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Opinion: Turning Off the Filtering

Hi Everyone,

Just wanted to share with all of you some of my thoughts and one of the ways in which I most enjoy listening to music.

Have you ever spend a day in a noisy office, trying to talk to others? Or in a room with terrible acoustics, having a discussion? Have you felt yourself tired and exhausted after that? A lot of times our brain is working to filter out sounds in order to process words. To find the symbols which make up language in spite of the noise, reflections that we may find ourselves in.

This is what I most want to get rid of when I listen to music. It is why acoustics and speakers with dispersion control are so incredibly important to me. I want that utter ease, that ability to turn off all that processing and just listen. You may not have noticed this yet, so I'd like you to think about this, see if you can notice your brain shifting modes.

To me the best systems are the one's that are like being in the great outdoors. That feeling you get when your eyes can see for miles without interruption, but for my ears and brain instead of my eyes.

Is this you? Or did you not know this was you yet? :)


Best,


Erik
erik_squires
riley804
1,224 posts
 
Thanks for sharing this......
erik_squires OP
15,643 posts
 
Here is an experiment you should try to get a better idea of what your brain is doing. Record some one talking in your kitchen, or maybe your office.

Then listen with headphones. Do you now hear all the room acoustics? Does that same conversation sound thick with echo and reverb? Well truth is, your brain was busy filtering out those echos and reverberations you now hear. That's work you are doing you don't even known you are doing.

Now listen again in the same location, with a little practice you can start to hear the reverb and echo that before escaped you.


kijanki's avatar
kijanki
4,394 posts
 
Erik, perhaps it is a little bit like macular degeneration.  Your vision has black spot growing, but you don't know about it (until it is too late) because brain is hiding it from us.  Before they discovered Transient Intermodulation Distortions (TIM) in 70s they made quite a few horrible SS amps.  Internal overshoot of transitions was so bad that output transistors were going into momentary saturation causing tiny gaps in music.  Again, brain was compensating but longer listening was very tiring.  I have room that has a little bit too much of a slap echo.  I bought acoustic panels but am too busy (read: lazy) to put them on the wall.  When I listen at lower volume everything is better including imaging.  A little bit more volume and sound becomes tiring.  I know exactly that this is my problem, but as you said, brain shifts modes, and sometimes we might not have a clue.
We all know that buying gear based on specifications is silly but perhaps we should even pay less attention to sound itself but rather if it makes us feel good.
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