Maybe critical listening skills are bad?
In another thread about how to A/B compare speakers for a home I was thinking to myself, maybe the skills a reviewer may use to convey pros and cons of a speaker to readers is a bad skill to use when we evaluate hardware and gear?
I'm not against science, or nuance at all. I was just thinking to myself, do I really want to spend hours A/B testing and scoring a speaker system I want to live with?
I do not actually. I think listening for 2 days to a pair of speakers, and doing the same to another pair I need to focus first on what made me happy. Could I listen to them for hours? Was I drawn to spend more time with music or was I drawn to writing minutiae down?
And how much does precise imaging really do for my enjoyment by the way? I prefer to have a system that seems endless. As if I'm focusing my eyes across a valley than to have palpable lung sounds in my living room.
Anyway, just a thought that maybe we as consumers need to use a different skill set when buying than reviewers do when selling.
@mahgister -- You don't negate the differentiation of speakers by understanding and properly implementing acoustics. "Properly" with a proviso, certainly insofar it's not universally accepted what constitutes the right acoustic properties of a listening room in relation to a given pair of speakers, ears and gear. Acoustics aren't everything, although a vital part of the "equation." |
@baylinor wrote:
@mahgister wrote:
I agree with the stated consequence mentioned by @baylinor, and how paying attention to acoustics (which can mean a lot, really, and depending on the context could point in different directions on how to implement acoustic measures, or not) provides for a better foundation of assessing the differences of a variation of audio gear. However, contrary to the claim made by @mahgister above I don't see how that should negatively impact sellers of audio equipment - quite the opposite; better optimized acoustics will benefit all levels of audio gear/solutions/configurations and thus tell them apart and make them sound their best, not level them out. Some speakers principles with a more narrow directivity behavior - horn-loaded and line sources in particular - don't call for the same degree of acoustic measures, and quite a few people, not least the ones with horn-loaded speakers, actually prefer a more lightly damped listening room for sounding more natural. What's interesting is seeing those who previously owned direct radiating, dynamic driver-fitted and low efficiency speakers and how they rid their listening room of damping materials, significantly even, with the coming of high eff. horn-loaded speakers. There's also something to be said of a listening environment that's a naturally inhabited area with furniture, plants, paintings, rugs/skins, shelves and other that aids overall mental well-being here, as opposed to a more clinically looking and heavily treated/damped space or man cave/dungeon even. Sorry for verging off-topic, @erik_squires - I guess I'll leave it at that. |
@erik_squires wrote:
+1 |
