Has audiophilia changed your music taste?


Before I got into this hobby, I was big into heavy metal. I am very much into progressive bands like Dream Theater and Queensryche. My collection consisted of rock 90% and classical/jazz/other at 10%. Ever since I started getting into audio, my listening has changed and so has my music collection. What used to be 90/10, lean to rock, has changed to about 70/30 and changing weekly. Lately, I can't keep Patricia Barber off my system. I absolutely love her. The thing is, the other day I put on some Pat Travers and the listening only lasted about 30 minutes before it was back to Patricia Barber. For some reason, rock doesn't sound as good as it did before. Maybe it is my system or maybe it is me.

Anyone else like me?
matchstikman

Showing 3 responses by cdc

No, and with all due respect, the day I switch to "audiophile" (ie sound not music - chair squeaks, paper shuffling, amp humming, and someone coughing) stuff is the day I sell my system and go back to my mini system.
Which by the way sounds almost as good as Levinson. You see, I'm a believer in equipment break in. After 17 years of "getting better every day" it's almost there.
Sean brought up a good point about overly detailed systems. But when you spend so much money you may want to impress yourself or your friends. Which detail does. As least for a while.
I just try to ask myself, is this how a live event would sound?
I think I should explain my sarcasm about break-in. I've been demoing equipment at home. If I return something because I don't like it, the dealer will invariably tell me the component is not broken in yet. Or I haven't listened long enough. So I got tired of the - break-in will solve all the problems you're hearing - routine.
The dealer who said I didn't listen long enough has a good point. If I listen enough my ears probably would adjust to the distortion. Then it would sound okay. But when I audition I will go for 3-5 days not listening to my stereo. Then my ears have adjusted to neutral. Then when I listen, I won't be used to the distortion and it will sound wrong to me.
The ideal system should make all your music sound good. Or as good as possible IMHO.
But your stereo can affect what you listen to as JA said in his Wilson Sofia review. Before the Sophias, he had the Revel M20's. Stopped listening to orchestra, switched to chamber music. In come the Wilsons, out goes the chamber music.
This can be a crazy hobby. For example I listened to my favorite song on a mini system at Target. Didn't sound that great. Highs are distorted and the sound is not that clear. I then listened the same song on some $10,000 speakers. Didn't sound that great. Highs are distorted and the sound is not that clear.
What happened? The speakers were so revealing they brought out all the faults in the recording. This song sounded as bad as when it was played on a mini system. While these speakers could be used in a recording studio to punish engineers for the crap they are putting out, they made anything other than perfectly recorded music sound bad. Talk about a stereo controlling what you can and cannot listen to!
For you die-hards who still subscribe to Stereophile, Upscale Audio has a repeating ad. It is on page 80 of the August 2003 issue. It reads:
"Spent $20K at another store ... and got this. It sucks. Went to Upscale Audio. System still sucks. But a higher level of suck".
LMAO. Hats off to the world of high fidelity music reproduction :-).