Significant others and Hi-fi

Posted by: Sneaky SNAIC on 30 June 2015

My significant other (female wife in my case) is interesting when it comes to music and hi-fi, as I'm as sure everyone's significant other (or cat) is.

 

She claims to be hard of hearing...*chuckle*.  To back this up says she can't hear the difference between the RP1 Bias + Rega fono-mini and the RP3 + Elys + Stageline.  I can hear a huge difference as can my sons.

 

But get this: she says she can hear the difference between the vinyl and the digital, and the vinyl sounds better.  This is regardless of setup, and so that makes me wonder if its the black magic people speak of and also the music selection we have on vinyl.

 

To me the digital sounds pretty clean, etc...and Vinyl will sound better with a really good, clean record.  But its amazing to me she prefers vinyl over digital.  This seems obvious to most here, but I think I must be caught up in the details of the sound, blah, blah and "listening to the hi-fi instead of the music" as I've heard people describe it. 

 

The crackles and pops are annoying me sometimes...as are hitting a scratch that lasts 3 turns of the record...sometimes the short time between flipping the record get annoying.  Sometimes I'm glad to have *both* streaming and digital. *sigh*

 

Have to constantly remind myself to listen and enjoy the system and stop being such a bitch about the fine details.  Vinyl (analog) has become a new challenge for me, and I also have to realize I'm not always in the mood nor is the time always right to listen to vinyl. 

 

Posted on: 07 July 2015 by Massimo Bertola

Interesting how the topic has moved from vinyl/CD from women's point of view, to loud/not loud from the same point of view.

 

Women have no interest in an audio system's ability to sound real; they are only interested in its sounding good. For them, the two compartments are totally disjoined and not necessarily related. In the possible war between truth and beauty, they will always take side with beauty; it's not anything cultural, it's not even necessarily a matter of sensitivity (their preferred parameter): it's merely sensorial. Women's life is dominated by its sensorial dimension, and they are generally incapable to see an inch beyond that.

 

I sweat, she is cold; my music is too loud, hers is good to sing along with (at deafening volume); there is no such conflict as false/true, realistic/unrealistic for them: there is only warm/cold, beautiful/ugly, pleasant/unpleasant, right/wrong and so on.

 

That said, I love my wife and she has, more that once, commented on a change in the system saying that one of the two configurations sounded more 'verosimile', more 'close to reality'. But I am sort of a lucky guy.

 

 

Posted on: 07 July 2015 by Donuk

Me:  this hifi upgrade is really good, come and listen..

She:  yes, I know, I can hear it through here in the other room....

 

donuk, beautiful downtown York

Posted on: 07 July 2015 by Cbr600
Originally Posted by Phil Harris:

My ex-GF came over to my flat the weekend after the arrival of a set of our DBLs...

 

"Those are never coming into any house that we have ..."

 

She regarded it as an instruction to get rid of them ... I regarded it as her generous acceptance that there was a choice to be made.

 

Phil

Top drawer phil. Really made me laugh

Keep it up

 

Paul

Posted on: 07 July 2015 by TOBYJUG
Originally Posted by maxbertola:

Interesting how the topic has moved from vinyl/CD from women's point of view, to loud/not loud from the same point of view.

 

Women have no interest in an audio system's ability to sound real; they are only interested in its sounding good. For them, the two compartments are totally disjoined and not necessarily related. In the possible war between truth and beauty, they will always take side with beauty; it's not anything cultural, it's not even necessarily a matter of sensitivity (their preferred parameter): it's merely sensorial. Women's life is dominated by its sensorial dimension, and they are generally incapable to see an inch beyond that.

 

I sweat, she is cold; my music is too loud, hers is good to sing along with (at deafening volume); there is no such conflict as false/true, realistic/unrealistic for them: there is only warm/cold, beautiful/ugly, pleasant/unpleasant, right/wrong and so on.

 

That said, I love my wife and she has, more that once, commented on a change in the system saying that one of the two configurations sounded more 'verosimile', more 'close to reality'. But I am sort of a lucky guy.

 

 

 

 Isn't this the type of thinking that got Nobel-winning biologist Tim Hunt into trouble recently by characterising female scientists as 'Lachrymose romantics '.

Posted on: 07 July 2015 by tonym
Originally Posted by Phil Harris:

My ex-GF came over to my flat the weekend after the arrival of a set of our DBLs...

