Loving music and loving hifi

[John Duncan]

On another thread, davedotco just said the following:

I love my music and I love my hi-fi, they are not at all the same thing.

I don't understand why some people just can't understand that.

which I found very interesting, so thought it might be worth discussing.

So, discuss...

 

[professorhat]

One and the same for me.

A hi-fi's single purpose surely is to reproduce music - hopefully music you find "good".

Thus, 2 + 2 hopefully = 4 and good hi-fi hopefully = good music.

 

[Leeps]

Aren't we all in the same boat as Davedotco?

i mean, how much of this forum is about people getting excited about boxes & how much is spent talking about music? At times, the journey & the route taken are as interesting as the destination, especially if you've got on the wrong bus.

 

[plastic penguin]

What's the point of spending huge amounts of money on hi-fi if you don't like music?

If one doesn't have an interest in playing tennis, don't buy a racquet.

 

[steve_1979]

For me the interest in hifi equipment and my love of actually listening to the music are two completely separate things.

Speaking as an amateur as far as understanding the equiptment is concerned I find it fascinating learning about how things like speakers, amplifiers, digital audio and even cables work. But on the other hand when I'm actually listening to the music I rarely think about any of those things, I just enjoy the music for what it is. In fact part of the reason why I bought an 'all in one' hifi system is because it allows me to just sit back and enjoy the music without feeling the need to keep tweeking the system.

When I'm not at home I often listen to music on a little £12 portable speaker plugged into an MP3 player. I find that even though the sound quality isn't anywhere near as good as a proper hifi system I still enjoy listening to music on it just as much.

It's similar to other things like cars. I enjoy reading about cars because I like to understand how things like engines, differentials and different materials work. I also enjoy driving but when I'm sitting behind the wheel I rarely consider the mechanical side of what's happening, I just enjoy the experience.

 

[professorhat]

When I'm not at home I often listen to music on a little £12 portable speaker plugged into an MP3 player. I find that even though the sound quality isn't anywhere near as good as a proper hifi system I still enjoy listening to music on it just as much.

In a way that's the nub of it - if you don't enjoy listening to your favourite music on a cheap, crappy quality bit of kit, then you're probably not a music fan as such. There are tunes that I'll always feel a buzz when I hear them, whether it be from an old Nokia ringtone, or on the WHF reference system (for example). The same goes for films - there are films I will enjoy almost as much watching on an old black and white TV as I would watching in the BFI IMAX.

However, it's that "almost" that's key. It's that little bit extra of enjoyment you get from listening to that track / watching that film on a decent system that makes this hobby worthwhile. If you got just as much enjoyment from it, then why would you spend thousands of pounds on a good system - it wouldn't make any sense.

 

[plastic penguin]

IMO you have to be a music lover first and then the hi-fi comes as a consequence. Being a hi-fi lover and "quite like" music doesn't make sense to me.

 

[steve_1979]

...If you got just as much enjoyment from it, then why would you spend thousands of pounds on a good system - it wouldn't make any sense.

It doesn't make sense.

Better sound quality = better enjoyment of the music.

And yet I still enjoy music on the low-fi £12 portable speaker just as much I do on my £1300 hifi system.

These two statements are contradictory and yet they are both true.

 

[matt49]

I still enjoy music on the low-fi £12 portable speaker just as much I do on my £1300 hifi speakers.

That sounds very wholesome and right on, and I'd like to agree, but for me it somehow doesn't ring true.

If you have the choice of listening to a track on the £12 system or the £1300 system, are you really completely ambivalent? And if you are, why not sell the £1300 system and buy £1300 worth of music?

Or have I misunderstood you?

:cheers:

Matt

 

[Covenanter]

I think there is a complete and utter difference.

There are people here who seem to spend an inordinate amount of time auditioning kit, moving their speakers two inches to the left (or right), balancing their amplifiers on pieces of plastic and their speakers on Blue-Tak, etc, etc ,etc. To me that's just hifi for hifi's sake and nothing to do with music.

Since I bought my new kit last year I've done nothing to it. But I've listened to an awful lot of music, and bought a lot too, and had an immense amount of pleasure from it. To me hi-fi kit is a means to an end and not an end in itself. (It always amuses me when people here go on about how kit looks! As a small clue, you should be listening to it not looking at it!)

