Can also say that getting a deeper understanding of the science behind like measurements and listening mainly to more neutral references has taken away much of this fun as I now more quickly detect the shortcomings and when having heard them I cannot enjoy as much the rest anymore.
I think some audiophiles have gotten off on the wrong foot with regard to neutral loudspeakers.
I’m quite sure that some have heard speakers that perhaps they thought were neutral or were told were neutral, but which had something like a scoop out in the lower mids and may be a bit of accentuating in the highs, and found the sound “ analytical” in the sense of sounding unnaturally detailed, and emphasizing recorded artefacts, and also sounding somewhat cool and unwelcoming.
So this is how they formed their views of neutral systems being “ unmusical.”
Likewise, some people may have encountered some high-end speakers for the first time, and heard a level of detail and insight into recordings they never heard before, but found it plenty of familiar music didn’t sound very good through the system.
And then they think “ oh well I guess that’s just an accurate speaker, revealing the limitations of recordings and the music I liked.”
But it may have been loudspeaker that was coloured or lacking in technical performance in ways that let those recordings down, but they just attribute to the recordings. Where as a truly neutral speaker would’ve sounded better with those recordings.
Or maybe they encountered what were thought to be neutral speakers years ago when some people were designing for flat on axis sound without taking care of off axis sound, or maybe designing for flat room response… all these leading to speakers that could be perceived as too bright, but sold as “ neutral and accurate.”
All sorts of different ways I think people come to some mistaken conclusions about neutral loudspeakers, not being pleasant to listen to.
Of course we’ve learned a lot over the years about how to produce neutral sound with good off axis performance, so that the sound is agreeable.
Right now I’m thinking of when I auditioned the Paradigm Persona loud speakers and the Revel Performa speakers close together in time.
For a few tracks, the paradigms came off as pretty neutral and evenly balanced, but it wasn’t long at all before that significant spike at 1K became obvious and wearing on my ears. I left the listening session with fatigued ears and writing those speakers off my list.
Whereas the Revel speakers were truly neutral - neutral done right - and they were smooth and easy to listen to for a long time.
Thus enjoyment is also depending on the personal expectations and habituation.
I agree. One might be habituated to somewhat coloured sound or habituated to neutral sound.
I’m certain I am habituated in some ways to certain aspects. I mean, I’ve certainly developed some criteria for what I like in a speaker. But then again, at points, I’ve owned up to seven different pairs of loud speakers at the same time, which all sounded very different - from tiny Spendors, to big Thiels, to MBL omnis, and a number of other speakers that I would swap around. I don’t think I really needed any habituation time when I swapped speakers in the sense that I would instantly think “ I love this” when I would swap in a different speaker.
My perception is that if anything I’ve habituated to the sound of my tube amplifiers, because no matter what speaker I happen to be listening to, if I try another SS amplifier I don’t like it as much as when I’ve got the CJ tube amps running them. Maybe I’ve habituated to a placebo effect, but it’s the longest running component in my system that I can’t seem to do without.
