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Okay, maybe not quite that far, but if you listen, "critically" to every recording, every time you spin one, can you be a music lover, too?
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NT
try it! you know you want to!
And musical enjoyment has been maximized, via my VR-35s.
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A few years back I brought home a pair of Von Schwekert loudspeakers for a demo. They passed a truncated (as the shop was closing an hour earlier than scheduled) sanity check demo in the shop and the dealer was kind enough to let me try them in my system. Unfortunately, after my initial excitement with the speakers (VR4's I think, in the $3000+ price range) I found them to be somewhat out of sync when it came to some recordings (relative to the Spendor SP100s I had and still have). I would have discovered this in shop with one of the two unlistened to demo disks I never got to during the demo (Patty Griffin - Flaming Red). An Aussie recording of Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap set me on the the VR4s discontinuity. I passed on the Von Schwekerts and took a chance with a used pair of Living Voice Avatars. A decision that eventually I was pleased to have made.That said the VR4s were very good indeed and in some ways at some times better than both the Spendors and the Living Voice speakers. I'm now beginning to consider a short list for a 3rd high quality system - one where bass extension and loudness are more important.
Anyway thanks for reminding me to be sure to check out this excellent manufacturers current products before my next purchasing decision.
Give me rhythm or give me death!
Edits: 01/11/15
Time is short and limited. Why short change the the experience?
Give your system, your undivided attention!
NO DISTRACTIONS!
No background listening while reading, or playing with a smart phone, computer, or iPad.
Listen in a dimly lite room, without distractions. for maximum effect and enjoyment.
Thirty years ago when I started to get serious about audio, I was a critical listener. As I matured as a audio listener and musician, I really started to relax about my system and just enjoy the music. I also noticed that in a macro sense, it now only takes me a few minutes, maybe only seconds, to tell if a system sounds right, i.e. like real music. If it isn't, I lose interest quickly and/or feel very stressed. Critical listening is helpful when making system changes but, as a regular, activity, we all need to get a life!
because I wish to. I always have been a critical listener ever since I was a young teen and was putting together my first systems. I also analyze lyrics to assess the message. Again, because I wish to. I have done this consistently through the years; it is natural to me. I used to spend endless hours with a tape deck and various types of tapes attempting to make a perfect copy of a disc. I would listen critically to the copy to see how much variance there was between it and the disc. Why? Because I love doing such things.
In hindsight, I think I have the mind of a studio engineer in many respects. When I built my listening room I did so with a very critical eye toward creating a space with nearly perfect conditions to assess systems and have a sense of hearing the rig as opposed to hearing the room. I love the results and have been extremely pleased with the result. For decades I have applied critical listening to the formation of systems in the home. This is my pleasure, and I do love building systems every bit as much as hearing a new piece of music. It is a thrill to me to adjust a rig and hear the difference in sound quality. I enjoy building up a rig, not by waiting around for break in, but actively pursuing an acceptable level of sound quality. This requires critical listening, and it's a joy to do so.
Only when I have a book in front of me do I relax and stop the critical listening. Back when I had a hard limit on my audio budget I was frustrated because I wanted a supremely good sound, but I didn't want to pay for it. I wanted a fairly flawless experience, but I wanted it on the cheap. This is impossible to achieve; you simply have to put out the tens of thousands necessary to achieve that level of sound quality. If you don't you're fooling yourself into thinking you have it. I'm not interested in arguing this perspective, but I've arrived at it over the past decade and through building systems from below $10K through about $100K. I simply had to put thousands more into my systems in order to have pleasure at the result. Now that I have I still listen critically, but find great joy in the sound rather than displeasure. Performances are compelling, as opposed to simply OK.
It is a false dichotomy, and a perniciously persistent one, that suggests one cannot be a "music lover" if they are a critical listener. I would suggest that one cannot be much of an audiophile if they are not a critical listener. I am grateful I did not spend inordinate amounts on a huge media collection which sits largely unused, while those thousands could have been put to use in development of a supremely good rig on which everything heard would be a joy. I am intimately familiar with the music I play, and have regularly exciting experiences hearing it, as it is powerful, beautiful, inspiring. I would suggest that it's a great way to participate in the hobby.
So, in the end, if being a "music lover" means little critical listening, or pumping a large part of the finances toward bulking up a media collection, then no, I'm not a "music lover." Instead, call me what I love, a System Builder.
And who is there in the industry or the hobby to tell me I'm wrong about going at it this way? No one. :)
The greatest impediment to advancing an audiophile system is the audiophile.
nt
mostly when I'm auditioning new equipment. Other than that it's simply toe tappin'.
