The Absurdity of it All

Kevn, You are right there is much more to sound than hearing. There is feeling and that is a real problem for many if not most systems. They do not feel right. There is this one elderly, totally deaf gentleman that listens to music by feeling it. There is a YouTube video on him you might be able to find. At a live performance it is that visceral sensation that adds that extra thrill missing at home. My mission has always been to reproduce that thrill at home but still maintain timbral accuracy. Imaging and accuracy are good things to shoot for but if the system does not feel right it is all to naught.

mijostyn4,

... agreed and perhaps this "feeling" aspect is most evident when it comes to PRaT. For some listeners, this is a crucial aspect of enjoyment and speaking as one such listener, my impression has always been that this is much more of a "whole body sensing" experience than an "aural" experience. Above all, I want to feel emotionally involved in the listening experience and given the above, it would appear that my body must be involved in order for my emotions to be engageded. I'm sure this is not the case for everyone. 

I'm very curious about the nature of the "thrill" you associate with live perfromances. What is different about live music?  Most obviously, the audience occupies the same space as the muscians and we experience the music in the company of others. 

At first I thought it must be the presence of visual information -- the ability to see the expressions on musicians' faces and their body language, for example, that might account for the "thrill". Then I recalled that if I'm really absorbed in the music at a live show, I habitually close my eyes, to screen out visual distractions. 

I'd be very interested to hear more about what you believe constitues the "thrill", if you care to expound...

Imaging and accuracy are good things to shoot for but if the system does not feel right it is all to naught.

The most important "feeling" will come associated with the right voices and instruments timbre perception...

For sure we could be thrilled by the loudness and dynamic bass of an explosion accurately reproduced on a system....

But music is not mainly this experience....

There is no right perception of a natural timbre without acoustic control in small room....

Go on youtube and listen some costly system....If you own system is relatively good for sure....some sound unrealistic, harsh, or unnatural....At any price and it is the room problem most of the times more than the gear itself...

@mijostyn,

"My mission has always been to reproduce that thrill at home but still maintain timbral accuracy. Imaging and accuracy are good things to shoot for but if the system does not feel right it is all to naught."


I still want that at home but I'm more or less resigned to never being able to hear my favourite music in an uncompressed form.

The loudness wars may or may not be over but recorded dynamic range remains a poor facsimile of a live performance. At least for the music I normally listen to.

Just take look at the first 10 pages of the dynamic range database and you will notice that Pop/Rock music hardly makes an appearance. Even after some 60 or 70 years, in terms of recording quality it still remains a second class citizen compared to the likes of Classical and Jazz.

Therefore I'd suggest a sense of humour as well as a feeling of eternal optimism is essential in this pastime since absurdity and audiophilia seem to clearly go hand in hand. 


https://dr.loudness-war.info/album/list/dr/desc

@cd318"

 "...absurdity and audiophilia seem to clearly go hand in hand."

This could explain a lot, in terms of what goes on in these forums!  

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