by Michael

RMAF coming right up

Got this in our email box. Kind of hard to read there… so hopefully easier here:

… and it is. For me anyway.

This whole idea that people can say “XXX mixed on XYZ equipment and therefore – how did they put it – playing the music on their equipment is ‘exactly how it was intended to be heard'” is really kind of BS. Don’t you agree?

I mean lots of music gets mixed with EmmLabs A to D equipment. Great bragging rights but IMHO the music produced with their equipment is intended to sound good. Period.

Play it back on better equipment it is going to sound… better. Period.

I mean, they mix using Genelec speakers? What then? What about old Watt Puppy 5’s? From my conversations mixing engineers use speakers that they feel comfortable with, that they can stand listening to for many hours at a time, and that they feel reveals nuances that they believe they need to hear in order to conjure the best results – i.e. it needs enough bass, for example, so they can make sure the bass is not too soft or too overwhelming.

This has nothing to do with enjoyment, or accuracy, or drug-like effects or anything that we who are playing back music are concerned about [in general. for some people making it sound like it did in the studio, no matter how good or bad, is what they want. It is like wanting the original lighting that a painting was painted with, as opposed to optimum lighting to highlight the overall viewing pleasures]

Anyway – curious to see how these sound in surround sound – all but abandoned by the audiophile world and a goodly amount of the home theater world, if the show setups and economy are any indication . I mean, Wish You Were Here *is* my 5th fave Pink Floyd album … or so [ which is one of my top 5 Rock and Roll bands, so, yeah, I like it OK :-)]

in High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo / RMAF 2011 / Show Reports 0 comments
 by Michael

How important is nostalgia?

I was listening to our Audio Note Kegon amplifiers, which use a 300B tube.

Now, in general, I prefer the sound of the 211 tubes, found in the Ongaku and Gaku On, and now the Jinro, amplifiers.

But there was something about the 300B sound that really appeals to me.

It *seems* like it reminds me of the sound and feelings I get when I think of the 60s. Nostalgia is an interesting emotion – and hard to describe and hard to know how other people relate to their own nostalgic feelings. And a lot of it is probably just ‘lost youth’.

But this particular 300B sound – and all 300B amps will be sound different, and very few will have the kick-ass control these amps have over the speakers [making for tighter, more accurate dynamics] – but this sound reminds me of old James Bond movies [which seemed luxurious and futuristic back-in-the day], and people who smiled on the street [in Boulder, people walk around in this preoccupied, politely apathetic state-of-mind], bright colors [what happened to all the colors, anyway?], and endless possibilities [they are still endless, but I am too tired to consider all of them realistic anymore].

Of course, this nostalgia giving rise to enjoyment of the 300B is not limited to ‘sound’, but to music genres as well [classic rock anyone?]. Even Jazz leaves me nostalgic – for the time 10-15 years ago when we were just starting out on this audiophile journey.

And, check this out… if you want to like Rap, or Opera [and don’t already]. Just play it for awhile, the wait a few years, and then play it again. The nostalgia you will feel THEN for the music you play TODAY will make the music much more enjoyable. Weird but true, huh? 🙂

in High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo / Sounding Off 0 comments
 by Michael

Do you find yourself getting more and more sensitive…

… to all sorts of pleasant and annoying noises in our environment?

Is traffic noise getting louder and louder and getting more and more resolution? Kind of a pisser this is.

Are you able to identify the many missing frequencies in the music they play at the gym or at Whole Foods [just fill in the places where YOU experience ambient music]. Kind of shocking that music can still be identified and sometimes even enjoyable in all its sparseness.

Do you find yourself hearing the various resonances in peoples voices and comparing their subtle differences to the singers you listen to most often? Cool huh?

… etc.

We are not X-Men (or Alphas) but we do enjoy a degree of extra sensory hearing power. Lovin’ it.

in High-end Audio HiFi and Stereo / Sounding Off 0 comments