retort (ANSWER) verb, noun SLIGHTLY FORMAL
(to make) a quick annoyed or clever answer
She offered to help me but I retorted that I could do it myself. [+ that clause]
"If I were your wife I'd put poison in your coffee," she said. - "And if I were your husband I'd drink it," he retorted. [+ clause]
He made an angry retort. [C]

quote:

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Originally posted by Mr. Bungle:
your use of the word "retort" is questionable.

if my memory of its definition serves me well.

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Apparently it does not.

re·tort1 (r-tôrt)
v. re·tort·ed, re·tort·ing, re·torts.
v. tr.

1.
a. To reply, especially to answer in a quick, caustic, or witty manner.
b. To present a counterargument to.

2. To return in kind; pay back.

[Edit: D'oh.]

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?

quote:

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Originally posted by mech:
WTF is so tricky about the word retort?

Well done Stooge (and Bungle ).

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Good show Mech.

quote:

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Originally posted by StooGe:
That is so funny on so many levels for so many reasons.

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So what about the above statement disqualifies it from being a retort?

So, I shall repeat...

***re·peat (r-pt)
v. re·peat·ed, re·peat·ing, re·peats.
v. tr.

1. To say again: repeat a question.
2. To utter in duplication of another's utterance.
3. To recite from memory.
4. To tell to another.
5. To do, experience, or produce again: repeat past successes.
6. To express (oneself) in the same way or words: repeats himself constantly.***

quote:

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Originally posted by StooGe:
You shouldn't use words you don't understand.

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quote:

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Originally posted by mech:
What the hell are you talking about?

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He was explaining to me what a retort was, and I was trying to work out what about my statement disqualified it from being a retort.

So let's let him answer the post, if that's okay with you?

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Originally posted by mech:

...it WAS a retort. A really lame one.

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We are all entitled to our own opinions.

Just like my opinion of you, that being, you are blinded by the sun shining out of your arse.

quote:

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Originally posted by mech:
Well, you're welcome to have that opinion, and I wouldn't expect any less from you -- you seem to have a problem dealing with people in a non-hostile manner.

But shit, that's life, I'll live - seeing as I'll never have to meet you or see you. Doesn't worry me what you think of me.

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Do I really have to re-post your original entry in this thread again? I was only hostile after you began, but I've already explained that.

quote:

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Originally posted by Dionysus:
Everything is relative.

Say for instance you had a $5,000 cd player that you knew, to your ears, sounded better than any other CD player you had ever heard in your life, at any price, would you consider it to be a very scroogeworthy CD player?

Now, what if your favourite past time in the world was listening to music, and that $5000 CD player added just that little bit more detail and sonic purity, that you could hear notes, instrument track and subtle detail that you had never heard before, in your favourite recordings, would you consider it nonsense, waffle and snobbery?

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Absolutely not. Under those conditions I would consider it a wise purchase. The only problem I have is the huge price disparity between the high-end gear and the consumer-level stuff. Why is it that the big brands cost not 20%, 50%, 100% but 1000%+ more.

I would be willing to pay a little more for something a little better, or a lot more for something a lot better, but I will not pay a lot more for something a little better. It's not Scrooge-like.

I can understand amps, turntables, and speakers being worth spending the big bucks on, but not CD players. All they do is read 1's and 0' off a disc,convert it to analog, and send it out. My PSX does the job just fine, and it sounds exactly the same as any other player (to me, and 99.99% of others, I suspect).

quote:

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Originally posted by Super Scrooge:
I would be willing to pay a little more for something a little better, or a lot more for something a lot better, but I will not pay a lot more for something a little better.

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I think this is a gem !

They have phrases like this in marketing textbooks. It relates so so much to 'my console is better than yours' debates and every hifi debate you could think of.

I had guests over a few weeks back to watch Gladiator. At the end they were overwhelmed - especially by the sound. I'm running technics speakers with subwoofers as my left, rights and speakers found on the street as my rears.
When the movie began I must have accidentally hit the sleep timer on the amp which drives the L and R's - they must have cut out during a quiet scene. Five technophile men and one woman sat there for 2 hours and never realized!
At the end they had to touch the cold amplifier to prove to themselves it had been off for a long time.
Basically I'm a videophile, not an audiophile - and this taught me you only need to be one because the sound makes the picture bigger and the picture makes the sound bigger.