Chris

 

[professorhat]

If you have the choice of listening to a track on the £12 system or the £1300 system, are you really completely ambivalent? And if you are, why not sell the £1300 system and buy £1300 worth of music?

Exactly. If you don't have a choice, fair enough. But if you're sitting at home and you prefer the £12 system to the £1,300 system, then questions would have to be asked as to the point of the £1,300 system. I know my OH would be asking those questions anyway!

 

[nads]

On another thread, davedotco just said the following:

I love my music and I love my hi-fi, they are not at all the same thing.

I don't understand why some people just can't understand that.

which I found very interesting, so thought it might be worth discussing. So, discuss...

i agree.

HiFi is just a means to enjoy the music i like.

i still enjoy my music without the HiFi as you would never make any money if you did not leave the HiFi.

 

[matt49]

It always amuses me when people here go on about how kit looks! As a small clue, you should be listening to it not looking at it!

I'd rather have hifi that looks good, for the same reasons that I'd rather have a cupboard or a chair that looks good. I understand that other people might have different preferences. But I don't think my preference for hifi that looks good is vacuous or superficial.

 

[steve_1979]

I still enjoy music on the low-fi £12 portable speaker just as much I do on my £1300 hifi speakers.

That sounds very wholesome and right on, and I'd like to agree, but for me it somehow doesn't ring true.

If you have the choice of listening to a track on the £12 system or the £1300 system, are you really completely ambivalent? And if you are, why not sell the £1300 system and buy £1300 worth of music?

Or have I misunderstood you?

:cheers:

Matt

No you haven't misunderstood anything. It's just doesn't make sense.

At home I will always choose to listen to my proper hifi system because it has better sound quality which means I can enjoy the music better. Yet when I'm in the garden or at work listening to the cheap portable speaker I still enjoy the music just as much even though it has lower sound quality.

It's a contradiction that I don't even understand myself.

 

[professorhat]

At home I will always choose to listen to my proper hifi system because it has better sound quality which means I can enjoy the music better. Yet when I'm in the garden or at work listening to the cheap portable speaker I still enjoy the music just as much even though it has lower sound quality.

You're very right in that this paragraph is nonsensical. You enjoy the music "better" on your proper hifi system, but you enjoy it "just as much" on a cheap portable speaker?

Makes about as much sense as "My favourite thing in the world is skydiving, but I'd much prefer to read a good book"...

 

[Supreme]

I can live without hi-fi but not without music (if you know what I mean)

The hi-fi has been all packed away over the last couple of months as we are doing the house up and I've been listening to most music through an old Kenwood mini system that we have in the kitchen or straight off the laptop. TBH it hasn't been that bad.

 

[ID.]

Kind of like a venn diagram with the two parts overlapping.

For some reason that gives me the urge to make it into a Powerpoint presentation using corporate jargon where I mark the overlapping portion with the title "leveraging synergies"

 

[Singslinger]

I still enjoy music on the low-fi £12 portable speaker just as much I do on my £1300 hifi speakers.

That sounds very wholesome and right on, and I'd like to agree, but for me it somehow doesn't ring true.

If you have the choice of listening to a track on the £12 system or the £1300 system, are you really completely ambivalent? And if you are, why not sell the £1300 system and buy £1300 worth of music?

Or have I misunderstood you?

:cheers:

Matt

No you haven't misunderstood anything. It's just doesn't make sense.

At home I will always choose to listen to my proper hifi system because it has better sound quality which means I can enjoy the music better. Yet when I'm in the garden or at work listening to the cheap portable speaker I still enjoy the music just as much even though it has lower sound quality.

It's a contradiction that I don't even understand myself.

Totally agree with steve_1979 (even if I can't explain it myself!)

 

[stevebrock]

IMO you have to be a music lover first and then the hi-fi comes as a consequence. Being a hi-fi lover and "quite like" music doesn't make sense to me.

+1

 

[abacus]

Don’t know where everybody’s been for the last few century’s but there is no contradiction at all.

It’s the essence of the music that gives you the buzz and this can be heard on even cheap equipment, (Particularly as you are probably concentrating on something else as well) however for total satisfaction, (When all you want to do is sit back and just enjoy the music) then a good audio system is magic.