 

"Those are never coming into any house that we have ..."

 

She regarded it as an instruction to get rid of them ... I regarded it as her generous acceptance that there was a choice to be made.

 

Phil

I regard getting my pair of DBLs into our house as my greatest lifetime achievement.

Posted on: 07 July 2015 by bicela
Originally Posted by Chris G:

Usual comment received when listening: "it's too loud!"

+1 

Posted on: 07 July 2015 by dayjay

Apart from objecting to cables cluttering the living room my wife's only requirement from music replay is that it is loud (unless she is in bed or watching tv elsewhere and I am listening to it, at which point it should be quiet!)

Posted on: 07 July 2015 by dayjay
Originally Posted by Mr Fjeld:

Well, reading through this thread only confirmes that audiophiles shouldn't bother with wife swapping, as one would only get more or less the same....

 

...that's a joke of course as I have only the highest respect for my wife and women in general!

Oh I don't know, I swapped my first one for a very large solictors bill

Posted on: 07 July 2015 by feeling_zen

This is why the move in hifi towards all in one items that reduce box count is actually a bad thing for those with other halves.

 

Okay, a 272 or a SU reduces box count but it also means that any upgrade or change is instantly noticed and with it questions like "Why is that box so much bigger than the last one?" and "How much money did you spend on that?"

 

At least with a full rack of separates, the odd box can added and replaced with minimal inquisition. So you went from a 250 to a 300? If there are already 5 other black boxes she might not notice. I even managed to HC to a SC without my other half being the wiser which is good because about a week after ordering the SC I was made redundant and we had a baby on the way.

 

As for the DBLs, just point to the fact that all your gear together does not take up as much room (or weigh as much) as all her clothes and handbags. In my case, a stack of 7 Naim boxes didn't even cost as much.

Posted on: 07 July 2015 by Bart

My wife loves listening to music almost as much as I do, and we share much musical taste.  She has a better ear than I do, and fully approves of 'upgrades' she can hear.  I must admit that some of the cable upgrades she cannot hear, although true a vs. b is hard to do.

 

She has zero patience for live Grateful Dead, and for Yes.  Those are played 99% of the time on the Qute2 in my "man cave."  I have all 3 nights of the Grateful Dead shows from Chicago last weekend . . . that's a lot of alone time for me over the next few weeks.

Posted on: 07 July 2015 by joerand
Originally Posted by Bart:

She has zero patience for live Grateful Dead, and for Yes.  Those are played 99% of the time on the Qute2 in my "man cave." 

Every man needs his cave. Part of the male phylogeny we can't seem to shake.

I'm in mine now as I write this. Willful self-banishment

Posted on: 07 July 2015 by feeling_zen
Somehow I am in the same boat.  The big Naim system in the living room gets some mutual use but anything she hates only gets played on the UQ2 in the office.

... she complains that she can hear it through the wall and on come the headphones.

Oh how I wish there was a way to connect my headline to a UQ2.
Posted on: 07 July 2015 by rjstaines
Originally Posted by Erich:

Sneaky,  my wife immediately recognizes a vinyl. I don't know what your case is, but ours is that we grew up hearing vinyls. So, (SQ apart, tech consideration apart) for us the sound is very evocative and emotional, specially when is a track that we listened when we were kids or teens and more if it is from after we met. ( We are together since I was 16 and she 14, now I'm close to 61).

 Regards.

 Erich

Congratulations Erich.  Do you have a secret, or just good luck ?

Posted on: 07 July 2015 by rjstaines

Audio kit or wife... as Michael Parkinson says on that advert  "Difficult question..."

Posted on: 08 July 2015 by joerand

As stated above, my wife is more into TV, so opposites attracting is a good thing for us. I don't ask her about her seemingly steady stream of shoes and clothing arriving via post, and she doesn't question my hifi related purchases. My only caveat to her; if you receive a thin 12x12" parcel in study cardboard, please store it vertically against the wall until I get home

Posted on: 08 July 2015 by Phil Harris
Originally Posted by Clay Bingham:
Originally Posted by Phil Harris:

My ex-GF came over to my flat the weekend after the arrival of a set of our DBLs...

 

"Those are never coming into any house that we have ..."

 

She regarded it as an instruction to get rid of them ... I regarded it as her generous acceptance that there was a choice to be made.

