Definitely. If I’m in a bad mood; not always, but mostly, this will affect how I perceive my system. When I find myself in a cranky, crappy mood, I just don’t bother sitting down to listen. Luckily, I’m a mostly happy-go-lucky, philosophical, pragmatic, optimistic person, so this doesn’t happen often.
I also don’t sit down to listen straight after I finish work for the day (I work from home); I let the working day melt away and decompress somewhat before listening, or again, I find it impacts my listening negatively
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The only times i feel or i felt so is when i perceived a problem with some acoustics speakers/room parameters...
Then i corrected it...
If after some times i am not in sound ectasy with the music so much it is because some acoustics parameters is not balanced with the others then i correct it...
( i suppose here gear synergy is there already which is starting point for sure but never enough by itself to optimize all acoustics parameters at play)
Tuning a system/room is a long process but very fun because you go from one level of satisfaction to a higher one till the potential limits of the specific gear quality level you own is reached...
Acoustics rules my mood not the reverse... 😊
i must say though that music experience and evaluation is dependant of my mood...
Some day i feel for this kind of music, some other day absolutely not...
Music rule my mood not the reverse ...😊
The 4 seasons of Vivaldi makes me happy , and Penderecki music for the victims of Hiroshima do not...
It is not my mood who decide the effect and the perception ... Then i pick the music convenient for my energy level this day and i decide where my attention must go ...
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No doubt changes in mood, health, etc. can affect one’s sense of hearing along with everything else. As much as we may like to believe we are stable like a rock day in and out, fact is we like other forms of life are not machines, and in fact are quite fragile and highly dynamic organisms subject to constant change. That’s just how it is. YMMV.
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I have noticed that my mood will alter my listening experience. Also, I need the listening room to be in order. My perception definitely affects my mood and session.
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Here you have a point! in my post above i had supposed a relatively stable mood day to day in a stable personnality...
When i went through a huge depression many years ago, the music and the way i heard it was not normal ...
In this sense then the OP is right and i am wrong ... 😊
No doubt changes in mood, health, etc. can affect one’s sense of hearing
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...and yet we think that wires can change sound... they change mood perhaps.
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I’ve had this happen and eventually traced it down to Class D amps being off all weekend. They took about 48 hours or more to warm up. Others have had similar experiences. Not sure if it's all amps, or just ICEpower, but mine for sure.
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I won't go into massive detail, but I will say that what you described happens to me often.
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My perception changes over time. I think I hear distortion that I hadn’t noticed before, or some detail is all at once smeared in a certain frequency range. I can check on my headphones, which are an entirely different system, to see if it’s just me or if I’m really picking up on a problem. 99% of the time it’s me. I hear the same problem on the headphones, or anything else I listen to. Sometimes things actually seem to sound very different. Other times they sound the same, but for some reason aren’t able to have a positive effect on me like they do when I’m in a good mood. What’s weird though is that usually when I’m not enjoying the sound quality much at all, I can still really get in to the musical styles and lyrics. So I keep listening, but purely as a music lover, not an audiophile. Most of the time I’m both.
Another perception I’ve noticed is that I’ll listen to a song for the first time, and be astounded by the sound quality, with a strong recollection of how certain things sounded amazing. Further listening to the same tracks I hear them different from then on, and it doesn’t seem as amazing. But the memory of it sounding amazing persists, and creates a sort of mythical place in my mind of that one special moment, lost somewhere in time and space.
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One thing that I’ve noticed is that if something sounds bad it can put me in a bad mood so that I don’t enjoy the following things I play.
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I confirm that it is also true for me...
Reason why i did all i could to correct acoustic ...
One thing that I’ve noticed is that if something sounds bad it can put me in a bad mood so that I don’t enjoy the following things I play.
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My mood is usually lousy after a gig,
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You were just very tired (what were you doing that day?).
Happened to me recently.
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My rig sounds different with my moods and it definitely sounds different in the evening. When I’m really tired, I can’t get anything to sound good!
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Did you play the same music the next morning?
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110v power = clean --> system sounds great --> good mood
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At the end of a long day, and the mood is subpar, a bracer of cask strength bourbon and some good Oregon herbalcine makes everything cheeky again. And lo and behold the music becomes glorious once again.
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I agree with noromance…. 110v clean power. Sometimes power can be less of a demand on power companies in the mornings. During the day the power can get more loads. Early in the morning, I found music sounds much better as well. During the day sometimes I felt like there was a flaw in my system.
