Aging ears and Nuances


I spoke to and older audio buddy of mine and he made a full 180 on his nice tube gear and just went with lower cost streamer that can also be used as a preamp. He says he doesn’t hear much above 11.5k. My tests let me hear up to about 13.5k but I’m able to hear even subtle differences between tube amps etc quite easily even though most of the music is in lower frequencies of the spectrum regardless. Does anyone here find themselves experiencing a more difficult time appreciating the nuances with their age? And has it affected the choices you have made with gear, not being as picky? 

rankaudio

Showing 1 response by knownothing

Interesting discussion.  I am 66 and feel I am only getting better at listening to and distinguishing subtle differences in music and music reproduction systems even as my hearing acuity in general has declined some - evidenced by greater difficulty following conversations in noisy echoing environments.   This both due to greater experience and the fact that the spectrum of most reproduced music occurs below 10kHz.  Only violins and cymbals extend much above 10kHz for acoustic instruments.  The bulk of the important information is in the midrange, and if timing is your thing - it’s all there.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3088642/

kn

PS - plus one for using care with headphone volume levels.