No doubt if I understood the mathematics of music better, or the history of music better, or knew all the different performances of great classical music, or knew extensive details about musical instrument construction [say how great pianos, or violins, are made and what they sound like as a function of the woods used and year they were made], that these would also given me greater appreciation of the music – beyond just the music itself.

But, I think that the ability to see into the music itself, to see the notes, and harmonics and the spaces created – that this ability can lend itself to something more natural and deeper, more brain expanding and more emotionally relevant than what is provided by the added context of being a card-holding member of these other learned professions.

This something is The Music [capitalized]. Audiophiles can see The Music better than non-audiophiles.

You might think that being a musician would give one an even greater appreciation of music.

But, no. Musicians hear all the mistakes and imperfections – making it potentially even harder for them to experience The Music than non-musicians.

What is The Music? The Music is the quintessentially perfect analog to what we hear as ordinary music. For each note and harmony we hear in the music – the same note or harmony is also found in The Music – but perfect. Every composition can be heard as music… and Music – so wonderful it is [almost?] too beautiful to bear – if you listen ‘just right’.

The Music is what musicians are TRYING to play. It is what we are TRYING to hear.

It is a communication from the souls of the players to the souls of the listeners.

High-end audio makes for a higher bandwidth for that communication. Lo-Fi is like looking at a Michelangelo through mud. Mid-Fi is like looking at a Michelangelo through Oktoberfest beer. Hi-Fi is like looking at a Michelangelo through clear Rocky Mountain spring water. [OK. Stupid analogy. But what is one of our posts here without at least one analogy that is a wee little bit forced].

Even through mud, there is some outline of The Music that people hear when listening to music. This is why we all can listen to and enjoy music. The Music is like sex. Never the same twice, always the best it has ever been and ever can be, and for a while it makes life seem like it just may be worth living after all.

This somewhat isomorphic mapping of the music we hear to an ethereal, idealized The Music is an abstract, perhaps even spiritual , interpretation of the more technical perspective, which we have examined several times, that looks at the various complex patterns found in the music we hear and how these patterns affect our minds in various ways.

A couple of weeks back a couple of comments on the RMAF 2013 show got me to thinking.

The gist of their comments was that although several rooms sounded pretty good – they weren’t exciting. The implication being that… well, there are several implications:

1. That we are much more ready to like and buy systems and components that are exciting sounding

2. That many systems, components and brands go for a more ‘accurate’ sound, or a ‘palatable’ sound, or, to revisit our basic sounds: Impressiveness, Sweetness, Naturalness, Realness and Emotional sounds.

3. That many people hear so many non-exciting systems, that they are not only willing to ‘put up with’ somewhat boring sound – they have come to expect no different.

4. That, although systems with Impressive bass CAN BE exciting, and there were several at this show, they can also be not exciting; like at this show. There needs to be something more than big woofers and a big amp.

So what makes a system sound exciting?

Good question, I think. [thanks, glad I asked it :-)]

For me it is a combination of great midi-dynamics and speaker control and engagedness / emotion / soulfulness. Everything else has to be good, but not great.

It helps make a system sound exciting if I hear ‘my music’ on it – i.e. music I am familiar with, either recently loved or familiar from ages and ages ago [so it seems as I recover from Turkey Day] back in my youth.

At least for me, Realness does not come into it. Nor does [closely related] accuracy, or naturalness or Impressiveness or resolution.

Also, for me, and I can argue for the vast majority of people, mid-bass are the most exciting frequencies. Around 30-40 hz.

If this is true for most people then we can see that:

1. The industry is building and wanting their sound to be a ‘non-exciting’ sound.

2. That one pays the big bucks for things, like 20hz bass and very high-resolution and very high accuracy which are awesomely fun, but which do not make for an exciting sounding music [some people may, however, opine that this is required for just a good ole basic ‘good’ sound]. This means that for many people, an exciting-sounding system can be had for not too much money [inexpensive tube amp and pre on inexpensive horn speakers (good ones of which are hard to find – try high-efficiency speakers like Audio Note) with a cheap turntable as source].

Audio Note sets up an exciting sounding system every so often at the shows, when the room is of a shape and construction that allows the speakers to be happy in the corners. Unfortunately the amp [argh] and most of the gear is often on a table that acts like a vibrating string on a guitar, causing various parts of the midrange and mid-bass to be washed out. However the vast majority of people go out of their way to mention that they really love the sound in these particular rooms at these particular shows.

It have a feeling that Excitedness may trump all other aspects of sound, assuming their is no overt bad behavior in other parts of the sound.