New Think Piece From Roy Gregory

[gleeds]

I enjoy Roy's articles and reviews and am glad he has the freedom of his own platform to express his views and comment on his perspective of our hobby.

I was with a friend recently for one of our get-togethers to talk about life, business, and, yes, gear. My friend has an amazing system and record collection and is a passionate jazz aficionado. He recently obtained a hard-to-get Japanese headshell for use with one of his dozen versions of the Denon 103 carts and wanted me to hear the difference it made (the definition of our audiophile behavior!) We listened to Zappa's Grand Wazoo (a mutual favorite). The sound was superb, and the music was mind-blowing, as only Zappa can be. A truly great experience!

Today my wife and I streamed the 2022 Kennedy Center Honors event (on my laptop, not my system or some giant HDTV with good speakers) honoring, among others U2. Eddie Vedder played "One Love." This brought me back to this post because the interpretation of the song was so amazing I listened to it on my laptop twice in succession and thoroughly enjoyed myself despite the sonic limitations.

So herein is the paradox. I am a lifelong audiophile and music lover. Today music touched my soul on a laptop using 1" speakers! This reminds me of the power of music, whether we spend incomprehensible amounts of money and tweak our systems incessantly or simply listen on our low-fi devices. If you like H&O and have the time, watch this video on your laptop, your phone, or any less-than-perfect device and see if you agree.

Happy New Year, fellow gearheads and music lovers!

 

[hopkins]

So herein is the paradox. I am a lifelong audiophile and music lover. Today music touched my soul on a laptop using 1" speakers! This reminds me of the power of music, whether we spend incomprehensible amounts of money and tweak our systems incessantly or simply listen on our low-fi devices. If you like H&O and have the time, watch this video on your laptop, your phone, or any less-than-perfect device and see if you agree.

This is spot on, and this is why many people just don't feel hi-fi is worth it. I'm happy spending hours at my computer discovering new music and listening through my small powered desktop monitors. Paradoxically, it is with older recordings (1930s, 1940s...) that I miss the experience of my larger system most, and that draws me back to it regularly.

P.S. There are a few great Kennedy Center tributes. Half the fun is watching the audience's reaction. Check out how Yo-Yo Ma digs Led Zepplin!

 

[microstrip]

(...) So herein is the paradox. I am a lifelong audiophile and music lover. Today music touched my soul on a laptop using 1" speakers! This reminds me of the power of music, whether we spend incomprehensible amounts of money and tweak our systems incessantly or simply listen on our low-fi devices. If you like H&O and have the time, watch this video on your laptop, your phone, or any less-than-perfect device and see if you agree.

Happy New Year, fellow gearheads and music lovers!

I think statistics is the simple answer to your paradox. Although we can have emotional connection with music anytime with any system, in the words of F. Toole : "The origin of emotion in a listener is the art itself—the music or movie—and not the audio hardware. It is inconceivable that a consumer could feel an emotional attachment to a midrange loudspeaker driver, yet without good ones, listening experiences will be diminished."

IMO the proper system will increase the probability of musical enjoyment - BTW music is not just an emotional affair, it can also be intellectual. And surely knowledge and understanding of your system and enjoyment of this hobby can increase your musical pleasure.

Some people dissect the audiophile community in gear lovers and music lovers, IMO they fail to understand the sometimes subtle connections between the two activities, focusing on notorious unfortunate noisy exceptions, not the happy silent majority. The high-end is a complex hobby!

 

[Elliot G.]

Elliot. I would love it if you would DM me your music list. Thanks. Gary

its on the website for bendingwaveusa and click the cd up top. I have not updated it in a ling time but maybe I will in 2023

 

[gleeds]

its on the website for bendingwaveusa and click the cd up top. I have not updated it in a ling time but maybe I will in 2023

Thanks a ton, Elliot!

 

[microstrip]

(...) I was referring to that subset that collect audiophile recordings...

