cd318, well said and it could not be more true. Human brains are far more variable and uncontrollable than the systems we listen too. One day things sound great, the next day lousy. Same system, same room. What changed? Some people might blame it on the recording or maybe a bad tube but mostly it is just the psychological state of the individual. I don't even listen now when I am mad or in a sour mood. It works the other way around. You just spent a lot of money on a new piece of equipment with the expectation that it will sound better, So it does until you get pissed off at the world. Then it sounds like crap and you go out and spend more money when all you needed was (fill in the blank) and everything is all right in the world again:)
The Biggest Upgrade Possible?
It is strange that when it comes to upgrades there’s a great deal of talk about loudspeakers, amps, mastering quality and the rest but little discussion or even mention of the listener’s mood.
As the poor unwitting Audiophile makes his way down the road looking for audio satisfaction he is likely to encounter many glittering promises, most of which have a nasty habit of disappearing as soon as hard money is exchanged.
It is taken for granted, assumed automatically that greater expenditure results in greater satisfaction but, as many of us may have found out the hard way, this is rarely the case.
Eventually the realisation dawns that perhaps this road is the wrong one. Especially when realises that the great majority of our most special musical memories were rarely of any of the times we any spent in solitary listening at home.
After further decades of searching for audio satisfaction prove largely fruitless a further realisation dawns. Can it really be true that there is nothing that matters in audio as much as your mood when listening?
Certainly not the room, nor the mastering, cables, digital sources, etc. In fact Audiophilia is far more likely to have adverse effects upon mood than the reverse.
I would like to suggest that if you are feeling physically well, emotionally untroubled, in the right environment with the right company then you already are in possession of a bigger upgrade than you could ever hope to attain by any other means.
Furthermore, in this case the power of suggestion is far more likely to last longer than that induced by any cable, amplifier, or source ’upgrade’.
Many of us Audiophiles admit to primarily listening to music to attempt an ’upgrade’ of our mood.
Perhaps we should try that the other way round?
As the poor unwitting Audiophile makes his way down the road looking for audio satisfaction he is likely to encounter many glittering promises, most of which have a nasty habit of disappearing as soon as hard money is exchanged.
It is taken for granted, assumed automatically that greater expenditure results in greater satisfaction but, as many of us may have found out the hard way, this is rarely the case.
Eventually the realisation dawns that perhaps this road is the wrong one. Especially when realises that the great majority of our most special musical memories were rarely of any of the times we any spent in solitary listening at home.
After further decades of searching for audio satisfaction prove largely fruitless a further realisation dawns. Can it really be true that there is nothing that matters in audio as much as your mood when listening?
Certainly not the room, nor the mastering, cables, digital sources, etc. In fact Audiophilia is far more likely to have adverse effects upon mood than the reverse.
I would like to suggest that if you are feeling physically well, emotionally untroubled, in the right environment with the right company then you already are in possession of a bigger upgrade than you could ever hope to attain by any other means.
Furthermore, in this case the power of suggestion is far more likely to last longer than that induced by any cable, amplifier, or source ’upgrade’.
Many of us Audiophiles admit to primarily listening to music to attempt an ’upgrade’ of our mood.
Perhaps we should try that the other way round?