Hey there !
After reading a bunch here, I got a little overwhelmed. Felt like sharing.
This place can really make you feel small and ignorant! It’s humbling in a good way, but it’s also not very « empowering » if you know what I mean. It’s intimidating.
Hanging out here has its perks and disadvantages. For instance, it freed me of many beliefs that are dominant in the game of our hobby. Like many others, I'm sure. I can’t thank ASR enough for freeing me from the cable myth, for instance! how much money saved, am I right?! And that's just one thing.
But I guess, if I have to be honest, it gives me less a feeling of « I can do it » than a feeling of « fuck it, let’s give up, it’s too complicated ». And it’s okay, really, I’m not mad about it. It’s not like subjectivist forums are reassuring. If you believe places like stereophile or audiogon, you end up depressed because you believe that unless you’re a millionaire, you can’t have proper sound at home.
So yeah, I’ll choose ASR any day.
But I want to address the limits of my understanding of the whole thing. The quest for good audio is an infinite path with many parameters to take in. It implies a scientific ethos: one needs to be rigorous, methodical, and have constant self-awareness to take the unavoidable biases into account.
What an intellectual challenge, right?
So… facing this challenge, one either feels up for it or thinks they will never succeed. I lack the confidence and the will to do it, probably. And I admire how thorough some of you can be, truly.
But I have to admit I also lack the belief that I will actually perceive (and enjoy) that difference.
And this is where I want to take this post: the quest for a better rig implies the trust in the quality of one’s ear. It doesn’t necessarily mean being arrogant about it. But it does mean something like « I believe my ear is good enough that it will enjoy an objectively better gear ».
And, precisely, this is where I fail: I don’t trust my ears. I have no reasons to believe I could identify a « better system ». Nothing makes me feel like my hearing is good enough to take that hobby of ours seriously.
For instance, I have tried « objective improvements » (like preset EQs or DSP) and not liked them better.
What does this mean? I don’t understand. I’m lost!
It’s almost like an audiophile existential crisis!
What am I? my current system is ASR heresy. But it has me crying my guts out because of how beautiful it sounds.
Part of me is perfectly satisfied with this. Part of me is convinced by you and wants to chase « objectively better sound ».
And I’m just torn. And I wonder.
Because, it has to be either your appreciation of sound is proportional to the quality of the gear or it isn't. It's as simple as that.
I know that I've had good experiences and great experiences with audio gear. I don't know that among my "great experiences" (as in "all the experiences I've had that gave me a very strong impression") I've actually preferred "the right ones". And what if I didn't?
What if I liked poorly measuring gear? And I don't mean "prefer" because I know it's statistically not likely. I just mean "liked". Does that mean I'm a "bad audiophile"? that I'm wrong? And that I should educate my hearing? It might! But how? how does one "learn" to hear better? It's another challenge!
Sorry, it's very long!
TL;DR: if your hearing is really not golden but you still have very different experiences audio wise, how should you deal with the whole audiophile quest?
probably, like most people you already have a very good system without realizing it. They have simply told you for years, that by changing and upgrading you will find nirvana: it is not like that, you just have to use well what you already have. But out there nobody ever explains it....
Like most of us you have spent days studying technical sheets, but you have not spent the same days studying the physical, acoustic and electronic phenomena that regulate audio systems and their integration in an environment. And of course, the driver does not necessarily have to be the engineer!!
Like most of us you have tried to refine your system more than with objective rules, now available to everyone, but with tricks handed down by the gurus of high fidelity.
Like most of us at a certain point you wanted to see clearly, and, you began to follow a different path.
What you will read very often on ASR will not be the dispatches of brand marketing agencies, which ask testimonials, influencers, journalists, bloggers to spread their product in the best way possible, advertising it to the world with the prose of those who have to sell and well.
Instead, you will read thousands of scientific notions concerning the regulation of the phenomena that move and create our beloved music from electricity to the waves that invade our rooms where we listen.
It is simply a different point of view, nothing to be afraid of, to try to solve problems with the help of scientific experience codified over time rather than by customs of other eras mythologized and proclaimed in exotic cult clubs.
Your ear is fine as it is. You must never abandon your personal taste, the game, and let's also add the visual experience. Everything helps. So calmly throw away your frustrations, have fun, it's a hobby, live it with serenity and if you need to understand something, before buying and throwing away what good you have without having understood, you know that around here you will have at your disposal the contributions and the scientific and "on the field" experience of many people who have faced your same doubts, or who for work face these problems every day or who deal with this subject for interest and study and let's not forget those who in life do something completely different but have the passion for this intriguing, fun and complex hobby ....
