What and how do we know what IS ‘Better’?
or
It’s all in our heads, or is it?
Part 8 Getting your hearing ‘calibrated’…
What?
No this doesn’t call for a trip to the audiologist.
Instead this is about how we know what is ‘the best’, based upon what we have personally previously heard.
And the ‘better’ we have heard, the ‘
better’ is our ‘standard’ for what IS best.
In short we calibrate our sense of what is ‘the best’ for ourselves as we hear improvements and hear other systems that truly are ‘
better’ than we have heard previously.
It’s like we keep raising the bar as we experience ‘
better’ and as we do so, we can more easily distinguish what isn’t ‘
better’.
In short we ‘train’ ourselves to know what IS ‘
better’, During and After we hear it, recognize it, desire it.
So ‘
better’ is a changing and moving target, and it’s different for each of us as we only pay attention to those aspects of the acoustical and sonic presentation that we are aware of and value.
We learn how and what to listen to and for as we learn to identify certain triggers or indicators of “
Better”.
IOW our ability to focus and concentrate upon certain sonic aspects improves as we get calibrated with “
Better” acoustical experiences.
Even so as we improve the playback to more closely match it’s original acoustic source, those aspects of the presentation that we do pay attention to, will be ‘
better’.
And so the rewards of hearing more of and deeper into the music, will be ‘
better’.
IOW the more “
Better”, the more we like it.
Well Duh…
So I brought up the idea of getting calibrated first, because the next topic
CNST (Central Nervous System Tap) is an experience that can set a new high water mark for what is possible.
IOW it can deliver a degree of calibration that is simply astounding.
And currently I am seeing signs and indications of aspects of
CNST and related observations popping up already and from differing sources and coming from different directions.
But they are all pointing towards the same outcome, namely…
CNST
Central Nervous System Tap
Um, What?
By now some may be wondering where all of what I’ve written so far is ‘coming from’ so to speak.
I mean, I figure that some are wondering what IS all of this, and what is the basis for all of these observations, among other questions.
And yes these are observation / experiential based audio TidBits I’ve gleaned along the way in my decades of audio investigations.
You see there was a singular event that set a high water mark that a fellow audiophool and I literally stumbled upon back in the early 70’s.
And both of us have been attempting to get back to that degree of realism, that degree of jaw dropping, attention getting, near spiritual experience, ever since.
With these latest developments in equipment (Schiit Dacs, wires, HD-800’s etc.) along with the recent attempts and refinements to reach fully 120dB capable playback systems, I have achieved ≈ 80-90% of the overall sonic impact that we both experienced way back then. Of course today some things are much better, like not having to deal with mis-tracking, and vinyl’s limited dynamic range etc., which when compared to what is available in today's digital sources, are but faded memories.
I mean back then we were using Altec EQ-5’s driven by a Phase Linear 400 driven by an Audio Research SP-3a1 from a Shibata tipped Audio Technica cartridge on a Thorens table with a Decca Unipivot arm. I mean nothing here is unique or special, but the synergy of that system in that particular house just gob smacked us up(in)side our heads.
We did do a couple of things in the setup that were a bit ‘unusual’ at the time, which I’m sure were pivotal in attaining the results we did. But we both thought that it was just us, ‘hearing things’, until another audiophool friend came by and was transfixed in and to the sweet spot for the entire album side. We both looked at each other and we knew that it wasn’t just us, this system was WAY beyond ANYTHING we had ever heard before, or since.
And until just recently with the advent of the major improvements in DAC’s and transducers etc. along with AC power system tweaks etc. that are available now, I had not really been able to even approached this level of direct personal involvement IN the music.
Back then none of the tweaks I’ve been mentioning here, were even a gleam in a marketers eyes…
But we hit a lick (as we liked to say), we hit it hard!
This system, the experience of being grabbed by the music had such a profound impact upon us both that we were forever calibrated, for life.
It f’n Rocked!
The sound enveloped us, to the point that we were immersed within the sound field. It wasn’t just ‘out there’ we were IN it. Put another way it surrounded and carried us along with it.
