my mind can push acoustics into the background for the most part. but what i can't seem to tune out - is noise, esp. if it is percussive in character [phonographic crackle]. that is the thing that got me to become an audio restoration technician. i never understood how some people can describe phonographic playback as coming from "a black background" when surface noise for me stands out like a sore thumb even on golden-ear systems.
How Audiphiles are Different
So, I can’t spell Audiophile. Doh.
Again, moving this to a new thread to avoid polluting the OP that got me thinking about this.
A couple of events have intersected for me which made me realize just how very different audiophiles can be. Not just in their tastes but the very way in which the ear/brain mechanism is wired for them. This then profoundly affects their priorities in equipment and rooms. There is no one right way to be but those who argue purity of reproduction is the only reason to be an audiphile, well, I have news for you...
At a show many years ago the rooms varied a great deal in the amount of acoustic treatments. Some very expensive gear was in some really poor sounding rooms. From a couple of these rooms I overheard several participants talk about how great the demos were. I was a little surprised. I couldn’t hear anything. All I could hear was the ocean spray of the room.
After this somewhere I read about how exhausting meeting room and class rooms can be. Our brain is always listening through the room acoustics for words. This takes effort. In a reflective room we literally burn more calories just listening than we do in a dampened room. It makes it harder to study or listen, and we get tired more quickly. I’ve also thought about how musicians listen and how many of them don’t hear the recording or the room, they hear the musician's technique. Their brain’s entire symbol system and language is wired to feel technique and expression.
I have hypothesized these things:
- Some of us can listen through bad room acoustics much more easily than others
- Being able to hear minute differences (say in DACs) which don’t appear in steady state tests may very well be possible given long term averaging or some other feature we replicate in modern machine learning/neural networks.
- We train ourselves to be different types of listeners.
And as a result:
- Different listeners have different ear / brain wiring which focuses their preferences one way or another.
- At least to some degree this must be something we learn/train ourselves to do.
- If this is something we can train ourselves to do maybe we should be careful to train ourselves to listen for musical enjoyment rather than discriminating across equipment.
- We should embrace the diversity of audiophiles rather than claim a single purity of purpose.
- Charlatans and snake oil salesmen will never go away.
All of this is just about ear / brain mechanisms. It’s also possible some of us have physical receptors or a combination of different ears/different brains which cause us to hear differently. I remember chatting with a rare lady who was an audiophile and she pointed out that for years she couldn’t listen to DAC’s. They gave her headaches. This was about the same time that DAC’s started getting good at Redbook playback.
What are your thoughts?
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Listening is also a test. An assumption is being made here to a degree that machine measurements are the objective truth, and that if one heard accurately the listening test would be identical to the mechanical test. The question is whether sound equipment is being made for ears or for machines. Anyway, here's another test, which I assume everyone has done at one time or another. Start listening to a recording on stereo equipment, then cup your hands behind your ears and note the difference. Then, recall that everyone's earlobes are shaped differently. |
Some excellent points being made. Agree with points of OP. I think an important take away is that even expert advice may not be suitable for anyone else except those that "hear" like they do. Unless the two parties know each others' style of listening abilities and can express things in a way for the other's consumption. Another "noise" I have trouble with is visual. Yes, for me I can hardly hear the nuances of my music during a session if my room is too well lit, or new surroundings. I'm a visual-first person so this has to be squelched or my mind is distracted/overloaded. Just me maybe. It's why I like my rarely used, blank TV screen front and center and not art. |
I think many listeners of my generation have developed an inbuilt noise rejection mechanism from decades of listening to vinyl. When someone points it out you can hear it, but otherwise it somehow vanishes into the subconscious part of the psyche. In a similar light, I live in part of Australia which abounds with several species of very noisy cockatoos*, parrots, crows and magpies. When I receive visitors they often point this out and I become aware of the incredible cacophony, however it soon blends into the background and I regain my tranquil state. *if you think heavy metal is hard on the eardrums try listening to a flock of sulphur crested cockatoos at close range… |
H.o., you could substitute 42 for 32 and it may be just as relevant in the long run.... The common element we all share is the enjoyment of music in all its' varied forms of approach and creation. This has been about us as a species since two rocks struck together made an interesting sound...and improved with a pattern of strikes. Not long after, the 'discussions' on How and with which rocks began.... ;) Siding with @mahgister, what and how I approach aural enjoyment is purely personal, as is what is played to accomplish that. You've yours, and more power to y'all. *G* As is what happens when the waveforms hit your ears and how you perceive that is entirely up to your synapses and the memories it stirs loose. Enjoyment of the hunt for what you use to recreate the music that does that follows the preferences you've developed.... You know what you want, but you don't know what you want....it just suks...wtf...*L* 'Equipment matching' X Listening environment / You = 42 ;) Or infinity. Pick your answer. Happy post-4th, J
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