Most audiophiles especially the wannabe believe in spending big to resolve problems. To some extent, it works. Unheard of sonic attributes, the highs that touch the sky, bass that meets Neptune, spooky transparency, racing dynamic and so on are on the want list. These grab attention, nothing wrong. Give me an impeccable midrange, I'm happy. Against all odds, my goal is to attain good sound on a low budget, mellifluous and real. It's an uphill task I know.
Knowing what to listen goes a long way, makes you a better audiophile. For that reason, I hearken to the timbre, harmonics and nuances of natural musical instrument, discarding EQ element of the electrical musical instruments. One less variable, one step closer to the truth. At length, a Taylor or Martin or Gibson, you may have your liking, it's fruitless to talk about tonal colour liking. Come on, he likes what he likes regardless what, can we agree on this? Audiophiles get to choose what to assemble their system. Tone density, tone contrast, detail, soundstage, transparency, scale, imaging, liveliness, noise floor to a certain extent, we can discuss objectively. The unquantifiable subjects are the root problem of discussion, it opens to debate and interpretation.
The day my music interest dies, that's the day I'll quit listening. In the end, applied science and listening impression never have anything in common. Linearity sounds rightful in every right, Fletcher-Munson research shows that our listening is not linear, our perceived loudness changes at a different frequency have denied linearity entirely. Going against the principle, how one promotes science in listening? Can you see where this's going? A dead end. Oh maybe perhaps the mastering engineers have added the F-M elements into the recording and we don't need another round of F-M?
Next, everything man-made is a compromise, audio is included. Starting from your first piece of equipment, the sound gradually skews its sound with the following equipment. It reflects how he understands sound, his interpretation of sound. Perfection never exists. Castles in the sky, this is strictly for the dreamer. All of us set a budget for audio, we demand an optimal performance within the given budget. By all means, leveraging on the cornerstone equipment will pay a handsome dividend, normally the amp. True to the source, wooo... sounds divine. Question, anyone knows the truth in the recording? You, he, them, who? When even the recording companies or the artists or the producers wanted to sound in a certain way in the mix, hence, unless you're one of them, no one will know what's really on it. So, the whole thing about neutrality is fanciful and unrealistic. At most, we can say it's perceived to be more uncoloured than the others. But in many cases, a good listener can tell if it's good sound by how little wrong the sound is. A violin sounds like one, a piano sounds like one, so on and so forth, that's good enough. I do know some systems could not produce snare drums convincingly. We are all familiar with how these instruments sound, aren't we? Indeed, the sound is deemed right if it falls within the tolerance of our sonic memory, more or less. "You know only crap if you listened to crap." For someone who has not listened to an instrument, it's impossible for him to wrong the sound for he didn't have any basis to. Likewise, audiophiles who are underexposed, no audiophiles will take them seriously. I can't help stressing that listening is an experience, never a classroom study, words are inadequate to describe sound. Who is who's saying what to whom. A neutral view is hard to come by. Given that the designers voiced their products through their perspectives. If that still doesn't convince you, we galvanise different listening perceptions from the very same music. How many of you buy equipment or cables based on the glowing review and found it isn't what you think it is?
I can't help a big expectation from big theories, wise talks, I expect nothing less than his system to sound good. A letdown when the perceived tone quality falls short. Not a great feeling. I learn from people who are brighter or achieved higher than me, never the other way around. Who has a higher perspective? A small system that does many things right or a big system that commits elementary mistakes. The tale of a tortoise and the hare, it's about who gets to the finishing line.
Facebook users hail to the SOTA system unreservedly, concurring the electronics or sound? I stick to my guns, never to like Facebook's system postings not unless I have listened to them. I should have known that the fact Facebook rewards the poster's likes accordingly, so-called digital marketing. Pictures or even Youtube clips don't tell the sound. As with raving reviews, your words against mine. Have you wondered why on earth no negative reviews? Someone bound to suffer losses nobody gains, that's why. Reviews these days have become an advertisement in disguise. I remember the days when I'm more influenced by the visiting strangers at the store, all ears than the dealer, they have nothing to gain.
Criticism is never pleasant, it's absolutely necessary. All praises raise doubts, audiophiles are difficult to please. Quick to be defensive. Who wants to burse bubbles? We are equally guilty of good conduct. White lies still lie. We have mastered the politicians' skills in avoiding an answer or not a direct answer. You feel fishy? Humbly, I could pick up the slightest clue from an utterance or the tone of utterance provided that I know where he comes from. In any situation, we must first ready to admit defeats to move on to a greater thing, otherwise, going nowhere. A patient will not take his medicines if he thinks he's healthy.
It seems I'm forever work in progress? Can you believe this guy? Look, the combo of cables, resonance and tweaking is infinite, have you tried enough to claim the best for you? I don't change equipment nor cables once settled for the sake of upgrading, what I'm doing now is reconfiguring, reconfiguring and reconfiguring. I keep finding the best combo of things in my system. Reconfiguring keeps opening a window of new possibilities, new ideas and new approaches to the sound.
I have got a really good run of results recently by reconfiguring the system. Beyond my wildest dream, I'm pleasantly surprised by the opening of the sonic floodgate, the renewed enthusiasm, greater liberty, reduced resistance and the resolving power that was unprecedented. I played the difficult Nenad Vasilic's Bassroom album, track no 6, Burning, what was that sound? I have no clues what so ever until I watched the video. Guess the sound, I usually can tell what's the playing instrument. This? I can't. My system honestly couldn't resolve these crazy harmonics and nuances, not until now. Pinch me! Yes, I feel the pain. I'm not fantasizing. Holy Mackerel! The energies of the double bass in the form of the tickling vibes are felt through my seat, I never experienced my room is being pressurized to this level. The double bass jumped out of my speakers! All courtesy from my work to the improved airflow dynamism.
Without further ado, I gave my system a run through my music to see that my mind isn't playing tricks on me. As I had mentioned before, I pay attention to music, not sound effects. My music test at large is basically non-audiophile CDs, a few pieces of classical, jazz and vocals. What I wanted to know is does my configuration produces more presence, less ambiguity. If the violin playback produces more insights into the play, the longer decays of the distinctive piano notes and last but not least the unmasked voices. Closer to music but nothing to suggest spectacular. A simple goal, not a chance an easy task. A trouble-free pilgrimage, I have had my share of black swans.
Making mistakes is part and parcel of learning. Mistakes tell us what not to commit again. I'm no saint, I make mistakes. It happened in the past and it will repeat in the future. Never rush, get enough rest, fresh ears are essential to bouncing back from where I fall. Press on....
What follows now is reaffirmation. To reaffirm what's real. Now, will you excuse me?
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