Listening to other audiophiles rigs will help to accelerate your journey to audio nirvana!

@sns I feel similar to your thoughts regarding listening to other people’s systems when it comes to attending shows. 

I attended AXPONA this year, the first show I ever attended. I ended up staying all three days. Mostly to hang out with friends. Listening to all of the gear was fun since it was a new experience for me. I did enjoy the record fair and picked up a few albums, one of which made it into my reference system’s collection.

I also attended the show in NJ last weekend while I was in NYC. This time, frankly I was bored. I went on Friday and didn’t really stay that long. I may go to AXPONA again next year to see friends but if it wasn’t for friends being there I probably wouldn’t go. Perhaps if there was something new or something really special then I might go. 

I didn’t hear anything at AXPONA or in NJ that sounded better than what I have in my room. I’ve put in a lot of work the last five years and it was nice to have confirmation of what I’ve done is working.

We have a strong music club in our area and it's been a great way to hear what I like and what I don't like, as well as to learn about the value of system setup, room treatments, and much more.  I'm sure I could have and would have learned much of this from forums like this one, but there's no substitute for actual listening experience.

I consider the relationships that have blossomed as a result of being part of this group to be more important than the hobby.

coppy777    mihorn, I’m not sure how "listener fatigue"  causes a person to fall asleep. Seems to me just the opposite is true.  My sometimes multi hour listening sessions will result in a nap but it’s always when the music selections and sound quality are perfect for me.

Whisper "hello" repeat with your system sounds. Try to hear your voice. You’ll hear much glare/distortion sounds. That’s the true sound of your system. Your ears trick you to not hear it. But you are listening that distorted sound constantly anyway. The reproduced electronic sounds are not natural and your brain must process it. That's hard and makes you tired ( to fall asleep). In long run, your ears try to shut off (numb) itself with the electric hi-fi sound. And that makes you wanting more stimulus sounds. Also, your brain stop processing and ignore distorted sound (and more) signals. There is no study about this. I’m not a sound PHD. All I can say is people need to know the true sound of their systems.

Why this is important? I used suffer from Tinnitus. Since my system sounds natural, I don’t suffer by T. The side effect of bad hi-fi sounds (car radio/audio, cellphone, PA speakers, audio systems, electric guitar sound, etc.) can be serious. No wonder, many electric guitar (using severe distortion sounds) players are bit different. The quality of these electronic sounds have gotten really bad last 30 years. 

The world’s best microphones are from 1950’s. The world’s best sound electronic guitars are from 1950’s. Same for audio tubes. People who made those best sounding electronics are dead now without transferring their knowledge to their students. 60~90 years old good sound mics are broken and work no more now and all new mics sound so bad that we must hear noisy recording and broadcasting always.

Alex/Wavetouch audio