Reading an old post from 2006:

Where No Low Powered Amps Have Gone Before

Although being a little old-love-letter-embarrassed about some of my ecstatically enthusiastic exclamations… there was this:

But this is not about how the speaker or system sounds.

It is not.

This is about how the sounds affects the listener.

In the end why should I care about the sound, beyond a certain minimum standard, any more than I care about the minute construction details of the chair I sit in, or the the type of weaving and glue the carpet underneath my feat uses? What we CARE about REALLY is how comfortable the chair is; about how pleasant the carpet is to look at and feel underneath our feet.

What if all reviews and all show reports paid attention to nothing except how the sounds …made …them …feel.

I bet the Stereophile list of Class A components would look a lot different than they do now.

Ah, the old days of Stereophile recommended lists and innocent youth:-) [They are so far down into mid-fi these days that they just are not relevant from our perspective].

So, having this discussion, this argument, with both Peter Qvortrup, and on this blog with Joe Roberts, about their perspective that the ultimate is the ‘absolute sound’ and how anything else is, essentially, worthless candy that is just a passing fashion….

I see their points, and do not necessarily disagree with them if one is trying to make a LOGICAL choice about what their system should sound like… but I keep coming back to the above sentiment. I may not care, and my feet and toes do not care, if the carpet under my feet is a Persian carpet from one of the oldest families and a very valuable antique. Authenticity is not always the highest priority. Sometimes it is softness, and attractiveness, and smell and cost and numerous other things that are independent from authenticity.

Sure, if authenticity has all the features you are looking for, and you can afford it, then you are in the best of all worlds, and you just have to do some investigation and find the most authentic instance of whatever it is you are interested in, whether it be Persian carpets, Winterthur Queen Anne chairs, or home audio reproduction.

But if you are looking for that gestalt, that symbiosis with the Now, that unnameable something, then perhaps some more introspection is required and deeper evaluation of just what it is that our particular souls are looking for.

Which is, of course, the problem with using ‘how do you feel?’ methodology – it relies on us being introspective, and being introspective is difficult. It also relies on us being extremely honest with ourselves- and that is nearly impossible for any of us. It is easier to rely on one’s ‘betters’ to tell us what to buy and what to think. And then move on.

Facts… unfiltered and unprejudiced facts… are great and I am not suggesting anarchy [ala TAS].

But if you can understand ‘how you feel’ about something with minimum contamination from all the hordes telling you what you feel, then I believe THIS is the way to determine the true worth of something that is much art as science.

[This is a fun movie clip, but in truth, I find the newer Star Treks juvenile, shallow and self-indulgent, including much of what is at the end of this clip (after Spock’s mother appears). But I LOVE the original series, written by the who’s who of sci fi authors and inspiring several generations at NASA et. al. … and little ole me. ]

How.. do… we… feel?

Not an easy question. In fact quite difficult, for all of us.

Funny, I like PQ’s Audio Note gear precisely BECAUSE of the ways they can make me feel. 🙂 [to wit, it makes me feel good or ecstatic, and does not make me feel bored or irritated]. That some of this gear is as close to authentic we can get with current technology, approaching the ‘absolute sound’, well… that’s just great too. 🙂