Do you have anything against "audiophile recordings"? I have about an hundred of them and they are excellent music, well recorded by knowledgeable people who love music.

 

[hopkins]

Do you have anything against "audiophile recordings"? I have about an hundred of them and they are excellent music, well recorded by knowledgeable people who love music.

Nope! I would not be here if I were not obsessed with great sound. I was just pointing out one other way the obsession manifests itself.

 

[Mike Lavigne]

why would gear-lust/listening room-lust/media-lust be any different than event-lust to the listener? live musical events and all their trappings and visual aids are equivalent to the audiophile experience. music is the common ground. and who knows what actually goes through your mind in either case. how much is the art, and how much is the 'other' stuff?

and is knowing musical terminology, artist details, and possessing a complimentary vocabulary an enhancer or distraction as far as listening satisfaction? who knows? could probably go both ways.

it's up to the individual to say or not say what mindfulness accompanies their listening. or whether it changes with their mood?

i can tell you my music listening is guilt free. i don't waste even micro seconds worrying whether my listening is righteous. there are moments when i am doing vinyl when i wonder how this pressing might sound on a different turntable, or maybe a different pressing might sound different? if i've recently made changes i'm more likely to think about that stuff. but more often than not i'm trying to reach my zen state where my mind is un-stuck. and i'm listening 30+ hours a week, trying to get to that feeling as often as possible.

 

[Kingrex]

I find I can have an emotional attachment to music even if its on a crap system. Like in my car. But I also find I enjoy classical and jazz more when I can hear the musicians. On a poor quality stereo, Mozart blends together into a sound. Yes we recognize the song. What a great song. But on a quality stereo we hear the individual instruments and can enjoy not just the song, but the talent and skill of the musicians making the music. We can hear the distinction between all the various instruments in the orchestra. Something you can not do to any degree near what a well tuned stereo does.

 

[tima]

Using music (what else should one use?) to describe sonic differences doesn’t mean there is an emphasis on the music…it just helps in visualzation (or obfuscation) of what the reviewer is trying to convey about the sonics.

We can disagree. I think it does put an emphasis on the music with a component.

Surprising the number of reviews that do not use examples or minimal examples from music but rather generalize about sonics alone.

When I wrote record reviews (profile) I was encouraged to talk about sonics. Music in a vacuum as it were. Leaving out the composer and performer -- I didn't see the point.

 

[tima]

in the words of F. Toole : "The origin of emotion in a listener is the art itself—the music or movie—and not the audio hardware. It is inconceivable that a consumer could feel an emotional attachment to a midrange loudspeaker driver, yet without good ones, listening experiences will be diminished."

I daresay F. Toole has not been to WBF...

Love this arm...love this arm.....did I say I LOVE this arm!

I love Phil’s (213cobra) Absolare Altius SETs!

I LOVE this amp.

I love Magico speakers.

Considering a better turntable. Doing research now…but love the TechDAS AF3.

Lot's more. Gear love abounds.

 

[morricab]

We can disagree. I think it does put an emphasis on the music with a component.

Surprising the number of reviews that do not use examples or minimal examples from music but rather generalize about sonics alone.

When I wrote record reviews (profile) I was encouraged to talk about sonics. Music in a vacuum as it were. Leaving out the composer and performer -- I didn't see the point.

A gear review, even with the most in-depth and detailed analysis of how particular tracks from various recordings conveyed a musical message is still primarily about the gear and not the music used to evaluate said gear. Otherwise, it would be a music review and oh yeah I had this new piece of gear inserted in my system and doesn’t that make all this glorious music sound better (rarely worse).

A record review shoukd be both about the music itself and it’s value and the sound quality of the production because that too can impact how the music is received by the listener.

 

[tima]

A gear review, even with the most in-depth and detailed analysis of how particular tracks from various recordings conveyed a musical message is still primarily about the gear and not the music used to evaluate said gear

Of course.

The purpose of a review of a component is to expose the component largely in terms of the audiophile vocabulary.

