I've only in the last few months started doing this, but my strategy to avoid blowing through all of my savings on downloads is to purchase 2-3 albums a month. As long as Bandcamp Fridays are a thing, that sets a marker for me to do this. I plan to follow a pattern of:
- One stone-cold classic that I always return to, that I don't already have on CD. Last month it was Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space , today it's likely to be Kid A Mnesiac
-One Album I've discovered in the last 18 months or so that is destined to one day be a Classic. I think today that will be Saint Etienne's I've Been Trying To Tell You
-One Album or EP or whatever from a more obscure/up and coming artist whose art I think is great, and that I'd like to support directly. Today that might be Annie Hamilton
For me Tidal wins absolutely every day with great new stuff. I probably never used Spotify enough for its algorithms to learn my preferences, but I can't imagine it could do better. I think I joked before that Tidal knows me better than I know myself,
I think this is a sound method. I was sticking to Bandcamp Friday's only for purchases for a while but have since been picking up 1 - 2 albums/week if there's something that catches my ear or it's a new release from an artist I like and follow.
I've been a solely a Spotify user for a few years now and only signed up for Tidal because of the chatter here and the $6 multi-month trial. I had figured there's no way the Tidal recommendations would hold a candle to Spotify but I dare say they're proving me wrong. Some of the artists I've discovered via Tidal suggestions have been fantastic. I may just keep the subscription once the trial period is up. I won't be able to let go of Spotify as we have a family plan and my wife, brother, and other family members all use it, but I think Tidal is becoming my preferred streaming service.
Yes. Next, jk.
It wallops the competition in dynamism and PRaT. Sweetness, not a chance. I also really like its imaging and sound stage.
Yeah, probably not then. I'd pass on it if those were my needs. Based on tuning only. It has the technical chops.
It dominates my taste for pop, electronic, (oddly) Funk, orchestral, R&B, choir, ambient. Basically anything not Jazz, Rock, and Metal. The organics. Those I generally prefer on the single DD's.
Fourte can do it on very well recorded stuff that doesn't break itself on that 7k spike. It's another hear before you buy, maybe even hear for a couple weeks if you can. Took me a while to open up to Noir, but then it straight slaughtered the competition I've been able to throw at it (for the things it does well) I don't need or want it to be a generalist.
Thanks. Certainly doesn't sound like blind buy territory by any stretch. I'm intrigued by the staging and detail retrieval that seem to be the hallmarks of the Fourte but I don't know that I can buy it on those merits alone.
I really wish it wasn't so hard to do extended, at-home auditions. We need a company akin to BorrowLenses for audio gear. I'd gladly pay a daily / weekly fee to bring home a slew of IEMs, new and not so new, and listen with my gear on my time.
Something crystallized in my mind today as a result of numerous things that have come up in discussion at various times over the last while. I think I've finally come to realize that I don't really care about the scientific or analytic side of this hobby all that much. I appreciate that measurements are interesting and important and don't deny the appeal and fascination of breaking down all the distinct factors of an IEM's performance like bass, treble, soundstage, technicalities, dynamics etc. and analyzing them in turn. This tendency to break everything down into component parts and analyze accordingly characterizes what I would call an intellectual approach to this hobby. I've dabbled in all that myself, obviously, and have enjoyed reading the impressions of others who have done the same...but I think it's finally dawned on me that none of those things have ever really decisively contributed to my personal overall enjoyment of this hobby for the simple reason that my approach is and always has been fundamentally emotional. While I've always enjoyed and will continue to enjoy reading different descriptions and impressions from others expressed in these terms for myself it's always been a simple matter of do I enjoy this or not, does this engage and move me emotionally or not? My interest has always been in the gestalt, or entirety of an IEM's performance-- not any particular element of it, or combination of factors. Sure there are some meaningful correlations and things I have learned, such as that I trend to prefer IEMs that are skewed musical and that I happen to be the most finicky about the midrange of all the bands of then FR...but at the end of the day I've struggled to reduce my preferences to any sort of fundamental rule or specific collection of factors. For this reason I'm doing my best to avoid any sorts of limiting pre-conceptions when trying something for the first time. I'm less interested in how something measures or what individual characteristics it resolves into than the inspiration or, if you'll forgive the phrasing, the spirit and intent behind it. A well tuned IEM is like a beautiful composition or work of inspiration on the part of an artist-- and if done sincerely and well this will shine through in its presentation and affect the consciousness of an intent listener even if you can't deduce it from any constituent parts of the presentation. This is why I think I'm drawn to IEMs that are the result of creative visionaries behind companies like VE, Oriolus, CFA's best work and Fir's new stuff. Just an evening ramble, and as with all things YMMV.
A lot of this resonates with me. While there is certainly overlap, I think we're all different in our approach to this hobby and the gear that consumes it. I don't have the ear to immediately pick out a 8k spike, or a 3 - 4k recession that may impact vocals, or a plasticky timbre on a BA monitor. But I do like to "fact find" prior to narrowing down my search for the next piece of kit and that generally includes asking, and receiving, detailed insight on the various attributes of a monitor. I think for many it's easier to break down the various parts of the FR, the "technicities," soundstage, etc. when trying to describe how they hear an IEM to another individual whom hasn't heard it. This can be hugely helpful once you begin to understand your personal preferences and what jives with your music and wants in an IEM and what doesn't. But it's by no means an end all be all in how many of us, myself included, make our purchase decisions.
If an IEM doesn't sweep me off my feet when I play through tracks and artists that I have a deep, emotional connection to, I could care less how well regarded it is by the masses and reviewers of the Head-Fi world. Heck, I can be swept off my feet by music I love when listening to my AirPods Pro. But it is nice to get an understanding if a piece of gear
may provide that sensation before taking a shot by (usually) blind buying it. After all, most of us are wanting to bring the best out of our music and further deepen our connection to it. IMO, that's what Head-Fi is all about.
. Shout out to all the regulars, you know who you are and to all the newbies who’ve found the oasis that is the Watercooler! Hopefully I can get caught up and see you in the present. In the meantime, hello from the past, which given the speed this thread moves, is anything more than a week.
