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Got Ears?

I'm wondering how quickly you develope your listening. I'm sure my ears are more in tune to pick up the little nuances in a high fidelity system than when I started this madness 9 months ago. Thanks to alot of you on this site I learned what to listen for, but I know that I still have alot to learn when it comes to picking up on certain things. Do you guys (and Elizabeth ;-) think that having an ear for audio is something that just continues to develope and develope? I feel that it's an important part to fully enjoying this hobby as it allows you to enjoy a well thought out rig and your music collection to the fullest. I'm fully enjoying cd's that just this time last year I would have only used as coasters or made fun of you for listening to that "crap". I can't help but think half is my rig, the other half are my somewhat trained ears. If I tell my girlfriend, who by the way grew up in a musical family (dad was a music director for years at a major university) and plays violin, guitar, sings and has perfect pitch, about how an improvement to my rig deepend the soundstage, brought out shimmering highs with faster attack and longer decay she cocks her head a bit and says "huh?". Anyways, have y'all noticed your ears getting more in tune with picking up all the things that make an audiophile an audiophile and if so how and when has that happened?
b_limo

Showing 1 response by jameswei

jameswei
883 posts
 
Of course its all mental. My aural acuity has not improved -- probably deteriorated a bit with age.

I didn't want to get too immersed in my audio perceptions. I feared that I would lose track of enjoying the music thinking about the sound all the time. So I stopped trying to hear finer differences after I became able to tell the difference between interconnect cables. That was enough for most of my system decisions. (I can't hear the difference between power cords, but I did buy some designer aftermarket cords just on general principles.)

But it would be a choice to make, since there is always some enjoyment in developing any ability. And hearing more would be a good match with an equipment upgrading cycle syndrome, should you find that an appealing fetish.
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