Reminds me of back when I was trying to figure this all out and not being able to hear the difference between two CD players, DACs, etc. Spent quite some time being really frustrated, because the whole time there was this feeling of something being there, I mean really being there not just imagining it, only I couldn't quite put my finger on it.
Only real help I got, one time one guy at Definitive Audio said listen to the way things trail off. Like cymbals, instead of ting they go tiiinnnnggggg. Sort of helped. Not much.
Just listening to a lot of stuff, that alone will not do it. And you can forget about "quantifiable" or anything like that. Total waste of time. What has to happen is you struggle a lonnnng time doing just what you're doing now, trying to put words to what you're hearing.
The hardest part to explain is these things go hand in hand. There's even a whole school of thought that says you cannot even have an experience until you have the word for it. Sounds impossible. Yet it sure seems to be true. For sure, until I developed the vocabulary I really had no real idea what was what.
In my case, I can still remember, there was one day when I had this epiphany. I had been listening to music at one store, came home and was playing a track from the XLO Test CD (Michael Ruff, Poor Boy) when it hit me, THIS is the quality I've been trying to find the words for!
Now today I know enough to say for certain it was the more natural balance between attack, harmonic development, and decay of each instrument. The lack of grain and glare. Dynamics that were full and natural not etched or hyped. Real true extension instead of a tilted up top end pretending to be extended highs.
I could go on and on. Today I can go on and on. Back then though, just the glimmering of a few words.
That's the difference. You will find people who will downplay this. People who will try and tell you, you will know it when you hear it. To them I would ask, Know what? If you can't tell me what it is, how do you yourself even know? Odds strongly favor: you don't.
There's a reason we read reviews. Reviewers, its not that they hear any better than anyone else. Its that they KNOW what they hear, and we know they know because they're able to tell us so. With words. Crude tools, only ones we have.
Best reference I know is Robert Harley's Complete Guide to High End Audio. Harley has a whole section devoted to audio terminology in which he describes just what to listen for, and why, and what it means. This all goes hand in hand with understanding all the various components, right down to the components within the components- the caps in a speaker, for example.
Because of this, because of the fact that everything matters, its not even really necessary to go and listen to a lot of different systems or components. Of course you need to do this when it comes to building your system. But in terms of learning to listen you can do this just fine with what you have right now at home.
Every recording, for example, is a window into a whole entire recording chain. No two sound the same, because no two are recorded quite the same. Read your liner notes. Pay attention to any recording details, especially the mastering engineer. If you have some different recordings with the same engineer try playing them one after another. Then compare them with recordings by another one. If you have any Doug Sax you hit the motherlode in terms of liquid smooth tubey magic. If you have any on the AudioQuest label, those all use AudioQuest wire throughout the recording chain. You can hear it in the recording- once you learn what to listen for.
Barely scratching the surface here, but more than enough to get you going. Even just asking shows you are on the right track, more so than most. Keep at it. One day you may be like me and find much to your amazement what once seemed near impossible has become child's play.
Only real help I got, one time one guy at Definitive Audio said listen to the way things trail off. Like cymbals, instead of ting they go tiiinnnnggggg. Sort of helped. Not much.
Just listening to a lot of stuff, that alone will not do it. And you can forget about "quantifiable" or anything like that. Total waste of time. What has to happen is you struggle a lonnnng time doing just what you're doing now, trying to put words to what you're hearing.
The hardest part to explain is these things go hand in hand. There's even a whole school of thought that says you cannot even have an experience until you have the word for it. Sounds impossible. Yet it sure seems to be true. For sure, until I developed the vocabulary I really had no real idea what was what.
In my case, I can still remember, there was one day when I had this epiphany. I had been listening to music at one store, came home and was playing a track from the XLO Test CD (Michael Ruff, Poor Boy) when it hit me, THIS is the quality I've been trying to find the words for!
Now today I know enough to say for certain it was the more natural balance between attack, harmonic development, and decay of each instrument. The lack of grain and glare. Dynamics that were full and natural not etched or hyped. Real true extension instead of a tilted up top end pretending to be extended highs.
I could go on and on. Today I can go on and on. Back then though, just the glimmering of a few words.
That's the difference. You will find people who will downplay this. People who will try and tell you, you will know it when you hear it. To them I would ask, Know what? If you can't tell me what it is, how do you yourself even know? Odds strongly favor: you don't.
There's a reason we read reviews. Reviewers, its not that they hear any better than anyone else. Its that they KNOW what they hear, and we know they know because they're able to tell us so. With words. Crude tools, only ones we have.
Best reference I know is Robert Harley's Complete Guide to High End Audio. Harley has a whole section devoted to audio terminology in which he describes just what to listen for, and why, and what it means. This all goes hand in hand with understanding all the various components, right down to the components within the components- the caps in a speaker, for example.
Because of this, because of the fact that everything matters, its not even really necessary to go and listen to a lot of different systems or components. Of course you need to do this when it comes to building your system. But in terms of learning to listen you can do this just fine with what you have right now at home.
Every recording, for example, is a window into a whole entire recording chain. No two sound the same, because no two are recorded quite the same. Read your liner notes. Pay attention to any recording details, especially the mastering engineer. If you have some different recordings with the same engineer try playing them one after another. Then compare them with recordings by another one. If you have any Doug Sax you hit the motherlode in terms of liquid smooth tubey magic. If you have any on the AudioQuest label, those all use AudioQuest wire throughout the recording chain. You can hear it in the recording- once you learn what to listen for.
Barely scratching the surface here, but more than enough to get you going. Even just asking shows you are on the right track, more so than most. Keep at it. One day you may be like me and find much to your amazement what once seemed near impossible has become child's play.
