2. amps-preamps
  3. 1003236377

Listener fatigue

What causes it and what brands caused it for you?

I have been using a ML No. 383 with Meridian 508.24 for a year now and the one thing I always liked was I never experienced listerner fatigue. I was recently experimenting and hooked up a McIntosh C42 preamp to a Heath amp (cheap, it's all I could get my hands on). This amp is very bright, but I heard some things in the combo I liked, but I cannot listen to it for more than a few songs without it giving me a headache, even with the treble turned down (the Mac has an 8 band eq.).

Is this generally due to a bright sounding system or are there other factors that can also give this result?
brianmgrarcom
lornecherry
135 posts
 
I remember listening to Elton John records through entry-level Stax headphones back in 70's with just a midfi Marantz receiver. I could listen for hours on end with no fatigue. The exact same recordings in CD now give me a headache after 15 minutes, even with my reference front end and Sen 600's. I think the only thing I liked in the mid 80's (when CD's really began to replace LPs) was those wonderful (but expensive) Mobile Fidelity cassette tapes. I think bright sounding CD's drove many of us from the hobby in the 80's -- kinda like when they replaced my orignal Datsun '77 280Z sports car with a bloated detuned ugliness that didn't get better till the 90's/

It's ironic that the companies (Sony, Phillips) that almost wrecked hi end with those early awful-sounding CD's are now coming to the resuce with SACD. Thank God for SACD DSD recordings -- no more listener fatique. --Lorne
detlof
1,899 posts
 
True, Lorne true!
mrgil
8 posts
 
Overemphasized treble has proven hard for me to listen to for long, but I associate listener fatigue most with edgier-than-natural transients etching instruments into their positions, _demanding_ attention from various positions in the soundstage all at once.

Overinvolvement, while exciting at first, becomes exhausting before long. I've noticed a fairly fine line between too much involvement and not enough, but I am personally happier falling asleep while listening than getting wound up, since I mainly listen for relaxation (even to rock). Uninvolvement does not induce relaxation, but neither is exhaustion relaxing.
More to discover