As mentioned or alluded to above, we have the ability to mitigate desire and/or enjoy the process. As they say, perfection is the enemy of the good.
Hi-Fi and the Folly of Perfection
I wonder whether at a certain point the pursuit of absolute hi-fi is in danger of blending into a folly of perfection. As I sit listening to my--frankly madly expensive-- set up, my enjoyment of the music I should be listening to becomes plagued with doubts - should I shift my chair a few inches left or right to get a better focus on the stereo image? Should I toe the speakers in a little more? Should I move my wife closer to the corner of the room to improve bass response?
I sometimes philosophize that the audiophile bug is a special--pleasantly harmless--form of nostalgia; a thankfully less embarrassing analogue of the hankering certain middle-aged men have for absurdly inappropriate sports cars, motorbikes, or even second wives. . . .
I would illustrate what I mean with a personal story. The summer before I went off to university in 1982, I bought my first "system," an Amstrad 8080 stereo tuner and cassette player with detachable speakers that cost me about £30 from my local Woolworth:
This was the system I discovered music on; discovered my own musical tastes, and I suppose it's what set me on the path to where I am today with a set-up whose speaker wires could buy me fifteen or more Amstrads.
I know that, without question, the sound I hear coming from my speakers today is "better" in all sorts of ways than what I heard back in the 80's. But I do, in my more self-analytic moments, wonder if "better" is, well, better. How much is one's endless quest for audio perfection (a quest I adore and wouldn't give up for anything) actually a quest to listen again with the ears of that young man diligently respooling mangles cassettes with a pencil and a lot of patience?
I wonder if anyone else indulges in such lugubrious ruminations?
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I have also crossed into the stage of less critical listening and more enjoyable listening.
That elusive peace of mind probably what we’re all looking for. I have read here of people who say that their system is ’good enough’ and that after a period of some years they no longer actively seek ’upgrades’. That elusive feeling of being content with your system must also bring with it a sense of considerable relief. In my own case I’d say that I’m 80% there and that I’d probably be happy to stop at 90 before things get stupidly difficult and expensive. Barring a major, seismic technological advance, that’s as far as I’m liable to get anytime soon. Unfortunately for me, even at this theoretical 80%, I can still regularly hear things wrong with my system. These are mainly audible in the time domain, particularly in the midbass when the music gets ’busy’. Strangely enough, I don’t have any of these niggling problems with my car system whilst I’m driving. Perhaps the driving itself is enough of a distraction in itself? In the same way you might not worry about a lack of height/ too much height/ lack of hair/ too much hair/ being too young/ too old/ overweight/ underweight etc etc when you’re in good company. Perhaps it’s because during those relatively carefree periods one’s mental landscape is temporarily transformed into a pleasant place to inhabit?
Or maybe it’s simply that’s just because my car system is relatively unambitious. It has no pretensions of sounding ’lifelike’ in scale and depth, and certainly none of any real world bass, but then again it also has no timing issues either. Paul Gambaccini still sounds reassuringly like the Paul Gambaccini that I’m familiar with on Radio 2s Pick of the Pops. |
You're not the only one. Just yesterday whilst doing the late Christmas shop I was telling my daughter just how much the rippled label on the honey jar was bothering me. Unfortunately all of the jars had labels with that same rippled effect. Now it could have been the intensity of the last minute shop and hoping that you can get everything essential on the list or it could have been a joke. Or maybe I'm a little sick too. Anyway, a couple of hours of listening to Christmas compilations seems to have helped with psychological readaptation. For now. |
@cd318 I understand completely. Since I've been afflicted with audiophilia, me seeing wall art that is anything but perfectly level, is akin to having a severe itch at a place you just can't quite reach. :-) |
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