The argument against upgrading

@mahgister 

I agree that it makes sense to prioritise system optimisation over expending large sums on new gear. However, for the purposes of my original question, this might be considered just another form of upgrading.

As I said, what I was looking to explore in this thread is how an objective improvement in sound quality translates into subjective personal enjoyment. It’s the physicist in me that needs to examine our implicit and taken for granted assumptions.

I am not sure many people fully appreciated this. Perhaps, my thread title was misleading. Nonetheless, I am grateful to everyone for giving thoughtful and helpful replies. As a result of the discussion, I have at least clarified my own thoughts on the matter. Thank you all.

What means an objective improvement in sound ?

To some degree it is a measurable improvement by design  improved numbers  engineering and it must be also an acoustically measurable improvement then objective engineering improvement imply optimal acoustics environment ...

The problem is a subjective improvement  must correspond  to a psycho-acoustics improvement too ... Impaired hearings corrected by hearing aids are individually tailor made ...

 Then some objective improvement may appear not an improvement for some needs and some specifically biased hearings, for some subjective values with  their real objective manifestation and needs  and history.

 By the way i appreciate a lot all your posts .

Then  objective improvement cannot be the only reason motivating wise upgrading ...

«Hearing evolution in man was designed such by  social survival circonstances to identify efficiently and immediately spoken words; to do this our ears/brain must have created their own non linear time working dimension, it is why acoustics imply an ecological perspective as the one given by Gibson for the eyes»--- Anonymus acoustician 

As I said, what I was looking to explore in this thread is how an objective improvement in sound quality translates into subjective personal enjoyment. It’s the physicist in me that needs to examine our implicit and taken for granted assumptions.

@mahgister 

Thank you. 

I was thinking about the distinction between appreciating sound quality and enjoying listening to music last night. What I call the objective and the subjective.

First I listened to and enjoyed a couple of good sounding albums by Bob Marley and the Wailers and Underworld on streaming mainly ripped CDs. But when I moved on other streamed albums I grew tired of listening.

So I changed to vinyl. Although the sound quality was no better, I found the longer I listened the better it got and the more I enjoyed listening. This is the exact opposite of what happens with streaming. It is typical for me and the main reason I prefer vinyl.

So steaming sounds as good as or better than vinyl. Yet I find listening to vinyl more enjoyable. I can’t explain this. It defies logic. Therefore I presume there must be some psychological factors at play here.

I have made a lot of effort in trying to improve the quality of streaming. However, it has done nothing to change my preference for vinyl. In other words, upgrading hasn’t really helped much.

It's like upgrading beyond a certain level is just window dressing and not really getting to what's important. Perhaps this is what people are getting at when they talk about diminishing returns. Maybe, I should stop trying to understand and just enjoy the music.

great post!

I think you are like all of us conditioned by your own hearing habit biases and history...

Like musical maestros,musicians or some audiophiles, we appreciate music  sometimes even  over new sound conditions allegedly "improved"...

But acoustics cannot be separated in two distinct fields, if we speak about music and speech, material or physical acoustics and psycho-acoustics as you know are linked together... it is why upgrading components in audio is far more complex decision than most suppose and it is why your thread is way more deep than just a thinking about taste...

For most upgrading is not related to optimization, and acoustics to  understanding... Marketing is enough for many ...

But with a limited budget i was in the obligation to think instead of buying and to understand instead of plugging a new gear piece into the wall ...

I called optimization process the concrete  thinking process and i called  acoustics conceptual and experiments the way to understand my  "potential improvement" as well as my actual hearing experience ...

If i had the budget i will have bought a 100,000 bucks system in a 100,000 bucks dedicated room and i would had called this "high-End"...

I was lucky...

I prefer understanding to mere pleasure...

M.A.S.T. or minimal acoustical satisfaction threshold once reach is enough for my ecstasy ...

 Audiophilia is not about money but about knowledge ...

So steaming sounds as good as or better than vinyl. Yet I find listening to vinyl more enjoyable. 

Perhaps revisiting your assumption.