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The sense of smell evokes memories, while the sense of hearing evokes emotions

MrD, you touched upon this in your recent post.
I thought it was a subject worth discussing here.
Music can move us through emotional connection, it is well known.
A question for all of you.
Does playing your music on your system increase emotional connection more than playing it through a less HiFi system? 
One aspect of audio equipment marketing is for it's technical ability to bring us closer to the music by "getting out of the way" disappearing as some reviewers say. Suppose there was a speaker or amp that excelled in providing emotional connection, but measured poorly. Would you be willing to disregard the measurements and just go with your ears or  your heart and soul? I believe that SET / horns systems are an example of this. This is not about promoting SET / horns, but just brought up as an example that some people may have already reached this conclusion. Just my thoughts, I welcome civilized and rational comments. I am open to those with a deeper understanding of this subject.
Dennis

capstan

Showing 4 responses by bdp24

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,096 posts
 
That’s more like it, MrD ;-) . The 24 refers to my preferred bass drum size (24"), the bdp to my favorite vintage drum wrap, black diamond pearl. I also like that all the letters are flipped versions of the same shape. Aesthetics matter!
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,096 posts
 
One other point to be made is that for music that includes lyrics, their higher intelligibility (afforded by higher quality recording and reproduction), and the beauty of a voice actually containing beauty (not all do, nor are intended to) captured in a well-recorded voice and reproduced by quality equipment, CAN have a huge effect on my emotional response to them (lyrics) and it (voice). The subtle inflections in a singers voice, and even the lyric’s meaning in extreme cases, can be obscured by low quality rec and rep. On the other hand, some singers use electronic distortion to intentionally change the sound of their voices, with artistic intent. I’m looking at you, Tom Waits ;-) .
bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,096 posts
 

Actually, my post above over-simplifies the question. Better sonic quality in either recording, playback, or both, can make more audible two instruments, or two voices, playing or singing notes that are close but different that lesser recordings or reproducing equipment can obscure. That can have an effect on both the emotional and intellectual connection with the music.

Here's an example from a friend of mine who had no interest in hi-fi, but was a rabid music lover: His "stereo" was one of those all-in-one units with a "flip-down" turntable (older guys will know what I'm talking about ;-). The speakers folded together to make the unit portable, and when swung out were only a foot or so apart. Because of that, he never heard that there were two organs playing that riff in Elton John's "Bennie & The Jets", not one organ playing all the notes heard. The two organ parts, one in each stereo channel, were playing "question and answer" parts, a musical construct. Hearing the two parts separately changed their musical meaning, effecting both his emotional and intellectual response to the music.

J.S. Bach's Concerto For 4 Harpsichords And Orchestra is incredibly dense with notes from the harpsichords (and those of the orchestra), and the better the recording and reproduction, the more clearly can the notes played by each harpsichord be heard as separate musical lines, essential to appreciating the music. Again, that is of both emotional and intellectual benefit.

The better the recording and reproduction, the more audible will be the difference in timbre between two females singing close harmonies (I'm thinking of Iris Dement and Emmylou Harris in a recording of them I have), the beauty in the music obscured by insufficiently high recording and/or reproduction quality.

Plus, high quality sound is just more fun than lo-fi!

bdp24's avatar
bdp24
10,096 posts
 
It is the chords, melody, harmony, counterpoint, inversions, etc. in music that evoke emotion. That can be provided by even a car radio. Higher quality reproduction has more effect on the intellectual properties in music.
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