Learning To Listen

millercarbon,

there you go slobbering on the page again.  Yes, I used the word slobber.  At first I was going to use dribble but you got so caught up in yourself that all you left behind was a bunch of slobbering babble. 

" When people talk about tone they really are talking about volume. Frequency response is volume."

Yes, you actually wrote that.  Frequency response is bandwidth and volume is amplitude.  Do you ever re-read your posts before hitting the send button? I am not sure I found anything in your post that was at all useful.  You seem to have little understanding of the recording and playback process and the way the human ear responds to sound.

The simple answer to misc-audio's question is to listen to the real thing and compare.  Listen to the sound of a bow on a bass or fingers sliding on newly installed guitar strings.  Yes, cymbals are good sources but you need to hear the real thing in order to know what they sound like.  Not some digital recording.  You also said:

  "You can listen for hours and hours and hours and if that is all you do, just sit there and listen, it will get you nowhere."

You are so wrong on every level about that.  If you listen to the real thing that is how you learn ..... and that's all there is to it.   P.S. it doesn't take 20 years to know what a hummingbird sounds like.        
           

millercarbon -

FYI - Tone is defined as a sound of definite pitch and vibration and
Bandwidth is defined as a range of frequencies within a given band, in particular that used for transmitting a signal.

Neither one of these definitions has anything to do with volume as you claim. 

One problem with your posts is it is hard to tell what you are saying.  I would have thought you knew a little more about what you are talking about and maybe you do.  You just lack the ability to write or say it correctly. 

With that in mind when I read your posts I will try to interpret your intent rather than go off what you actually write.  I do appreciate the other posts about learning to understand and interpret recorded sound which is certainly a learned skill. 

That said, what remains annoying to many is your presumed authority based on so many years experience and your degrading approach in communicating your beliefs.  You portray the image that you have heard it all and know what is best for everyone.  It appears from your writing and mannerisms you are an older person, perhaps north of 70 which is okay but perhaps not entirely.  

In that context I would like to ask you a couple questions. 
  
1.  Do you think the average 25 year old perceives sound the same as you?
2. Do you think you perceive sound the same as you did in 1990 when you first got into hifi?
3. Do you think you perceive sound the same way you did 5 years ago?
3. Do you think the subjective bias you show has any real value outside yourself? 
4. Do you think your opinions are relevant to a person who can actually hear a 16 kHz tone? 

Perhaps yes and perhaps no but certainly not always.