Why can some people tell the difference and some cannot?

[ElectroMan]

1978:
People who don't spot the difference in racks, cables, speakers' run-ins etc. are not true audiophiles and they don't listen to music analytically - that's why it's so hard to convince them. They have a very sceptical approach to it as well. They just don't get it and everyone's different anyway.

Audiophiles - are they related to music lovers at all?

 

[idc]

ElectroMan:

Audiophiles - are they related to music lovers at all?

Absolutely they are related. I have have an enjoyment of listening to music, the same way some people who love having the radio on all day with music in thebackground enjoy their music. I also have a hobby, which is hifi and the study of the reproduction of the sound. I dont share that hobby with some one who is quite happy with their background music off the radio. But we are connected in that we enjoy the music.

 

[Anonymous]

ElectroMan:leenorris78:
I suppose its like the eskimo's. They have X number of words for different types of snow. WHAT? X number of words for different types of snow? But snow is snow? Surely!

Totally off topic, but isn't that supposed to be a myth, created by an explorer or journalist?

I did read that we have far more words for rain than eskimos do for snow!that would be inuit words for snow as in the book smillas feeling for snow

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Margetti it was good to meet you at What hifi towers yesterday.I got home at 7.20 good old British rail. But I have been enjoying my music today. Still can't believe how good Option 4 was!!

 

[margetti]

Nick21:Hi Margetti it was good to meet you at What hifi towers yesterday.I got home at 7.20 good old British rail. But I have been enjoying my music today. Still can't believe how good Option 4 was!!

Sorry folks going off-piste - hi Nick, yes a good day indeed - enjoying Santana right now as I type!

 

[Anonymous]

Did you enjoy the Maria track it has a thumping Bass!
Sorry guys I will but out of this Thread just wanted to say hello to Ian

 

[margetti]

Nick21:Did you enjoy the Maria track it has a thumping Bass!
Sorry guys I will but out of this Thread just wanted to say hello to Ian

Oh yes indeedy - see "what have you been listening to" thread.

Right guys, back on topic - and no mention of photography eh!

 

[idc]

Nick21 and margetti. Would you say that the listening rooms and the experience of the reviewers means they have ideal conditions for analytical listening and a wealth of practice and experience? Hence they find differences easier to detect than others would?

 

[Anonymous]

idc they seam to have loads of experience and are very articulate about what they are saying the rooms are vertually neutral so do not affect the sound much if at all.

 

[idc]

Without giving the next Big Question away, how easy or hard did you find it to hear the differences?

 

[JoelSim]

one off:leenorris78:
I wish I could go back to blissful ignorance.

I suppose its like the eskimo's. They have X number of words for different types of snow. WHAT? X number of words for different types of snow? But snow is snow? Surely!

2 years ago, I was into my decks and was loving the music. Music was music. I had 4 kinds of music. Good, bad, stuff I like and stuff I didn't.

Now, I'm comparing different bits of wire, moving my speakers an inch this way or that way. Putting ball bearings under my cd player.

The missus thinks I'm mad. I'm slowly beginning to agree with her. BUT I CAN HEAR THE DIFFERENCE. And I can't go back.I have to accept that forever more I will not be happy with listening to music on an ordinary (Curry's) sound system. There is too much potential to make music sound more engaging and real.

One wire makes a small difference but change the wires, stands, supports, room ect and a whole host of other criteria and the little changes make a whole.

My friends think I'm mad. I have 2 friends who appreciate the effort that I go to. The missus nods and um's and ah's in sympathy but I don't care. Sorbothane pads, mains conditioners, rugs on the floor, bicycle inner tubes, bits of wire from the US, granite plinths, blu tac, tubes, silver plated power plugs, the speakers HAVE to go there, ect, ect. I LIKE IT!!!

There, its out. I got it off my chest. Thanks!!!

dont worry leenorris you go full circle and realise its the amp cd player speakers and above all the music that counts the rest doesnt really matter

The better your system, the more revealing it is, the more you hear differences in cables and the like.

 

[margetti]

yep, I'd go with what Nick has said (don't want to say too much - not sure how much we can say - mods can you please offer guidance?)

But yes, to answer your question - great conditions, great people, great equipment. And all very very professional.

