[panda]

for those of you who relish in this camp, talk about your audio philosophy and how you got there.

when i first started out, i went into the hobby looking for 'lifelike' sound. and i figured that the more of everything would help me achieve that. for example, i sought gear that had lots of warmth, big soundstage, tons of body/weight, etc.

after a year or so of that i came to the conclusion that it wasn't really realistic at all but just bloat. so then i went on a trip for the most detail retrieval. that turned out to be a nightmare because i became disinterested in my music all together for a while as i got really bored of the sound.

i then did some backtracking and looked back on all the gear i heard and tried to remember what made me forget i was listening to gear and just enjoy the moment. careful thought lead me to realize what was most important to me, getting into the music i was playing. so all those aspects that people look for, went all out the window for me and i just looked for things with soul, like a vibe of chemistry. it's nearly impossible to describe but i know it when i hear it.

in the end it's
'to the bang bang boogie, say, up jump the boogie,
to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat'...

 

[Lazarus Short]

I have learned that when I worry that a component is not exciting to listen to, it's just right. The first time was with my Static Headroom, more recently with my Meridian preamp, and my Dyna power amp. Excitement means that something is being emphasized too much, and weariness is soon to follow. Let the music be exciting, not the gear.

Laz

 

[slwiser]

Quote:

Originally Posted by panda /img/forum/go_quote.gif for those of you who relish in this camp, talk about your audio philosophy and how you got there. when i first started out, i went into the hobby looking for 'lifelike' sound. and i figured that the more of everything would help me achieve that. for example, i sought gear that had lots of warmth, big soundstage, tons of body/weight, etc. after a year or so of that i came to the conclusion that it wasn't really realistic at all but just bloat. so then i went on a trip for the most detail retrieval. that turned out to be a nightmare because i became disinterested in my music all together for a while as i got really bored of the sound. i then did some backtracking and looked back on all the gear i heard and tried to remember what made me forget i was listening to gear and just enjoy the moment. careful thought lead me to realize what was most important to me, getting into the music i was playing. so all those aspects that people look for, went all out the window for me and i just looked for things with soul, like a vibe of chemistry. it's nearly impossible to describe but i know it when i hear it. in the end it's 'to the bang bang boogie, say, up jump the boogie, to the rhythm of the boogie, the beat'...

Wonderful post... it is the emotion that music brings us to that is the aim to listening, at least to me....It is the smells, images and feelings that I get when I listen that is important to me. I don't know what perfection in sound reproduction is but I do know how I respond to hearing music reproduced in a certain manner. This is what I aim for in an audiophile setup. What can get me dancing when I don't dance, what can get my feet tapping when I can't tap. What makes me tear up when I hear a certain thing.....It is the music conveyed with emotion...what gear can bring me this? That is what I search for...For myself, I have found three headphones that bring all this to me at a fairly high level and they all sound very different. Which is right? They all are!

 

[digger945]

panda, I know what you mean by reaching a so called "plateau", and the hot pursuit of the pricey gear to "reveal" to you the perfect "whatever".
I feel as though I am just over that "hump" now and, like yourself, back to enjoying the music that makes me want to dance, and, oh yea, can make me need to wipe my eyes. It is a mystery to me how someone can simply listen to a song, and be so changed inside by what they hear, how the rhythm and the beat can somehow transport you to a higher place. Sometimes so effortlessly.


I've got no complaints, it's been a wonderful journey for me, especially after I listened to tubes.
I agree with slwiser, I don't know what perfect sound reproduction is, but I certainly know when I am moved, and that has happened much more frequently since joining Head-Fi.
I like what I hear and want more.

 

[uzziah]

Quote:

Originally Posted by panda /img/forum/go_quote.gif so all those aspects that people look for, went all out the window for me and i just looked for things with soul, like a vibe of chemistry. it's nearly impossible to describe but i know it when i hear it.....

i am with you totally; for me, when it comes to music, i "feel" it. i don't describe it, or over-analyze it. music is spiritual to me. that helps me avoid the pitfall of analysis paralysis. equipment is important to me because audio fidelity is important, and i've seen (and more-so have felt) that some good headphones, amp and source, even if it's relatively cheap, just make the music so vastly better. i like experimenting with new gear, but in the end, for me, music is one hundred percent intuitive; all feeling, all love, beauty, and wonder

 

[Redcarmoose]

For awhile I had this system that had me emotional with the music. Every time I got the chance in life to hear the system I thought "wow". I became so involved with the everything, that was sound-stage, size, authority, speed of musical changes. I really thought I had "it". Then my world began to fall apart, I noticed small defects in how the system could cope with large amounts of sonic information. I could not stand it. My perfect synthedic musical world was lost. Was I now able to hear things that I missed before? What ever it was, a change was needed. What was it? Even in most live music places there are flaws in the sound. The live event can sometimes overcome this with stage antics. Our hobby has set us out for the one lost, almost non-obtainable perfection, which only exists in this world like the fleeting rays of moonlight off a mountain ridge. When we reach the other side of the valley there is only dirt to run threw
our hands, not what we saw from afar. I know perfection is few and far between on the earth. The artists who made the worlds masterpieces know where the mistakes are. Only we can not always see them because of our inexperience. What the biggest truth that you will never hear on these forums is that audio was made almost close to perfect in 1958 and we are all caught up in this quest for changing small tonal differences at a cost. None of us will ever reach the end to perfection. We will have small moments of contentment along the way. I'm still looking for that thrill when I was 16 when my ears were young and my parent's Advents and BSR turntable sounded fantastic. The truth was it did'nt sound all that great it was the just the EXPERIENCE!

