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Am I Getting Soft Here?

I’ve just been loving my stereo lately, this despite the fact everything is far from bank-breakingly expensive and is, well, at least a few years old. Right now I’m streaming CD quality music from Idagio and the sound is just glorious. Timbres are lovely. Sure, I’m listening to a modest. perhaps a ten person Baroque chamber ensemble, but there’s a convincing sense of image, dynamics and space. I’m not in the first row of the venue but I’m far from the nosebleed section or hidden in a corner. Hoping I’m not cursing things with this post!

NOLA Boxer Speakers. Primaluna Integrated amp. Cambridge Audio streamer. Interconnects, etc., at a similar quality level. But yeah, I was able to build my listening room pretty much to audiophile precepts, and everything is painstakingly positioned.

edcyn

Showing 5 responses by grislybutter

grislybutter
2,244 posts
 

@hilde45 

I was thinking about this and realized it's all in my brain. My ears are not improving. What gets better is my brain's ability to process the quality and characteristics of the sound. My brain compares the sound I heard before and I am hearing now and it teaches me to appreciate the differences. What sounded perfect and whole  yesterday now has little and not so little flaws, delays, noise accidents and sound bruises that we have to figure out how to correct and enhance. It's annoying and fun. The bug....  

grislybutter
2,244 posts
 

I tried 8 speakers in 6 months. I finally took out an old pair from my garage from 20 years ago. It sounded as good as the best new pair that I kept. It was pure magic 

grislybutter
2,244 posts
 

@larry5729 I think the group is very diverse. I have a gate keeper too and the only way I can upgrade is if I sell my old gear. I regularly have to defend myself like "I sold this for $600, please don’t nag me for buying a used turntable for $610".

I still remember talking to a sales guy in the city’s top hifi store on Boylston Street back in Boston, and that I asked:
"who buys 4000 dollar speakers?"
He said: "You".
I replied: "I just bought 400 dollar speakers and it’s the most money I spent on stereo, or more than all the money I spent, combined.
"Not today. You will buy this in 20 years for sure, you will keep upgrading"

That was 25 years ago. and he was right about the upgrades. I took a break from audio until my kids grew up, and now I am back to upgrading and tweaking again.
I am far from buying $4000 speakers (at today’s prices probably $8000) but accomplishing a lot with used gear.
There are high spenders who sell their equipment at steep discounts when they upgrade that lets my strict-budget type experience the next step up in sound quality

grislybutter
2,244 posts
 

@dougthebiker 

i was going to edit my comment and add: I don’t care how much my system is worth, it’s not about the money. Understanding what improves the sound have less to do with big bucks investments and more with knowledge 

grislybutter
2,244 posts
 

"You know you're there when when the music is so emotionally involving you have to force yourself to stop listening"

it's good to have quotes like this for quantifying things we can't measure. Sometimes I listen to albums so many times (and I can't stop) I wonder if the wear will be noticeable.

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