Critical listening and altered states

first off, no doubt i view this as a legit subject matter, one i take very seriously, and one i think about and plan for.
i’ve made a considerable hifi system life commitment.......so building my system has taken a huge effort and i’ve loved the process. OTOH i can’t be stressed about critical listening. i have to free my mind.

for me to do ’system building’ listening, where i’m making decisions about gear or set-up, i need to first-off, feel good personally. if i’m tired or something is heavy on my mind, or feel rushed or bothered, i don’t really try to listen critically. i have 100 or so digital tracks i use, and another 20-25 vinyl cuts, as my references.

then i just start listening and try to clear my mind. certainly i will have the food fuel part behind me, and will have water of some form or fashion. i avoid alcohol for the most part as that will make me drowsy and shorten my listening time. i go along and see if i’m slipping into my ’zen’ mode where the music is connecting. if it feels good i just let go and float along. i can then really hear my familiar cuts, consider how i’m pulled into the music, and what i’m hearing. is it something new, different, better?

depending on what i’m investigating, i might remove it or make a change and continue. as long as it’s not disruptive to my state of mind.

if work or my wife calls and interrupts, sometimes i will abandon my critical listening and come back to it an hour later and re-boot.

i love this type of listening, and can go for 5-10 hours doing it. my room is in a barn, and there are zero noises or distractions. if i’m doing an extended session, i will have a meal without engaging in conversation where i will lose my state of mind and focus. i view my method as a learned thing. i discovered how this best works for me. i’m sure everyone is a bit different on how you might get into your most effective state of discovery.

my room and system are now at a mature end-game arrival point where these sessions are almost completely behind me. 5 years ago i spent 9 months tuning my room literally with every square inch (this was after 10 years of learning about my room). and also have made digital front end and vinyl front end decisions where i’ve added 4 tt’s, arms, cartridges. i’m all done with that now so little critical listening on my horizon unless i were to move residences. my only critical listening these days involves media choices and format compares.

@coys21

if you’re willing to share, would love to hear what your top 2-10 reference tracks are - digital/vinyl. Impressive regimen. And system!

i listen 30+ hours a week........for the last 20+ years. i’ve always enjoyed comparing formats......and gear investigations. and i have lots of media in discs, files , pressings, and reels of tape. so naturally i’ve always done plenty of comparing things and so that led to finding my most effective method over time. it was no accident or casually arrived at.

here is my system link;

https://systems.audiogon.com/systems/615

my pictures and gear list from that link is now a year or so old, so there are some additions not listed. a 4th tt, headphones and a headphone amp are not listed.

here are a few reference cuts i use;

digital;

https://boxset.me/anna-netrebko-sempre-libera-24-88-flac/

track 11, about 3:20 is a glass harmonica which will either be real or just a hint. it is very delicate, well defined and clear, sweet and soaring when it’s done right. can be smeared and indistinct on some gear. no place to hide and separates the real from the pretenders. i own the 16/44, the dsd file, SACD and the 24/88 file. the 24/88 (the source resolution from the recording) is much better than the others. her voice is divine.

i have a 24/352 dxd file of Aerosmith’s "Sweet Emotion" which is direct transfer from the master tape. the beginning of this song is a holographic spectacular. and this file is a revelation......and so far is typically the best digital i or anyone i’ve played it for has heard. again; it demands everything from my system spatially and dynamically, and reveals any shortfalls. and when i’ve improved my digital this cut has really shown that. i doubt this file can be found commercially.

i will try and list some others when i have time.

if you are ever in the Seattle area you would be very welcome to visit and i will play a number of my reference test cuts for you.

@millercarbon

I really want to know Mikelavigne is where oh where can I get me some of that Angel’s Envy???

i’ve not purchased any Angel’s Envy for a few years, and had to get those ’Finished Rye’ versions you seemed to like, on line a few years back.

not looked for it lately. my go-to is Lagavulin to be honest.

i do like my bottled water as the main thing for listening. a sniff, then a sip of a single malt can set the mood from time to time....but only a sip. 

