Stuff You Tried To Love


I know we talk a lot about confirmation bias- we buy something and then convince ourselves we like it. Or something like that. But did you ever buy something you wanted to love and just couldn’t make it work? For me, Esoteric X-05 SACD/CD player. Bought from a local who was upgrading to the X-03. Big, beautiful piece of gear, but I couldn’t get used to the sound after 6 months of trying. Sold it to another local- I insisted he listen before he bought and I believe he sold it soon after as well. Totem Forest and Hawk. I loved the whole concept. Slim, easy to live with. Couldn’t get them to work in my room. The Model Ones were much better. I had a couple of other pieces, but this is long enough. BTW, these were bought used without audition.

chayro

@sokogear

I don't know what Progressive Jazz is. My favorite sub-genre is, without question, Post-Bop: 

A genre of small-combo jazz that assimilates hard bop, modal jazz, avant-garde and free jazz without necessarily being immediately identifiable as any of those form.

 

Wanted to love the Devore O/93 but they made my ears ring. Love all other Devore speakers and tried several amps and even put them in another room for a while.

Lygndorf was bad to me. So much hype way back in the day but I just couldn't handle the sound.

Me too @stuartk (as far as my jazz preferences-tilted toward blues). I guess I was thinking progressive as jazz fusion or jazz funk, really 70's-80's stuff. @knock1  - I'm not talking about audiophile labeling at all. Not sure why you mentioned me about punching someone's audiophile card.

Music preferences do not define audiophiles. And audiophile doesn't compose any specific music preferences. Any type of music along with an audiophile designation represent 2 overlapping circles in a Venn diagram. Or "audiophile" can be a large circle in the middle with each type of music having a circle overlapping it to some degree in the diagram. Some overlap more than others....

@sokogear 

I would classify "Kind of Blue" as Modal, rather than Post Bop. Yes, I own it but it's been years since I've listened to it with any regularity. I was introduced to it in 1976, at a point when I was first getting into Jazz  by listening to the most well-known Jazz recordings. A few years later, I took a college survey course in Jazz appreciation, in the interest of furthering my familiarity with the genre. It took awhile to get a sense of which artists and recordings particularly resonated with me. The Penguin Guide to Jazz was very helpful in this regard. It listed recordings you won't find mentioned in lists of "greatest Jazz records" or such. Just as with Visual Art, Poetry or any other esthetic field of expression, I trust and follow my own inclinations.