Music vs. Components

Sgunther:

"Both. I usually start out listening to the system then unconsciously begin listening to the music then fall asleep"

Smart reply, humorous and honest.

I agree with Sgunther. When I first listen, when ears are fresh and just hearing the first track, I find myself getting 'reacquainted' with my system, and therefore am hearing the components. But as time and listening continue, I slip into listening and enjoying the music.

Of course, there are often times when I'm amazed at some of the 'realness' I'm hearing, and I think of my system producing that sound. Or, when something like center imaging is a little skewed I think about my system, and what I could, or should, do to rectify something I find 'off'.

Not sure what you mean by "music." I've got some test tones and warbles and pink noise. I listen to those over and over and over and over. Then I change a component and listen some more. When I finally get this right, I'll buy a recording with some of that music stuff on it. But not yet. Not quite yet. There's this little hump at about 3kHz, and ...

I wholeheartedly agree that the music comes first and is the reason for the whole ordeal. Much, or even most of the time, I am listening to THE music. I love the idea of "losing all consciousness" of the gear and just have the music wash over me in waves. Fortunately, this kind of experience is pretty frequent. It certainly is the goal.

That being said, I think we all know the experience of our minds being distracted from the music, as it wanders to the gear, the room, the recording, the cables, etc. A perceived "little" change, a comment from a guest, something seemingly sounding different or not as good as the last time I think I heard it, etc. can initiate another ride on the roller coaster between tunes and gear. Little whispering voices chatter in the head.... "What if I ...." "If only.... " "I wonder...."

I've also noticed that the "better" my gear has gotten, the more I expect from it. Sometimes my expectations might not be realistic. Maybe I should have just hired the band for a night to perform in my living room... then again, maybe my hi-fi sounds better than the band live!?

Unfortunately, sometimes I found my gear trying to "tell me" what to listen to and what to avoid. This can happen with a piece of music that I really like, but I can't stand the recording. So I don't play it as much anymore as when I had a "less revealing" system. On the other hand, sometimes I found myself listening to music that I wouldn't have ordinarily chosen under the pretenses that it made my stereo sound magnificent! (as in too much Diana Krall) Who picked THAT stuff... my preamp?

Can anybody relate to the above?

some wag at stereophile recently wrote a piece about how different people prioritize intrinsic quality of the music, recording quality and quality of the equipment, utilizing a scale aggregating 100 (thus, for example, you might weigh the music as 40, the equipment a50 and the recording quality a 10). now, when i was a kid listening to great, though often crudely-recorded lps on a portable plastic record player from sears, i was probably music--95/recording quality--5/equipment quality--0. as i got older, and more fetishistic about gear, of course my priorities have shifted--now i'm probably music--70/equipment quality--20/recording quality--10. however much we enjoy accumulating expensive equipment, sacds and hi-rez music sources, i'd venture that most people would still choose good tunes over good sound.