[moogoob]

That's why I've got my musical preferences in my sig.

 

[adrift]

Quote:

Originally Posted by moogoob /img/forum/go_quote.gif That's why I've got my musical preferences in my sig.

Probably a good idea.

 

[Currawong]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncle Erik /img/forum/go_quote.gif When it comes to gear preference, I mostly notice a divide between electronic and acoustic music. Those who predominately listen to acoustic forms of music have a different set of tastesfrom those who listen to electronically amplified or created music. Further, gear tends to break down along those lines, too. Something that does vocals particularly well usually won't serve up deep techno beats and vice versa. There are - of course - exceptions, however, this is one of the few fairly consistent divisions I've noticed.

This is a good observation. I've noticed that a lot of electronic music, or electronic-backed music tends to have more treble and sometimes more bass which balances out the poor performance of cheaper or "fashion" headphones, such as Beats or Bose.

Quote:

Originally Posted by techfreakazoid /img/forum/go_quote.gif luvdunhill summarized this observation in the newbie guide. Much of my listening time is spent on EDM so I'll weigh the value of the impressions accordingly to those who have refined ears for a particular genre / artist / track esp. if I'm in the market for genre-specific gear. I'll favor the specialist ear's impressions over a generalist any day.

That's the very post I was thinking of. Good find.

 

[adrift]

I had actually read the OP of that thread before my "discovery", and I'm not sure if I remember reading the same advice given in my OP about that in the first post, but even if it was there I've noticed on more than one occasion that I often don't truly appreciate advice like that until I've experienced it first hand. Then there's also the problem of finding posts/threads offering good advice a day and a dime too late.

 

[LFF]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ronnielee54 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Any recommendations in particular?

For neutered male...yes...there are only a couple of recordings from one performer:

Alessandro Moreschi

A hauntingly beautiful voice. Go easy on the criticism as the recordings are over 100 years old.

Here is one of them on youtube.

YouTube - Alessandro Moreschi, Castrato, Ave Maria

EDIT:

Forgot to mention Radu Marian. Not a castrato in the technical sense but he had health issues which preserved his voice much in the same way a castrato would have. IMHO, an extremely beautiful voice.

Here is a video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Jhrp...eature=related

and a better one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thr-CK_LVWg

 

[nickchen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jpelg /img/forum/go_quote.gif There is definitely something to the OP. As vcoheda states, musical preferences should definitely be declared when a review is written. Some people are reluctant to do so though, even when asked.

Agreed.

I also have some issues about gear and genres, that question plays only a minor role at headfi. I've seen lots of threads going down the drain, e.g. a techno newbee gets suggested Grados by the hard'n heavy fraction, or a mature jazz listener states to dislike Ultrasones and gets slaughtered by the college fanboys.

My main forum is the german forum, I know what those approx. 4 dozen dominant posters listen to and can put their statements into that context. That doesn't work here.

 

[Fido2]

adrift,
You should fill out more info in your profile. BTW if that's your pic in the avatar I like the hair. I wish I could wear mine like that.

 

[Al4x]

i def have genres i like, dislike and hate, and my listening equipment does represent this, so i agree with the op on he subject that equipment is related to tastes

 

[adrift]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fido2 /img/forum/go_quote.gif adrift, You should fill out more info in your profile.

Ok, I'll do that today.

Quote:

BTW if that's your pic in the avatar I like the hair. I wish I could wear mine like that.

Thank you.

 

[internethandle]

Given that I'm considering a MKIII, adrift, two questions: what genres do you mostly listen to (and do you think they go well with your MKIII), and what have you noticed about head-fi opinions regarding Senn's and tube vs. solid state? Okay, two and a half questions.

 

[MD1032]

Of course this has an effect on people's impressions, but then again, this is a Hi-Fi opinion forum, so I don't see what could possibly be done about it. You can't make someone listen to your music during a review... it's your responsibility as the reader of the review to determine if the person has the proper experience to tell you about the headphones properly**.

And here's another thing: In my opinion, much of it is relative. Someone who listens to techno could likely reach the exact same conclusion about two pairs of headphones as me, even though I mainly listen to pipe organ music and classic rock. We listen to different styles of music, but our perception about the differences between the two headphones should be similar, if not identical. Of course, we know this doesn't happen because everyone's ears are different and we all have our preferences as a result... so going back to the topic at hand, doesn't that mean that the majority of reviews should technically be invalidated since someone's aural perception probably affects their judgement much more than their musical preferences?

**By the way, having more posts usually means the person has more experience, though I hate to say it. Personally, I wouldn't trust my opinions anymore on my reviews from before I reached 1000 or 2000 posts, because I hadn't been to enough meets and owned enough headphones to make a truly neutral judgement. That's another thing to keep in mind at all times.

 

[adrift]

Quote:

Originally Posted by internethandle /img/forum/go_quote.gif Given that I'm considering a MKIII, adrift, two questions: what genres do you mostly listen to

Mostly old school Punk, Post-punk, bass heavy Deathrock (NOT to be confused with Death Metal), New Wave, Goth (but none of that later "Goth/ic Metal" stuff), Bebop, Cool Jazz, 60s rock including psychedelia and garage rock, Electronic music, Eastern music (and "World" music in general), folksy stuff and pretty much anything that's eclectic or experimental.

