M Rael
500+ Head-Fier
- Joined
- Aug 19, 2001
- Posts
- 675
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- 10
I think I'll jump in on this thread-
I've concluded that if an 'audio hardware enthusiast' does not have a well grounded way/practice of listening to music, regardless of his specific hardware of the moment, then he stands a chance of getting swept up in placing the hardware at the same level of importance as the music itself. Less time is spent listening to music (for what it does to us, and its not always about pleasure) and more time is spent arguing with Tomcat (ooops! sorry that is me!)
Heres an attempt at an analogy from a movie: Hanna And Her Sisters--
two of the sisters meet an architect, who, admits he loves to take a bottle of wine to the opera and cry while soaking in the experience (he has box seats of course.) Now, the bottle of wine is like the headphone hardware we all educate ourselves about, and search out. The opera is music itself. So our architect has a ritual he uses to feel the music/story very deeply. He utilizes the wine he brings, and it would make sense that he know something about it and experiment with different types, but the essential thing is not the wine itself! So in this example our hero is not necessarily a wine expert (hardware audiophile), but he is someone who has the culture and physical attainments required to set himself aside long enough to appreciate beauty and tragedy in opera (and sex 'beat', in the case of rock & roll) and lose himself in that experience. So my point is that headphones need to be rolled up into and become part of a bigger overall way we use them. And its a very personal thing. Sigh.
p.s. theres a 49% chance I dont know what the hell I'm talking about.
I've concluded that if an 'audio hardware enthusiast' does not have a well grounded way/practice of listening to music, regardless of his specific hardware of the moment, then he stands a chance of getting swept up in placing the hardware at the same level of importance as the music itself. Less time is spent listening to music (for what it does to us, and its not always about pleasure) and more time is spent arguing with Tomcat (ooops! sorry that is me!)
Heres an attempt at an analogy from a movie: Hanna And Her Sisters--
two of the sisters meet an architect, who, admits he loves to take a bottle of wine to the opera and cry while soaking in the experience (he has box seats of course.) Now, the bottle of wine is like the headphone hardware we all educate ourselves about, and search out. The opera is music itself. So our architect has a ritual he uses to feel the music/story very deeply. He utilizes the wine he brings, and it would make sense that he know something about it and experiment with different types, but the essential thing is not the wine itself! So in this example our hero is not necessarily a wine expert (hardware audiophile), but he is someone who has the culture and physical attainments required to set himself aside long enough to appreciate beauty and tragedy in opera (and sex 'beat', in the case of rock & roll) and lose himself in that experience. So my point is that headphones need to be rolled up into and become part of a bigger overall way we use them. And its a very personal thing. Sigh.
p.s. theres a 49% chance I dont know what the hell I'm talking about.