 

[panda]

most of the time the live music i'm exposed to sounds like absolute horse****. it is overamplified at extreme volumes with huge crappy pa speakers but i really don't care at the time because i'm usually pretty intoxicated and focused on girls...

audio fidelity isn't all that important for me, if a good song comes on somebody's cell phone it still hits me even tho you can barely make out any of it. when played on a good system though it's nice icing on the cake.

i don't strive for a perfect rig, i can overlook flaws as often times the gear i choose make up for its flaws in more ways than one.

 

[Uncle Erik]

It's slightly more than the music for me. Music is, of course, of primary importance. I like equipment that gets out of the way and isn't noticeable. Laz is right when he said that the best gear seems unremarkable at first. I don't look to be awed any longer, I look for gear that doesn't get in the way of the music.

A second angle I consider is reliability. There is some gear that, while it sounds terrific, isn't the most reliable. I won't buy anything with a bad reputation since I intend to keep most of this gear for years. This is why I tend to go for vacuum tube equipment. It is much easier to repair and replace components in a tube amp than a solid state one.

Third, aesthetics are important to me. Audio gear should look great, too. As the great William Morris said, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful."

 

[mark_h]

Obsessing over micro detail lead me to the conclusion that I was no longer hearing the music, only the fine details and flaws. So I took step back to reevaluate my listening habits. Having wanted to get a vinyl setup for a long time, I, eventually, over a period of several months did this. The money I invested caused a great deal of anxiety about sound quality, detail resolution etc. But all of these worries melted away during the first minute of the first album I played when my headphones were filled with an emotional resonance, utterly compelling and very, very addictive! (Incidentally the most detailed sound reproduction I have heard to date).

 

[panda]

while i appreciate the responses, i don't feel as though the flat earth aspect was fully understood and/or discussed? what about all you uk members? surely some of them must follow this ideal...

 

[nick_charles]

Quote:

Originally Posted by panda /img/forum/go_quote.gif while i appreciate the responses, i don't feel as though the flat earth aspect was fully understood and/or discussed? what about all you uk members? surely some of them must follow this ideal...

What do YOU mean by Flat earth ?. Generally the termn tends to refer to irrational or illogical belief systems. In Audio it is used as a derogatory term often aimed at vinyl and tube proponents. On the other hand one view of hifi is that it should make as little change to the signal as possibe , for amps the term wire with gain was common in the 1970s/1980s, CD players seem to approach that ideal with design for flat FR and minimal noise/distortion. With respect to souces/amps this is what I would aim for.

Speakers and headphones are a different kettle of fish, few are anywhere near flat compared with amps/CD players and distortion levels are orders of magnitude worse than amps/CD players.

I do not know if I have ever heard flat speakers/headphones, my preference tends to headphones that have slightly less pronounced bass (ATH-AD700 is my current favourite) , but that is predominantly for classical music and sounds a wee bit thin on popular music.

The world is an oblique spheroid

 

[panda]

it has nothing to do with freq response. it's something that's interpreted differently by many folks which is why i started the thread to collaborate those views.

my approach is similar to that of the purity route but not dealing with sonic traits directly, rather to extract 'musical message' out of the signal.

this was taken from an old thread by member tomcat which i thought described it quite well:

Quote:

Actually, the initially derogative term “flat-earth” has more to do with the lack of perceived soundstage-depth in complete Linn and especially Naim systems (something I can definitely confirm). Their philosophies are more concerned with “pace, rhythm and timing” or “PRAT” and – and this is essential – a musically satisfying reproduction. The antinomical ideas here are “dynamics” vs. “soundstage” or “musical” vs. “accurate” and not “harsh” vs. “pretty”. How the supposedly harsh reproduction of a cymbal can be the cornerstone of the “PRAT” or “flat-earth” approach is beyond me. And to me, the PRAT or foot-tapping factor is about timing cohesion throughout the frequency range, and about dynamics, not about tonal colour or timbral accuracy. Cymbals are definitely not what the Linn or Naim sound is all about. It’s not about individual instruments or individual aspects of the reproduction, it’s about musicality, it’s about singing along and tapping one’s feet. As the Naim marketing division has put this, oblivious to the British tradition of understatement: “No Naim, no music”.

the lack of soundstage part makes sense to the term flat earth. it applies to me because most of the gear i enjoy do tend to have a collapsed or condensed stage which brings more focus to the notes/melody than the analytical aspects.

 

[leveller1642]

I'm confused.

 

[Mrvile]

I used to very much be into Head-Fi.

Went through a lot of gear, a lot of posts, a lot of reading.

Then school happened and I decided to sell all my gear.

Now I have a set of 2.1 speakers I picked up at Radioshack for like $40 and that's all we use. Some EQ in iTunes so the music doesn't hurt my ears, turn up the volume a bit, and enjoy.

I've learned that music will always be music and how we want to hear it will always be subjective. There isn't a right or wrong, hell even a good or bad. It took an awful long time, but looking at where I am now, I've learned that I've developed one of the greatest senses in the aural world. No, I'm not able to hear frequencies that you guys can't, I'm not able to pick out the differences between 192 and 320 compression...

I can enjoy music, however I hear it.

That makes me happier than owning any combination of equipment in the world.

 

[panda]

^