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What to listen for?

This is aside to the obvious ones such as does a piano sound like a piano, the singer's voice sound close to them live, etc.

So, what I am trying to put together a list of songs where there is something specific to listen for. For instance, in the song Guinevere (CS&N) I have read that Crosby should sound as if he's standing in your room, front and center. On the acoustic Hot Tuna Album, they are playing in a bar and a beer bottle breaks landing on the floor  - it should be sharp and sound like it's in the room with you. On Babylon Sisters there are some cymbal crashes on the left that should be crisp and not smeared. On a Beatles song (I forget which), a chair squeaks and a door opens and closes in the studio. 

A good system will revel these little things. Any other that you have heard of? 

 

 

128x128deadhead1000
terry9
2,354 posts
 

Smoothness. Smooth, not dull; clear, but not etched. Smooth. Like real acoustic music.

When I changed to film and foil caps, I heard smoothness. When I changed to nude Vishay resistors, I heard smoothness. When I changed to an air bearing TT, I heard so much smoothness that I suspected that something had been lost - and it was - I lost the need to stop listening after 2 or 3 hours. Improved motor isolation - smoother. Panzerholz wand - smoother. Koetsu - smoother.

How do I know that it's really an improvement? I listen to a song in another language, or in dialect, and I can understand it more easily. I disentangle the lines in a symphony more easily. Clarity without compromise. Smoothness.

clearthinker's avatar
clearthinker
1,582 posts
 

One well-known one here in London is the rumbling of the underground (subway) trains under Kingsway Hall that was used extensively by EMI in the 1950s-60s for orchestral recordings.

Check out whether that rumble is on the record or comes from your turntable.  In fact, when a train passes the rumble is easily heard.

mickeyb
585 posts
 

In Nina Simone’s “I loves you porgy” at the 1:28 mark, you can hear a very subtle “queef” sound. Not sure how to describe it other than it sounds like “queef”. Might be the guitarist sliding on the strings. 

paulgardner
183 posts
 

@mickeyb LOL

zlone
767 posts
 

@ghdprentice I got halfway through your post without looking at the author and said to myself this has to be ghdprentice. Ever the voice of wisdom in this forum, I could not agree more with your comments. I am in the middle of a speaker cable search, on pair number four, and the differences are significant, but so far only one gives me what you are talking about and makes me want to listen more.

My addition to the comments on details, at the beginning of Miles Davis' My Funny Valentine someone in the audience coughs. You can hear this on any system, but the clarity improves with the gear.

 

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