) in Beta...  ;-)
 DM> Hmm, more treble, more midrange, more bass...  Would you say the VHS
 DM> was louder too?  ;->
 ROFL!
 Yeah, level matching is sooo important to a meaningful A/B comparison..
 
 DS> I always loved the sound of CD'S before this occured, and now
 DS> that I'm aware of the real difference....
 DM> Perhaps you just need more expensive cables.
 
 DM> Personally, I'd like to get a CD of a Very Expensive turntable with a
 DM> Highly Esoteric cartridge playing a completely blank Audiophile Japanese
 DM> Virgin Vinyl LP... 
 , ROFL, and PMP!
 DM> Much of which is my way of saying that CD's are capable of delivering
 DM> a pretty damn accurate copy of the master tape to your living room.
 DM> What you do with the signal from that point is your own business,
 DM> but you can probably simulate any other medium pretty accurately by
 DM> ADDING noise, distortion, dynamic range and/or frequency response
 DM> aberrations...
 Exactly...
 DM> Some Voodoophiles and terminal tweakers expend as many adjectives
 DM> rationalizing their expenditures as they expend dollars chasing
 DM> phantom improvements to their systems.  Personally, I recommend
 DM> listening to music instead of trying to listen to hardware.  And if
 DM> you discover everything sounds better to you when you push all 12
 DM> sliders of the equalizer up 3 dB, that's fine by me.  I certainly
 DM> won't respect you any less than the people who hear dramatic
 DM> improvements when using gold plated power cords...
 Our opinions on audio gear are similar, apparently.
 First, I'll say that I do have certain minimum standards. I try to stay
 semi-abreast of the state of the art.. hence my skimming/lurking in this
 echo, and other forums, and a bit of periodical reading here and there.
 However, the /music/ is far, far more important to me than the hardware.
 As long as I'm forced to operate under a budget, maximum bang-for-the-buck
 will be the number one criterium in my hardware purchases. I've given up
 on chasing the state-of-the-art in hardware...
 NP: Link Wray _Bullshot_ "Switchblade"
... IF WINDOWS$ = "Useful" THEN HELL$ < 32ø F.    
--- GEcho 1.11+
---------------