 

Phil

That's the spirit.  One has one's priorities after all. As a friend once advised, women are like trains.......another one comes along in 15 minutes. Same can't be said for DBL's.

 

...you'd have thought that she'd have known better TBH given that I had already told her that my ex-wife had once said "You're never having a TVR while I have a say in the matter..."

 

Phil

Posted on: 08 July 2015 by Phil Harris
Originally Posted by tonym:
Originally Posted by Phil Harris:

My ex-GF came over to my flat the weekend after the arrival of a set of our DBLs...

 

"Those are never coming into any house that we have ..."

 

She regarded it as an instruction to get rid of them ... I regarded it as her generous acceptance that there was a choice to be made.

 

Phil

 

 

I regard getting my pair of DBLs into our house as my greatest lifetime achievement.

 

 

I regard getting a girlfriend to be mine...

 

Phil

Posted on: 08 July 2015 by Phil Harris
Originally Posted by dayjay:
Originally Posted by Mr Fjeld:

Well, reading through this thread only confirmes that audiophiles shouldn't bother with wife swapping, as one would only get more or less the same....

 

...that's a joke of course as I have only the highest respect for my wife and women in general!

 

 

Oh I don't know, I swapped my first one for a very large solictors bill

 

 

Why are divorces so expensive...?

 

Because nothing good is ever cheap!

 

Posted on: 08 July 2015 by BigH47

If she really doesn't like my choices, at least she can re-tire to her Fe-Cave (bedroom) and listen to her MuSo.

Posted on: 08 July 2015 by solwisesteve
Originally Posted by joerand:

As stated above, my wife is more into TV, so opposites attracting is a good thing for us. I don't ask her about her seemingly steady stream of shoes and clothing arriving via post, and she doesn't question my hifi related purchases. My only caveat to her; if you receive a thin 12x12" parcel in study cardboard, please store it vertically against the wall until I get home

In my case I don't comment on her spending over 3.5 grand a year on fags so she doesn't comment on my hobby purchases ;-)

Posted on: 08 July 2015 by BigH47

Does she smoke too Steve?  

Posted on: 08 July 2015 by solwisesteve
Originally Posted by BigH47:

Does she smoke too Steve?  

Yes unfortunately :-(

Posted on: 08 July 2015 by Massimo Bertola
Originally Posted by TOBYJUG:
Originally Posted by maxbertola:

Interesting how the topic has moved from vinyl/CD from women's point of view, to loud/not loud from the same point of view.

 

Women have no interest in an audio system's ability to sound real; they are only interested in its sounding good. For them, the two compartments are totally disjoined and not necessarily related. In the possible war between truth and beauty, they will always take side with beauty; it's not anything cultural, it's not even necessarily a matter of sensitivity (their preferred parameter): it's merely sensorial. Women's life is dominated by its sensorial dimension, and they are generally incapable to see an inch beyond that.

 

I sweat, she is cold; my music is too loud, hers is good to sing along with (at deafening volume); there is no such conflict as false/true, realistic/unrealistic for them: there is only warm/cold, beautiful/ugly, pleasant/unpleasant, right/wrong and so on.

 

That said, I love my wife and she has, more that once, commented on a change in the system saying that one of the two configurations sounded more 'verosimile', more 'close to reality'. But I am sort of a lucky guy.

 

 

 

 Isn't this the type of thinking that got Nobel-winning biologist Tim Hunt into trouble recently by characterising female scientists as 'Lachrymose romantics '.

What trouble are you thinking about? I have already been in trouble enough on this forum simply elaborating opinions; must I consider myself reproached, or what? I am too old not to say what I think.

That said, I am - again and again - amazed at the fact that a few remarks on women can cause raised eyebrows but the Best Jokes thread is full of the most hideous, misogynist jokes and nobody ever has nothing to say...

Isn't this the type of behaviour that caused the formulation of the concept of hypocrisy?

 

Best

M

Posted on: 08 July 2015 by joerand
Originally Posted by BigH47:

Does she smoke too Steve?  

Every once in a while I read a response that makes me genuinely laugh out loud. That one did it

Posted on: 20 July 2015 by Samradford

my lovely wife and I had a simple arrangement when renovating our house recently. As long as the expenditure on kitchen and hifi was similar then all was ok.

 

my favourite hifi brand is now Miele.