 

[Johan K]

Yes all you have to do to become a influencer, is be able to lift a new amp into your listening garage every week !

I agree - and what’s the fun with that ??

/ Jk

 

[wil]

I think it's a mistake to make an intellectual division between "Sound" and "Music." And by Sound, I don't mean how the gear sounds.

I remember listening to a Leonard Bernstein Youngs Peoples Concert around 1970 where he talked about the sound of instruments as being a thing unto themselves. And that all the emotions and associations we carry with these sounds are something we layer on.

I took from this the understanding that listening to music is a very complex experience that is a combination of a deep meditative connection to the elemental sounds -- in the seamless context of everything else that is music. And that it can be a mistake to not listen with a balance. That is, I feel music would be a lesser experience for me if I let the emotions and associations that music brings forth drown the elemental, meditative, non-cognitive experience of the sound itself.

This is not to say emotions, and associations, are not a vital part of music. But rather, only experiencing music in that realm would be a limited experience.

 

[PeterA]

I used to play the clarinet, badly. However, I have a very strong memory and impression of the way that particular instrument sounds. Very few systems I have heard get that sound right, and getting it right makes quite a difference to my enjoyment and involvement with the music when listening. I agree that it is difficult to separate the two.

It is the same with the impact, often shock, and wave of energy from timpani. Boy, that sure enriches the experience and adds meaning to the music. Same with the sweetness of violin or the punctuation of a triangle struck just right. It is sound and music.

 

[microstrip]

I daresay F. Toole has not been to WBF...

I do not understand how many audio reviewers can ignore the best book on sound reproduction. Fortunately a few read it and discussed it, agreeing and disagreeing a lot, unfortunately in paid texts with copyright that most current reviewers ignore. We have some other excellent books on the subject, I have a few I have enjoyed.

Lot's more. Gear love abounds.

What you call "gear love" is simply the essence of the hobby for most audiophiles - finding and matching gear that matches and follows audiophile preferences. Stereo sound reproduction is really an experience, laboratory included, as you referred. Some people prefer live it like a religion, driven by their preferred gurus and their knowledge, and illuminated by music. I respect both approaches.

 

[LL21]

I used to play the clarinet, badly. However, I have a very strong memory and impression of the way that particular instrument sounds. Very few systems I have heard get that sound right, and getting it right makes quite a difference to my enjoyment and involvement with the music when listening. I agree that it is difficult to separate the two.

It is the same with the impact, often shock, and wave of energy from timpani. Boy, that sure enriches the experience and adds meaning to the music. Same with the sweetness of violin or the punctuation of a triangle struck just right. It is sound and music.

Hi PeterA, Happy New Year. Very interesting and agree...in my case, its the piano. 12 years and lots of rehearsing (but playing badly)...still remember the power of the notes hitting the keyboard, the sound of the wood, the strings, a Steinway, a Yamaha, etc. It makes a BIG difference to me in terms of enjoyment. It is the whole package that brings music into a room.

 

[heihei]

I used to play the clarinet, badly. However, I have a very strong memory and impression of the way that particular instrument sounds. Very few systems I have heard get that sound right, and getting it right makes quite a difference to my enjoyment and involvement with the music when listening. I agree that it is difficult to separate the two.

It is the same with the impact, often shock, and wave of energy from timpani. Boy, that sure enriches the experience and adds meaning to the music. Same with the sweetness of violin or the punctuation of a triangle struck just right. It is sound and music.

This is so true. Clarinet (and saxophone) player here too, with much of my youth playing in orchestras etc. and I'm always amazed about how badly some systems reproduce unamplified instruments, even some very high-end ones. It's always this that I focus. on when testing pieces of equipment

 

[tima]

I feel music would be a lesser experience for me if I let the emotions and associations that music brings forth drown the elemental, meditative, non-cognitive experience of the sound itself.

I'm curious that you find a 'bifurcation' between the limbic and the emotional. Can you say more?