 

[margetti]

idc:Without giving the next Big Question away, how easy or hard did you find it to hear the differences?

Sorry idc, but cannot possibly answer that question - you'll just have to wait

(Seriously, can't answer it without giving the game away).

 

[Anonymous]

ok idc i call your bluff youre really michael heseltine checking up on things

 

[idc]

one off:ok idc i call your bluff youre really michael heseltine checking up on things

It did put me off a bit when I found out that he is an owner (director, both?) of Haymarket. But no I am not him. If I was do you think that I would let the Moderator get away with dleting so many of my posts? No, I would have him/her/it sacked.

Anyway, get back on topic or go away

 

[Andrew Everard]

margetti:(don't want to say too much - not sure how much we can say - mods can you please offer guidance?)

Nothing, preferably, until the magazine's on sale. Thanks...

 

[margetti]

Andrew Everard:
margetti:(don't want to say too much - not sure how much we can say - mods can you please offer guidance?)

Nothing, preferably, until the magazine's on sale. Thanks...

Cheers Andrew -

 

[Andrew Everard]

idc:It did put me off a bit when I found out that he is an owner (director, both?) of Haymarket.

Not an, the.

Lord H has just stepped down as executive chairman of Haymarket Media Group in favour of his son, but remains chairman overall of the Haymarket Group.

 

[Ajani]

idc:
True, but often in hifi we are talking about marginal differences and the phrase 'night and day' is worthless and exaggerated.

Experience and quality of equipment does make differences easier to spot.... But we also need to be very honest as audiophiles about just how subtle some of these differences are.... I 100% agree with your point about "night and day"....

When I write a review and wax on lyrically about the dramatic differences in sound caused by changing a cable or my equipment rack etc.... and a less experienced audiophile (or non-audiophile) tries a similar test and hears NO differences, then I have lost all credibility in his eyes...

About 90% of the differences I've experienced in this hobby were subtle (Many were definitely worthwhile, but still subtle)...

IMO, Subtle is like comparing one shade of light blue against another... in some cases you might have to put both colours side by side and stare intently to determine the difference...

Night and Day is the difference between Neon Pink and Dark Green or a Dr Dre Track VS a Kenny G one.... Even at my most drunk, I could still tell those items apart easily.... Very very very few changes in Hi-Fi are that obvious....

 

[Anonymous]

I think there's also an aesthetic that one develops... difficult to describe but something a creative person can't live without.

I had been shooting film for three decades when I switched to digital cameras and for some time I thought they were the cat's meow. But then I started looking closer at the images I was producing and the workflow components (computer/software) being used and realized I had gained little but lost much; I was a techie, not an artist.

So now I have an expensive film camera, shooting black and white film, and loving it.

I used to listen to vinyl for decades, then switched to CDs for convenience, then to digital - MP3s, iTunes and thought that was just great. But the inner voice kept complaining about the music sounding like rubbish. And that voice was right, it does sound like rubbish!

So now I have expensive tube preamps and amps and a beautiful turntable, playing vinyl again, and blown away by the sound and loving it.

Such is progress...

 

[Anonymous]

ElectroMan:

Audiophiles - are they related to music lovers at all?

How to tell: would you rather listen to

a) a brand new album you've never heard before; or

b) an old favourite with a new tweak in your system?

Music lovers will answer a, audiophiles will answer b.

 

[Anonymous]

many years ago, done photography as a hobby ... got more involved and ended up doing weddings/social events (21 st's etc) on weekends ... used to own Hasselblad, Nikon F3 and Nikon F4 ...all photos were developed/printed in a lab ...

moved to the UK, wife started ebay,sold all the old cameras and bought a canon EOS 400D and a few lenses ...

still do photography, but for ebay ... all photos are edited and enhanced in Adobe photoshop ... amazing program and only know perhaps 1/8 of it's full capabilities

keep on saying that I need to go on a course to lean Photoshop, as am self taught from books but never get around to it ...

 

[Anonymous]

But that's all about the technology, not photography 🙂

 

[Anonymous]

Yup, I voted 'b' ;-)

 

[Anonymous]

Richard Austin:But that's all about the technology, not photography 🙂

sadly, that is true ... but even in the old days, the lab used to pull/push the film ... so even a 'rubbish' photo could be enhanced and corrected

is much easier now with photoshop