The Forest for the Trees

Millercarbon, I read a post on here today from yesterday I believe, that had you describing your experience listening to Run Like Hell. It’s those experiences that make this hobby worth it.

For sure. Totally. One night I put on Jennifer Warnes The Well, only its the 45 not the 33. The 45 has extra songs which sometimes come at the end but on The Well they mixed them in only I wasn't paying attention didn't notice and so La Luna Brilla was a total surprise. I'm one of these guys who hardly ever likes a song the first time he hears it. Could probably count on my fingers the times that's happened. Skateaway, Devil Inside, Bird on a Wire, The Well, not a lot more. La Luna Brilla isn't even in English. Donde estas, estrallita? She sings. Where are you, my little star? I had to look it up. The words, I mean. The emotion, the beauty that summons the tears, that never did need any translation. 

I just realized that is three Jennifer Warnes songs on my very short list of songs I fell in love with on one listen.

I was listening to the music. I wasn’t concerned with imaging, sound stage, tonal quality, wasn’t even thinking about it. I was listening to the music. It engaged me, I was lost in it. But then, I caught myself and started thinking about why it engaged me.

Its called audiophilia nervosa. Its a thing. We start out wanting a better system to enjoy listening to music even more. Well, some of us. There's a bunch who seem to never have cared about anything but tech. They can go do their thing. I'm not talking about them.

So we go looking for better sound and maybe its so the guitar sounds better, and maybe its electric guitar, maybe its acoustic. Maybe its the tambourine. Maybe its all of it. One thing leads to another and we're listening and comparing every little detail. A lot of the crap we were fed turns out to be BS, it really does sound better one way than another, and next thing you know you're never really happy until that one certain record late at night when everything's just right. Maybe not even then.

I went through it. Got to where I would call and make an appointment to audition an amp, tell the guy leave it on over night, or it'll be cold, don't want to hear no cold amp, then get there and of course he's just turning it on... argh! Only this time its a McCormack DNA1 and once it does warm up it has me toe tapping and forgetting my auditory checklist and that's when I know this is the one.

I actually had to stop and give it a break for a while. Well it had gotten to the point I was hearing the difference between brass, stainless steel and mild steel studs used to hold the Cones to the speaker. Right. Let that one sink in.

The good news, once you're aware of this, you can if you want learn to turn it off. Not perfectly. The mind does tend to wander, and you never can quite be sure to where. But more than enough to enjoy the music. More than ever.