I have had a good 100 minutes of listening yesterday evening. Absolutely mesmerizing, the music moves me so much that I let my hair down and turn off my analytical intuition. Free my mind, relax and allow the music takes me. These days I don't listen for more than 120 minutes. Your brain wears out and wanders beyond 120 minutes listening time span. Spontaneously, you reach out to your phone and begin browsing, the music will then resort to background noise. Music is everything about emotion, noise is a pollutant. You only attentive to the chorus, the rest is noise to fill the emptiness.
Two CDs were on my playtime, "When Roland met Burt" and "I Have Got A Song For You".
"When Roland met Burt" by Roland Keating is a great album, he sings Burt's work. Without a question, Burt is a great songwriter and have produced many household hits like "Walk on By", "The Look of Love", "What the World Needs Now Is Love", "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself", "This Guy's in Love with You", "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", "Close to You", "Arthur Theme" and "That's What Friends Are For". Absolutely timeless.
What do I have here? While this is not an audiophile approved album, all tracks on this album were recorded live with a full orchestra backing. Do you know the boost the music receives? Buckle your seat belt, I'm in for a treat. The recording is good, the music even better. A good mix of slow and upbeat numbers, recognisable tunes, you just can't beat that. The way the tracks were arranged in sequence, the album producer wanted to take you for an emotional roller coaster ride. Now the difference between an album and a compilation is the continuity, the storytelling. Anyway, typical audiophiles are habitually jumping track to track. It's a dream for any vocalists to perform with an orchestra, an honour, a recognition, you don't see newcomers perform with an orchestra. They have yet to earn the privilege. The drama heightens, the grandiose shone, the music is on steroid. Roland took the upbeat numbers like a duck to the water, my heartbeat chased after the tempo. Undeniably, my reaction is the most telling.
"This Little Red Book" is my most memorable track. I was electrified by the punches coming from my speakers, drove adrenaline rush to my heart. I think a full Naim system will sing admirably. I can't help wanting more composure to end the closing. Satisfied. Albeit the orchestra is scaled down, that didn't deter my listening pleasure. Moving on to a sentimental number, "The House Is Empty Now" wrenches soul, I felt the lyrics. Roland takes the slow numbers equally well, he conveys the emotions. His rendition reaches me deeply, speaks to me, isn't this the primary reason we audio?
Thereafter, I took thing slow with "I Have Got A Song For You" by our homegrown EB Duet. A vocalist and a guitarist, you dare not try this if you have a less than perfect vocal. No place to hide. Let me tell you, Eve Wong can sing, full stop. There was on occasion my wife and I went to see them live at Sunway Velocity in their CD promotion tour. Pity, the PA sound system was not very good. Fresh from the memory, I was glad to learn that their second album comprises original materials following up their debut album "The Beginning", a cover version of the classics. I got both CDs in my collection. This particular album, even the first one, doesn't pose any particular challenging audio attributes given their smooth jazzy and souly in nature. The locally produced recording is good, not great, I'm not troubled by it. More importantly, their music moves me.
I believe my best audio is ahead of me, I really do. My quest for "closer to music" motivates me to explore possibilities, relentlessly. Getting close to the real thing sends me ineffable shivers. The harmonics, the nuances, the microdynamics, the sustain, most of all the directness of unamplified music, all in a single package. Only in live, you get a glimpse of true timbre, our system could only hope to replicate a dose of it, there's much more information out there.
Take a moment to examine, aren't we listen to direct and reflected sound too simultaneously? While some press insistence on measurements, they're completely missing the point. What counts is what you receive at the end. The case of "The same system sounded different in different rooms" is a genuine phenomenon, how could you turn a blind eye on this? Are you so naive to not think room tuning overrides measurements?
Oh blame me, I'm hypercritical of room tuning. No good room acoustics, no good sound, as simple as that. Mostly, audiophiles don't know where to begin with room tuning. Move something around and listen, there isn't any textbook to guide you. Be mindful, loudness is not an entity in high fidelity. You want to go loud, you look for a system with big drivers and high power handling speakers, finesse and harmonics are eluded.
Specs are all in the head if they know what they really mean in audio. Sound without a soul, you'll be overwhelmed with a ton of details coming out from their system. Perhaps they're proud with their microdetails and cleanliness, what's missing is a string that weaves the sound up, the flow is missing. Does this indicate in sine wave or oscilloscope or whatever measuring tools? Come on, you're smarter than them. Perhaps they don't know how to listen. It's resounding clear that room acoustics is powerful enough to turn the tide, can you turn a blind eye on room tuning? A big mistake to confront the ignorant, walk away quietly. Some have become very sick. If you want controversies to lighten your boring life, their group chat will not disappoint. Instead, they will keep you really busy and "entertained". Before long, someone will walk out feeling like a fool. The negativity creates bad air, do little to build a good system. Me? No, thank you. Trump is talking about building a wall, my wall is high enough to fend off nonsense. Life is too short to be wasted on social media, Mark Manson knows it too.
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