How did you develop your ear for music?

[shado]

It is the journey of discovery I have enjoyed. Being exposed to valve technology as a Teenager and noticing the difference between Cassette (hiss), Vinyl (warmth) and the clinical of delivery, CD. Good and bad decisions on my purchase of Hifi equipment - looking for that sound with what I could afford within my budget, where cables really came into their own to allow that final tweaking. As ever it is a generation thing we enjoyed the discovery of CD and the revelation it had on Hifi Equipment. Picture quality from VHS/Betamax that was surpassed by Laservision. DVD was the next best format that had a good impact on the Home cinema front, and now my son is brought up on ipod/mobile phone with HD/Blu Ray on Game consoles and TV. Now reduced to a mini hifi from Panasonic the sonics are still pleasing, probably becaused the speakers are bi-wired, but I look forward to picking out some seperates again and continuing that journey............

 

[JoelSim]

All very interesting, and it's part of why the world goes round. If everyone had the same taste it would be very boring, rather like shopping at Tesco. Go to a Farmer's market and there is better, tastier food, but you pay for it. Same with hifi, in that to get that extra 20%, you have to spend a good amount of cash. But surely if that's what you find interesting then it's the right thing to do.ÿ

My ear comes out of listening to decent quality kit for most of my life, although my experience of hi-end is somewhat limited, I have listened to a good amount of mid-range kit and you get to know what you like, what you want to hear. Working in advertising also helps as I'm overcritical about detail whether it's sound, imagery or copy, just part of the job.

It's also funny that my system sounds supreme with some sorts of music, but play something a little out of the ordinary and it can sound a bit muddled. Just what you're used to, and what you aspire to I guess.

ÿ

 

[Lugs]

Developing an ear for hifi is not the same as tuning an instrument. But both can be learned or developed. I bought a cd a number of years ago which is I'm sure still available: XLO Reference recordings test and burn in CD. Although music wise its not quite to my taste as a HIFI experiment is very interesting especially when seeting up your speakers. It also highlighted the problem / limitations with the badly recorded material I was listening too. At the same time I think the type of music you want to listen too sounds better on different systems and finding a comprimise is the answer. However at the end of the day its what is your prefered sound? Oh and I've opened up quite a few bottles of wine testing hifi over the years too. Never developed any taste in that as reckoned it was a waste of money! hahaha