One of the highlights of my trip to CES was not the great sound or equipment I saw. But rather, the people I met. And none could be more special than meeting Paul Barton who is the "P" in PSB. You have heard me talking too much about Harman relying on core research coming out of Canadian National Research Council. Well, they are not alone. One of the other companies relying on same facility and body of research is PSB.
I introduced myself to Paul and he was more than a bit surprised that anyone would know or take interest about his history at NRC. He told me that he started there back in 1972 which was years before Dr. Toole joined the organization (1979?). He said NRC is a government sponsored multi-disciplinary organization that researches many fields and acoustics just happens to be one of them. They built an anechoic chamber which was the main enabler of such research. He said that even prior to Dr. Toole arriving, they were using blind testing and arriving at similar conclusions of what correlates well in measurements with good sound perceived by listeners. I asked him if they still use blind listening tests and he said essentially no. That the data was conclusive enough that they just know that by following it they get good sound.
Alas, I spent all my time with Paul and at any rate, I don't recall any music playing so here are some pictures:
Notice MQA decoder. There was more buzz about MQA than previous shows.
I introduced myself to Paul and he was more than a bit surprised that anyone would know or take interest about his history at NRC. He told me that he started there back in 1972 which was years before Dr. Toole joined the organization (1979?). He said NRC is a government sponsored multi-disciplinary organization that researches many fields and acoustics just happens to be one of them. They built an anechoic chamber which was the main enabler of such research. He said that even prior to Dr. Toole arriving, they were using blind testing and arriving at similar conclusions of what correlates well in measurements with good sound perceived by listeners. I asked him if they still use blind listening tests and he said essentially no. That the data was conclusive enough that they just know that by following it they get good sound.
Alas, I spent all my time with Paul and at any rate, I don't recall any music playing so here are some pictures:
Notice MQA decoder. There was more buzz about MQA than previous shows.
