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Perception

I’ve been very happy with my system lately, since I added new speakers and a new amplifier.  I felt it was totally balanced and almost anything I played on it sounded good.  Then a friend came over who had greatly admired my previous system configuration.  This friend owns decidedly mid fi audio equipment  and listens mostly on headphones.
 In short, he didn’t like my current system.
Now, I’m starting to listen to my system through HIS ears and have wondered if it was a mistake to upgrade.
I don’t know if this is a question of perception or weak-mindedness.
So much of the enjoyment of our rigs is in our head.  The system didn’t change.  My perception of it did.
 I now have to fight off his perception and get back to my own.
 I don’t think I’m a unique case. So much of what we perceive in audio is controlled by our psyches.



128x128rvpiano
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,654 posts
 
As a former classical musician myself, I do know what real instruments and voices sound like. What I’m referring to are external factors that affect our perception of recorded music. No recording can equal the sound of real music.
And every recording is different, and is going to contain some differing form of distortion from the live event.  We can’t hope to build a system that is going to account for the vagaries of every different recording. So, we can accept the limitations of each recording or choose to concentrate on that distortion which annoys us.  We have to convince ourselves to accept some form of compromise or drive ourselves crazy.
noble100's avatar
noble100
2,419 posts
 
nonoise:
"Think how bad it would be if I had 4 stomachs and a cud to chew."


Hello nonoise,

     Geoffkait's been telling everyone you have all those things, are a methane machine and you get milked once a day.  My sympathies, it must be udderly awful.

Tim
rvpiano's avatar
rvpiano OP
2,654 posts
 
The external factor in the above example is the workings of our mind.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Yes, I know. Specifically, it’s the working of our subconscious mind. It’s how external factors affect the subconscious mind, which I would call internal, not external, in terms of how sound is perceived/heard. In other words, It’s something we can’t control. It’s how our hearing influenced by our local environment. But maybe you have something else in mind, so to speak.
rodman99999
6,125 posts
 
Old rhyme: A centipede was happy – quite! Until a toad said, in fun, "Pray, which leg comes after which?" Which threw her mind in such a pitch, she laid bewildered in the ditch, considering how to run. Analysis Paralysis(long/exhaustive version): https://www.competitivedge.com/frog-and-centipede-story-paralysis-analysis
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