GoodSoundClub - Romy the Cat's Audio Site

In the Forum: Playback Listening
In the Thread: Music in the Sound: a moving target

Post Subject: Vector ControlPosted by Paul S on: 6/20/2009

Of course we have to fill in gaps and use our imaginations and aesthetics to listen to Music, whether playback or live. And likewise, we should not get stuck listening to isolated sounds alone, at the risk of losing the Music. But isn't this place about making hi-fi that makes the most of the Music?

Gordon, it was my intent in my initial post in this thread to describe how I identified the electricity as a vector/delta that can split/skew the optimal sound away from the music, as though they are separate "elements" in playback.

The post you just responded to identified a number of realistic sounds as being none-the-less unrelated to and irrelevant to Music, and I pressed from there to postulate that a system's ability to produce lifelike sounds is no guarantee that it can or will reproduce anything remotely resembling Music.

I have had plenty of great musical experiences via crappy playback; but the most and the best great "reproduced" musical experiences I have had - by far - have been via my own system at its best. By this I mean that on most of the great occasions of "reproduced" Music, the Sound itself is also optimal; the vectors are missing or their effects are minimal.

I accept that Music is a state of mind. But this does not mean, at all - that I repudiate hierarchical hi-fi. I absolutely embrace the idea of hierarchical levels of playback as this relates to my own listening to Music. Some systems suck, no getting around it. Some are pretty good pretty often.

The idea of Total Immersion in the Sound is probably another Ideal, (more's the pity...), especially with the hi-fi.

Best regards,
Paul S

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