In this particular case the 2 metre projection screen made the Krysler surrounds from the footpath, the tinny centre speaker, and the non-existent left and right speakers sound like BOSE 5.1 surround.

quote:

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Originally posted by DJ Fusion:
Dionysus: 1
Super Scrooge: 0

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Dionysus' CD player- $5000
Super Scrooge's identical sounding PSX- $200

Dionysus: 1
Super Scrooge: $4800

Music to your ears and to your wallet!

quote:

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Originally posted by Super Scrooge:
Dionysus' CD player- $5000
Super Scrooge's identical sounding PSX- $200

Dionysus: 1
Super Scrooge: $4800

Music to your ears and to your wallet!

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By the way, what makes you think I have a $5,000 cd player. I actuallt have a $850 cd Transport and a $3,000 DAC.

If a CD player isn't just a device to read 1's and 0's and convert them to analogue, what else does it do? Please enlighten me. I am sure your system has many more features (multi-disc play, remembering favourite tracks off discs, bass boost) than a PSX though. If that sort of stuff is important to you, then you should spend the bucks to get them.

No I haven't done any A/B comparisons, my question is have you? BLIND comparisons that is. I suspect not

quote:

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Originally posted by Super Scrooge:
I just don't see how a PSX is inferior to another player. You can't make a statement like what you said Dionysus and not back it up with some facts.

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I too would assume that a PSX plugged into a kick-arse amp and equalizer would sound the same as any other, so I'd be interested to know what the facts are rather than subjective opinions of 'quality'.

It would only take a few lines to say things like : the sampling rate sucks, the error correction is..., the harmonic distortion - whatever the hell that is, is stuffed etc. And what is this about DVD players playing CDs better? etc.

Not DVD players, not PSX, not DC, not even PS2.

quote:

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Originally posted by Super Scrooge:
I'll be honest, what I know about electronics wouldn't fill a post-it note, so in a sense I am talking out of my arse. I just don't see how a PSX is inferior to another player. You can't make a statement like what you said Dionysus and not back it up with some facts.

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Let me give you a brief history of my cd players. I started off with a Sony $300 cd PLayer. Whan I got a Rotel Amp, I noticed how crappy the music sounded. There was no seperation of instruments, it sounded harsh, vocals sounded harsh, a guitar did not sound like a guitar in real space, there was no bass definition or authority, in short it did not sound like music.

I spent a few weeks ringing around every HiFi store in Sydney, and most said the same thing, the new Rotel CD player is the best you can get for under $1000. I listened to it, and it sounded great, so I brought it.

Any way 5 years and about 5 amps later, I decided that I should look at my CD player, considering a lot of people believe that the source is the most important part of the system. Garbage in garbage out is the general term used. I listened to the new Rotel cd player(this was about a year ago now) and I could not hear any difference between my old player and the 5 years newer Rotel that cost $900. I then borrowed a $3000 Teac cd player, which a few people (who's opinions I know to be very very accurate) said basically sounds as good as any $5ooo cd player on the market. I borrowed the CD payer for 3 weeks( so do not even think of asking me if I tested it extensively) before deciding that I could hear no significant difference between my 5 year old $750 player and the new $3000 TEAC. I was a little pissed, as I wanted to improve the sound of my system, and thought this would be the best option.

Anyway, The guy I got my new amps from suggested I borrow an outboard DAC and bypass the crappy DAC in my Rotel CD player, and use a DAC thet has it's own dedicated power supply ect, as he thought it would make a difference. I borrowed the DAC for 3 weeks, but it only took 5 seconds to hear the difference in the music. The music flowed forth in such an effortless way. The volume had increased noticably, I could not beileve the amount of Bass that was coming from the system, I heard notes, instruments and musival detail that I never even contemplated existed before. IT was funny, because a mate and I were testing the DAC and we put on Van Morrisons greatest hits and were listening to a song. It was trhe first time either of us had heard the albumn throught the DAC, and there was an instrument that neither of us had heard before in the song. We both looked at each other, but did not say anything until after the song finished, but after it did we both said the same thing. We both heard a new instrument that we had not heard before.

