I get this most of the time and it puts a smile on my face every time. Instruments that float in space or sound like they are right next to my chair. Definitely dependent on the recording and the volume at which I am listening. Although I experience it at lower volumes as well. I don’t know how much mood and other psychological aspects effects it or if it’s more of a matter of paying attention to the music and not being distracted by other things.
The Disappearing Act
Nope, I am not talking about some magic trick!
I often read here and other forums, when someone describing sound of their system….the music flows and speakers simply disappears. Also read similar acclamation for an amp, preamp or DAC.
Would you agree when someone experience this phenomenon, you’re left with nothing but the music in its purest form. I would say, it’s a testament to the synergy of your components, room acoustics and meticulous setup.
I would like to know, were you listening to something particularly special when ‘disappearing act’ happens, or is it a consistent experience across the tracks?
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In my case, it is speaker placement (aka room acoustics). And only so. Whether it is a low budget (active) pair of loudspeaker or a more expensive one: Only when I considered all aspects of the influence of a room, I could make the ’disapearing act’ become reality. The recording itself does not seem to have a (big) influence. Up to now, it ’happens’ with every tune since I did the speaker placement correctly. After meticulous work with loudspeaker placement and the room(s). Funny thing, I did not have to spend (or invest) 1 cent into room correction. Unfortunately, it took me too long to understand the importance of the room. Because I did not pay enough attention to this fact. Tutorials by Dennis Foley from Acoustic Fields helped me to get it right. |
Disappearing Act refers to the speakers. It is the listener's inability to localize the speakers when music is being played. Usually humans should be able to figure out exact location of the sound source for frequencies above 120 Hz or so. Certain speakers have to ability to recreate the sound stage without drawing attention to itself. That is what you refer to as "Disappearing Act," or your inability to localize the speakers. |
I was recently visiting my son and he has a 3D gaming headset and games. After much adjustment (old eyes) it was completely enthralling. OMG a whole new world. The downside is when you take the headset off your whole world collapses into the room you're standing in. Almost disappointing! My rig does the same thing and given the size of all the equipment and speakers it is rather remarkable. As a side note the electronics are in between the speakers so that sort of puts that "old saw" to rest. To answer your question it happens all the time with well recorded material @baylinor . Particularly delightful on live jazz recordings. Even DSTM does a great job of disappearing, sort of surprising due to the tons of electronic sounds going on. Regards, barts |
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