In the late 1980’s while in my impressionable late 20’s, I suffered from a bout of what I would define as “audio-mania”, that is a tendency to imagine I could hear things dependent on: 1. Magazine reviews 2. Hi-fi shows 3. Price 4. Objective technical tests (square waves, noise figures, distortion figures, wow, flutter, rumble, stylus compliance, frequency graphs etc etc) 5. Inverse “button” snobbery (“less is more”) 6. Disdain for the humble “music system”. 7. How cool something looked.
I spent hours devouring the contents of glossy magazines and at hi-fi shows drooling over the latest multi-thousand pound hi-fi goodies. I would convince myself based on these reports of double blind tests and scientifically proven “facts” that one piece of equipment was provably superior to another. I would then go to a dealer, spend a cursory amount of time hearing music played through said equipment, and then spend my hard earned cash. Over the following few weeks, it would gradually dawn on me that I didn’t actually like the way that the piece of equipment played my music and would feel grievously let down and stupid. Finally, in 1991, I decided that I would actually go to a decent dealer, sit down and listen to the equipment properly. As much as possible I would ask for this listening to be “blind”. With the exception of loudspeakers this was possible simply by sitting with the equipment rack and dealer behind me while the dealer switched things around. Sure, not double blind, but pretty good nevertheless. On one such trip I had equipment presented by a well known UK hi-fi journalist, Alan Sircom. I did not know it was him at the time but recognised his picture later. He played a trick on me by pretending to connect up a Linn Sondek turntable when he was actually connecting a Naim CD1 player. The sound of the “Linn Sondek” blew me away and I nearly ordered one on the spot. It was a great prejudice destroying trick as he clearly noticed that I was suffering from vinyl prejudice problems. Then he blind tested the Naim CD1 against the original Arcam Alpha for me. I “predictably and repeatedly” could not tell the difference, so bought the Arcam and saved myself a packet of cash! I eventually also bought a Linn Sondek when blind tested against my existing Rega Planar 3 – as I still wanted something to listen to my 500 or so LPs on. Unfortunately that meant spending most of the money I saved by not buying the CD1. After a similar session at a different dealer I replaced my expensive integrated amp with a (then) cheap, used, slightly knocked about and very unfashionable Naim 42/110 pre power combo. A good thing that was a “blind” test because I would never have bought it based on its looks! The whole process took about 3 months and endless patience on the part of the dealers. It totally cured my audiomania and upgrade-itis. I did not replace any of that equipment until I bought the Duet, and even then for reasons other than sound quality. I have mixed and matched since, adding other equipment for other rooms, but never "upgraded" those original items. The moral of the story? When it comes to listening to music, what is “scientifically better" is totally irrelevant. What matters is what gives you the most enjoyment – and it takes time to test that. Trying to be "objectively subjective" about how you feel is actually very difficult. Prejudice is a very powerful emotion and doing your best to overcome it is the only way to end up with equipment that gives you "measurable and repeatable” listening pleasure in the long term. Having been cured of my hi-fi addiction I went out and bought more music, went to concerts, took up sailing and met my future wife. In other words I got a life. A strategy I would humbly suggest many contributors to this forum would benefit from ;) So where does that put me in this argument? Definitely on the side of the blind listening test camp. My only caveat being don't rely on anybody else's blind test, only one you have done yourself. Only *your* brain will tell you which of the pieces of equipment sound "best" to *you*. -- TheLastMan Matt http://www.last.fm/user/MJL-UK *SqueezeBoxes:* SB Duet (Controller + two receivers) *Server:* Synology DS107+ NAS (with firmware 2.3-1157) running Squeezebox Server 7.5.3 on Synology Package Manager *Network:* Netgear DG834GT ADSL modem/router, 2 x Buffalo WHR-HP-G54 as access points *Livingroom:* Receiver into Naim 42/110 amp, B&W CM2 speakers *Kitchen:* Receiver into Denon DM37 mini-system, B&W 686 speakers *Study:* Linn LP12, Naim 72/Hi-cap/Headline. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TheLastMan's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=16021 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=88345 _______________________________________________ audiophiles mailing list audiophiles@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/audiophiles
