Are you hearing the instruments or the music?
I find that as my system is warming up, it sounds pretty good. The instruments sound as I would expect instruments to sound. The imaging is great and the bass is distinct, clear, and powerful. I appreciate the accurate and extended dynamics. But over time, like an hour or so, I find myself not listening to instruments, but rather to music. I slip into it unconsciously. It would likely be faster with class AB amps.
This is the end goal of audio. Just being able to listen to music. Horns, planars, dynamics, tubes, transistors, etc. are all capable of accomplishing this, just in different flavors. For some, a JBL Bluetooth speaker gets them to their “music place” and so there is clearly a personal and idiosyncratic aspect to this. But it supports the notion that all a system has to do is get you there.
This is also how I know if a change makes a difference. Does it do no harm or does it add or detract from the sense of music? Going from Takatsukis to Western Electrics was more music, not as much instrument. Some might say analytical versus warm, but that’s not what’s important. And for some, analytical might be their music.
If your system delivers instruments well but does not carry you to music land, at least occasionally because some recordings are better at this than others, you might consider changing something.
@richardbrand I don’t go to orchestral concerts and listen to very little classical music. But it was nice having them accompany the Beatles on Let It Be and Magical Mystery Tour just a bit ago. And the placement of many of those instruments is very distinctive. And it is truly amazing how they all fit into the room. |
I listen to music and my gears at the same time. The reason is that my Rig #1 and Rig #2 produce completely different sounds, partly due to the room / space they're in. Rig #1 delivers a spacious soundstage, airy highs, rich mids, and well-paced lows—ideal for classical music. Rig #2, on the other hand, produces a more intimate sound with slightly forward vocals and a 'cozy' soundstage, due to the more confined space. I usually use it for jazz and blues, as it feels like sitting at the "Pawn Shop" with the players right in front of me. |
As I understand it, the process of psychological accommodation plays a role in transforming the raw sound of an audio system into the experience of music. Our cognitive processes start with bottom-up processing (we detect pitch, loudness, timbre, rhythm, and intensity); that is, acoustic information. Soon, though, we fit these into pre-existing schemas, such as melodies, harmonies, rhythms, genre, emotional patterns, etc. We do what is sometimes called "top-down processing." We're guided by the schemas and start predicting (often subconsciously) what might come next. When these predictions are met, it contributes to a sense of coherence and pleasure — "musical experience." That's at least how I understand it -- a continuous interplay of bottom-up processing (detecting raw sound) and top-down processing (applying and accommodating schemas) leads from the "sound of a system" into a meaningful musical experience. My understanding, also, is that most decent systems can accomplish this as it is part of what the listener's brain does. |
+1 @hilde45 Very meaningful / tangible way to interpret how the sound is perceived and transformed into music. I believe you are building the system, integrating gears, room and setup to facilitate that process and achieve your end-game goal. For me, I want my humble systems to have accurate timbre, amble soundstage and reproduces music truthfully without any hint of digital glare and artificial sweetening. |
