Did a better hi-fi change your taste in music?

[paradiziac]

Having upgraded my source, I suddenly find myself listening to lots of Jazz--Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Art Blakey, Miles, Mingus, Ella...the saxes suddenly have fantastic tone and expression and the cymbals are natural...overall the sound is very relaxing yet clear and dynamic.

Prior to this, I've always found jazz a bit heavy going, saxes and trumpets used to make me cringe with my budget DAC.

Anyone else experienced a system upgrade leading them to enjoy a different type of music?

 

[Sabby]

Upgraded from........................ to........................?

Please fill in the blanks.

 

[jaxwired]

Anyone else experienced a system upgrade leading them to enjoy a different type of music?

I think this is very common. I listen to lots of music on my system that I find dull when I've tried it in the car. Some types of music just require a first rate system to be engaging. Because of this, my music collection is far more broad than it would be if I only had a low grade system.

I've had visitors say things like "well, I don't normally dig this type of music, but this sounds awesome!". It's because they've never really heard it the way it's suppose to sound.

 

[paradiziac]

Upgraded from........................ to........................?

Please fill in the blanks.

I was trying to get away from the gear discussion...but since you asked, I just replaced my Musical Fidelity V-Link with an Art Legato USB converter (plus manufacturer supplied USB/BNC cables). The DAC is a vintage Au 51. It's probably just a good match--the DAC and converter are both 16/44 only and the DAC is transport sensitive. Both have BNC connectors. The DAC itself was already good, but improvement from the upgraded converter is not subtle, even in my study system (PC/Spotify/Foobar>Legato>Au 51>Creek 4330>JPW Sonatas)! Must try with my Macmini + main amps and get a good pair of speakers someday!

Reading all these posts on the Onkyo and all the noise about the latest 32 bit async DACs I thought I must be mad paying so much for "just" a 16/44 USB converter, but in reality it's only like investing in a good CD transport and my ears are totally satisfied--I think it's true love this time! I've tried hi-res and upsampled 24/96 and while there's probably an improvement over 16/44 with some DACs of Delta Sigma designs, proper 16/44 done right with multi-bit DAC chips is awesome (but no I haven't heard the Akurate DS so YMMV etc. etc.) :rockout: :bounce: :dance:

 

[paradiziac]

I think this is very common. I listen to lots of music on my system that I find dull when I've tried it in the car. Some types of music just require a first rate system to be engaging. Because of this, my music collection is far more broad than it would be if I only had a low grade system.

Thanks for the insight.

It just occured to me that it might work the other way, and some music might become less enjoyable as well...I can confirm that Motorhead and Electonica also sound a lot better...phew!

 

[The_Lhc]

It just occured to me that it might work the other way, and some music might become less enjoyable as well...I can confirm that Motorhead and Electonica also sound a lot better...phew!

Bad recordings may become less enjoyable but that's not a reflection of the "goodness" of the music itself (which is an entirely subjective opinion anyway).

I can appreciate the technical quality of a better system if it's playing something I don't usually listen to (I do this every year at the Bristol Show for example) but it doesn't necessarily mean I'm going to enjoy the music itself, I can't change the things I don't like (simple guy/girl warbling away with just an acoustic guitar for accompaniment bores me to tears for example). There's certainly things that I can only listen to on a good system though, anything that requires power or attack for example isn't going to cut it on a low power device, so I wouldn't bother listening to it on there.

You're getting into the realms of listening to the hi-fi rather than the music there though.

 

[BenLaw]

+ 1 to jax and The_Lhc

 

[shafesk]

Having upgraded my source, I suddenly find myself listening to lots of Jazz--Coltrane, McCoy Tyner, Art Blakey, Miles, Mingus, Ella...the saxes suddenly have fantastic tone and expression and the cymbals are natural...overall the sound is very relaxing yet clear and dynamic.

Prior to this, I've always found jazz a bit heavy going, saxes and trumpets used to make me cringe with my budget DAC.

Anyone else experienced a system upgrade leading them to enjoy a different type of music?

Think if you have a system you really enjoy, you want to listen to it with music that really shines on it. We often find that real instruments sound better on a good hifi than digital ones, hence we pursue stuff like jazz which sounds more organic than perhaps stuff like drum n bass. Think its only a natural progression. One more thing is, as we get older music tastes change too. Happened to me as well 🙂

 

[TnA200]

Now that I finally have large floor standing speakers with great sound I listen to far more classical than I ever did before. I must add that my other half has tons of classical and I had one box set when we first met! I also listen to some jazz Diana Krall etc.. My Rock/Pop/R&B are still there, but the audio system really makes classical sound so good, intimate and powerful, esp with strings.

So the answer is Yes, a better HiFi did make me change my musical taste... but only insofar as now I have more access to classical music and a greater appreciation of it and I finally have a system that makes it sound good.

Regards, TnA