Quote:

(and do you think they go well with your MKIII),

Well so far so good I'd say. I don't have a whole lot to compare it too though. I think my headphones have more to do with how I enjoy the music moreso than the amp. If I could fault the amp at all its that I wish it was louder. I have it set to a gain of 10, and I have it plugged into the headphone out of my D10 with the volume pumped all the way up, and full volume from the PC, and I'd say it gets loud, but not "OH MY LORD THIS IS LOUD!!!". I'm not sure I need it that loud, but I'd like to have the option to turn it up if I wanted, especially for bands like Morphine which is a band composed of a 2 string bass, baritone sax, and drums. I really have to move the volume knob way up to get them loud.

Quote:

and what have you noticed about head-fi opinions regarding Senn's and tube vs. solid state? Okay, two and a half questions.

Well from what I'm reading (and I could be wrong about all this) it appears to me that talk is sort of split between those who like a very clean and somewhat brighter SS and those who like a warm and bass-y tube amp. I think the thing the SS crowd is looking for is something to lift the HD650 "veil" maybe where the tube guys just want something that accentuates what's already there (not the veil mind you, but the rest of the HD650s characteristics).

 

[adrift]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MD1032 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Of course this has an effect on people's impressions, but then again, this is a Hi-Fi opinion forum,

I wasn't aware it was necessarily an "opinion forum". I've never been to an opinion forum. The forum sure does contain a lot of opinions I'll grant, but it also contains a lot of fairly objective information as well it seems.

Quote:

so I don't see what could possibly be done about it. You can't make someone listen to your music during a review... it's your responsibility as the reader of the review to determine if the person has the proper experience to tell you about the headphones properly**.

That's probably true. I wish I really understood the importance of that early on. Its one of those things you sort of figure out as you experiment with equipment and post more though.

Quote:

And here's another thing: In my opinion, much of it is relative. Someone who listens to techno could likely reach the exact same conclusion about two pairs of headphones as me, even though I mainly listen to pipe organ music and classic rock. We listen to different styles of music, but our perception about the differences between the two headphones should be similar, if not identical. Of course, we know this doesn't happen because everyone's ears are different and we all have our preferences as a result... so going back to the topic at hand, doesn't that mean that the majority of reviews should technically be invalidated since someone's aural perception probably affects their judgement much more than their musical preferences?

I'm not really sure what to make of that paragraph. It sounds like you're contradicting yourself half way through. The last couple of sentences are interesting to me though. Are you saying that the way we subjectively take in music is more important than the type of music we actually listen to when we form opinions about the way equipment sounds?

Quote:

**By the way, having more posts usually means the person has more experience, though I hate to say it. Personally, I wouldn't trust my opinions anymore on my reviews from before I reached 1000 or 2000 posts, because I hadn't been to enough meets and owned enough headphones to make a truly neutral judgement. That's another thing to keep in mind at all times.

I agree with that. Course I've seen a few people who have quite high post counts who don't seem to know what they're talking about or who seem to give really off the wall advice (stuff like "how does this [relatively cheap] headphone sound" is answered with "forget those headphones you should sell them and buy these [uber-expensive headphone] instead").

 

[chinesekiwi]

Well, I listen to all genres thus requires headphones that suit all needs (all-rounder headphones in other words) and I do rate and write reviews and impressions based on all genres. It's actually best if you've listened to a wide range of headphones and earphones with a wide range of sound signatures. Looking in one's profile in terms of what they have = a great indication of their opinions of stuff. There's just many aspects that no-one touches on such as timbre, soundstage depth, not just left to right soundstage and imaging. You can have a small soundstage but with great imaging and vice versa. You also got to know the limitations of Head-fi, that being FOTMs and fanboism. Experience with products is everything tbh as that builds your frame of reference. This is why of course I, from now, include a frame of reference in my reviews e.g.

http://www.head-fi.org/forums/f103/c...-ne-7m-445582/

 

[MD1032]

Quote:

Originally Posted by adrift /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm not really sure what to make of that paragraph. It sounds like you're contradicting yourself half way through. The last couple of sentences are interesting to me though. Are you saying that the way we subjectively take in music is more important than the type of music we actually listen to when we form opinions about the way equipment sounds?

I had a feeling that wouldn't go over well. What I say never translates over to writing very well because there's no inflection. I'm saying that you'd expect our perception about the differences between the two phones to be the same, despite our completely opposite preferences in music, since the differences between the two 'phones is simply relative, like two signals read on two different styles of output. However, I would argue that that's bogus anyway since, like you say, the way we interpret the music (in my opinion, it's more important how we physically interpret the sound since everyone's ears are physically different) is more important. That's my argument.

So, saying that different musical styles affect the way we interpret sound, in my opinion, is an invalid argument, although saying different musical styles affect how we interpret music is obviously true.

And IMO, this is basically an opinion board on sound, and music should be a background discussion (hence why we only have a small "music" forum). I often use it to help describe what I'm hearing, but it doesn't change the fact that I and everyone else are communicating their opinions about the sound of the device or headphone.