Why do some think "music" (not gear, trading, etc.) is the ultimate end?
I've always been pretty meticulous and particular when auditioning new equipment for purchase. I do so to avoid buyer's remorse about installing equipment into my system that doesn't provide the sonic benefits or improvements I was expecting. Though I can appreciate that some people love the thrill of trying out something new, auditioning equipment by doing A/B testing and having to switch equipment in and out of my system is frankly a pain in the butt for me. But, I continue to do it every so often when I make a change to my system. My philosophy on getting new equipment is do it once, get it right, and move on. With equipment in place that sounds good to me, hearing both music I know and new music provides me with both the enjoyment and novelty that I seek. As an example of my preferences and typical equipment purchase pattern, high quality music streaming has been a revelation for me and is motivating me to build a new digital front end to play streaming music at least decently well. I've never owned a great CD player, but the ability to listen to tens of thousands of new artists via Qobuz streaming is a radically different and valuable new experience for me. Some people may be most excited by getting and trying new equipment; I am motivated by listening to music reproduced more insightfully. I wouldn't claim that one is better than another...we are all wired differently. |
@hilde45- I think thread has transcended the usual banter here, and asked some hard questions about the "why" of it-- our universe, small as it may be within the world at large, offers a huge number of paths to pursue. To me, the issue is exposure. To music, to systems, and the process of learning. I was struck by a book I happened on while killing time in Boston one day, called "The Perfect Wrong Note." It’s really a meditation on why musicians are taught by rote and calls into question how music is learned by students, suggesting that a player who has a tendency to play a wrong note can learn from that experience. It’s a little "zen" but a worthwhile read. I started in this hobby’s first (or second, depending on how you count it) golden age- in the late ’60s when solid state was replacing tubes and records were still a mainstream medium. Even at that time, there was a tier of equipment that was priced beyond what most could afford, but promised a level of performance that was revelatory. Much was promoted in the U.S. by Harry Pearson of The Absolute Sound fame, and in a slightly more grounded way by J. Gordon Holt, of the original Stereophile. (There were many magazines available at the time, some quite good, that offered more technical articles as well as consumer fodder for the casual or aspirational reader). The goal, as it was stated at the time, was to assemble something that resembled real music and short of that, something that accurately reproduced the recording. The first goal is almost impossible in my experience. It works best with small scale stuff, not full orchestras and with fairly simple, uncluttered musical passages. In my experience, a lot of systems suffer some form of congestion when things get busy or complex and the illusion of "real" falls down. The alternative, being true to the recording, is equally elusive. Few of us have had the opportunity to sit in on an actual recording session and compare it to the resulting recording, particularly after it has been mixed down and made available as released product. (Listening to playback in the booth over studio monitors from the rolling tape-- and here I date myself-- isn’t the same as listening to the record). And a lot of records sound good not because they are made simply- to the contrary, there is a fair amount of studio gimmickry that goes into making something that sounds "natural." Jules Coleman, who was a professor of jurisprudence (the philosophy of the law) wrote some interesting things before he retired, one of which questioned the primacy of "accurate" reproduction as a false ideal. I refer to him here only because I think he tries to unravel an assumption most of us have about the role of accuracy in hi-fidelity reproduction: [url]https://thevinylpress.com/listening-to-recorded-music-a-rumination/[/url] Coming back to the choice of paths, there are many-- with the current plague, we aren’t free to visit showrooms, people’s homes or take in live shows, but that will pass. Listening to as many different systems as possible is not only revealing of strengths but of weaknesses of various systems and that’s instructive too. We used to have audio clubs, which do still exist in a few cities in the States and perhaps abroad, but much of the kibitzing is now done on chat boards like this, rather than in person. (We didn’t necessarily accomplish much at this meetings, apart from whatever the featured demonstration was-- it was largely a social thing, a chance to swap records, and casually chat and see folks that shared a common interest). The Internet has many advantages, one being worldwide reach and the ability to find things that are not readily within your immediate circle, geographically or socially, but it does have a certain flatness to it, compared to meeting in person. I know of no one who is expert in all the things associated with our hobby- there are so many niches just to Western music alone that one could devote one’s life just to the study of one performer or composer (not an entirely uncommon thing). I guess, at bottom, my point is that if you are just really starting out in this hobby, the best thing you can do for yourself once this Covid thing passes is to get out there and experience as much as you can-- by way of prerecorded music, live performances, attendance at seminars, trade shows (a good place for the audio minded to socialize and meet some of the manufacturers). I was never particularly skilled at mechanical and engineering things, so that’s another deep dive. I can read technical papers with some modest understanding and ask questions of people with more knowledge than I have. You could look at it as acquisitiveness, but the acquisition of knowledge, rather than "things." (Though I have lived life as an ardent materialist and still have a substantial record collection). Indeed, that takes us to yet another branch, the collection of recordings, which is yet another aspect of this hobby or overlaps with it. And is itself a vast subject, with many different niches of knowledge. I treat all of this as an adventure at this point, given my stage in life- I’m retired, my systems are relatively mature, and I have the time to explore and learn. It’s hugely rewarding and I wish the same for you. regards, Bill Hart |
