The Half Life of Expectation Bias

[mep]

I don't disagree, however ...I'm not sure if more pleasurable is the same as more enjoyable. The aural experience of better quality is certainly very much welcomed by me and all of us, but that doesn't mean it is more enjoyable. It's a fine line I guess and maybe someone can shed light on this.

How can it not be so?

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

How can it not be so?

I can get equal satisfaction from the music whether played on my rig or listening to a tabletop radio. So the higher sound quality on my rig doesn't mean it's more enjoyable. It's different, but I tap my toes with the same vigor.

 

[mep]

I can get equal satisfaction from the music whether played on my rig or listening to a tabletop radio. So the higher sound quality on my rig doesn't mean it's more enjoyable. It's different, but I tap my toes with the same vigor.

Time to go Bose then.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Time to go Bose then.

Maybe that's an alternative I should look into. Sorry, but I don't buy that a highly resolving sound system brings more enjoyment. BTW...there is enough room in my life to enjoy both.

 

[mep]

Maybe that's an alternative I should look into. Sorry, but I don't buy that a highly resolving sound system brings more enjoyment. BTW...there is enough room in my life to enjoy both.

Past time to go Bose then.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

Past time to go Bose then.

Joke or dig all you want, but I stand by what I said.

There are many times when I sit here and play music on my PC setup (which is nothing special) that I'm having an absolute blast and enjoying every moment of it. I have no desire to switch over to my rig. In fact, if I did, I would probably lose some degree of satisfaction as it would break the rhythm.

 

[Phelonious Ponk]

I get what you're saying, Johnny. I really enjoy my dedicated listening systems, but I'm not at all dependent on them to enjoy music. I get my smiling, toe-tapping fix on trips to Home Depot, listening to the system in my 98 CRV. I could be reduced to what the smug among us already call my active monitors -- computer speakers -- and I would listen no less. Of course that doesn't mean I don't enjoy listening to good systems, or that it's time for a Bose radio. It just means that the system is not the point.

Tim

 

[Rob.Petersen]

Joke or dig all you want, but I stand by what I said.

There are many times when I sit here and play music on my PC setup (which is nothing special) that I'm having an absolute blast and enjoying every moment of it. I have no desire to switch over to my rig. In fact, if I did, I would probably lose some degree of satisfaction as it would break the rhythm.

+1

 

[microstrip]

I can get equal satisfaction from the music whether played on my rig or listening to a tabletop radio. So the higher sound quality on my rig doesn't mean it's more enjoyable. It's different, but I tap my toes with the same vigor.

F. Toole also said it is a question of statistics. You can have occasional great experiences with poor gear, such as kitchen radio or your car radio, but if you have a good system the probability of having musical enjoyment increases. This type of statements must be considered on average - it is not you or me. It is why IMHO and YMMV are implicit in our comments.

 

[microstrip]

Maybe that's an alternative I should look into. Sorry, but I don't buy that a highly resolving sound system brings more enjoyment. BTW...there is enough room in my life to enjoy both.

Can I ask why you have been continuous improving your system? I have been following with interest the debate and your comments on your system, particularly the Genesis choice, arrival and your enthusiasm, and always considered that you were enjoying the music more with each positive change in your system.

 

[mep]

Look, it's all good to wrap yourself up in the cloak of the avowed music lover who can and does enjoy listening to music over anything that puts sound out that you can hear. I get it. But I'm not going to say I enjoy it as much as listening to music over my he-man rig. It's a different kind of experience and pleasure.

Every morning as I get ready for work there is a clock radio in the bedroom that is turned to a classic rock station. I enjoy the hell out of it every morning as they are always playing some song that has meaning to me and I can listen right through the radio past the cheap speaker. It's just a totally different experience than the main rig. If they were equal experiences, I would sell off my main rig and find a new hobby.

 

[treitz3]

......If they were equal experiences, I would sell off my main rig and find a new hobby.

No doubt!

Tom

 

[rockitman]

Sorry, but I don't buy that a highly resolving sound system brings more enjoyment. .

