Does your gear "open your eyes" to music you didn't notice before?

Does your gear "open your eyes" to music you didn't notice before?

Yes. And an upgrade often is followed by buying new music out of my comfort zone. As it should be.

On one level, I think you can certainly appreciate music that you haven't enjoyed so much before when you hear it on better equipment. Sometimes, though, it's not quite the same as real musical enjoyment: for example, the sound of a piano is a wonderful thing, as is the reverberation of a choir in a cathedral, etc.etc. and listening to that on a good system brings you a little closer to the real thing, but you don't have to like the music at all in order to appreciate that.

Yes it definitely does as it makes enjoying/appreciating music much more easy. I explored my interest much further into classical music, for instance string quartets opened up for me. But also certain popular music like for instance The Rolling Stones is better on my main system.

There is also some music which you only knew and appreciated on a lesser system, and which is now different. Sometimes I am nostalgic and would appreciate to again hear the distortion and lack of clarity for some kind of music.

Oh yes definitely, and like FZ this leads to new purchases; but on the other side there are other renditions of pieces that I now find less compelling in comparison!

There's also one piece that would always make me jump with a sudden orchestral tutti, now I worry it might give me a heart attack!

That is the flipside. There are a few albums I loved and an upgrade has revealed them to be utter crap. Not just showing up mastering but giving insight into lackluster performing.

The short answer is yes - but what is really happening is that one is getting a better insight in to the recording and hearing nuances that were previously buried in blurred bass lines or dense mid range information.

Most definitely - I notice details and musical nuances I have not heard before. It also makes the whole music more enjoyable - certainly my foot is getting a good work-out from all the tapping I now involuntarily do (and no - it's not a involuntary muscle spasm - not yet )

An old Radio Scotland advert used to say "let your ears open your eyes" ... very true indeed.

I find classical pieces particularly improve with the greater micro-dynamics that can be heard, for example, making the main line in a piano piece clearer and hence bringing the whole piece together in a way that was not apparent before. this leads me to listen to stuff I perhaps didn't appreciate so much ... Like HH String quartets are almost accessible now ... I'm working on them

The macro-dynamics are also there but I often find they are now much more controlled; I remember in Mahler's 5th symphony the huge crescendo at the beginning used to impress me with its apparent wall of sound with no particular instruments or even tuning, but now it is a controlled crescendo with all the instruments clear and it is in tune - whether this is a "better" listening experience one could argue but it is certainly now more musical. I wonder if this might even let me into Bruckner ... I doubt it though

Same with rock and other genres - the question is what was the artist trying to put over - a wall of sound, an emotion or whatever - I think now I hear the "how" the performers do this rather than the "what" of the experience; I prefer the former. this lets me enjoy more music but, as others have said, also makes me reject performers where I can't hear (or see) what they are trying to achieve because of the fidelity "masking" their objective which was probably produced/performed with low-fi in mind ... this is not genre-related as even the Sex Pistols can sound great

Allan

Yes - mainly nuances, but also sometimes picking out particular sounds That hadn't registered before.

ChrisSU posted:

On one level, I think you can certainly appreciate music that you haven't enjoyed so much before when you hear it on better equipment. Sometimes, though, it's not quite the same as real musical enjoyment: for example, the sound of a piano is a wonderful thing, as is the reverberation of a choir in a cathedral, etc.etc. and listening to that on a good system brings you a little closer to the real thing, but you don't have to like the music at all in order to appreciate that.

why would someone listen to music they don't like? (other than when studying musical composition)

feeling_zen posted:

That is the flipside. There are a few albums I loved and an upgrade has revealed them to be utter crap. Not just showing up mastering but giving insight into lackluster performing.

My take on this is that the better recordings sound better, making the poorer ones sound worse by comparison, rather than them actually sounding worse - but in saying that I aknowledge that I haven't tried a direct comparison of a poor recording switched between an old and upgrade component.

Yes. As an example I was ignorant of the music of Kanye West. With my new system in place I read somewhere that Black Skinhead was used as a test track when reviewing some other piece of HiFi equipment. So I played it. And I played it again, and again. I think there were something like 8 producers worked on this single track and it is just astonishing to listen to on a quality system

Yes, after upgrading the cartridge from DV20X2H to Krystal plus Lingo 1st quarter last year. Then, in 2nd quarter, I have made another jump to active which has made a better musical performance of my system. It really opened up my eyes... for 282

But or now, I just enjoy the music & buy more CDs/LPs.

Cheers

Innocent Bystander posted:

Yes - mainly nuances, but also sometimes picking out particular sounds That hadn't registered before.

ChrisSU posted:

On one level, I think you can certainly appreciate music that you haven't enjoyed so much before when you hear it on better equipment. Sometimes, though, it's not quite the same as real musical enjoyment: for example, the sound of a piano is a wonderful thing, as is the reverberation of a choir in a cathedral, etc.etc. and listening to that on a good system brings you a little closer to the real thing, but you don't have to like the music at all in order to appreciate that.

why would someone listen to music they don't like? (other than when studying musical composition)

I generally tend to decide weather or not I like a piece of music after I've listened to it.

Yes, the timing and interplay of instruments in music that I know well and also some music I haven't found especially interesting before is now much more listenable and enjoyable.

ChrisSU posted:

Innocent Bystander posted:

Yes - mainly nuances, but also sometimes picking out particular sounds That hadn't registered before.

ChrisSU posted:

On one level, I think you can certainly appreciate music that you haven't enjoyed so much before when you hear it on better equipment. Sometimes, though, it's not quite the same as real musical enjoyment: for example, the sound of a piano is a wonderful thing, as is the reverberation of a choir in a cathedral, etc.etc. and listening to that on a good system brings you a little closer to the real thing, but you don't have to like the music at all in order to appreciate that.

why would someone listen to music they don't like? (other than when studying musical composition)

 

I generally tend to decide weather or not I like a piece of music after I've listened to it.

