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Cat-O-meter

Measuring audio quality with your cat

I have a cat who loves to jump up on the back of my listening chair and listen to jazz but she is quite discriminating about the quality of the sound (or so it seems to me) She generally flees from "noise" like the vac and ignores sound from the TV and even CD's but if I play high resolution audio on my DAC or analog that quickly gets her attention. My theory is that cats are naturally predisposed to be interested in sound that has lots of locational information. So if a mouse they can't see, is making noise, they can position it based on the sound. But if a CD or TV has all its sound eminating from a direction that provides little infomation about 3d movement, this is uninteresting. Anyone have a similar experience?
jyprez
czarivey
5,946 posts
 
Cats have very sharp hearing and it's no wonder.
I have bird (Blue Macaw 1m 12cm long from head to tail) that only appreciates classical music and gets scared or irritated when I'd spin let's say some industrial trans or house. He's now 'toddler' and not even 2 years old as they reach human lifespan or over. Other types of music he's newtral, but seen other birds that admire female vocals. As he gets older, his habbits and interests are changing quite quick and maybe he'll diversify himself onto more styles of music.
isochronism
2,893 posts
 
Jazz musicians that "got it" were referred to as a "cool cats"
You just happen to have is a "hip cat":)
actusreus
733 posts
 
I hope your cat is declawed for your speakers' sake. One minute of inattention can cost you a driver. I learned the hard way several years ago and will never make this mistake again. I'll stick to measuring audio quality with my own ears :)
timeltel's avatar
timeltel
830 posts
 
Fat Pi' Sant frequently occupies a second sweet spot on a hassock, her ears cat-scanning to soundstage and layering effects. I don't discuss these things with her as I fear I can't hold my own in such a discussion.

A second cat, Mandu, leaves the room when I play favorites at volume. I conclude she has terrible taste in music.

Peace,
abucktwoeighty's avatar
abucktwoeighty
1,079 posts
 
Have one like Fat Pi' Sant, ears always scanning. Have another that can't seem to figure out that the music is coming from directly ahead. She's always looking towards the rear of the house for something... The other two couldn't care less about the music.
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