[TonyTripleA]

I had a session listening to Kunwar's two great amps, the Talisman and Mad 25th anniversary Ear+, last week and I noticed a funny thing when returning home. First up my amp sounded "flat" with low treble impact, especially in the high and upper registers.

Now these were the same cans I carried to Kunwar's. So what could be the problem. I listened, dissatisfied for an hour, went to bed. Next night I plugged in and things were, well satisfying. Two days later I wonder what I was complaining about. Sound restored.

Hmmm, could it be that just like your eyes adjust to the green in green sunglasses (or the purple for that matter), could headphones give a sonic presentation that your brain compensates for? This makes the sound more natural than it might actually be... in that we "train" our brain to compensate for shortcomings?

Just a thought. And I should add that my opinion of the superiority of Kunwar's amps remains the same despite the enjoyment of my own NAD amp returning.

Weird, or do others get the same feeling?

Cheers,

TonyAAA

 

[Xoton]

I would say yes. Something like music and vision is like a stream of data infinite in size, and all our technology be it speakers, headphones, or digital cameras have to make impressions or let's say decisions on how to best recreate it and what to leave out. I'd say we have nothing artificial or man-made that can recreate 100% of what we want to capture. Cameras or audio equipment are inevitibley leaving SOMETHING out, and us folks with the inclination to understand this pay good money to limit what we miss.

I would agree with the missing treble or upper register. It seems to me that the mid-to-upper range is where you seperate the big boys from the toys. As I continue my "audiophile training," let's say, I sense that it's in this area of the spectrum that I notice the more fine details. The low-end is certainly improved upon with good equipment and details do emerge in that area (i.e. Ety's) but clearly, to me, the upper range is a good place to start categorizing the quality of your equipment.

Certainly our minds fill in the missing details, or perhaps memory fades of what we are missing (aren't our brains efficient!). But once you replace those missing frequencies it hurts so much to take them out!!

 

[wallijonn]

How long did you listen to Kunwar's amps? It must have been more than at least 5 minutes, if not a slightly extended amount of time.

Yes, the brain will get re-trained quickly. It isn't a matter of what is there, it's a matter of what isn't there - like distortion, bass bloat and muddiness, etc. Usually the hardest thing to ascertain is a change in soundstage. Imagine your going home and asking where the soundstage went?

But to be truthful, chances are that you do not have the same sources and ICs as Kunwar so you are likely to blame the amp when in fact it could be your sources. Sounds like you have to schlep your amp over to his house ... just to be sure.

When gerG and I would meet with Matt we would take our players, ICs and amps with us ... just to be sure. Mix and match - that's the ticket.

And therein lies the problem of going to Meets and mini-Meets. One is exposed to synergistic systems and one starts to mentally do new budgets.

The question is, can you now live with your new found knowledge? Or do you want to choke the piggybank until he gives up the quarters?