Oooh! We like that description.
It captures both the contradiction in the perception and the conundrum of achieving an acurate description, both done very neatly.
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thanks for reply, I’ll do as you suggest
I want primarily emotion and enjoyment from listening, but I like fullness of sound, and really appreciate clarity. Although I have a highly analytical mind, I very rarely seek to analyse the music or its production. In my case I prefer good digital reproduction over vinyl, at least based on the vinyl I’ve heard.
When tasting wine, tasting “blind” or not seeing the bottle the wine was poured from, is the best way to really evaluate the wine. If I were to be poured a glass of a classic first growth from a fine vintage, I couldn’t help to not be predisposed to say “wow, that’s tasty” or words to that effect.
Maybe listening to music is the same. If I put a record on a tricked out LP 12, and sit down to listen, I might say “ wow, that sounds better than my ND 555. Just because my mind wants me to believe analog is better than digital.
How bout’ we try listening blind? Have someone else drop the tone arm, or push “play”, then decide. Just a thought.
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This is exactly how I do listening trials at my dealers. He hides the equipment behind screens or something and controls all the playing tracks that I have selected.
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I test any new significant purchase blind, as otherwise I cannot be certain I’m not influenced psychologically either by my prejudices or by hype. But I don’t entrust that to a dealer whose profit may depend on my conclusion…
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I guess it might depend to what relationship you have with your dealer… if it is a long standing one of association and trust built up over a few decades - it’s perhaps different from the one you might have having looked them up as being in your region on google.
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Indeed. In my case I’ve never had a meaningful relationship with a dealer as my frequency of buying new or ex-dem hasn’t been great, and my adult life has been divided between 4 completely different parts of Britain.
Until I moved to Brighton, I bought from different dealers as I moved around for work. Once in Brighton and for nearly 40 years I have bought most kit from the same dealer. It has benefited both I think, it is in their interested to make sure I am a happy customer. And for me, I have a dealer who I trust and gives me excellent service and wants to maintain the relationship so I can trust them not to push me in a direction I wouldn’t want to go.
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the reason I mentioned the chord Mojo dac, is because it does transients quite a bit better than the average chip DAC even in high end digital replay, as it has quite a bit more advanced FPGA processor, but in the end it isn’t just about the number of calculations, it is the way the beginning and the ending of a note (space between the notes) is rendered, the flow of music, which creates a more musical experience… I can hear this clearly now…
Absolutely. This is the only way to minimize expectation bias, confirmation bias, and any other bias/interference in a valid testing procedure.
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