When my systems were less resolving and/or had specific issues I needed to tightly control my choices of which recordings to listen to. With ever increasing resolving capabilities I find myself most enjoying letting Roon auto play from my huge library of streams and rips. Having to consciously curate my listening session is a now a huge imposition or distraction from the sheer enjoyment of listening. Funny how I can now appreciate even the tunes I don't especially care for!
How does sound influence your appreciation?
Since I’ve gotten my system to a very good place, I find myself liking the performance of almost everything I hear. Now in classical music, there are sometimes dozens of performances of the same piece, each performance having its own unique take. I now seem to like every interpretation I hear regardless of differences, due to the great sound. I’m losing my discernment because the sound is so much a part of the equation. This is more true of orchestral music than other types
How about you?
Showing 2 responses by sns
How can any audiophile not discern, appreciate sound quality of their systems. I doubt its possible for us to listen without at least some part of our minds appreciating the sound quality vs just listening in music appreciation mode.
I'd suggest the pure music appreciation mode could be easier to enter with lesser systems as critical listening may bring about dissatisfaction, to avoid that unhappy state of mind we force ourselves into music appreciation mode. Devoid this mind trick we'd quit the entire pursuit.
As my system has improved I'm no longer critical of my sound, rather I'm admiring it. And yes, I do often enter pure musical enjoyment mode, but then along comes something I've not heard previously, ever increasing levels of resolution means the presentation has changed in some way, this stimulus results in my mind going into critical listening mode, but rather than being dissatisfied with sound quality, I'm admiring sound quality.
@rvpiano admits to this very thing, he's admiring the sound rather than the performance. Thing is why should this be bothersome, isn't this in fact the holy grail for what we audiophiles seek. |