Sorry, my mistake - I had taken your statement to mean deliberately listening to things you know you don't like

Yes - changing speakers has provided greater insight into stuff I haven't played for a long time.

Regards,

Lindsay

I probably have a revelation of some sort just about daily.

The Strat (Fender) posted:

Yes - changing speakers has provided greater insight into stuff I haven't played for a long time.

Same here: older things in a new light.

Also true for my journey of exploration into most things classical and jazz. New(ish) things in a new light also. For me, it is clearer to understand how different performances of the same (unfamiliar) piece come out in the listening. I've noticed this first on solo piano, latterly on string quartets (which I'm listening to after watching and thoroughly enjoying the film Late Quartet).

Interesting side note is that in anticipation of an upgrade I'm now using my UQuite downstairs where the SuperU should / used to be. The difference in "stepping back" seems much much greater than what I recall even in the euphoria of first purchasing the upgrade. So those who evaluate upgrades by listening for a while, then removing the upgraded bit to see if they can live without it most definitely have my respect and understanding.

Whether this could be considered, in the context of this thread, as "closing your eyes again" I'm not really sure... but maybe squinting or taking off your glasses???

Regards alan

Michael Mccullough posted:

Just sitting here listening to The Grateful Dead and Supertramp. Two bands I've heard probably hundreds of times in my life on the radio, other stereos etc and was ho hum about. Now they just make more musical sense and are much more enjoyable.

My little story.  I've listened to Crime of the Century since about 1976.   I've obviously listened to it hundreds and hundreds of times.  I was at my local dealer last year and had some time and said, "Let me listen to your best."  We listened to the full-look dcs Vivaldi source, Magico Q7 speakers, and a big stack of Spectral amps and pre-amps.  I absolutely heard things in Crime of the Century (mfsl cd rip @ 16/44) I'd never heard before.

It opened my eyes and ears to what hi fi can be.  I cannot have that system in my home, but am grateful for having heard it. 

I definitely felt what the OP says during last week when I had a 282 HiCap 250 system on loan from my dealer. With orchestral but also jazz pieces I was frequently startled by micro details which I had not noticed before like one bass note being actually 2 or 3 different ones but overlapping with my current amp which is "rounding" up things a bit. Quite impressed - to the point that I feel very curious about what a 252 can do even if I'm afraid it's way out of reach for me at this point :-( 

Dr Po, others, isn't it interesting to hear what much higher priced hardware can do?  People generally fall into two categories.  I'm happy to hear such stuff, knowing what it can do but being OK with not 'needing' it in my home.  Others don't even want to hear it, for fear they will forever be scarred knowing that there is better out there.

Michael Mccullough posted:

Just sitting here listening to The Grateful Dead and Supertramp. Two bands I've heard probably hundreds of times in my life on the radio, other stereos etc and was ho hum about. Now they just make more musical sense and are much more enjoyable.

agree totally..

ChrisSU posted:

On one level, I think you can certainly appreciate music that you haven't enjoyed so much before when you hear it on better equipment. Sometimes, though, it's not quite the same as real musical enjoyment: for example, the sound of a piano is a wonderful thing, as is the reverberation of a choir in a cathedral, etc.etc. and listening to that on a good system brings you a little closer to the real thing, but you don't have to like the music at all in order to appreciate that.

Yes certain frequencies make us feel good..Its a scientific fact...

bluedog posted:

The short answer is yes - but what is really happening is that one is getting a better insight in to the recording and hearing nuances that were previously buried in blurred bass lines or dense mid range information.

yes and some hi def recordings can mess the sound up too

ndx202- posted:

ChrisSU posted:

On one level, I think you can certainly appreciate music that you haven't enjoyed so much before when you hear it on better equipment. Sometimes, though, it's not quite the same as real musical enjoyment: for example, the sound of a piano is a wonderful thing, as is the reverberation of a choir in a cathedral, etc.etc. and listening to that on a good system brings you a little closer to the real thing, but you don't have to like the music at all in order to appreciate that.

Yes certain frequencies make us feel good..Its a scientific fact...

That how house music gets away with, oh and all the drugs associated with it.

but I'm must say when I herd naim Statement/nds for the first I did get goosebumps, on s600 too. That's not to say I was thinking what an amazing sound as I was a little underwhelmed as VFM was amiss imo. However it did give me goosebumps. Though to be fear it's happened a few time with my 52 and credos and I did cry at my big sisters wedding too

OP for me so much so it's not funny. I'm going through a 70's stage at the moment. The 52/Naim audio just bring things to the party that other brands just leave at home.

Bart posted:

Dr Po, others, isn't it interesting to hear what much higher priced hardware can do?  People generally fall into two categories.  I'm happy to hear such stuff, knowing what it can do but being OK with not 'needing' it in my home.  Others don't even want to hear it, for fear they will forever be scarred knowing that there is better out there.

Hi Bart, the catch in the 'much'. The best system i have heard was a full dCs Vivaldi + VTL Siegrids into Wilson Alexandrias playing the end of Mahler's 2nd. We were listening in awe, silent... This is a system I will never contemplate owning so listening to it is "interesting" and definitely i would look for opportunities to listen to something like that. The tricky part is with upgrades that are not too far from reach but still appear too "extravagant".  The 252 is in this category for me. But all is relevant as a few years back when I started my recent hi fi journey i considered a Uniti 2 too pricey and decided to go for UnitiLite. Now i have similar qualms between a 282 and a 252 :-)