Turned back into a music lover

There is an acoustic minimal threshold of satisfaction...

Passed over this threshold we listen music, and dont ask ourself each week about the next piece of gear to upgrade...

Why?

Because electrical, mechanical and acoustic controls installation at the end matter way more than electronical gear pieces price tag choices...( relatively to our wallet possibilities)

Is my system the better?

No

Is my system so satisdying that i am no more interested in alectronic design audio marketing ?

Yes

 

Am i an audiophile?

I was, but now i am a music lover first and last and dont bother with my sound so much...

Why then were you an audiophile to begin with ?

Because i loved music so much i wanted a MINIMAL threshold acoustic S.Q. experience...

How do you discover this threshold?

After upgrading to the right S.Q. /price quality gear (vintage save for the dac whose chip is a vintage one anyway) i make listenings experiments about the three embeddings working dimensions and i learned to control them at low cost and my own way...

I am not really an active audiophile now...

I learned HOW to listen in the process...

We must learn how to listen musically...

We must learn how to listen acoustically...

These two way of listening are always related but are always completely distinct...

There is no shortcut in listenings experiments, nor musically, nor acoustically...

My hobby is and was learning how to listen WITHOUT focussing on market upgrading...

 

 

Simonmoon,

I guess in your case, it is not a dichotomy or a problem. For me, and if I’m to believe many discussions on this forum, it is for others too. The obsession with sound can take over and rob you of your enjoyment of the music.
Consider yourself one of the lucky ones. I’m sure there are others like you.

BTW, Nice pipe

 

 

OP,

“The obsession with sound can take over and rob you of your enjoyment of music.”

I absolutely agree. I think this is a natural dichotomy. Since evaluating equipment is most naturally an analytical task. This is a natural thing… and can led to losing track of the point. Certainly not everyone is like this. Some folks are mostly into the analysis and pursuit of high sound quality… nothing wrong with that. But for us normal humans… the balance presents a challenge.

Your point very relevant.

I'm much like Simonmoon in that I can listen in both modes. I'm a modder, so often changing out little things like caps, resistors, etc. After changes I'm initially in analytical mode, if change is positive, I'll segue into music lover mode, this without any conscious effort. I can always tell if a change not good in that I remain in analytical mode. Of course, this sometimes takes time in that both mind and components and/or parts undergo 'burn in'.

 

Over the years, as my system has improved and matured, I find myself nearly always in music lover mode. As for changes, I've improved my batting average over the years, almost never strike out these days.

 

I'd agree with another poster who mentioned recordings as a variable for listening mode. There have been times in the past when I doubted my system when listening to previously unheard recordings. If they were of mediocre or worse quality I would go into analytical mode which then led to doubts. As system has matured, thus, subject to much less change, I now doubt my system much less often which lends itself to full time music lover mode, even with those previously unheard recordings. At this point, I have much greater surety regarding recording quality at face value, this lends itself to much more easily entering and remaining in music lover mode with nearly all recordings.

@mahgister, I can agree with your observations overall.

Since I'm deep into my diy 'stuff', listening in an analytical fashion comes with the attempt.  It has to, although just the enjoyment of "Hey, that worked!" still pulls one into the enjoyment and entertainment of what's being played for Proof.... ;)

I 'do what I do' to move the latter along....even if only for my own grins, and to make one wonder why I'm happier with my 'pile' v. their system.

I need only to impress myself, ultimately.....much like most.  😏

Right?