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Maybe being discerning isn't that good for us?

A topic I touch on now and then, I think about what the average person hears, what I hear, and what it means to be discerning. What good is it for us, our community, and the industry?

I’ll touch on a couple of clear examples. I was at a mass DAC shoot out and spoke with one of the few ladies there. To paraphrase her, she said this:

Only with DACs made in the the last few years can I listen to digital music without getting a headache.

I never had that problem, but we both experienced a significant improvement in sound quality at about the same time. Lets take her statement as 100% true for this argument.

On the other hand, I am completely insensitive to absolute phase issues which some claim to be. I’m also VERY sensitive to room acoustics, which many fellow audiophiles can completely ignore.

Lets assume the following:

  • The lady really did get headaches due to some issue with older DACs
  • There really are people very sensitive to absolute phase.

I’ve also found the concept of machine learning, and neural networks in particular truly fascinating. In areas of medical imaging, in specific areas such as breast cancer detection, neural networks can be more accurate than trained pathologists. In the case of detecting early cancer, discernment has an obvious advantage: More accuracy equals fewer unnecessary procedures, and longer lives, with less cost. Outstanding!!

Now what if, like the trained neural networks, I could teach myself to be sensitive to absolute phase? This is really an analog for a lot of other things like room acoustics, cables, capacitors, frequency response, etc, but lets stick to this.

Am I better off? Did I not in fact just go down a rabbit hole which will cause me more grief and suffering? Was I not better before I could tell positive vs. negative recording polarity?

How do you, fellow a’gonner stop yourself, or choose which rabbit holes to go through? Ever wonder if you went down one too many and have to step back?
erik_squires
elliottbnewcombjr
5,370 posts
 
I was listening to Joni Mitchell, Live, Miles of Aisles, double LP, with band L.A. Express

Great early Joni, great songwriting, darn good recording, BUT, the engineer messed with the mix, the weirdness of imaging choices i.e. She is dead center, playing a dulcimer, her voice coming center, her dulcimer from hard right,, other ’movements’ of the kind that were so distracting I found myself not enjoying. ....

I told Donna, sometimes being aware of and appreciating imaging is terrific, in this case, detrimental, I moved to a spot on the sofa, corner of the room, and enjoyed it thoroughly.

I had the same experience with an Oscar Peterson Trio mix, sit in the corner, those guys sure deserved to be hailed as one of the best jazz trios ever. I have a lot of Oscar, most is augmented by excellent recording and enginnering choices.

being aware of when knowing too much is reducing enjoyment is important as you say.

erik_squires OP
16,056 posts
 
I know some recordings were originally meant to be multi-track mono.

That is, they recorded to multiple tracks, but meant to release the final product in mono. Then stereo came and labels started doing "cheap" stereo recordings by going back to existing recordings and using one channel for a voice, another for an instrument.

I'm not sure how prevalent this was, but I think there's at least one Beatles album like this.
mapman's avatar
mapman
22,198 posts
 
Yes audiophiles are a hopeless bunch always finding fault with most everything rather than appreciating all the different interesting things there are to listen to. Doomed.....

They all just need a pair of Ohm speakers and to forget and just move forward with enjoying the music .....
ebm
9,311 posts
 
Maybe having 2 threads a day is not good either.
jbrrp1
423 posts
 
Allow me to stand this on its head:  for many, things not being too good for us made us aurally discerning.  

I learned this from a very good psychologist that my wife and I saw for marriage counseling (worked very well, by the way - - taught me so much about relationships, and saved our marriage, made it better than ever).  In our sessions it was noted just how finely tuned to verbal nuance my ears are, and how this extends to music and just plain noise realms.  She noted that studies show very hightened listening capability among those who grow up in highly stressful households, because you learn to listen veeerrry carefully for nuance in tone before someone explodes.  These are the people who are annoyed by that damned sound in the room that no one else hears, and they use their localization skills to root it out and stop it.  It sure fit my childhood, and my life experience.  And it has made me wonder how many other audio nuts might not see themselves in that mirror.

Absolute phase is interesting.  To me it is stunningly obvious, and it boggles my mind to think that others cannot hear it.  And cables.  Yes, capacitors.  And component break in.  There's a reason I like to cultivate this hobby.  Thank goodness music is one of the purest joys in life!

And, yes, get some Ohm's and zen out is a good path, too.  (Ooohhmmm!)
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