A moment when you realized better sound was possible.
I began to realize that virtually every piece of the chain is in a sense a component, which sent me on a mission to tweak every last piece of my system to get the best sound possible out of it. "Virtually". Good one. I began to realize that every piece of the chain is indeed a component, which sent me on a mission to tweak every last piece of my system to get the best sound possible out of it. FIFY. |
Back in the 80s as a freshman in college I heard my first CD player. The technology seemed pretty cool but I was afraid to be on the only one in the crowd saying "vinyl sounds better". So I suppose it was a moment when I realized worse sound was possible yet promoted as better sound - actually only "more convenient" sound. Good one. Good for you. I'm older, CD came out after college when I was broke and moving around and keeping my treasured turntable safely stored away. So I never did compare and with all the moving around didn't notice and just assumed everyone was right and CD really was better. Until years later building my listening room which of course started with CD and was surprised to read Robert Harley's book saying "the turntable is the foundation of a high end music system." Say what? So I dug my Technics out of storage, hooked it up, and sure enough that beat up old table trounced my much more expensive CD player. This was by the way after the earlier episode of learning to listen. Better sound was not only possible- I heard it! |
It was easy to hear differences between speakers and rooms and speaker positioning in rooms. It was really hard at first to hear differences between different sources, amps, speaker cables, etc. Not only for me. Its common. One time at Definitive this guy drove all the way up from Portland to audition two DACs. I stood right there the whole time, heard the same thing he heard, thought to myself, "There’s no difference!" Then the guy says, "Maybe it was the long drive but I’m not hearing any difference." Aha! See!?! Yet still there was this nagging frustration. How can there be this whole industry built up around something that doesn’t exist? It really bugged me. For months. I had this XLO Test CD and on it are a couple tracks intended as examples of really good recordings, to sort of show off your system after you get it all tuned up I guess. Anyway one track Michael Ruff Poor Boy is a wonderful Sheffield recording and I really like the music. So one day after listening to something at Definitive and wondering why anyone would pay all that money when my JBLs are just as good I come home and put on the Michael Ruff track. All of a sudden it hits me, THIS IS THE SOUND! Something connects and I realize the difference between all my other CDs and this Sheffield recording, is just like the difference between the DACs and CDs and all the other stuff. I didn’t have any words for it yet, not at that point. But, eureka! I have heard it! And boy, the better sound that is possible, let me tell you! But that was the moment. The moment that started it all. https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/8367 |
