[j 2]

Who's Jason...

I started this 2nd rant because Max chimed in with his typical 'protection of his company and job' festivities.

Not snake oil, but you might want to re-evaluate what it is that Apogee is doing with their cables, converters and the lastest box to simply amaze people - Big Ben.

Amazement is something a child experiences when they get a present for their birthday or candy when they've been good. Both rewards will establish memories in their underdeveloped mind that make them happy...We're not children. Amazing recordings are usually acheived through great musicians (fewer every day), vintage mic's/micpre's (hard to maintain), proper recording techniques (yea right), and an 'amazing' R&D'd sound at every step of the process? I have found this amazing sound to distract me from the real qualities of my signal, based on the fact that I have speakers that reproduce REALITY. I don't have speakers that sound like speakers. Phase-tricks, low end curves and sweetening of the high end makes some speakers sound more real -- it makes me and my monitoring chain annoyed.

Is it not obvious that if a company wants the most amount of return for a product, that the 'science' behind their products will never be truly and wholeheartedly as close to science as humanly possible? Why do you think Apple even exists? To make computers user-friendly. The processors used at NASA aren't the ones being used by Apple, but Jobs's marketing campaigns sure look futuristic. Most Apogee people are Mac guys. Hmmmmm. Think back to being amazed as a child of whatever it is that amazed you, then get rid of the fact that you were ignorant as a child, as is everyone, and re-evaluate your signal path. If you've done this time and time again (kudos), and you're still using Apogee anything, you're cheating. As long as you're aware of what's actually happening and you can sleep at night, may you make many records that fulfill your amazement desires.

Even Bob Clearmountain said, [it's almost like cheating]. Totally understandable.