I know my postings will ruffle some feathers. But if what I say make you feel uneasy, walk away, there are many things in life worth pursuing passionately.
My recent live concerts have been very exhilarating. The companionship of the people of common interest, mouthwatering dinner and the music. Live music is absolutely way way way more superior than playback. Incomparable, others may think not. Ironically, a great majority of audio enthusiasts never attended live music, they preach sound. Their utterance on this subject makes them a charlatan. The only way to learn timbre, I can't think of any other way than listening to live unamplified music. For whatever reasons, timing, companionship, not willing to pay for the tickets et cetera, people can come up with thousands of excuses. Well, that' not my problem but spare me the sound talk, they are woefully out of their depth. All bluster and no substance.
What I gathered from live music is the unrivaled immediacy, realism, snappiness, soundfield and explosiveness. Soundfield illustrates the physical acoustics of the venue while soundstage is an act of individual system set up in his room like how one arranging his speakers, how many speakers and subwoofer, room treatment, tweaking and so on. I'm sorry to say these elements are pale in our playback. You lose the directness of sound as if the sound struggles to get to you in some form. As I have reiterated before, we're listening to the recordings, and the recordings are cleverly mixed and compressed. One obvious phenomenon, the drums sounded considerably small to vocal. In real life, the drums set the stage. And close miking, it's artificial. We listen from a distance, not in front of the play. In my opinion, our audio system is an instrumental to play scale-down music to satisfy our listening pleasure at our convenience, time and place. You listen to the music while you are jogging, driving, working and relaxing in your house.
Follow the sound, not of our witting preferences. You ought to listen live music to experience the uncompressed sound energy and drama. Music is a powerful language, it speaks to you in a miraculously way. You don't have to be a musically trained to appreciate music. Rhythm and arrangement will come get you, painting a story. Enormous details and nuances in live music that our playback can only dream of capturing it regardless of the advancement of technology. Live music never introduces listening fatigue, our playback, live by the sword, die by the sword in the name of resolution. Back in the days before live streaming, we learn the music, the musicians, the story behind the music.
I would cut back on my home listening and attend more live music. Three live events coming up in November, I really looking forward to Sheila Majid with MPO. Music enriches my life. I hope it will enrich your life too than fervently equipment upgrading.
