06-19-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree Romy the Cat Boston, MA Posts 10,159 Joined on 05-28-2004 Post #: 1 Post ID: 19524 Reply to: 19524 Where high-end audio starts? fiogf49gjkf0d I spoke recently with an audio guy who gourmet himself as advanced audio fellow and I was stricken how in fact banal and dull his audio interests are. I asked him: what in your view the high-end audio starts? He suggested that it starts with ability of a person to assemble a highly discriminative playback. I was looking at him as he was a hands amputee person who learned how to write holding a pen in his feet or mouth. For sure those handicap people do deserve respect for them overcome their physical limitation and for their accomplishment but this is not what defines what art of writing is. So, I would like to post to the readers of my site a question: what in your view would be the most mandatory and the most prominent ingredient in high-end audio? Where high-end audio starts in a person? I would give you a little tip: in my view the absolute majority of people in audio do not have it. They are hand amputee writers who can write very fast with holding hands in left feet but their writing is not like by Leo Tolstoy, Charles Dickens or Jonathan Swift. Not that do anything wrong but what they do, in my view, is not high-end audio. So, where does audio starts…    The Cat "I wish I could score everything for horns." - Richard Wagner. "Our writing equipment takes part in the forming of our thoughts." - Friedrich Nietzsche

06-20-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree mats Chicago Posts 85 Joined on 09-18-2005 Post #: 2 Post ID: 19525 Reply to: 19524 Aisthesis fiogf49gjkf0d James Hillman talks about experiences of beauty that  touch us in a way that can be recognized by all. Heidegger spoke of objects "shining forth", almost always as a surprise,  when not perceived by us as tools, or resources. The greeks spoke of "the smile of Aphrodite". Often it is accompanied by a delighting breath in, an inhalation of of joy.   May I suggest that instead of breathing in the ignorance and impurity of the world, perhaps we are in those moments, drawing in something that immediately connects us to the light of the heart and the soul. Perhaps this is why we can recognize great sound often in a few seconds. The other night Muti conducted CSO in Bruckner 1, and in a few moments, the delight of the opening  seemed to have transformed the consciousness of the entire hall. This High End is to me a worthy aspiration. Mats

07-06-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree haralanov Bulgaria Posts 130 Joined on 05-20-2008 Post #: 3 Post ID: 19637 Reply to: 19524 It doesn't start with "high end" equipment, that's for sure fiogf49gjkf0d It was some 16-17 years ago, a beautiful sunny morning in April, when I was jogging in the local forest.  Suddenly out of nowhere massive dark clouds covered the sky and in just a few minutes it began to rain heavily. Then the “Voices of spring” waltz (Strauss) started flowing in my mind and I found myself dancing under the rain. It is still one of the most remarkable so called “high end” music experiences in my life. "If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." -A.E.

07-06-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree steverino Posts 367 Joined on 05-23-2009 Post #: 4 Post ID: 19638 Reply to: 19524 Where does high end start?? fiogf49gjkf0d Romy says So, I would like to post to the readers of my site a question: what in your view would be the most mandatory and the most prominent ingredient in high-end audio? Where high-end audio starts in a person? These are actually two different questions as I'm sure you recognize. Where high-end audio starts in a person?   Actually I think this starts when listening to poorly reproduced music begins to annoy or grate on you. For many people they never really experience that annoyance. They can get a satisfying emotional response from hearing a favorite piece of music on a clock radio or cell phone or cheap console audio system. As long as there is enough fidelity to recognize what piece of music is being played that's fine. My aunt and uncle had a mediocre stereo system without it being bottom of the barrel. One day my aunt said to me while I was visiting  "I was over a customer's house and they were playing some classical music I like. The feeling I get there I never get from my own system." To me that's where high end starts in a person. I started to buy them a few moderate priced components that improved the fidelity of the sound and they were happy as clams. What in your view would be the most mandatory and the most prominent ingredient in high-end audio? The most mandatory element in high end is whichever aspect of the music is most important to you (and secondarily in the kind of music mostly listened to). With me it happens to be midrange and so I do what I can to get a relatively accurate undistorted midrange. I worry less about dynamics and bass. Now, accuracy in midrange also requires treble accuracy and at least some soundstage depth and width so I am equally concerned with that. While I listen to non classical music, about 75% of my listening is to classical music and deep bass (below 60Hz) is not as prevalent in that kind of music.

07-06-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree Stitch Behind The Sun Posts 235 Joined on 01-15-2009 Post #: 5 Post ID: 19640 Reply to: 19638 High End fiogf49gjkf0d Kind Regards Stitch

07-20-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree Amir Iran Tehran Posts 347 Joined on 02-11-2009 Post #: 6 Post ID: 19709 Reply to: 19640 No audio fiogf49gjkf0d i think high end start when i sense all sounds are equal in quality. many years of listening to audio i think my high end starts when in my mind there is no differense between sounds of differnet audio systems. www.amiraudio.com, www.hifi.ir

07-21-2013 Post does not mapped to Knowledge Tree RonyWeissman Lyon, France Posts 138 Joined on 05-29-2004 Post #: 7 Post ID: 19714 Reply to: 19524 Good question fiogf49gjkf0d  I would suggest that high-end audio starts with a real love of music and good listening skills. Tolstoy, dickens and swift had an enormous range in their writing skills, each one able to describe their entire country and the people living there. It is a top to bottom picture that encompasses all sounds with dialect, intonation and a genuine love of their characters. Surely this talent can only begin by observation. It is a gift to find oneself surrounded in a pure art form simply by lowering the cartridge into a disc. What a waste to set-up the mega-system just to compare soundstage depth or high-end clarity! This thread is very similar to death and audio wisdom, no?