Thoughts on "my system sounds broken"-and "the pompetous of love".

I am the proud owner of one of the Naim "systems du jour", the 272/555/250DR combination. It really sounds quite delightful through my Ovator 400s. Finesse, timing, space, involvement etc in spades. Not to mention " inky blackness" ....sorry.  It is a system that is the culmination of  gradually acquiring stereo components since 1978 when I started university and should see me well into retirement. Last week whilst  shopping in Wellington, I made the mistake of casually listening to the Statement/NDS555/555/Totem Forrest setup on demonstration at the local Naim dealer, The Real Music Company.

Initially I felt that my system stood up well in comparison. The Statement did not seem particularly better in any parameter on initial listening , albeit with some averagely recorded tracks. As an aside, they really need to tidy up and refesh Bob Segers "Night moves", which only sounded so-so on the Statement. Then  Jonathan put on the latest "Steve Miller Ultimate Hits Platinum album", music from the same era, but utterly improved over earlier mixes. The guitar intro to "Jet Airliner" was criminally truncated on the initial radio release in 1977, but here it was in all its stonking glory.  I could tell it was a six string electric guitar, and could hear the internal reverberating harmonics between the various strings. I never knew Steve could sound so good. I listened to a few more tracks and later that afternoon bought the CD from Slowboat records.

On returning home I ripped the Steve Miller on my Unitiserve and was kind of disappointed. I guess the most  appropriate adjective to describe the sound was "diminished" . There was a smaller soundstage, less detail , slower timing and less life in the music, something I had not experienced before with my system. My thoughts on this phenomenon of "my system sounds broken" are as follows. I was unconsciously trying to process the music I was hearing to sound as good as it sounded on the Statement.  This is quite an exhausting thing to do. There was nonstop auditory processing in my brain comparing the remembered auditory signal from the Statement to my mid-range system. Overall a vexing and unsatisfactory state of affairs.

Five days passed, and my system is gradually starting to sound better. As the memory of the Statement sound has receded, I can appreciate the perhaps gentler and very refined sound of my system. The brain is no longer crunching data, and I enjoying what I have. The "pompetous of love" for my system has gradually returned, and I am happy again.