In case some have not worked out my first statement, everybody through time has enjoyed listening to the local playing music, but get uplifted even more when a pro musician's come to the village.

Hope this clears up the confusion

Bill

 

[hoopsontoast]

I love music and high fidelity reproduction of that music at home.

I can enjoy the music if I am in the car, at work, away from home on some pretty crap 'music delivery devices' which to be honest sound pants but I would always be doing something else at the same time (Driving, working etc).

When I am at home, the Hi-Fi is emersion into the music, I take the time to choose an album, ambient lighting, maybe a candle, get comfy and JUST listen to the album( s ).

Yes the hifi gets used say if I am in the bath, around the flat cleening or in the kitchen cooking but its not the reason I invested in that particular variety hifi rather than an all-in-one, ipod dock or HT system.

Its built for the pure delivery and enjoyment of music. Not to look good or any other consideration.

Hifi is a hobby, Music is something deeper than that.

 

[lindsayt]

When I'm not at home I often listen to music on a little £12 portable speaker plugged into an MP3 player. I find that even though the sound quality isn't anywhere near as good as a proper hifi system I still enjoy listening to music on it just as much.

In a way that's the nub of it - if you don't enjoy listening to your favourite music on a cheap, crappy quality bit of kit, then you're probably not a music fan as such. There are tunes that I'll always feel a buzz when I hear them, whether it be from an old Nokia ringtone, or on the WHF reference system (for example). The same goes for films - there are films I will enjoy almost as much watching on an old black and white TV as I would watching in the BFI IMAX.

However, it's that "almost" that's key. It's that little bit extra of enjoyment you get from listening to that track / watching that film on a decent system that makes this hobby worthwhile. If you got just as much enjoyment from it, then why would you spend thousands of pounds on a good system - it wouldn't make any sense.

I'll tell you the difference that a good hi-fi system makes for me. The biggest difference. This doesn't come with my favourite music. It comes with music that's not my usual cup of tea. Take an average recording of a genre that I'm not particularly into, such as dubstep, jazz, opera. Play that on my car stereo and I'm likely to find it annoying to the point where I want to switch it off or change channels. Play that same recording on a good hi-fi system at a generous volume and it becomes an event. An enjoyable event where I'll be happy to sit there and listen to the whole recording, engrossed and enjoying the performance as an artistic piece of work for what it is.

 

[professorhat]

Don’t know where everybody’s been for the last few century’s but there is no contradiction at all.

It’s the essence of the music that gives you the buzz and this can be heard on even cheap equipment, (Particularly as you are probably concentrating on something else as well) however for total satisfaction, (When all you want to do is sit back and just enjoy the music) then a good audio system is magic.

In case some have not worked out my first statement, everybody through time has enjoyed listening to the local playing music, but get uplifted even more when a pro musician's come to the village.

Hope this clears up the confusion

Bill

I don't think anyone is struggling with this concept at all. Music lovers love music on whatever system it's played on - I get that (and even said it in one of my posts).

The contradiction is saying that you like one thing "better", and then another "just as much". This is impossible. Either you like one thing better (even if it is just a tiny amount), or you like them the same amount.

 

[matt49]

Its built for the pure delivery and enjoyment of music. Not to look good or any other consideration.

I doubt this very much. I doubt there are no other considerations at all that affect your decisions about the equipment you use.

For one thing, I'd imagine that building your own hi-fi kit, and building it in such a way that it not only replays music well but also looks well made, gives you satisfaction and pride in your work. And I'd also suggest that posting descriptions of your experience and pictures of your kit on hi-fi forums are part of this satisfaction.

If you feel no such satisfaction at all, then you're an extremely unusual human being.

Just to be clear: for me there's nothing wrong with getting satisfaction in these ways. Quite the opposite, in fact.

 

[The_Lhc]

On another thread, davedotco just said the following:

I love my music and I love my hi-fi, they are not at all the same thing.

I don't understand why some people just can't understand that.

which I found very interesting, so thought it might be worth discussing. So, discuss...

So in conclusion we all agree with davedotco and he isn't the misunderstood genius/rebel he likes to think he is.

What I don't understand is why he said what he said when he said it, as it didn't appear to have any relevance to the discussion at hand.