MusicDirector
New member
- Joined
- May 21, 2013
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- 2,013
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- #1
After walking away from the vinyl format once realizing I could not handle it after wakening to realizing that I was not listening to music as much as to the gear and being in over my head. The article about becoming an audiophile inspired me in a way. As I took some time to evaluate my gear the other day I realized two things:
I only have two pieces that allow me to run with the "high-end" crowd here or anywhere, if you will. My Paradigm Studio 100s and the Ortofon 2M Bronze as near as I can tell.
Realizing this I came to an entirely different conclusion about it all. That's the second point and actually the most important one of all!
At the end of the day, it’s only about the music. I think all of us, including myself as I stated at the top are guilty of forgetting about the music at least on occasion. Inspired by the article recently posted here regarding being an audiophile, it brought me back around to the realistic core of being. We are essentially, at least in part, spiritual beings somehow, in some sense. Music effects us all whether we realize it or not. In my experience of the years, including what I have been told about the younger years before my full understanding, I’ve always had a connection to music without high-end or even mid-fi or any gear at all! I think the same holds true for just about everyone on the planet. That connection has no native levels of strength outside of what we make of it ourselves. In other words, it’s not different with someone who has high-end gear or someone with mid-fi, low-end or even any gear at all! No kind of gear will change it either. A person with high-end gear does not have any stronger connection to music than a person with mid-fi or low-end gear. The connection we humans have with or feel with music is separate from the gear. I’ve been involved with music in nearly every aspect and not once did my connection change with any of it. The only time it “felt” any different was/is when playing an instrument, but that again is a personal experience for all of us, each to one’s own. The connection then is still even keel, it doesn’t become any stronger than the next person’s connection, it’s just a different way or type of connection. The point is nurturing that connection. Yes, as with anything it is possible that if we do not nurture it, it can die. I never would have succeeded in my radio gig had I not been nurturing my connection with music all the years before and continued to do so.(The type of show it was required a keen connection or awareness of what to play because of the nature of it, not because of some policy. Music was chosen based on the average effect it would have on the audience and those working on the show had to be keenly aware of it and that awareness comes only by nurturing one’s connection to music and it is not exclusive to any one or special group of people. I’m inherently no more able to do it then the next person. I was only chosen out of a pool and after trial run because I always nurtured my connection to music in some way perhaps more consistently than the others in the pool at the time or something, so realistically anyone could do that job if they wanted to and put their being to it). I would not have been able to do many of the things I have with music had I not done so.
This led me (a ways back actually)to also consider the arguments about this format is better than that format to be ludicris at the end of the day, especially if the element of how one connects to the music is involved. So somebody prefers vinyl over CD or CD over Hi-rez or streaming over CD, etc. It doesn’t make a bit of difference to one’s connection with music. So at the end of the day, I’ll listen to the music in whatever format I choose (in my case favoring CD) and on whatever gear is on hand and still have the same connection with music. This is the same for everyone. So for me personally, all this stuff about a $4000 RCM cleans records while that $600 RCM does nothing but perhaps ruin them or this $2000 nude microline needle/cart is better than that $400 one over there or that $3500 phono preamp is required to give you better sound while that $600 job could not possibly work at all, etc. It’s all rubbish to me now. If it works, great, if not, then it doesn’t and get a new one of whatever it is. It doesn’t matter if it’s a high-end multi-thousand dollar piece of gear or a $20 dollar piece that works for you. It doesn’t matter if the system you are using cost $100k or$100, if you are feeling that connection with the music, then there you are and you should be allowed to enjoy it without someone telling you that you aren’t just because your gear isn’t high-end or cost $XXX. It's one thing to be pursuing gear to either solve a frightfully annoying sound problem or if your just upgrading or trying to get a brand new system. That's entirely different then if you are just into the gear chasing the non-existent perfect sound,(or keeping up with the jones as many in official audiophile clubs do) then you are not listening to music and nurturing your connection to it. You can't be, your busy listening to the gear. That's what happened to me with getting back into vinyl. I ended up not listening to music anymore. I was just hunting problems and practicing frustration and confusion and listening to people trying to deny my listening and what I was or was not hearing. If you find yourself in this position, you should take a moment and stop to smell the flowers as they say. Doing so you may find that you have already attained the sound you want and now you can get back to nurturing your connection to music. All this is just the way I see it and may be different from anyone else's. ~Eric
I only have two pieces that allow me to run with the "high-end" crowd here or anywhere, if you will. My Paradigm Studio 100s and the Ortofon 2M Bronze as near as I can tell.
