@kijanki
To your last point, yeah, often I read exactly this and I want to suggest room acoustic fixes first, but nope, the poster runs off to buy new interconnects or starts shopping for amps << sigh >>
I think that our brain compensates for a great deal, and there is a lot of training we subject ourselves to which allows everyone to hear differently. This isn't just taste, but a matter of repeatedly growing neurons to process sounds in a particular pattern. They have done interesting experiments with training people to see upside down. The brain is doing a LOT of processing and wiring between our sense organs and our perception.
Going to shows and interacting with other audiophiles has really made me aware of this. So many people can go and sit in a poorly treated room and really get into the music. I cannot. I cannot wait to get home and clean out my ears.
The number of rooms I can listen to in any given show are a handful. One of the best sounding rooms to my ears is the Magico listening room. My home is nothing like that, but that is what I strive for.
Of course, headphones have a big advantage in that the room acoustics are removed from the equation and you are listening purely to the driver and distortion, so headphones are one way of hearing this effect, but you hear a lot more too.
Large surface speakers like ESL's and long ribbons, any speaker really that can control dispersion so that room effects are minimized are also ways in which this is improved, despite many ESL's having horrible frequency responses.
Best,
E
When I listen at lower volume everything is better including imaging. A little bit more volume and sound becomes tiring.
To your last point, yeah, often I read exactly this and I want to suggest room acoustic fixes first, but nope, the poster runs off to buy new interconnects or starts shopping for amps << sigh >>
I think that our brain compensates for a great deal, and there is a lot of training we subject ourselves to which allows everyone to hear differently. This isn't just taste, but a matter of repeatedly growing neurons to process sounds in a particular pattern. They have done interesting experiments with training people to see upside down. The brain is doing a LOT of processing and wiring between our sense organs and our perception.
Going to shows and interacting with other audiophiles has really made me aware of this. So many people can go and sit in a poorly treated room and really get into the music. I cannot. I cannot wait to get home and clean out my ears.
The number of rooms I can listen to in any given show are a handful. One of the best sounding rooms to my ears is the Magico listening room. My home is nothing like that, but that is what I strive for.
Of course, headphones have a big advantage in that the room acoustics are removed from the equation and you are listening purely to the driver and distortion, so headphones are one way of hearing this effect, but you hear a lot more too.
Large surface speakers like ESL's and long ribbons, any speaker really that can control dispersion so that room effects are minimized are also ways in which this is improved, despite many ESL's having horrible frequency responses.
Best,
E