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In the Forum: Audio Discussions
In the Thread: Truth stretched out via Feastrex prism.
Post Subject: Japanese and Western SoundPosted by drdna on: 1/22/2006

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This is kind of an old topic which I noticed about fifteen years ago when I was beginning to be interested in stereo and I noticed that I did not like the typical stereo sound that was being sold to me.  I am half-Japanese and I got interested in a lot of DIY stuff like Joe Roberts Sound Practices and MJ from Japan.  However, it is worth re-visiting the topic now.

I absolutely agree with what Romy says about differences in Western and Eastern listening, but I do not know about the language theory.  I don't know any Japanese, but I definitely have a Japanese ear, I think.  So what I would say is that genetically there is something about the listening brain of the Japanese person that is different from the Western person.  Perhaps it is this difference that has led to the changes in the form of the language over time, rather than the other way around. 

In any case, it is true that to my ear there is something intangible and very emotional about the sounds that my stereo makes that I crave to hear. 

I also have a tendency to ignore bad sounds.  It is very easy for me to ignore scatches on a record, for example, and hear the music.  I think also the Japanese may ignore some things that certain stereos do to traumatize the sound, making it compressed, etc. if it can still deliver some of the emotional magic.  A great example of this is the Koetsu cartridge: warm, syrupy, not super precise, but so voluptuous and delicious.  It is a trade-off. 

This is why I can sit any truly enjoy Phil Niblock's Early Winter composition and find delight in its nuance and subtlety, when many Western listeners will just hear terrible monotonous noise.

I have found that Japanese stereo emphasizes this emotional aspect, sometimes to the detriment of the other aspects of the Sound.  The same can be said of the Western stereo, which can be ultra-accurate but totally lacks any musical quality, entierly drained of magic. 

The ultimate was visiting (again) Sound by Singer in Manhattan last week, where their flagship system was so screechy-horrible sounding to me that I had to shut it off the minute the salesman left the room, just to allow my blood pressure to come back to normal.

I think it is important not to let either predilection lead us astray in our quest for simply delivering the Sound through the stereo in our homes.

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