When I'm auditioning gear in consideration of a purchase, I get all analytic-like. Once the decision has been it's time to sit back and enjoy!!
-RW-
Man, what piece is playing? .... I can't find the album cover.......
You got it!
What's an "album"?
-RW-
"What's an 'album'?"
.
...an equipment reviewer.
The reason I quit reviewing equipment was that I got tired of critical listening and wanted to just relax and enjoy the music.
I have never considered upgrading since then.
fds
It's tough for me to listen "critically" when music is playing on a good stereo. On the other hand I can't help but listen critically when a bad stereo is attempting to play music.
Others seem to enjoy and revel in critical listening - more power to them.
Give me rhythm or give me death!
Can drive one crazy to some extent if one lets it. This is why we use boundaries and other things to balance ourselves. Yen Yang...........ommmmmm
E
T
However, whether I enjoyed listening to something is another matter entirely. Yes, sometimes I just don't listen and, instead, go on the internet ;-)
For me, I critically listen to demo various gear.
I suspect that it is possible to critically listen to the music as well?
[text deleted].
Big J
"... only a very few individuals understand as yet that personal salvation is a contradiction in terms."
Edits: 01/09/15 01/09/15
Wonderful description!
Thanks for that.
When listening to music becomes too often "critical" then I want a new hobby. With job stress and parenting I have no desire to get wound up over my stereo system these days.
That said, when I am auditioning components, or trying new DSP crossover settings or voicing a DIY speaker, I think I am surely doing "critical listening". I am using very familiar test tracks as a sort of "test stimuli" (i.e. using music to listen to equipment instead of using equipment to listen to music.)
That said, I still enjoy playing my most often used "test tracks" in a "non-critical" environment for the sheer joy of hearing such impeccably recorded music. They're not used to "test" systems for nothing, these tracks!
Cheers,
Presto
Almost as regular as the stopped clock!
Do you not listen to music critically?
What is the difference between critically listening to music and critically listening to music reproduction? I find them intertwined.
When I hear this (fill in the blank) question I wonder if the questioner is saying they listen to music while reading a book or having a conversation.
Whether listening to subtleties of a performance or whether the system in question is capable of revealing those subtleties ...
I figure this will get asked again within two months.
Probably by Tinear, though wangmr might hop aboard that merry go round.
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
.
...you'll spend every penny trying to obtain, un-obtainable.
“Somebody was always controlling who got a chance and who didn’t. - Charles Bukowski
I just read James Franco is in pre-production for a film based on Bukowski.
I don't "critically listen to" equipment, except when I'm evaluating something.
Mostly, I critically listen to performances and productions, and am always interested in the nuances of the work. It helps to make me a better musician and audio engineer.
:)
reasoning side and allowing oneself to relax into the feeling one.
To be extra-attentive to how a component sounds is to dilute the appreciation. Similarly, to concentrate on the performance (every time you hear it, comparing and contrasting to others), is to lessen its impact. To do both, I'd emphasize, is truly to lose much.
Of course, the listener must evaluate an artist/recording, but I'm speaking to those who look upon music as some sort of test venue for their equipment (at least that's the impression from their comments); or their equipment as some sort of performance measuring apparatus.
Simply put, to obsess over the performance and equipment is similar to the scientist who spends the day identifying and categorizing flora, quite unaware of the natural beauty surrounding her.
Looking down his nose at us, all to glimpse his navel.
You never change,desperately wanting to be that man of exclusive taste, but pedestrian in reality.
Good news though for you on Monday, college football finally overall has talent down to level for the Ducks to actually win.
:)
To tinhead: I'm a musician and audio engineer. For me, listening to the details and the creativity of a work doesn't detract from enjoying the experience, it adds to it. Heck, I sometimes giggle like a little girl when I hear the way a passage is played or a soundscape is created or when a fellow player executes a little 8-note solo perfectly. Those are 'high-five moments'!
Back in October, when a bunch of us toured legendary 'The Village' recording studios in Santa Monica, I was coming unglued inside, thinking about the music which was made there. :) Sure, LA-4s and Neve channel strips and U47s are cool, but, to me, it's what is created with them that pushes my buttons (not that I don't appreciate the excellent design and talents of the equipment's creators as well!). I'll post a pic of me at a console when I figure out how to get it from here to there.
:)
We are all in an Asylum....
A little dab will do ya...
Repetition.
Funny Farm.
Groundhog Day.
Repeat.
"Squirrel!"
Maybe?
"Once this was all Black Plasma and Imagination" -Michael McClure
nt
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