Actually the video is very good. Audiophiles spent way too much time listening to HOW music is reproduced as opposed to listening to the music. That seems to be the point. Steve was listening to how the Quads reproduced music and ultimately the result was listening to music that he really didn't enjoy because that is what the Quads reproduced well. The result is a colossal waste of time and money and not particularly enjoyable. Why listen to Brahms if like the Rolling Stone? In addition to speakers that float your boat with music you like, environment plays a big roll too. I have said in the past that I often enjoy music most when driving. The right music on a twisty back road in one of my sports cars and it just increases the energy level of the music and the drive. An adrenalin pump.
Reminds me of the old CES where you would go into a room with 10s of thousands of dollars of equipment and speakers and they would be playing some female vocal that sounded like she was being choked they would tell you "You can hear the air would her." Right! Eff the air. Can I play some Hendrix please? No? Goodbye.
Reminds me of the old CES where you would go into a room with 10s of thousands of dollars of equipment and speakers and they would be playing some female vocal that sounded like she was being choked they would tell you "You can hear the air would her." Right! Eff the air. Can I play some Hendrix please? No? Goodbye.
After the music ended up me rolling the car the last sports car I had merely had engine and exhaust note for entertainment. Mind you it was erm...loud.
I don't find that my speakers push me toward one type of music. I find instead that they push me toward well recorded music, which can be found in many (maybe all) genres.
I have found well recorded music composed during the Romantic Era, I have well recorded swing, well recorded rock, well recorded and mixed a cappella, well produced EDM, etc.
Unfortunately, I do find that poorly recorded/mixed music is more tolerable on less revealing playback systems. Like John, I find the car to be particularly forgiving. There's a ton of background noise all the time, and the EQ is boosted below 200 Hz to overcome road noise. Nothing sounds thin in your car, and any undesirable noises (hiss, clicks, pops, etc) are of little consequence. You can't hear how imperfect the recording is, so your brain kind of assumes it's great. Ignorance can be bliss.
I have found well recorded music composed during the Romantic Era, I have well recorded swing, well recorded rock, well recorded and mixed a cappella, well produced EDM, etc.
Unfortunately, I do find that poorly recorded/mixed music is more tolerable on less revealing playback systems. Like John, I find the car to be particularly forgiving. There's a ton of background noise all the time, and the EQ is boosted below 200 Hz to overcome road noise. Nothing sounds thin in your car, and any undesirable noises (hiss, clicks, pops, etc) are of little consequence. You can't hear how imperfect the recording is, so your brain kind of assumes it's great. Ignorance can be bliss.
You make the point. Instead of listening to music you really like you spend your time looking for well recorded music that is similar to you what you like. Maybe you get lucky and find something that hit both, certainly I have, but ultimately you end up with a lot of music you really used to enjoy but now find intolerable to listen to as you graduated from a Best Buys special to a state of the art system.
Sometime I listen to some old classics from YouTube. Great music out there. They sound fine on my PC or if I rip the sound track to a flash drive and play them in my car. But plug them into my audio system and some of it is just unlistenable. But as a pleasant surprise, once and a while one of those mp3s will sound pretty good.
Sometime I listen to some old classics from YouTube. Great music out there. They sound fine on my PC or if I rip the sound track to a flash drive and play them in my car. But plug them into my audio system and some of it is just unlistenable. But as a pleasant surprise, once and a while one of those mp3s will sound pretty good.
For me there are two very different things: enjoy listening to the music we love, and enjoy listening to the sound we love. When the two pleasures are together, then there really is a summit. Similarly, we can like a painting for its colors, or for the image ....
For me there are more than two pleasures. Whilst audiophilia is often considered a solo activity I get most pleasure listening with my wife. Music at a tribal level is a shared experience after all.
Sorry but this is just like going to a top-tier Michelin starred restaurant, and asking for a cheeseburger.
Sure, it that's what you like, then if hard pressed they'd probably be capable of fixing one for you and it would likely be as good as it gets.
But you'd be missing out on so much of what they can actually deliver, that I would argue your money would be better spent on other things than pursuing a fine dining experience.
Marco
Cheeseburgers or gourmet food? I have time for both. 😀
I do have some experience of this issue with electrostatic-style loudspeakers and headphones.
I have heard Quad electrostratic speakers and Koss electrostatic headphones. They really are the most uncoloured things you can ever hear. Joachim Gerhard's Manger Zerobox came close to that sound too.
IMO, what you hear with these sort of things is the pure recording, minus a room acoustic if you are lucky. Very clean sound, but ultimately a bit empty and almost spooky.
More enjoyable is this dynamic sort of thing, with a subwoofer, IMO:
I suspect the human perception needs to know what space it inhabits in terms of the room acoustic. Otherwise the sound is disembodied or hollow, as best as I can understand it.
I do have some experience of this issue with electrostatic-style loudspeakers and headphones.
I have heard Quad electrostratic speakers and Koss electrostatic headphones. They really are the most uncoloured things you can ever hear. Joachim Gerhard's Manger Zerobox came close to that sound too.
IMO, what you hear with these sort of things is the pure recording, minus a room acoustic if you are lucky. Very clean sound, but ultimately a bit empty and almost spooky.
More enjoyable is this dynamic sort of thing, with a subwoofer, IMO:
I suspect the human perception needs to know what space it inhabits in terms of the room acoustic. Otherwise the sound is disembodied or hollow, as best as I can understand it.
I love my Koss ESP/950s. I haven't been able to use them for a while but planning to hook them back up very soon. They suffer as all headphones do on the imaging front which is leading me to put a Smyth realiser in my 5 year plan 🙂.
Music controls mood and is driven by mood. The system matters less the older I get.
Music controls mood and is driven by mood. The system matters less the older I get.
Most things should matter less the older ones gets, tis natural me thinkst. Sound probably due to hearing. I think Steve could be right re needing some room acoustics, again, only natural, for the brain?
Perhaps paradoxically, even the most over-cooked unnatural pop music, even rock music with intentional distortion added, can sound better on cleaner systems. The distortions of the recording and the playback are independent and can be perceived independently.
B.
B.
Nothing to do with hearing, more to do with getting the balance right. I had a phase where I refused to listen to music on cheap equipment. That was very silly of me. I just realised that I was a music lover and not an audiophile, so hardware purchases plumetted and I started buying lots and lots of lovely music.
Then the floor collapsed with the weight of records...🙂
Then the floor collapsed with the weight of records...🙂
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