Priority check

The lunar new year is now behind us, we have to pick up where we left and move forward. Laziness bugs hit me. Food doesn't drop from the sky, damn, I need to pay bills. The rain was over, the scorching sun caught up, the afternoon heat is unbearable. To my annoyance, the heat is here stay.

Have you ever been asked what is most matters to you in the sound reproduction? I can assure you will receive a poll of diverse views from different people. Some might give textbook like answers or a paraphrase of a long audio wishlist. Come on, you know it's unrealistic. We are not living in a perfect world, "give and take" is a compromise we have to make.

I had been giving some thoughts on this. A friend once said to me that I listen quite differently from the others, who isn't? I didn't read his cute underminer; it carries hidden meanings. Jeez, I smell a rotten egg. Accuracy had topped my audio priority and it goes without saying that my system was tuned in accordance with that in line, the best I know.

Posting makes me think deep; it helps me to maintain a clear mind. It is important to set a clear direction. A clear direction prevents costly wrong turns nor it avoids a wrong turn. If it is so, blame your inconclusive parameters. The more you listen to the real thing, the more you understand the righteous sound. Wisdom comes with age, unfortunately.

Young audiophiles expect too much in high fidelity, a simple recipe to lose focus. The reality and time have their way of humbling us; we can not have a cake and eat it too. It calls for prioritization. If super detail is your priority, focus there and go for it. If the sexist midrange is your priority, work there and go for it. If the bass definition is your priority, concentrate there and go all out for it. Be excel in your prioritized quest, you will be remembered for it per se.

Rhythmic drive is second to none in my opinion, of course. It's the beat of the music, the single most essential element that draws you into the music. Accuracy doesn't move emotions, we can accept some levels of inaccuracies to a certain extent. And for the most part, the audio folks wouldn't bother about accuracy, less is true with the musician turns audiophile. Their instinct on the accuracy of tone instantly in an overdrive mode, it hits me in a similar fashion too. All products exhibit a kaleidoscope of tonal colors, some are simply more colored than the others. Nonetheless, an overly rich sounding system is often too colored for its own good. However, coloration free is a desire mirage phenomenon, neither the mankind nor current technology is capable of "one to one" replication. Hence, it makes sense that our sound reproduction is measured by the least number of flaw.

Bass is a big part of the rhythm, the force that drives the music. No, I don't have a bass that pins you at the chest. That's a 12 inch or bigger bass driver bespoke grandiose and my room couldn't tame the turmoils of the bass siege. A conclusive bass is where it starts and ends smoothly. A rounded bass betters a jagged bass, a fast bass betters a muddy bass, a lesser bass betters a bloated bass. Get it? Well, you can say less is more here.

Rhythm or music flow is essentially what make music; music. An interruption to the flow is the last thing you ever want. You see, audiences are aware of the artist's anxiety that impedes the rhythm like you never own the song. A good musician displays a commanding and surefooted voice. More so with jazz, an edgy improvisation sends jitters. It kills the music. You recognize that picosecond delay or uncertainties, the flow is abruptly stalled and the magic is robbed. In classical music particularly, the half-hearted crescendo is a definite letdown, an unfinished ending.

Secondly, tonal contrast should not be undermined. A homogeneous sound is a boring sound. High tonal contrast depicts tonal insights enriching the sound. Put it simply, you get to hear more. This is important in high fidelity.

With rhythm and high tonal contrast, the music is at the helm. Last but not least, injection of liveliness. You will find yourself nodding head, foot-tapping and body moving rather than as background music. That's my friends, is the greatest pleasure I find in music listening, a window to a world of your own.