SQ vs. Music

After suffering the slings and arrows of relatives’ braying about how I’m just "listening to the equipment" I began to catalogue all of the things that I listen to besides the music and equipment: noise; vinyl quality; vocal quality and timbre; acoustic instrument resonance even to the extent of trying to identify the piano by its sound; sound of the hall; effectiveness of the mic setup; conductor’s control and interpretation; my room’s acoustics; there must be many more. If all of the above perform optimally you’ve got some "SOUND" to evaluate, whether it’s music or equipment. You could run it through an old NAD integrated with a pair of almost any modern speakers or phones and you’ve got excellent sound!
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Wise man speaking...

I concur with you.....

I pick the artist I want to listen to first, almost always. I then pick which album by that artist I want to listen to. Sound quality seldom enters into the decision process. The choice of music wins maybe 95% of the time.

Very good post.... Thanks...

It is the same for me.... And the reason why is simple in a rightfully controlled audio system ALL sound better even the worst files i have....

My goal was listening music i love first and last.... Some music i enjoy because of the sound quality.... But most of the music i listen to i know it for the last 50 years....I only appreciate it better now...One of my favorite is Scriabin and almost all i have is bad russians recordings....But the sound is way better now even staying the bad recordings they are i enjoy them more....


You have a good system if the sound is no more there,like an obstacle or an impediment, only the music.... This is my experience....

Music is not sound at all, but the relation between sounds,and this relation is not reducible to sound, was written by the great maestro Ernest Ansermet....I read his 1200 pages book.... 😊😎

Way too many audiophiles are hung up on "sound quality" to the detriment of enjoying an emotional connection to The Music!

It is only so with an exact correlation with their incapacity to create an optimal audio system, except by throwing money...

When an audio system is installed rightfully in his 3 working embeddings dimensions, only music exist, no more sound...A natural timbre playing piano is only that: a natural timbre playing piano; then only music with no more sound problems...

It is impossible to stop any cd or files playing in a very good audio system....The pleasure is too great and the boredom and frustration are at zero level...

I never listen to what is commonly called music. This is all noise to me.
I always listen for the sound, that’s where true music is.

I wonder why in some strech of the imagination the great Maestro Ernest Ansermet, also a mathematician, wrote a 1,200 pages book demonstrating that music is ANYTHING in consciousness except only sound...

I wonder why Celibidache another great maestro was attentive to silence first and sound in second...

Myself i will bet that music and silence are there when we listen to an audio system IN SPITE OF the sound, good or bad...

Thats why it’s particularly disturbing to me when SQ becomes such a seductive force.

This is true ONLY when some optimal point is not passed by... Or when some obstructive negative force working in the audio system impact our unconscious ears...Be it vibrations, too high level noise floor or some acoustical settings problems...

But passed some quality level, sound is no more an obstruction but the vehicule of music....

My system is not perfect, but i was listening yesterday on youtube a very costly system,7 figures one, compared to my 500 bucks system, and even in spite of the youtube formating, i discerned problems in the acoustic of the room that negatively affect the sound unbeknownst to the owner it seems...The instrumental timbre and timbre voices were fatiguing and unnatural even through my own system... 😁

Then listening to this high cost system i was prefering my low cost system in my room.... 😊

This is why there is no more upgrading costly upsetting dreams for me.....For sure if money were on my tree branch i will upgrade but it does not disturb me at all not being able to do so...

Controlling the three working embeddings dimensions of an audio system is way more rewarding than buying an illusion or a small increase in S.Q....





Acoustic controls for example are in general way more impactful than the changing of an amplifier.... Why people never figure it out ?

The answer is simple: consumer conditioning through audio reviews about gear and through audio threads... Couple that with an unconscious depreciation of the huge importance of the controls methods in the 3 working embeddings dimensions, calling these essentials controls methods now secondary addition of "tweaks".... And like everyone know almost all costly tweaks are alleged "snake oil"....😁 All the importance is shifted then on buying the new electronic design.... This is consumers conditioning not audiophile experience at all....

At the end it is not suprizing that most people dont have a clue about how to install their audio system....They end up frustated and never satisfied....

At this point in time, with all of the tweaking that’s been done, I marvel at how real the music sounds.

I guess i am on the same boat and anyway sound is not music but music is also sound....

I must confess that for 2 years i look for the sound in my listening experiments but now passed a certain minimal  quality point, i am done mostly with the sound.... I dont even contemplate seiously an upgrade...

The piano i listen to now is a real one with the wished tonal timbre when playing notes.....I am conscious of the sound for sure but i listen now to the music .....

My best to you and to all....