I listen to equipment because I want my equipment sound at its best. Good equipment makes my music sound better, and enhances my enjoyment. It is a virtuous circle for me.
"audiophiles listen to their equipment"
That quote is misattributed to Alan Parsons, as I understand. Anyway saying there's a problem with wanting good sound is like saying an instrument designer, aiming for beautiful sound, could not possibly be a music lover and is only interested in the sound of the instruments. I.e. the sound is inseparable from the music. For me the beauty of the sound, good microdynamics, and so on, are the "doors" to the meaning of the music.
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I put together two good stereos - living room and home office. I listen all the time, and I have a fair-sized collection of vinyl, CD’s, and even cassettes. Also I have a good streamer and subscribe to Apple Music. I was getting way into the audiophile side of things for a while as I got the systems to be as good as possible within my financial restraints. I’m good at buying quality gear at good prices. I’m so happy now with these setups, and my small collection of excellent headphones as well. I’ve been on a huge music discovery kick, in and out of record shops, and online moving between Wikipedia and Apple Music, reading, learning, listening. That’s the joy for me. I know my stereos can be improved, which will enhance enjoyment. But I am so settled in to loving it as it is, and digging the music, which is what it’s all about. Don’t want to hear music on a shite system, that’s for sure. Just make it so you’re happy, don’t get obsessed with so-called "perfection", and enjoy! |
@stuartk all of the musicians I know are very much into tone
these tend to be guitar players, keyboard players, bass players, the sound of their instrument / their equipment is an essential part of their whole process for the audiophiles their equipment is the instrument… Changing the gear overtime is their contribution to the process of creativity, no different than musicians, changing their instrument or gear chain |
... and working musicians (as opposed to millionaire Rock/Pop stars) are infamous for not owning high-end audio systems or caring about home audio sonics. FYI, I’ve played guitar for over 50 years. Tonality is my top priority when it comes to audio.
With all due respect, as a creative person, I don’t agree with this assertion.
I don’t understand what you mean by "contribute to the process of creativity". Do you mean changing gear is essentially a creative process? Do you mean when audiophiles change gear, they are contributing to the artist’s creative process? Or something else?
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So you don't own a good system yet you're sure AC cables have no effect ? Am I hearing you It's not crazy money to get a system capable of hearing AC cables ... under $10,000. You've had decades ... you have $10,000 what's needed is the intention and effort to listen. audiophiles don't record music or play music so their "creative" satisfaction is to adjust their system. It's satisfying and I'm all for it ... as a musician you should be too. They pay for music. They love music. |
I actually agree with the quote. I listen to music, of course, but I have 5 systems in my home, and I often listen to the same music on all 5 of them to see how the rooms and equipment changes the sound. This is especially true when I make a tweak. I’m a car guy too, and drive the same roads with multiple cars and appreciate the differences between them. Of note; every single system is “best” in certain songs, and not others. It’s fascinating to me, and not always what I expect. |
@stuartk my mistake. Cables was another thread audio listeners create a system, and they upgrade their equipment just like musicians play instruments and upgrade their instruments… It’s the same thing, I don’t know why you can’t comprehend that but it’s the same thing
the instrument is part of it for the musician just like the equipment is part of it for the listener, same thing |
@sudnh I agree. New music is always the most entertaining, and I don't need as high a quality. For example, streaming Tidal on my music server is not as high quality as playing from its SSD, but it's a way to hear much new music, so I really enjoy it. |
”psychoacoustical experience of a tri-tone interval has little to do with sonics.” If the system is incapable of reproducing it, then you are correct: there will be none to be heard. As I have said elsewhere, audio is not an end in itself: its purpose is to faithfully reproduce what the artist, with the help of the recording engineer, intended you to hear. I can’t believe how we go through this topic with seemingly infinite variations. |
I'm old so... First it was the table radio with the pretty glowing tubes. Wonderful... how does it all work? Then Ham Radio to talk with the world, and more equipment fascination. As a teen it was all about the music... loved the Do-Wop but how bad was that sound? Darn Barry Gordy left us no SQ. Then, sixty years of equipment and sound fascination at the same time. Thousands for stuff for slightly better sound? Better cables in my rig? Pretty stuff? More realistic? You bet. The best of both worlds. Now to enjoy hours at a time. My ears, my money. All good... |
