Vinyl Asylum

Posted by cjfrbw (A) on September 12, 2006 at 22:49:18

In Reply to: How often does an equipment change lead to "dramatic, night and day" sound changes for you? posted by jsm on September 12, 2006 at 18:25:02:

I think there is a psychoacoustic "zone of accommodation." in listening. It is like those two dimensional patterns that you stare at with your eyes unfocussed, eventually it starts to look exactly like a three dimensional pattern. The brain seeks to make sense of the world, so eventually it convinces you your stereo is a "real" sound, and cues into it. The more it hears the same stereo, the faster it cues through habituation.
Sometimes differences can be "perceived" but are merely new for a while until the brain is familiar with them and incorporates them into a new paradigm. They are not necessarily better.
A lot of audiophilia nervosa comes from "eureka" epiphanies when something merely sounds different, maybe refreshing because of novelty or change, not necessarily "better".
It takes a bit of listening to get into the "zone of accommodation' when something is different to even be able to judge if it is better, worse, or just a sideways move.
It is like the view from a home. Somebody else's view may seem breathtaking at first , but eventually, you get used to it and don't even pay attention to it any more.
However, it really pisses me off when things do actually get better, because sometimes I wish they wouldn't.
Better turntables and arms sound better, silver tone arm and speaker cables sound better to me, better preamps etc.
Night and day? Increments mostly, but the last real biggie was hearing the cheapo turntable I bought on ebay a few years ago after years of digital, I was hooked again.