I dreamt of a good music making system within my capacity, my room and my budget. Fueled by my motivation, my mind is constantly thinking and talking about sound. Eager for the breakthrough, I keep pushing the limit of my system. It doesn't break my spirit for my system costs peanut. I also realized that perfection doesn't exist in audio regardless the price. So, how to make the best of it? Although some disagree with my audio means, that's alright with me. Only one thing I ask, please do your share of homework and not comes up full of hot air.
With God's blessing, I'm slowly moving up the ladder of fidelity at my pace. I couldn't be happier with things now. How can one quicken learning process? Sure you can fly to the destination but at the expense of missing out the experience of the journey. Audio works in a similar fashion, doesn't it? Have you found yourself stranded with a change in the audio variables? Keep changing equipment until the cow comes home but has the cow come home yet?
Big boys have the spending power, the perfect room and the clean power. If you're destined to be the one born with a silver spoon, so be it. If you're not, live your life like the majority. Work your way up, face the music and to make ends meet. I have to live with what I can afford. No doubt, my relative low price point system compromises in fidelity. I also realized that perfection doesn't exist in audio. So, how to make the best of it? First and foremost, be smart enough to avoid making silly mistakes. If your preamp and amp don't match, you're screwed. If your amp is underpowered, you're screwed. Your speakers too big for your room, you're screwed. Don't push your luck. Do your due diligence prior buying, buy products that don't give much away in terms performance. Hardware alone doesn't get you there, acoustics is. Acoustics is the kingmaker, it holds the key to a dreamlike sound, lest not forget about this. Your time and money are better spent here, the yield is higher than what you could have imagined. So, a better system could have leveraged on good acoustics, like a fish takes to water. I kid you not, step up your game in acoustics.
I know, audiophiles often are judgemental for their own good. Their exposure and experience are not conclusive, sadly. They tend to pin everything down with the pricing of the hardware. High price correlates with high performance, the world thinks that way too. So, it isn't coincident that they brush low-end systems aside. They have seen and heard it before, they claimed. Asian audiophiles, in particular, want prestige and glamour. Big brands sell. Size and weight matter, and the high price is prerequisite. Adding these up, you get an abnormal D curve that bends the law of demand. Cheers, the manufacturers drink to that! European audiophiles are more sensible, they questioned the price tag.
I snubbed the typical high-end, mid-end and low-end sound stereotype per price branding. The diminishing value, the considerably more money spent, you would not run very far away in performance. However, many will disagree with me. What can I say, gear-fetishism get our mind mixed up. It is, nonetheless, a perfect self-serving esteem booster. Sure enough, I will be cursed saying that. "Can you afford XXX in this lifetime?" A TKO question, rings the bell, throw in the towel.
I'm sensitive to value and refused to pay a single cent more than I'd have to without a justification. My typical question is how much money goes to the circuitry design under the hood and the attention to the detail. Revolutionary circuitry, customised components, attention to detail and aesthetic sound fabulous. Serviceability and the cost should be your concern, you don't want to find your head to be on a chopping board when you seek servicing. Branding has a value, let face it. It is easier to flip in the used market. Just me, I put down a figure as to how much these factors enhance the performance.
The setting up skills determine a good or a mediocre sounding system. You can go the basic route, do nothing more than hooking up the cables or the back-breaking meticulous set up. Inevitably, the people come to expect great things from a high-end system. Poor setting up skill is likened your car running on flat tyres. Acoustic and tweaking together opens a world of possibilities.
Aesthetic shouldn't override the performance. Non-audiophiles are first to fall into the aesthetic and gadgets trap. What's up with wife acceptance factor? Get yourself a room (if you can), isolate the noise and get the system out of her sight. We, Asians believe that audioing is a selfish pass time. Two in a room, a conversation will begin. There's only one sweet spot in a room, you either be on it or not. Not cool to have a system in a common living room with a TV as a centerpiece. But life sucks sometimes.
In pursuit of my personal mission, live sound reproduction, I take no chances resting on my laurels but to get my ears accustomed to live sound. There's no other way. Talk is cheap. From my live sound experience, I deride my humble several conclusions. One, the depth of sound, some call it timbral richness. It depicts the ripples of sound permeating from a point source, from the beginning, follows closely behind the gradual dissipating ringing in the darkness. The darkness takes over. No smearing and wobbling. The notes of the acoustic guitar plucking are exemplary. Your ability to discern the tone modulations probably lasted for 3-4 seconds, allowing you to hear the depth. Given a good composition, these note modulations reach deep within and touches the soul. As such, pipa, guqin and guzheng, very zen sound that possess the necessary ingredients to settle your unrest soul.
Two, there's a feathery lightness to the sound. Not bright, lightweight, nor harsh. No dragging that hampers the impeccable start and stop immediacy. Subtleties, nuances and airiness. Picture this, the warm morning light is beaming through your window unveiling the clouds of dust. The dust is the subtleties and nuances.
Central Europe was the cradle of classical music, centuries-old of listening culture. They know music. It takes time like the great rivers bring about human civilisations. The fertile lands cultivate agriculture activities, before long, downstream and trading activities. Then the road comes, the school comes, the bank comes, the maritime. I couldn't stress more on knowing what to listen.
Third, the absence of electrical buzz. As natural as it is, the extraordinary transparency lay everything bare before your eyes/ears. You see no veils, you hear no veils. This is not the case with reproduced sound, there's always a thin masking over the sound. I'm not naive to deny that. I had done a little work on this aspect and I don't dare to say I have totally removed it but significantly dealt with. No sir, because time and time again I was made to eat my words. Solid localization, the individual instruments were steadfast in holding their ground without being drowned in the jamming. Thereness is strong. Are you still me?
Fourth, the retrieval of the ambience. The crowd interactions with the artist, you couldn't beat that. Vividness is the word, a vehicle that transports you to another dimension of time and space. Your troubles are in the back of your mind. Shall I say more?
Over the past couple of months, I have grown more and more aware of tempi. Believe it, we're subconsciously aware of timing, we kind of anticipating an event (in music) to take place. Music is metered by the timing or beat. Timing serves as the thread of a bracelet that holds the beads closely together. Time precision. We feel awkward with offbeat timing that throws off the rhythm, as such, the music loses the composure, loses its magic, particularly on pop, jazz and classical. However, it is not so critical on the slow numbers. The timing accords the rightness of music and also the catalyst of adrenaline of the music.
It seems that I'm blowing my own trumpet at times. No time to be wasted on a boring sounding system, I wanted to enjoy good sound. Upholding the above sonic principals, I worked my sound in adherence to my belief in sound. My personal goal is trying to duplicate the "sound" experience in the comfort of my own home. The constant question I often asked myself is "How real does my reproduced sound get?". Hardware gets you halfway there, power supply, cabling, isolation, acoustic and some might even throw the racking in. What I stressed is enjoy the journey, it will enrich you with knowledge and experience.
