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
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.
I did not read the other post, but to answer the initial question is yes! I have found my taste become more tolerant. I have experimented with different sounds and started a basic Classical.

Still do not get the Opera craze or the newer Country which is just hashed over rock.

Have found myself likeing more Instrumentals than before and getting away from hard driving rock.
I would say having recently spent $1500 of your American Dollars upgrading my system, I have gone over my music collection and listened to CDs that have sat unused on the shelf for a while, just to hear the difference and found that my enjoyment of these CDs has increased. The recordings are obviously just as they always were, but through an improved system it sounds like they've been re-recorded 10 times better.

Through general experience, and through reading previous posts on Audiogon it seems to me that the majority of people who appreciate/own a decent hi-fi system (and I'm purposefully avoiding the word 'audiophile') tend towards the more 'mature' age range. This stands to reason in some ways, not least because of the costs involved.
The point I'm making is that older and younger people in general have overall different musical tastes, and so should explain the tendency towards jazz, or whatever. Diana Krall for example is a name I have regularly heard in hi-fi publications/discussions for 7 years, but never if a purely music based publication.
I'm trying to say that any music, from classical and pop, through funk to jungle (hands up who knows what that is!) can be well recorded and bring out the absolute best in a system, it's just maybe the uneven age distribution that lends weight to the idea of jazz or whatever obscure singer being needed to truly hear what a system can do.
At first a few years ago it did change my music listening habits. I found this to be very unfair as I had always listened to 100% rock !! I guess I felt I had to bite the bullet and revamp my system so I could stop having to listen to all of these recommended recordings and listen to what I wanted to . I spent about $10,000 and now I can listen to (almost) anything I want.
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 :-).