It looks like the "straight wire with gain" theory is being questioned

When less is not more

Just curious if those looking down their noses at EQ listen only to source material that was tracked, mixed, and mastered without the use of EQ? My guess is no.

Seems that EQ in home gear is a whipping boy to be blamed for bad sound.

I'll bet a properly administered A/B test of gear with and without EQ "in" would have them looking elsewhere.
 
I have bought a few CDs lately after listening to them on Spotify Premium and a couple of them have sounded terrible.......waaaaay too much signal. Then some sound really nice (Glen Frey After Hours being one that sounds superb) so it is hit or miss. I also have pulled out CDs that have been in storage for years and years and some sound great and some sound like crap....same with LPs as well.
If you like Glen Frey After Hours, get Born to be Blue by Steve Miller. It's another great album of Jazz standards performed, recorded, and mastered exquisitely. You'll be surprised that Steve could sing this well, but he did.

There are too many (IMO that's more than one) CDs produced (manufactured and distributed) that not only suffer from bad mastering, but also from the inability to obtain quality copies of the master tapes. In this case it's game over when the starting whistle is blown.
 
Some general information.

This is another case of the application of the definition of a term.

The technical term for a device’s output/input magnitude ratio is gain. As a ratio of equal units (power out / power in, voltage out / voltage in, or current out / current in). Note that there is more than one type of gain and to be correct, one should specify the type of gain, power. voltage or current.

In a passive transformer you can have voltage gain or current gain, but not both at the same time because that would be power gain and a passive device can't have power gain

Transformers change impedance, from low to high or high to low or in some cases not at all as in an isolation transformer (leaving out RF transformers used in tuned circuits).

It is the change in impedance (based on the turns ration) that results in the difference in voltage, input to output, larger or smaller.

Just as an example, lets say the source needs to see a 1000 Ohm load and what it is going to drive needs to be driven by a 1000 Ohms, a transformer in this case will not be able to increase the voltage (gain).

In the case of a transformer volume control, it can make the output voltage greater than the input voltage because the source impedance is smaller than the output impedance.

If a passive transformer could amplify a signal, then we could connect a phono cartridge to the input of a passive transformer and connect the output of the transformer to our speakers and have music (leaving aside RIAA EQ).

If you want to be correct you should say that a passive transformer can have voltage gain or it can have current gain, again due to the difference in impedance, input to output, but it can not have both (power gain) at the same time. This would eliminate the debate.

In our hobby this distinction, much like the distinction between polarity and phase, is commonly ignored. But it is quite important to consider when designing a circuit.
 
In the case of a transformer volume control, it can make the output voltage greater than the input voltage because the source impedance is smaller than the output impedance.

If a passive transformer could amplify a signal, then we could connect a phono cartridge to the input of a passive transformer and connect the output of the transformer to our speakers and have music (leaving aside RIAA EQ).

If you want to be correct you should say that a passive transformer can have voltage gain or it can have current gain, again due to the difference in impedance, input to output, but it can not have both (power gain) at the same time. This would eliminate the debate.

In our hobby this distinction, much like the distinction between polarity and phase, is commonly ignored. But it is quite important to consider when designing a circuit.

The fault then, if any, was my presumption it was understood to be voltage gain in the context of this discussion, not specifying voltage gain. Considering though, the nature of the source to "preamp" and "preamp" to amplifier connections are, in consumer audio gear, generally of the high impedance/voltage bridge type, rather than impedance matched/power transfer type of deal. Hopefully that makes it not too egregious. :)
 
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Egregiosity, like beauty and musicality, is in the eyes and ears of the beholder. If you feel you haven't transgressed, then who's to say differently? Everyone has their own sense of right and wrong, and another word for standards imposed by others on people is tyranny. Your independence should be applauded, not condemned. Go whoaru99!
 
It is all about technical standards. Using technical standards is far, far from tyranny. If this were the case then things like Ohm's law would be the ultimate tyranny (electronic that is).

To be clear, I mean no disrespect to anyone. But there are a lot of readers of AK that are trying to learn the basics and being specific in the use of terminology can make this easier.

As an example, a device requires a .25 amp fuse and a person says because of their opinion of right and wrong that a 15 amp fuse would be okay to use.
 
I am not going to go farther off topic. Since there are almost 2000 hits on this thread and it is possible that some would be interested in the basics to help them grow their technical knowledge. That was the intent of my post about gain. It was my hope that it would help clear up the discussion and the discussion could return the its original intent.

In my case I always use tone controls, EQ (analog and digital) and DSP except when I don't. And it always sound better, except when it does not.
 
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