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Yes. This recently happened to me, but the other way around. Sounded great one day, lackluster the next. I’m not certain if it was mood. At the time, I thought it was the affect of a random playlist. On the good day, a well recorded first song made me happy with the system, and made everything that followed be perceived in the positive. Day 2, a poorly recorded first song left a bad taste for all that followed. Maybe it was just mood. I would say that I’ll run some tests and be more attentive to actually choose a first song - but I know I won’t.
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Yes, 'mixing ones' media' is a definitive means of getting the day behind one. ;)
The correct order is important....👍, @jmalen123 ? *G*
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The key is not to mess with your system when the mood strikes.
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@zazouswing :
“a poorly recorded first song left a bad taste for all that followed”
Exactly what happens to me a lot.
@cdc “Did you play the same music the next morning?”
Not at first but soon thereafter.
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In the morning it’s quiet, and you are well rested, Power is cleaner. So this will all contribute to have a good listening.
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I was thinking also that it could be the power thing. How late was it? Super late should be fine it seems though.
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Can't say I've experienced that phenomenon, but then I've only got music playing at certain times....
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If it's my mood, then typically, I'll end up playing multiple disc's without feeling gratified by any of them... and end up switching off the system.
Sometimes the system sounds especially good and I tend to assume it's associated with power, although I could be wrong.
Of course, if there's actually a problem like sibilance, which, as it happens, I've so far failed to solve, listening will just trigger frustration. My workaround is limiting my listening to instrumental music.
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My mood doesn’t seem to affect my perception of the sound of my system.
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@ghdprentice
You have a gift! I cannot rely on my audio perceptions because they swing so much. I noticed this back when I used to play string bass. It would sound rich, warm, and full to me one day, and then thin, raspy, and scratchy the next. I thought it was just me, but a lot of musicians report this same phenomenon.
Just curious, do you have perfect pitch? I wonder if that makes a difference.
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@rvpiano I have read your posts with interest as I have the same issues. Do you have these listening issues with live music or sounds in daily life? Recorded music is inherently unnatural. There is a lot of subconscious adjusting our brain need to do.
Have you tried "nearfield listening"? Your Tritons are too big for that but there are many studio monitors that are designed to be listened to in the nearfield.
- It eliminates room issues.
- Most recordings (I assume) are mastered with nearfield monitors. So it makes sense that is how recordings will sound the best.
- It kills the sound stage presentation - or something to that effect - which is a big contributor to dissatisfaction to my ears. Unless sound staging (sound spread out across the room) is done correctly, it is a detriment to the music IMHO. Soundstaging is a big contributor of detail and things which can sound good if done right but all too often bad because things are done wrong. For example, I listen to a Mark Teamaker song "King Quiet". It is a simple song which allows hearing the many recording errors. Like pops on a record, you have to listen through the hash to get to the music.
- I find listening requires a lot less investment on my part. The "real stereo" in the living room offers more, but also demands more from me.
I have found that nearfield listening is the ONLY way to shut off the "audio critic" in me. FWIW, I use 2 3/4" single (paper) driver with 3 wpc amp and listen from 2 feet away. Driver integration and volume levels are non-issues with this set-up.
I searched real quick for something you might like and came up with Earthworks Sigma 6.2 loudspeaker.
@ghdprentice may be listening to orchestra or jazz which is recorded in real-space. That is a different situation that may work okay for far-field listening.
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In general, I really like the way my speakers sound the way they are. My friend who has the same speakers listens near field. They don’t sound nearly as good. It’s just those times when I hear a bad recording and it sets me off into critical mode that I have problems. I listen to orchestral music mostly.
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...and it sets me off into critical mode
I can relate to this.
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@stuartk On your sibilance issue, have you tried different speaker cables? It seems they are silver plated which can exacerbate sibilance.
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I think power quality has a lot to do with it. Sometimes my system sounds bad and Most of the times it is clean and crisp. Maybe justification for a power purifier.
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Get some mood lubricant and keep it ready for next time. :)
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Great topic you teed up. Some days my system sounds awesome and some days it doesn't quite get there. As noted above, "ear lube" helps my system and "swing lube" helps my golf game. I embrace lubricants for a variety of enhancements in my life. At any rate, the vicissitudes in the sound of one's system, day to day, is a matter that resides between one's two ears, I think.
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@whitestix
I embrace lubricants for a variety of enhancements in my life
Careful you don't slip and crash into a speaker or land face down on top of a hot tube amp!
@noromance
I don't want to hijack this thread so I will PM you.
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A trap that we fall into is thinking a bad sounding track is the fault of our system.
Accept the fact that there are bad sounding sources and that not all sources are created equal.
