It is easy to have your analytical side take over your system. You focus your minds eye on things you have never heard before or the ends of the sonic spectrum. It is exciting to hear stuff you haven’t heard before and then one goes to get more of that with the purchase of each new component. You are pleased with all that is new that is revealed. So, when you sit down to listen, you are inclined to listen to the new sounds. Scour old albums for new voices and sounds.
It’s very addictive But each step can take you one more step away from the music... from the emotional connection. This has happened to me. Suddenly finding that when I listened to my system I was using it as a microscope and not listening to the music.
What triggered me to realize my system had become a microscope was my experimentation with my headphone system. I bought a 300B headphone amp (see my systems). I always wanted to understand what all the fuss was about. I remember when I got it and put the incredible Takayuki 300B tubes in it and listened. I was simply astonished how real and musical and emotionally compelling the sound was, I just couldn't put it down. I am actually listening to that system now.
I went and turned on my main system... I was confronted with an incredibly detailed sounding microscope with absolutely no music in it... dry and emotionless... but every nuance of the venue and mastering was in my face. A fantastic $75K scientific instrument for audio analysis... I should have had a few oscilloscopes attached.
Well, that was the turning point in my main system... ultimately I replaced every piece of equipment with that made to reproduce music... intimate and emotional connected music. Now, if I go listen to my Tivoli radio, or even my office system, the taste I get makes me want to go power up my main system or headphone system.
Perhaps, something similar has happened to you?