I can enjoy how it sounds and listen to music at the same time if I'm listening to my main system with all the right pieces in place. When there is a suboptimal component in the string, it is easy to become less engaged listening to the music. When I get bored after a long stretch of swapping different components in/out just to see what changes for better or worse, it's another trigger to stop and revisit other hobbies for a while. Stepping away from it for a while helps to hit the reset button in the brain for me. I've found this to be necessary to appreciate the system more too. I've learned swapping components may not always be better, just different types of sound. A good friend convinced me a while back it's all about personal preference and your mood at the moment. Stop and revisit later if you need to. When the desire to listen to different music kicks back in, I restart for another stretch to simply listen to lots of different music again, and let the components be. |
... And what of us who listen to our equipment to better hear the music? Having designed/built my own speakers, I’ve spent years developing the crossovers to attain the sound as close to as I desire from the set of components at hand. For example, I can spend hours instantaneously A/Bing conjugate capacitors of just a few mfd difference, or even different architecture, to listen for a difference, and if so, which I prefer. And because tracks vary so widely, it takes a lot of tracks to decern if there is an audible difference and which is preferred. BTW, for those out there that like to tinker, or are just never quite satisfied with the system, by all means build your own speakers and you can spend years tweaking the crossovers at very little cost when compared to swapping out components and/or cables. |
I'm both an audiophile and an amateur musician. I've studied harmony and counterpoint and I do a little piano improvisation in classical styles. I only have a digital piano at home, so when I'm improvising, I'm focusing on the notes and chords and a rough sense of the rhythm. If I listen to a recording of Glenn Gould performing the C# minor fugue from the Well Tempered Clavier Book 1, even on an iPod with earbuds I can tell the notes he's playing and his rubato, so I can enjoy it to some extent. What does my main headphone system give me? All the qualities beyond notes and rhythms! For example, beauty of timbre. And especially microdynamics. In classical performance by the best players, there's a sophisticated use of small dynamic changes. So much more of the performance comes through in a system with dynamic resolution. It's worth sitting for a while and doing nothing but listening. Why do musicians care less about home audio quality? I think it's because they are so connected in body and mind to musical patterns that they can sense them and feel moved by them even in poor reproduction. They invest their money in their instrument. I've noticed when driving home from an L.A. Philharmonic concert, listening to classical KUSC on the poor quality car system, I am transported back to the beautiful sound I just heard in the concert. If I hear horns on the radio, I think of how beautiful and powerful the live horn sound is. I used to be a brass player, so this is easier for me than if I had had no exposure to live sound. Now just imagine being exposure to live orchestral sound every day. I'm sure that simple systems will sound very evocative to you. |
An interesting question. Is this much different than going to a concert of Mahler? What are you hearing or listening for? Mahler? The CSO, NY Phil? The particular conductor leading the orchestra in performance- or recording? I suggest we are all striving to get as “close to the music” (whatever that means) in all our critical listening- live or recorded. As a classically trained musician, sometimes “listening to the singer/pianist/orchestra/conductor” has its place in my enjoyment (or not!) of a performance/recording. I think we have it within ourselves to determine “what we are listening for” both in person and on recording. Each session may differ. Sometimes I want to hear “x’s” Mahler 4, whether orchestral, conductor or singer. Sometimes the piece itself. Sometimes- I admit I just want to find which Verdi Requiem recording has the best “b_lls to the wall” Dies Irae. Each approach to listening has its place and purpose in our audio enjoyment. After checking out the opening go to 09.00 for the brass choir. |
There is audiophiles focusing on gear upgrades without end because they can afford it... They ignore acoustics controls...( at best they buy panels) There is non audiophiles who pay the least for the gear and claimed their system beat audiophiles one, they mock audiophiles... But they also ignore acoustics controls...( they read gear specs thats all )
But there exist audio wise people who learn how to set a system right and learn acoustics basics...They listen to the system/room... They are neither subjectivist nor objectivist... They know....
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