Has any audiophile gizmo ever got a bad review?

I still use Filemaker on both Mac and Windows. Apple only just last month renamed the FileMaker subsidiary Claris so they are returning to the old name. I also used an excellent Mac based database called FileForce but it didn’t stick around long as Mac lost ground in the 90’s.

 

Not to turn this into a vintage computer debate again, but many of your statements are just plain wrong.

The Apple IIGS was introduced in 1986 with a maximum resolution of 640x200. The IBM PC was released in 1981 and had that same resolution from the beginning with its CGA card.

And outside the PC world, the Atari ST was introduced in 1985 with both 640x200 color graphics, just like the IIGS that came a year later, and a special hi-res 640x400 monochrome mode, popular with desktop publishing and music producers using MIDI (for example, Jean-Michel Jarre was an avid Atari ST user). And it had its GUI in ROM, so you didn't need to wait two minutes for it to load from floppy disk, like on the IIGS.

 

Now go back an read what I did say, "The GS was the first high resolution GUI based machine."

"It was out when the IBM only had their low resolution graphics (CGA + DOS).

The native educational software on the IIGS was the best out there at the time. It blew away the IBM's educational software.

Having the Ensoniq sound chip in the machine gave the GS (Graphics Sound), a software advantage that no other color computer based machine had at the time.

 

Only problem with the GS was that Apple crippled it’s performance by underclocking it as to not outperform the Mac.

 

I always wanted a GS. My first computer was a //c

 

My first computer was a TRS III and strangely enough no audio magazine ever gave it the glowing review it richly deserved.

 

First computer I used was an ICL 1900 mainframe in 1974. That competed with the IBM 360.

If you needed more than 16k of core store for your program you had to get written permission from your supervisor. The total non-tape storage was 64k, and that was all core. It still amazes me that a 2000 punch card Fortran program, after compilation, could run cheerfully on such a tiny wristwatch size amount of storage.

And although I was well into building my own amps and speakers at that time, it was well before audiophile tweaks. In fact I don't think the term was even in common use then.

 

One day I had walked into a Radio Shack to buy a battery or something. The mail had just arrived, and the Manager was announcing, while reading through the mail, that they were getting a computer for $600.

He said that they could take orders for it. I immediately gave him my order and he caught the mailman before he left the shopping center.

I got one of the first TRS-80's off the line about three months before they really started shipping, it had a photocopied manual.

I used it for two days and then returned it, realizing that I would need a computer with more options for business use.

That was in August 1977, the Model III was introduced in 1980.

 

So 640x200 is "high resolution" on a IIGS but 640x200 is "low resolution" on a PC?

But the vast majority of educational software for the Apple II platform did not take advantage of the IIGS's extra capabilities. I grew up in a fairly rich area and the computer labs in my school were full of dozens of IIe's but only a handful of IIGS's, usually reserved for teacher use.

Except the Amiga, which had stereo digital audio output, and the aforementioned Atari ST, which had built-in MIDI, both of which pre-dated the IIGS by a year and came with a color GUI. Both of these are the reason why Apple even released the IIGS -- they saw what the Amiga and ST could do and said, "Oh $*&!, we don't have anything like that!". (Radio Shack also responded in 1986 with their Tandy Color Computer 3.)

And to steer this back towards something even remotely relevant to the thread, Atari did actually sell one piece of audio gear that got bad reviews -- the headache-inducing Atari Video Music!

 

In 1977, 16k of 16-bit RAM cost $400.

Back in the hobbyist days, it cost $1,600 for 64k of memory, which was all that a 8-bit computer could directly address.

That would be equal in value to $6,600 in today's money.

 

At the time, IBM had two monitors, a higher resolution "green" text monitor and a lower resolution CGA color monitor.

Again, I was referring to IBM with regard to their color graphics resolution.

 

Our Honeywell H316 had 48K on 3x16K cards. Also had buttons on the front for direct access to the registers and a bank of switches for punching data directly into the registers. We had to learn the old fashioned way at the register level. We did occasionally have to make a correction to something that was on tape (we actually had a punch tape reader instead of cards and also a Xebec and Hard drive Cartridge.

 

I was browsing a site of a highly respected German vendor of high quality audio products to see if I could find proven, useful gizmos. ....and holy cow, what do I find there?
...... a Quantum Noise Resonator!Quantum Noise Resonator

Well they swear on the positive effect of the thing, but they are also honest that they do not understand how it works exactly.

These guys are very trustworthy and known to promote truly good sound. Which made me thinking and I started to read up on quantum mechanics. Well, you probably need a full university study to understand this stuff and the disposition to torture yourself and your mind....

The little bit of surface I scratched tells me the following:
Quantum mechanics is real physics and very relevant for amplification and production of an audio signal. Did you know that the transistor was invented because of quantum mechanics (QM)? It’s working can also only be explained by QM. It could have been called “ Quantum power enhancer” instead of transistor, for example!
Explainer: Quantum physics

Also, electrons are both particles and waves, which means they can cause interference and noise. Anyone feels like reading up on it here a book on it on Amazon (first published in 1964!) https://www.amazon.com/Radiation-Quantum-Electronics-William-Louisell/dp/0070387613

Anyway my conclusion so far: Names of products do not mean much, I only like to hear (from critical listeners) if there is a positive effect on enjoying music.

 

I don't want to talk about my experience with a PDP. It had absolutely no redeeming audio qualities.

Also it cost 400$/hour to repair if you were out of contract. For this price one would expect at least some audio streaming capability, but sadly this was not the case.

 

Apple II's and IIe's were the backbone of the education market, being already established years before the GS was introduced.

The Apple II series reigned supreme in the education market, with excellent education software.

GS educational software was more limited, but it was the best that was available back in its day.

Back then, I was the education rep for our store for Apple products in grades K-12.

 

The bottom legend that says "Solid Hole Ring Auto" made my laugh

 

Techmoan did a video review of the Atari and called it the migraine machine.