@grannyring

Too bad the streaming versions of Anna Netrebko, Sempre Libera distort terribly. Sounds like she is clipping her mic. Not sure, but not playable at moderately loud levels. First time I have heard this sort of popping/fluttering distortion when streaming. Both Tidal and Qobuz have the same issue with this recording.

tonight when i get home i will try the Tidal and Quboz versions of that cut and compare them to my dsd and 24/88 files and report back. i don’t recall those artifacts from the streaming versions, but it’s been awhile since i listened to them.

if you can download the file, it’s a worthy recording to own if you like the music.

i’ve been using this cut as a reference for over 10 (maybe 15) years now. initially it was the SACD disc that i used. i would listen to both the dsd and redbook layers. then later i got the 24/88 file and found it was clearly better as it was the native file. then when i got my MSB Select II (a bit-perfect dac) the native file was even better by a larger margin.

none of those versions ever had distortion like the clipping you are describing. it was more levels of clarity and degrees of delicacy.

@grannyring

just now, i did try the Quboz 16/44 streaming version of track #11 of Sempre Libera, and i also heard the extreme distortion pulse on peaks. very annoying. sorry about that. i do not recall ever hearing that.

my guess is that either it’s simply a bad transfer, or possibly this recording has no limiters used and it’s too hot somehow. it might be fun to question Quboz about why that is happening and see how they respond.

to make sure this was a Quboz issue, i also sampled my dsd and 24/88 files and they played perfectly as always.

please let me know how the redbook sounds. thanks.

To listen critically - We need to put our energy into the power of objective reasoning and honest observations.

i suppose we have ’sub-hobbies’ within our hobby of being a music loving audiophile. so there are no rules. no right or wrong approach to critical listening. no incorrect mind sets we are trying to be in.

OTOH in the particular audiophile journey i am on, i am as interested in how some change makes me feel emotionally in a right brain context, as objectively what my left brain thinks it hears. am i being drawn into the music? is my body happy?

unless i can get into a mental mode where i am capable of being open to the power of the music to capture me, my critical listening session cannot be relied on to get the whole picture. so my fist step is always making sure that i’m happy and content and comfortable......and free of distractions including excessive expectations. i need to just be listening to music with my mind free to let it happen. i call it my ’zen’ place.

after now 27 years of very serious system building and room building, this is the viewpoint i have learned that works best for me.

being cold and calculating and objective = a system result target accordingly. how can it not? which is a different result and sub-hobby than mine. and my experience tells me the stress of attempts at purely objective listening clouds the whole musical truth. we should avoid trying too hard.

i’m not saying that there are not situations that call for short term objective listening; for instance whenever i’m setting up a cartridge there is a degree of objective analysis going on. but it’s not how i would make a larger system direction decision or gear choice. if i’m not enjoying my critical listening session, how often am i capable of doing it?

my really extended critical listening sessions are likely my most satisfying periods of my audiophile experience. and leave me feeling fulfilled and in a great place mentally.

YMMV.

@mastering92

What do you mean by this?

there is no winning or losing in hifi. it a hobby. no race track or finish line. it’s about enjoyment of music, and/or gear. maybe building gear, or anything related. maybe it’s about collecting, or interior design. i’ve seen and known people who have all those perspectives; either singularly or together.

and being an audiophile is simply appreciating the quality of music reproduction. it’s a perspective. your circumstances do not determine your mind set. you may have limited choices for various reasons or asset allocation decisions, but perspective is free. and there are matters of taste, preference, and musical choices and living situations that push our priorities.

so we all can approach decisions with our own method. certainly i like mine and am happy to share it and the why behind it.

and i would bet if we were to sit down face to face and discuss this issue, our approaches would have much in common.

science cannot define art. music = art.

therefore all musical judgments are subjective.

OTOH ’sound’ can be measured and expressed objectively. the significance of those measurements in judging musical performance? that’s a matter of opinion.

these arguments are much about words and semantics. if we all were talking face to face and could work out our exact meanings our differences would be minor.

but no doubt they are enjoyable exercises as long as we don't take ourselves too seriously. :-)