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what percentage of us really knows sound

Hi,been in audio preatty much all my live,play a few instruments myself, and it is chocking to me how many people in this hobbie, because they have a few Hi end gear
think that they can discern sonic diferences,or that their system sounds amazing, when 80% of time when I' listen to those fellows system, the sound is horrible, I'm talking about systems in the upper $50000, and this people come out, talking about soundstage, inner detail, and layers of sound cascading thru a huge soundscape, another thing is that, I'thought all this audiophile people where a group of well to do business people, that had money to speare,
when the truth is that most of audiophile people are broked
and dont' have their priorities toghether, been at many many, audiophile people's house, and it is sad, people with, high end systems, and no furniture,just bought a pair of speakers, $11000 retail and an Aiwa,component has more BASS THAN this speakers, affter spending more than $2500, on cables,think someone is taking advantage of the audiophile community
juancgenao
martykl
3,578 posts
 
Tng,

Virtually every musician I know (a small horde) has a crappy system. I'm sure that it's partly economic (musicians are not, for the most part, investment bankers), but I think it's also almost a badge of honor. I KNOW that they hear the difference, they just like to make the point that they don't care about that difference.

They swear that its the "idea" of the music - not the actual listening experience - that matters. I understand why that stakes out a sort of moral high ground, but I still find it kind of bewildering. I guess that I'll just take the low road and dig it.

Marty
nilthepill
842 posts
 
I think this is straight forward question and answer IYO is what OP is asking for. Note that the ref is live acoustic music. If you have other priorities- sound stage, details, etc. it is okay.

Per Juancgenao, the percentage who really knows sound is 20% (80% sounds horrible to him).

I tend to agree with him (In fact I would even say it could be lower even) based on systems I have heard- at dealers and and at shows.

The gap between live performance and its reproduction might appear to be small but is actually very wide. Very few audio systems is able to bridge the gap or even come closer in reality.

Forget OP's other comments, don't take it personally and respond to the OP title question. What do YOU think the percentage is?

What characteristics makes live sound live? and how do you and how to discern it when you hear it? Well, never mind these questions, may be this deserves another thread
daveyf's avatar
daveyf
2,875 posts
 
The sound of a live instrument is IMHO a long way away from what even the best equipment can recreate. As a test of this, i can take my Taylor (acoustic steel string guitar) and play just one note to most any listener, experienced or not, and that listener can immediately tell the difference between 'live' and reproduced.
BUT that doesn't mean to say that our systems are not good at portraying a simile of live music in our listening rooms. Some systems are better at this than others. Some people have a better audio memory than others and IMHO if someone likes what they hear from their system, then that should be all that matters.It's the old saying, "one man's meat is another man's poison" when listening to someone else's system.
I do agree that it seems foolish to buy any equipment without listening to it first though.
unsound
7,329 posts
 
What percentage of us could really know the answer?
nilthepill
842 posts
 
To be fair, question may be broken in two parts.
1. What percentage of us really knows sound?
2. What percentage of our systems achives the(ideal) sound?

Answer to one would be high percentage- many of us knows what live sound sounds like

Answer to second would be lower- may be in teens as the overall sound achieved is in system context, which is vey hard to achieve and requires lot of luck and perfect planetary alignment.

For instance, IME, currently having a extremely satisfactory system and just plugging my amps (with everything remaining same)to different outlets nearby (15 or 20 amps) changes the sound significantly as to tilt the balance in negative direction tells you how hard it is to achieve perfectly balanced systems. I really hope some one figures out why certain system 'match' perfectly and certain don't.(both with well designed and reviewed components) Parahaps, too many unknowns?
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