dandragonrage
[H]F Junkie
- Joined
- Jun 5, 2004
- Messages
- 8,298
Bill... You've got some of your information right, but a lot of that is old wives tales mixed with personal preference shared by only some people. THD is usually a bad thing, but yes, sometimes it does change the sound in ways that please some people. Distortion is generally only a good thing in a controlled environment intended by the musicians (which is a good part of what you were talking about, and you're right about that). (Circuitbending is included in that description because those things are still tested by musicians and used as the musicians intend.)
Other than controlled distortion, it is NOT true that certain types of technology add pleasing distortion and another harsh. It is not true about tube amps vs solid state and it is not true with records vs CD. There can be differences in distortion with those technologies but they are generally not inherent to the technology itself. A tube amp, known by many for a warm and pleasing sound, can still distort in ways considered harsh. Any technology can have both even and odd order distortions and in fact any will have some degree of both.
And while I definitely agree that the '20-20k' hearing range rule of thumb is stupid and generally incorrect, that also doesn't mean we can hear up anywhere near 85kHz, nor do I believe you that ANY record can do it. (If you feel like proving that records can do it, feel free, though I don't expect such and that's fine. I appreciate the suggestions for some 'reference' records, but it's been years since I've had a setup capable of playing them and I imagine the things you suggest will not be cheap.)
Anyway... my main point is that THD is in fact usually a bad thing. But it can be a good thing in a controlled environment. But you only want that in production. Amplifiers as used by consumers should be, as the common phrase goes: "A wire with gain." In practice they are nowhere near that simple, but engineers try very hard to accomplish that. On the opposite spectrum are the business-type people who think "a penny saved will save the company a million dollars this year" instead of "the customer won't notice a penny in the cost if the product is actually better for it."
Other than controlled distortion, it is NOT true that certain types of technology add pleasing distortion and another harsh. It is not true about tube amps vs solid state and it is not true with records vs CD. There can be differences in distortion with those technologies but they are generally not inherent to the technology itself. A tube amp, known by many for a warm and pleasing sound, can still distort in ways considered harsh. Any technology can have both even and odd order distortions and in fact any will have some degree of both.
And while I definitely agree that the '20-20k' hearing range rule of thumb is stupid and generally incorrect, that also doesn't mean we can hear up anywhere near 85kHz, nor do I believe you that ANY record can do it. (If you feel like proving that records can do it, feel free, though I don't expect such and that's fine. I appreciate the suggestions for some 'reference' records, but it's been years since I've had a setup capable of playing them and I imagine the things you suggest will not be cheap.)
Anyway... my main point is that THD is in fact usually a bad thing. But it can be a good thing in a controlled environment. But you only want that in production. Amplifiers as used by consumers should be, as the common phrase goes: "A wire with gain." In practice they are nowhere near that simple, but engineers try very hard to accomplish that. On the opposite spectrum are the business-type people who think "a penny saved will save the company a million dollars this year" instead of "the customer won't notice a penny in the cost if the product is actually better for it."