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HELP Turning off the Left Brain

Its been over 25 years since I bought my first stereo. All my friends wanted wheels, I just wanted to play my records on something other than my parents stereo console. After spending over 25 years training my ears to distinguish between the tiniest differences in and between components, cables, room acoustics et al (and yes I believe for the most part it is a learned skill), I now find it very difficult to sit down and just ENJOY THE MUSIC without always critiquing the presentation. As a matter of fact, a lot of the music that I originally enjoyed when I was among the great unwashed masses, I can't stand listening to anymore. I always thought that at some point the equipment would allow the music to transcend the medium, but regardless of the quality of the presentation, the left brain always whips out the notebook.

Has anyone found a way to stop the madness?
musicfirst
kana813
956 posts
 
I agree with Howard on the new music. Force yourself to buy something new every week.

To get relaxed with dulling your hearing, try some fresh brewed Kava, it's legal. Here's a link to the best:

http://www.mauigateway.com/~kava/
raytheprinter's avatar
raytheprinter
1,234 posts
 
try playing an air guitar while listening or drums or bass,youll have so much fun you will not hear the small imperfections that usually bother you!seems to work for me!or if you like classical ,be the conductor!
stehno
1,453 posts
 
I'm confused. My left or your left?
david_berry
211 posts
 
Third the "buy new music". You don't know what is coming up, thus you cannot really compare it to a known disc.
For me, it also helps to have a routine that I look forward to. After the kids are put to bed and my wife is watching TV upstairs, I give myself 45-60 minutes to listen to music in my downstairs room with a cup of water beside me. I read the booklet that comes with the disc for the first few minutes to fully appreciate the work and effort that went into making the music, and then I turn off the lights.
I hope this helps.

David
sundance45
63 posts
 
Hi Musicfirst, I have been an Audiophile more than 35 years, and yes I have experienced the same thing you have experienced for 25 of my 35 years in the hobby. Generally, we as Audiophiles hang with other Audiophiles, and what do we talk about, equipment. What do we read, Stereophile and Absolute Sound. What do they write about, equipment. The disatifaction some of us get from our hobby, is I believed fueled by constant upgrades to a point that we become equipment junkies and specific sound not music listeners. I nearly ten years ago scrapped my whole system and did not participate in the hobby for three years. After the hiatus, I slowly built a system of high quality components both new and used that I and only I thought was musical. I stayed with that system with minimal changes for six years and was extremely satisfied and really got back to the music. This last year I've done some upgrades to A/C, pre-amp and cabling and love the upgraded system. I still have audiophile friends, I still read Stereophile and Absolute Sound. What's different, I impress myself with my own choices and probably matured in the process of not what could be, but; what is. IMHO
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