The sense of palpability, of reach out and touch each and every ‘voice’ was captivating and awe inspiring.
Our audiophool friend didn’t move once he fell into the sweet spot, well except for his jaw… (this is where I first observed the idea of IMPERATIVE.)
Like I said, we both have been on a mission ever since to get back to that degree of sonic nirvana.
But what struck me and astonished me the most was the sense of connectedness we experienced with the music while being IN the music. We deftly memorized all the words to Stevie Wonder - Talking Book, Pink Floyd - Dark Side of the Moon, Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks - Striking It Rich, National Lampoon’s - Radio Diner, Frank Zappa’s - Apostrophe/Overnight Sensation and just about anything else we played.
The only way I could even approach an adequate description to convey what the experience was like, was to coin and use the phrase Central Nervous System Tap -
CNST. And it only points and hints at the experience of being IN the music, and/or having the music surround and be embedded within us.
Being in the music is only a partial description and I use the term Central Nervous System Tap to emphasize that when experiencing music in this way the whole experience is of being completely linked into the music, of it being so
IMPERATIVE there is literally nothing else to do, or that you want to do other than listen with your whole body
IOW to be immersed IN the music.
When the music is presented in this way, you have no choice but to get sucked into the experience and just ‘go with the flow’. The degree of compulsion, of insistence that all of your focus be locked onto what is being heard and experienced is difficult to adequately convey, using only words, thus me coining the term
CNST.
It had our full, undivided attention, in no uncertain terms.
We were both ‘calibrated’ by that system and those experiences from 4+ decades ago.
And now being able to achieve this degree of replication of the experience is the realization of a promise I made to myself back then.
To achieve the same degree of being surrounded IN and enveloped BY the music, to experience that CNST again.
Only it’s not the same.
It’s better and ‘different’ all at the same time.
Of course to really expect it to be the same is both unrealistic and a welcome change. I mean the mis-tracking was screechy and there was turntable rumble, and wow and flutter and tape hiss etc. All of which is either now gone or has been tamed even further to the point that they just add another degree of ‘texture’ and nuance to the music.
And I don’t miss, the limited dynamic range necessitated by vinyl, nor having to get up every ≈ 25 minutes to change the album, no, not at all.
And the bass resolution while way better than anything we had heard up until that time has been bested, in every way. The timbre, subtle inner details, the musical note that each drum head (and cymbal) is tuned to, and along with all of the harmonically related resonant over and undertones (which were amazing back then) all now have better resolution, better coupling, faster response. And it’s not just in the leading edge where these new improvements show up, but everywhere else as well, especially evident are the improvements due to reductions in decay time in the transducers, and the AC power delivery enhancements, along with major '
Jitter' reductions and so much more.
But the magic we can now achieve, the insistence that compels attention to and involvement with what is being heard (It Is
IMPERATIVE), regardless of what it is (which is another key aspect in and of itself) is now beyond mere stellar. No matter how horrid the music, no matter how wretchedly it was mangled by compressors and limiters, driven into saturation and distorted and then recorded along with hiss and wow and flutter, despite ALL of this, the music can now yield increased insight into the music’s innerds, and these improvements are by orders of magnitudes. And all of these new sonic technical achievements have turned tracks, that used to be bad enough that it was ‘painful’ to hear, into musically inviting, well, music.
No matter how bad some of the early Rolling Stones tracks were, now they are not just listenable but the reaction to grab the volume control and turn it down or better yet off, has just vanished. Every track is intriguing, even the distortions and sonic hiccups are but added layers of musical information to be enjoyed right along with the rest.
And I suspect that all of my tweaking, is going to take a giant-mother-may-I leap forward, or up, or ahead, or in, in the very near future.
And for me it will be like returning to familiar ground, or realizing a 40 year old promise…
Only WAY better. :thumb
So if anyone else has had a
CNST type of experience I’d REALLY like to hear about it.
This is get’n REAL interesting!
JJ
End Part 8
Next up A Thought Experiment.
