March 14, 2018
I’ve been a dedicated audiophile since 1970 when I finished my tour of duty in the Army. After 39 years in banking and finance, I retired in 2009. My critical listening preference is primarily classical with some orchestral film soundtracks thrown in. I also enjoy jazz in its various forms and rock (where my choices are eclectic in the extreme). I don’t listen to non-classical with a critical ear, just for the pleasure and so wouldn’t make a recommendation for other genres. The few live rock concerts I’ve attended over the years were as much audience noise as music making by the musicians, more about the “event”. I have had some great jazz listening experiences in smaller clubs. Accordingly, my comments that follow are based on listening to classical music. I attempt to keep my point of reference the sound of live instruments and orchestras heard in 10 different concert halls over close to 50 years and I’m approaching around 200 total concerts. The majority of these at the old Academy of Music in Philadelphia which was originally built for both concert and opera use in the mid-1850’s. On a side note: I took piano and violin lessons as a kid. The Sirens call to the baseball diamond, football field, and BB court ended what would not have been a promising career in music making anyway.
I’m not an “accuracy above all” listener. Comparative measurements, while of academic interest, tell me very little about how I will respond to the sound. To my ears, the biggest inaccuracies in the reproduction of music are in the recordings themselves and there is no way to fix them after the fact. Equalization may make a transducing devise flat in response to some test signals but given the variability of the source material in accurately capturing the sound recorded I feel it’s like chasing one’s tail and never catching it. Even multiple EQ settings will only be compromises. Also, I say a great performance with recording deficiencies trumps a mundane performance that’s very well recorded in most cases.
I’m not much of a casual listener especially when it comes to classical music. When I’m listening I listen, no multitasking for me. I focus on the music. I focus on the performance and the sonic qualities (or lack of) in the recording. I use a sound level meter to match levels as best I can when comparing HP’s and other gear and listen typically between 55 to 60 db and probably no more than 70 dB very short-term peaks by my open air measurements (which can’t be compared volume or accuracy wise to the pros with their dummy heads and laboratory grade testing equipment but are at least a repeatable benchmark for me to return to. My actual listening level (phones on) is probably around 70 to 75 dB on short-term peaks.).
My retired and downsized lifestyle has me focused on headphones. I use a modest surround system with my home theater but I spend no time investigating loudspeakers or Pre/Power amps anymore. Over the past 2 years, I’ve put in a lot more time than usual evaluating different HP’s in home. I sometimes use Bose earbuds for my walks with a 20+ year-old Sony Walkman CD. I’m not really a fan of earbuds. I don’t go around wearing headphones (or earbuds) all day. I listen to headphones now because I no longer have space for my idea of what a proper, 2 channels, dedicated listening room music system should be as I’m retired and downsized.
My current HP lineup includes Sennheiser HD800, Focal Utopia, and JPS Abyss 1266 Phi. I think that covers about most of the transducer bases for me at this point in time. Someday I hope to have the time to spend deciding which of the 3 I “absolutely” like the best, LOL! So far it is the Abyss but I like a change of pace now and then. As a former Stax Lambda and MKIII owner back in the 80’s, I also might want to add an electrostatic at some point if I can find one at price point I’m happy with and that satisfies. However, just because I can afford to buy something is not a good enough reason for me to make an expenditure; a lot of different factors go into my decision-making process. I guess that’s the banker in me.
I have spent time with other TOTL HP contenders, and many of them are quite good as well. It’s just that the ones I own are the ones that allow me to best enjoy the various sonic aspects of the music I listen to the most. Factors of fit, comfort, build quality, and other mechanical aspects figure in my decisions as well.
My ears are 71 years old with frequency response roll off, as measured by my audiologist, going steeply down at close to 8 kHz, so I am not hearing highs as I did in earlier decades and this will make a difference in my perception compared to others in the highs. But as I understand it my range still encompasses all the fundamentals and most of the extreme upper harmonics of all but 1 or 2 instruments as found in a typical symphony orchestra.
As I have around 2,500 CD’s with over 90% classical many of which are multi-disc sets. Switching over to DL’d music content is not an attractive option for me. I’m guessing much of my classical library isn’t even available. And if it were available what is it derived from? The original master tapes or earlier generation digital transfers? Is it lossless with no audible watermarking as appears to be a possibility with some of the newer formats? In any case, I don’t think there’s a benefit to me sound wise as the originals were not recorded at high bit rates in almost all cases. Plus I don’t want to deal with noise, connectivity issues, PC driver issues, and coming up with storage and a backup strategy. Sounds like a lot of money for almost no real improvement in sound in my particular case. I’ve listened to many DL setups going back to when Peachtree Audio first introduced their early models and never experienced a “wow!” moment. For those purchasing newer releases of any genre, or never got started with CD’s, D/L’d content makes sense but not in my case. And lately, there seems to be a resurgence in interest in vinyl. I sold all my vinyl back in 2004. There’s no going back for me for a lot of reasons. The current price of phono cartridges alone makes me light headed. A dedicated server for backup and convenience might be an option, however. And I’m still curious as to how oversampling CD’s can improve their sound. But there are always new things to learn about the hardware tech, keeps things interesting.
While I might not agree with others assessments of the sonic attributes or merits of this or that piece of gear I might have some experience with I respect the right of each individual to find their own sonic “bliss” with regard to the reproduced music listening experience.
“One Old Audiophile”
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