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@asctim
I am fortunate in not having wide mood swings and/or in not having them effect how music sounds to me. But I have no musical skill in hearing or performance… none, whatso ever. When in high school my best friend was getting into guitars… I kept trying to play. I could not tune a guitar. I could play with a single string and never tell when it was in tune with the others. If someone was playing a guitar, I could tell if it was not tuned… but that was it. I have no skill or talent in creating any kind of music.
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It has been said music is like a condiment.
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I have the same experience.
Yes. Mood matters.
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@cdc
Who said that music is like a condiment? I can think of ways it can be like a condiment. But then there's this guy who said interpretation is a condiment. So if music is already a condiment, we have a condiment^2 with interpretation.
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My experience suggests that some systems might be more robust against the perceptual swings that some of us experience. Right now I feel that my system is in a robust state because I haven't had a bad sounding day since I set it up like this. It's been pleasing me consistently, and it also seems to get along with a wide variety of recordings. I've had this kind of setup before, and it seems to have something to do with creating a natural, tonal balance that's easy to accept and enjoy, but doesn't necessarily reach the zenith of ultra realism and detail that some recordings can offer.
This seems to come with a light handed touch on the crossover settings and driver equalization, and a minimum of room corrections. I think one of the problems with trying to tonally cancel out room effects is that it actually works to some degree! So, the sound coming from the speaker is not sounding like a typical sound emerging from within the room, and thus being colored by the room. But since our ears are naturally trying to filter out the room coloration because we pick up on the room sound the moment we walk in to the space, it can actually be confusing and unstable perceptually. So it might be better to not do too much of that. Maybe EQ down a major bass peak or two, but be extra wary of bringing up low areas, and definitely avoid any EQ up in the higher frequencies, or at least be very careful with it or any use of target room curves. I've played around a lot with such EQ, and it can be exasperating because it sometimes creates real magic, but just hearing something that doesn't work with it can throw your perceptions off for the rest of the evening. I think it's not just room EQ that can do this, but any speaker with an unusual tonal response, and un-even off axis response. Such speakers will occasionally create magic that a speaker with flat, smooth response and good off axis never will. But often they will sound bad, and will require a fragile perceptual state to enjoy, unless they're just a match made in heaven for the particular room they are being used in.
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Who said that music is like a condiment? I can think of ways it can be like a condiment. But then there's this guy who said interpretation is a condiment.
This dude is wrong! In music interpretation is the life of music. No musician do it the same. Interpretation is the life of music not an added condiment.
He confuse music with a written sheet of paper.
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it is also my case. Well said.
My experience suggests that some systems might be more robust against the perceptual swings that some of us experience. Right now I feel that my system is in a robust state because I haven't had a bad sounding day since I set it up like this. It's been pleasing me consistently, and it also seems to get along with a wide variety of recordings. I've had this kind of setup before, and it seems to have something to do with creating a natural, tonal balance that's easy to accept and enjoy, but doesn't necessarily reach the zenith of ultra realism and detail that some recordings can offer.
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@asctim This goes back about 20 years. I don’t remember his name. I did a search but seems his posts have been deleted. Pity because you should read it in his own words.
I can not begin to match his eloquence but best I can remember when he had a bad mood, music would not change it. He described music as a condiment that would amplify whatever mood he was in. Just like salt brings out the flavor in food.
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@cdc
Thanks for the background info. From that perspective, I can see how music can be like a condiment.
@mahgister
I agree there's a lot more possible in interpretation than just acting like a condiment. However, it's sometimes sort of true, when different interpretations are very similar. I recently listened to a bunch of versions of "Jesus Was a Cross Maker." Judee Sill originally sang it significantly different than most everyone else who later covered it. But one guy sang it very similar to the way she did, so it came across as only "spiced' slightly differently.
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I am moody, and when I am in a bad mood I don’t even want to listen to music.
I found this an interesting:statement regarding near field listening:
It kills the sound stage presentation - or something to that effect
I listen in a small room in what I considered a near field/an equilateral triangle with somewhat over four feet between the points of the triangkle and about 25" from the rear faces of the speakers to the front wall . . . I always thought that was pretty near field . . . but I do get a soundstage . . . I listen in the dark and usually with my eyes closed and I clearly hear the audible illusion that the side walls have disappeared as the music extends beyond their boundaries . . . depending upon the source material I get height and instruments float in the air within that height . . . depth (as in front to back) is a bit shallow and I’ve always wanted the front wall to disappear the way the side walls do. I would say that I doubt that it is an accurate sound stage that I am getting, but I enjoy it.
(I have always wanted to hear the low powered SET with high efficiency speakers magic, however.)
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