My understanding of the reasoning behind this is:

- Seperate power supplies for DAC and transport. The power supply is one of the most important parts in any hi fi component.Most High End DAC's like mine have 2 boxes, 1 for the power supply and one for the actual decoding as it keeps noise and distortion from the power supply away from the DAC. It is also much better for your Transport to have it's own power supply. This is also why receivers and integrated amps cannot match the performance of a seperate Pre/Power Amp, bacause of the extensive power supplies seperates use. My Per amp has a dedicated power supply that ids bigger and haevier that most Asian amps, and then lets not mention 7 kilo power supply for my DAC. I am not aware of any Asian cd player that even weighs that much.

- No vibration from transport spinning to introduce noise and distortion into DAC. Most one box cd players use internal damping and use vibration resistant material inside the players to reduce vibration.

- Comercial or Industrial grade components instead of cheap off the shelf crap. Why does a BMW cost more than a Ford, because BMW uses much higher quality parts, assemble a lot of things by hand, have exceptional quality control ect, which obviously cost more. I mean, do you really expect anyone to believe a PSX that is put together using the cheapest parts possible, and manufacturered in some dodgy south east asian factory is going to compare to a hand built, DAC made in Australia using the best components available.

By the way Caleb, I have never in my life heard anyone say that a DVD player will sound better than an equally priced DVD player. Everything I have ever read on the subject suggests that a $3000 DVD player cannot touch a $1000 cd player in terms of quality playback. I assume the reasons are to do with all the extra components in the DVD player introducing their own noise and distortion to the audio signal, but have never bothered to research it. All I know is that my DVD player does not sound as good as a cd Transport as my dedicated cd Transport, but my DVD player sounds much better running through my outboard DAC than it does running through the 24/96 DAC in the Toshiba DVD player, so I have 2 sources where I can distinctly hear the difference between having an outborad DAC and using the DAC inside the 1 box machine. The volume of the DVD player is also noticably higher running through my outboard DAC, so please explain these noticable differences, if all a cd player does is read 0's and 1's and converts it to analogue.

- Excellent quality 16/20/24 bit DACs as opposed to the cheap crap used in Asian players.

Anyway I have some work to do, but may continue this later, although common sense and the time to test for yourself should be sufficient for you to make your own judgement.

quote:

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Originally posted by kingcaleb:
[B] I too would assume that a PSX plugged into a kick-arse amp and equalizer would sound the same as any other

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Let me get this straight. You believe that if you hook your DVD player and Dreamcast up to your amp, and use them both as a cd player, that you do not expect to hear any difference between the two at all??

ROTFLMFAO

What DVD player are you using??

quote:

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Originally posted by kingcaleb:
[B] I too would assume that a PSX plugged into a kick-arse amp and equalizer would sound the same as any other

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Let me get this straight. You believe that if you hook your DVD player and Dreamcast up to your amp, and use them both as a cd player, that you do not expect to hear any difference between the two at all??

ROTFLMFAO

What DVD player are you using??

quote:

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Originally posted by kingcaleb:
[B] I too would assume that a PSX plugged into a kick-arse amp and equalizer would sound the same as any other

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Let me get this straight. You believe that if you hook your DVD player and Dreamcast up to your amp, and use them both as a cd player, that you do not expect to hear any difference between the two at all??

ROTFLMFAO

What DVD player are you using??

quote:

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Originally posted by kingcaleb:
[B] I too would assume that a PSX plugged into a kick-arse amp and equalizer would sound the same as any other

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Let me get this straight. You believe that if you hook your DVD player and Dreamcast up to your amp, and use them both as a cd player, that you do not expect to hear any difference between the two at all??

ROTFLMFAO

What DVD player are you using??

quote:

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Originally posted by kingcaleb:
[B] I too would assume that a PSX plugged into a kick-arse amp and equalizer would sound the same as any other

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Let me get this straight. You believe that if you hook your DVD player and Dreamcast up to your amp, and use them both as a cd player, that you do not expect to hear any difference between the two at all??

ROTFLMFAO

What DVD player are you using??