Finally, at JA's, you'll have a cup of coffee and sit down to listen to some music before packing up the big and beautiful 200-lb speakers. The freight service is scheduled to arrive in just a couple of hours, so you don't have much time. The speakers had sounded so good that JA just couldn't bear to pack them up any sooner. In fact, they may have been the very best speakers JA's ever heard in his room.
You listen.
It's no wonder JA had waited so long. After only a few moments, you'll start to giggle and blush with disbelief and enthusiasm, in awe of what you're hearing. At the end of the first song, you'll want to leap from your seat and applaud. Holy shit, it's special. The room is alive with music.
Ah, it's good stuff, that music.
While you're at it, JA might play for you one of the comparisons he'd demonstrated at the Rocky Mountain Audio Fest. First, you'll listen to his 24-bit/88.2kHz file of Cantus performing Maura Bosch's The Turning. Then, you'll hear a 44.1kHz MP3 encoded from the master at 64kbps, equivalent to the best "CD-quality" you can get from satellite radio.
Wait. Listen again to the master.
The difference between the two will be painful and obvious. You'll cringe at the shrunken voices, at the suddenly sloppy performance, within the MP3 version. Where did the music go? How this watered-down copy of the original could ever be considered "CD-quality" is beyond you. Clearly, it's not. It's not. People are being lied to. MP3 sound is not good enough.