Does for me...

 

[edorr]

My expectation bias with car audio is not to expect much and I don't. I listen to the jazz channel on my satellite radio and although it is the best sounding music channel I have found on satellite, it's still pretty bad. Satellite radio is compressed to death. However, I still enjoy listening to the music and I can tell when something would really sound good played back over the home rig.

You cannot leave "context" out of the enjoyment equation. There are certain types of music (Eminem comes to mind), I do not enjoy listening to in the basement on my high end system, but enjoy immensely driving down the highway at 70mph. Beethoven string quartets not so much.

 

[mep]

"Context" or content? I'm not into rap, so it wouldn't matter what it's played through to me.

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

F. Toole also said it is a question of statistics. You can have occasional great experiences with poor gear, such as kitchen radio or your car radio, but if you have a good system the probability of having musical enjoyment increases. This type of statements must be considered on average - it is not you or me. It is why IMHO and YMMV are implicit in our comments.

With respect to you and Mr. Toole, I am not much concerned with statistics as I'm listening, or any other time for that matter, but that's me. YMMV

Can I ask why you have been continuous improving your system? I have been following with interest the debate and your comments on your system, particularly the Genesis choice, arrival and your enthusiasm, and always considered that you were enjoying the music more with each positive change in your system.

I have and do enjoy growing my system and trying to make it better with every step. I hope that never stops as it brings me great pleasure! I love cueing up a record and hearing all the detail no other means could give me, but that doesn't mean my enjoyment of the music is greater. Sometimes it is and other times it's not. I fail to understand why only a top-notch system can provide more enjoyment.

Look, it's all good to wrap yourself up in the cloak of the avowed music lover who can and does enjoy listening to music over anything that puts sound out that you can hear. I get it. But I'm not going to say I enjoy it as much as listening to music over my he-man rig. It's a different kind of experience and pleasure.

Every morning as I get ready for work there is a clock radio in the bedroom that is turned to a classic rock station. I enjoy the hell out of it every morning as they are always playing some song that has meaning to me and I can listen right through the radio past the cheap speaker. It's just a totally different experience than the main rig. If they were equal experiences, I would sell off my main rig and find a new hobby.

You obviously don't get it and trust me, there is no cloak I wrap myself in. But you are right....it is a different kind of experience and pleasure. Perhaps in your case that also means "more enjoyment"...I can accept that and good for you. It's just that I don't buy into it. Music is the driver here....not the delivery system.

No doubt!

Tom

I like my hobby and the way I approach it just fine!

 

[edorr]

"Context" or content? I'm not into rap, so it wouldn't matter what it's played through to me.

Context. My point is some music is best (an often ONLY) enjoyed in a certain listening context.

 

[still-one]

Context. My point is some music is best (an often ONLY) enjoyed in a certain listening context.

I agree with you.

I never listen to stuff such as The Stones "40 Licks" on my 2-channel set-up. Yet if we are doing something around the house I may put play it over the whole house system and enjoy it. Same goes for Abba. I get it kick out of "Fernando" or "Dancing Queen" if it comes on in the car or my wife wants to hear it via the Zeppelin yet I am not cueing it up in the two channel room.

 

[mep]

Context. My point is some music is best (an often ONLY) enjoyed in a certain listening context.

Gotcha.

 

[mep]

I agree with you.

I never listen to stuff such as The Stones "40 Licks" on my 2-channel set-up. Yet if we are doing something around the house I may put play it over the whole house system and enjoy it. Same goes for Abba. I get it kick out of "Fernando" or "Dancing Queen" if it comes on in the car or my wife wants to hear it via the Zeppelin yet I am not cueing it up in the two channel room.

These points are different than the ones that Johnny was making. On one side we have those that say they can listen to anything, anytime, anywhere, over anything, and their pleasure/enjoyment meter registers the same amount of pleasure/enjoyment because the music is all that matters. Hooey says me. It might be the politically correct non-audiophile thing to say, but in the end it's kind of reminiscent of a bunch of whores standing around talking about their virtue.