So the non-audiophile, average human being talked about the soundstage collapsing and image depth changing? Yes, very interesting!
Not in those exact words, but yes, definitely. A more literally accurate quote would be, "Its like before it was like the guy is RIGHT THERE and then he wasn't, well not as much, like..." and with arm gestures and so I tightened it up a bit.
Which brings up yet another "what's wrong with audiophiles" because the #1 thing everyone always finds most amazing and enjoyable is imaging. Yet there's audiophiles who actually question its importance. They should try talking to normal people. They will look at you like you have two heads or something. Like, what is wrong with this guy? Which is what I'm asking.
Very well said Miller.
Gets my vote for a top class thread OP.
Thanks!
Miller what a trouble maker you are!:-) I totally agree with you though.I've heard/seen the same thing happen at my house.
I don't doubt it. Not for an instant.
One little party, was about 50/50 audiophiles and Porschephiles. Caelin (the Shunyata Research founder and CEO, that Caelin) was there with some new power cords, and we tried them out.
What I normally do is try and play whatever the one in the sweet spot will enjoy. Which is never the same track over and over again. So when doing demos, same thing. Maybe one time paused and swapped cords in the middle of a song. Never once played anything twice. Couple times even made a change between songs on different albums.
Always the normal folks just sat and listened and responded to whatever they were hearing. Which usually was pretty amazing. I bought one of his power cords on the spot. But all the audiophiles, they were rolling their eyes so much one of my buddies asked me afterwards, "What the $*@T*( is wrong with that guy? He was about to jump out of his skin." Another one was outright mocking certain audiophiles. What I find most interesting is the behavior they were mocking is so common among audiophiles. Not all. But for many its not just common but practically their defining characteristic.
I would say the problem is no one here, unless you know some of us in real life, can be at your home hearing the changes you describe.
Now this is exactly what I'm talking about.
I had this one friend, he was so into wine and champagne he had this annual champagne tasting party. Everyone would bring a bottle. He was so knowledgeable he would open them in order. A lot like the way I will play recordings of increasingly good quality as the night goes along, he opened the sparking wines, then the Champagnes, then the Doms.
I learned so much from this. In all the many years since, and all the dozens of people I've told about this, not one has ever said, "Well unless you were there in real life tasting the wines he was pouring at his house...." Not once!
Now, I'll grant you, one wine enthusiast did suggest a brown bag double-blind test to see if we all really did prefer the wine be allowed to breathe before drinking. (Spoiler: we did.) But then he was an engineer, and we all saw this more as an interesting extra little challenge and excuse to open an extra bottle than as anything else. Not a one of us ever questioned our own sense experience. The way audiophiles do all the time.
Do you see how wrong this is? This is the sort of behavior normal people deride and mock when they see it. Its just so out of touch.
The only problem I have with guests these days is the difficulty in prying their jaws off of the floor. :-)Step up your game, Frank. Get stuff that looks cool enough they'll be drooling so much jaw hits the floor, slides right off.