What you describe could happen, but I think that designers also look at measurements which would alert them to their worsening hearing and its effect on their designs.
HiFi legends ageing and going deaf
I must admit, the subject of the post is highly provocative and should not be read literally.
As we get older we hear less of the high frequencies. The first sign of losing the hearing we once used to have as young people is a problem with high frequencies.
As much as I'm not talking of any serious loss to perception, I was wondering if the older age of manufactures affects the tone of the equipment they produce, especially if they have always depended on their listening impressions rather than measurements.
Examples:
Franco Serblin, before he died, produced Accordo speakers (which I own personally and I love them), and many people say it's a much more modern-sounding speaker but, perhaps, it is because the midrange is still beautiful but there is a little bump in the higher frequencies... It is a deviation from what he did before. Is it a question of aging hearing, or more a matter of going with the times?
Another example:
Harmonix/Hijiri: Some people say the recent Hijiri are too bright. The manufacturer's cables used to be more focused on the midrange. I have recently bought a Hijiri Million digital link and I'm surprised how bright, relatively, it sounds. I still love it all the same.
But I may be all wrong. Perhaps it's just progress.
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@mahler123 that was hilarious.
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The understanding with our own ears and hands of acoustics concepts in audio evaluation is not directly related to the ears measured acuity. Save for heavy case of lost. I will rather trust a reviewer aged 50 years with slight normal hearing loss knowing acoustics over a 25 years old with only knowledge about brand names gear and a perfect hearing acuity. i learned the hard way that it is impossible to know what we speak about in audio without experimental acoustics experience . Period. Sound evaluation is as much if not more related to conceptual learned perception as it is related to frequencies potential accurate perception. It is why normal people with perfect hearing dont bother with audiophile listenings and dont even perceive it as meaningful for them.
«music is divine meal whose recipe cannot be just a bunch of precise frequencies» G.M.
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I would just like to add that my post has nothing to do with discrimination against older folks, I'm not young myself. :-) Older also means more experienced. So one thing may offset the other. :-) There's also a question of what the "modern sound" actually is vs "vintage sound". It might as well be that a tad brighter sound is the "correct sound". |
