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It's All in Your Head

I commented in an earlier thread that the emphasis on components, cables and room treatments obscures the fact that the music all happens in your head.

This is from John Atkinson at RMAF 2012 reported on Stereophile:

"Stereophile editor John Atkinson used everything from a drumstick to a cowbell, both sounded “live” and played back on the seminar room’s stereo system, to convey the message: “Nothing is real. How the recording art affects what you think you hear!” As John proceeded to point out that the brain combines information from separate left and right loudspeakers into a single stereo image..."

"I showed that it is a fallacy to assume that “the absolute sound of live music in a real acoustic space” resides in the bits, pits, or grooves, even when such a live event existed. Making recordings is an art, not a science and there may only be a coincidental resemblance between what is presented to the listener and the sound of musicians playing live, even when all concerned with making the recording were trying to be as honest as possible. Even the fundamental decision of what microphone to use moves the recorded sound a long way from reality..."

What we aim for when we put an audio system together is a pleasing facsimile of the original musical performance that happened in a studio or at a live venue. But, ultimately, the music's all in your head. It sounds like it's in the room because that's the way our brain makes it seem. Music is essentially a spiritual experience mediated by the brain.
Systems that are not in the "best" category may reproduce music in a way that moves us but the "best" systems have the ability to involve us on even deeper emotional and spiritual levels.

Getting really close to the essence of the performance means we need "special" gear. That's what "gear chasing" is all about -- trying to get closer to the essence of the performance on deeper and more satisfying levels. "Gear chasing" that involves trying to reproduce the actual performance is an illusory pursuit. Many audiophiles have observed that the "best" systems are not necessarily the most expensive ones. This has also been my experience. But it will still take quite a bit of cash to put together a system that enters the realm of the "best".

All of the above is IMO, of course.
sabai

Showing 2 responses by mechans

mechans
3,048 posts
 
I am not exactly sure what the spirtual experience is in audio other than the expectation that watever you pray to will make everything OK in the end. I do agree that recording has its limits and problem but some systems seem to do a better job at making a good recorded musical event sound pretty much a facsimile of the original. Not all that is for sure, but gear does play a critical role in the recoreded sound. We all want our sound playback to sound like WE like it,, Many call their preference neutral and very precisely accurate to me this view is a little over the top,
A reproduction of a recorded musical event can evoke the gamut of human emotion.
mechans
3,048 posts
 
Does any of this pontification matter. In the end we will most likely continue to chase the perfect system. If we could be content like most of the country does with car radios and earphones, we would do the same
I lived with a Musician and entertained her musician friends and none except my EX was listening to anything worth mentioning I found this strange, of all people to essentially abandon fine music reproduction. So I asked why, and they said that they did indeed hear the fuller symphony concerto etc, in their heads. I can not do that they started their careers when their brains were still developing. If I here a piece that sounds crappy I know it and it annoys the crap out of me.

*( my living room system Jadis DA-60, MMF5, a Refurbished Sherwood tuner,a Sansui AU7 tuner Conconance CD120 linear CDP. VSA VR2s various cables)
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