Category Archives: Mysticism

Saving the world, 13 grams at a time

Posted on March 7, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Universal studios sent me a bunch of Blu-ray discs recently. One of them is a movie of which I had never previously heard. Called Home, it is apparently an environmental documentary. From the blurb: In 200,000 years, humans have disrupted the … Continue reading →

Posted in Blu-ray, Mysticism, Rant | 3 Comments

Cable Controversy Podcast

Posted on January 31, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Well, it isn’t really a controversy, but I never was very good at headlines. Anyway, ages ago I downloaded a Quick Hitts Podcast entitled ‘Audio Insanity’, with a tagline of ‘You may think you’ve got a great audio system, but … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Cables, Equipment, Mysticism | Leave a comment

Possible reasons for differing video quality

Posted on October 13, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

Regarding my earlier post (two down) on possible differences between US and Australian Blu-ray discs for quality, Sandra has written to me: I was also present the night John talks of. There is an alternate hypothesis to encoding variations or … Continue reading →

Posted in Equipment, How Things Work, Mysticism, Video | Leave a comment

‘Region A vs Region B on Blu-ray’

Posted on October 11, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

Yesterday I received a very interesting email from a reader, headed as shown above. The matters raised will be, I think, of interest to other readers on this Blog, so I’m answering it here. First, here’s the email (lighted edited … Continue reading →

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A Decade of Tuning Tips (Part Two) – 2

Posted on September 28, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

Perhaps ‘the worst book ever written‘ was actually the second worst. A while back I mentioned this little pamphlet, and promised to come back to it. Well, here goes. First, the claim by the author, Jimmy Hughes: I have experienced … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Imperfect perception, Mysticism, Rant | 1 Comment

The Perils of Double Blind Testing

Posted on September 25, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

While in Japan I had an interesting discussion on whether or not one can hear the differences in cables. I am not in the ‘can hear a difference’ camp. To quote from one of my own articles: The first and … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Mysticism, Rant, Testing | 2 Comments

A Decade of Tuning Tips (Part Two) – 1

Posted on August 31, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

I suspect it was English high fidelity magazines from the second half of the 1970s, and especially the 1980s, that most fostered the irrationality which invaded the world of high fidelity sound. By the end of the 1980s this had … Continue reading →

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Over-rating our capabilities

Posted on June 24, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

Subjective assessment of home entertainment equipment is important because there are characteristics of performance which aren’t well conveyed through measurements. I am not saying that these things aren’t captured by the measurements (thoroughly and carefully conducted); merely that few people … Continue reading →

Posted in Imperfect perception, Mysticism, Rant, Testing, Video | Leave a comment

Expectations destroy results

Posted on June 22, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

Later, experimenters at Caltech felt that Feynman’s very presence exerted a sort of moral pressure on their findings and methods. He was mercilessly skeptical. He loved to talk about the famous oil-drop experiment of Caltech’s first great physicist Robert Millikan, … Continue reading →

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Audio subjectivism

Posted on June 22, 2009 by Stephen Dawson

My brother has drawn my attention to an episode of ‘Skeptoid’ in which (third item) the magical benefits of expensive audio cables are dismissed, along with the value of face masks in combating swine flu, the radioactive dangers of depleted … Continue reading →

Posted in Audio, Cables, Mysticism, Testing | Leave a comment