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Confused Musical Presentation

Disclaimer!.... I have neurological auditory damage from exposure to military ordinance without hearing protection and therefore wear hearing aids. I have suffered a considerable amount of hearing loss above 3000Hz. The effect is similar to a treble tone control turned all the way down! However, I've been a music lover and audiophile since the early 80s and have enjoyed a lot of different systems over those years. My present system consists of Wilson Sophia 1, Quicksilver V4 (KT150), BAT 32SE, Cary DMC 600SE, and analog front end is driven by AVID Pulsus and ZYX 4D. Cables are Analysis Plus all around. I have minimal room treatment in 17 x 28 dedicated listening room. 

My  Problem: Listening to small group jazz (90%), typical audiophile fare, and solo instrumental and vocal music is simply breathtaking even at higher volume levels.  (My max on the volume is 80 out of 140 on BAT) No issues at all. However, when the music gets complicated/complex everything goes to crap! Soundstage collapses, music is jumbled together. There is the same effect even at moderate listening levels. Any suggestions to remedy this would be greatly appreciated.

Mike
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newbee
4,751 posts
 
Elizabeth, FYI higher end ear aids usually can have multiple programs to match your hearing. So they say. You can have a program for speach and for, say, live music.  But IMHO under the best of circumstances they are not going to give you audio nearly as good as you get from your home system. If I had the need I would use an equalizer to create a curve to match my hearing loss, but contrary to what you might think, I think it would be better to reduce  the bass/mid/upper mid's to match the natural loss of high(er) frequencies. I hate the thought of amplifying your system's sound using any equalizer (except some of those mega expensive ones). 
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
While Miller’s post may have been a little harsh and brutal it is likely the simple truth.

No hearing aid built yet no matter at what cost can replicate the immense complexity and workings of the inner ear and it’s relationship with the brain.

So many simple nuances and discernment is lost and just cannot be regained.

I have worked in heavy industries most of my life and been gratefull I was forced to wear hearing protection at an early age even when I thought it was nonsense.

My last test showed I still detected up to 14khz which I consider pretty darn good for this 59 year young guy considering 40 years in industrial environments.

Sorry for your loss but that is exactly just what it is and you are making the best of it and still enjoying the music( mostly).
asmith99
26 posts
 
I suppose you've tried some reasonably good head phones as apposed to your speakers.
mickeyb
541 posts
 
As Elizabeth stated so eloquently, I believe it might be a problem associated with your hearing loss. I’m a 35yr carpenter and I suffer from high frequency hearing loss.  It gets messy. In crowded areas I can’t always tell what’s being said. I’m not at the point of a hearing aid but will be within 5 yrs.. I wish a had a solution to share with you but I can definitely say you have a real nice system. 
f917025
81 posts
 
first ide try to eliminate the system by asking someone else without a hearing problem to listen .the effect you describe is quite dramatic and noticeable. even though to me it makes sense that the small mic\speaker in the hearing aid are overloaded. 
in my system (nuforce icon hd arcam delta 120 b&w dm 580)i used to enjoy 70's ecm  albums (early metheny jan garbarek ralph towner)but could't enjoy led zeppelin everything collapsed like you describe so this helped with clarity
swap all the tubes to nos ge jan tubes
get a loki or some transpenant mild eq
get the ifi itube (it has a ge tube it's adding to the preamp) use it with zero gain as a buffer before or after the preamp
get really nice open headphones and amp i'm happy with hd700 and the icon hd but according to your system you have a finer taste than me so try and see what you like maybe staxx
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