Realizing this I came to an entirely different conclusion about it all. That's the second point and actually the most important one of all!
At the end of the day, it’s only about the music. I think all of us, including myself as I stated at the top are guilty of forgetting about the music at least on occasion. Inspired by the article recently posted here regarding being an audiophile, it brought me back around to the realistic core of being. We are essentially, at least in part, spiritual beings somehow, in some sense. Music effects us all whether we realize it or not. In my experience of the years, including what I have been told about the younger years before my full understanding, I’ve always had a connection to music without high-end or even mid-fi or any gear at all! I think the same holds true for just about everyone on the planet. That connection has no native levels of strength outside of what we make of it ourselves. In other words, it’s not different with someone who has high-end gear or someone with mid-fi, low-end or even any gear at all! No kind of gear will change it either. A person with high-end gear does not have any stronger connection to music than a person with mid-fi or low-end gear. The connection we humans have with or feel with music is separate from the gear. I’ve been involved with music in nearly every aspect and not once did my connection change with any of it. The only time it “felt” any different was/is when playing an instrument, but that again is a personal experience for all of us, each to one’s own. The connection then is still even keel, it doesn’t become any stronger than the next person’s connection, it’s just a different way or type of connection. The point is nurturing that connection. Yes, as with anything it is possible that if we do not nurture it, it can die. I never would have succeeded in my radio gig had I not been nurturing my connection with music all the years before and continued to do so.(The type of show it was required a keen connection or awareness of what to play because of the nature of it, not because of some policy. Music was chosen based on the average effect it would have on the audience and those working on the show had to be keenly aware of it and that awareness comes only by nurturing one’s connection to music and it is not exclusive to any one or special group of people. I’m inherently no more able to do it then the next person. I was only chosen out of a pool and after trial run because I always nurtured my connection to music in some way perhaps more consistently than the others in the pool at the time or something, so realistically anyone could do that job if they wanted to and put their being to it). I would not have been able to do many of the things I have with music had I not done so.
This led me (a ways back actually)to also consider the arguments about this format is better than that format to be ludicris at the end of the day, especially if the element of how one connects to the music is involved. So somebody prefers vinyl over CD or CD over Hi-rez or streaming over CD, etc. It doesn’t make a bit of difference to one’s connection with music. So at the end of the day, I’ll listen to the music in whatever format I choose (in my case favoring CD) and on whatever gear is on hand and still have the same connection with music. This is the same for everyone. So for me personally, all this stuff about a $4000 RCM cleans records while that $600 RCM does nothing but perhaps ruin them or this $2000 nude microline needle/cart is better than that $400 one over there or that $3500 phono preamp is required to give you better sound while that $600 job could not possibly work at all, etc. It’s all rubbish to me now. If it works, great, if not, then it doesn’t and get a new one of whatever it is. It doesn’t matter if it’s a high-end multi-thousand dollar piece of gear or a $20 dollar piece that works for you. It doesn’t matter if the system you are using cost $100k or$100, if you are feeling that connection with the music, then there you are and you should be allowed to enjoy it without someone telling you that you aren’t just because your gear isn’t high-end or cost $XXX. It's one thing to be pursuing gear to either solve a frightfully annoying sound problem or if your just upgrading or trying to get a brand new system. That's entirely different then if you are just into the gear chasing the non-existent perfect sound,(or keeping up with the jones as many in official audiophile clubs do) then you are not listening to music and nurturing your connection to it. You can't be, your busy listening to the gear. That's what happened to me with getting back into vinyl. I ended up not listening to music anymore. I was just hunting problems and practicing frustration and confusion and listening to people trying to deny my listening and what I was or was not hearing. If you find yourself in this position, you should take a moment and stop to smell the flowers as they say. Doing so you may find that you have already attained the sound you want and now you can get back to nurturing your connection to music. All this is just the way I see it and may be different from anyone else's. ~Eric
