Think of it this way. Enhancing the engine sound is like optimizing the acoustics of a concert hall - you're still listening to nothing but the sounds from the orkestra. Artifically playing a prerecorded engine sound, is like sitting in a room full of speakers and amplifiers. You still hear the orkestra, but only a prerecorded version. The result might be the same, but there are subtle differences.
I think that highlights the difference for me: you come to the orchestra to hear the music. People like the sound of a car revving because they associate it with engine power, but the revving itself isn't inherently desirable; can you imagine generations growing up without ever seeing a fuel-burning car, but still associating the loudness and deepness of a car's speaker's rumbling with its power?
People like the revving noise for the same reason a ringing bell makes a dog drool.
I'm not sure that is quite true. I like a deep rumbeling bass, anything from explosions, thunder, or music - I do however nok like higher frequency sounds, such as jet engines, or a 18k rpm F1 engine. A traditional large reving engine is like that low frequency sound.
> People like the revving noise for the same reason a ringing bell makes a dog drool.
But isn't that true for the vast majority of things we enjoy. People find different things beautiful, based on what they assosiate it with.
Just because the symbol's original meaning is no longer relevant doesn't mean we should get rid of the symbol. We still use a floppy disk as the save icon in every software, after all.
