CHANGSTAR: Audiophile Headphone Reviews and Early 90s Style BBS

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Author Topic: Anax at InnerFidelity  (Read 7939 times)

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JK47

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Re: Anax at InnerFidelity
« Reply #40 on: September 03, 2015, 04:00:44 PM »

Believe me, I won' be doing any rigorous ear training :)p13

It's just nice to learn something new  headbang
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TMRaven

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Re: Anax at InnerFidelity
« Reply #41 on: September 03, 2015, 04:10:10 PM »

I know, right. Why should I learn to cook when there's a place with a dollar menu right up the street? Why should I get a college degree when I can get a job at the local Water & Sewerage plant down the street with just a high school diploma? (After all, I'll make just as much.) Why should I get married when I have a Tinder app and a winning profile? (Weddings cost money. Plus, he/she will own half your stuff after. That's a suckers game.) Why should I learn another language when I already know English? Why should I learn to fire a gun when we already have police? Why should I go to the movies when Netflix is cheap and right here in my living room?

Why do anything better? Why crawl out of the goddamn primordial ooze? We were just fine before we had fucking midocondria man and life is hard.

I don't really think any of those are good analogies for the topic at hand.  You're talking about big life choices for one thing, which is a good bit different than trying to a/b very subtle differences between gear as a means of nothing more than a hobby.
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Arnotts

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Re: Anax at InnerFidelity
« Reply #42 on: September 03, 2015, 04:19:20 PM »

Training yourself to improve your ability to actively listen is not necessarily related to being able to A/B expensive gear and tell differences.

Improving your active listening ability lets you hear more music. It's essentially fine-tuning one of your senses.
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sacredgates

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Re: Anax at InnerFidelity
« Reply #43 on: September 03, 2015, 04:25:56 PM »

Do I want to be able to appreciate and enjoy a better wine, do I want to hear the difference between a normal violin and a Stradivarius?
It is up to me... In general I like the quest for perfection and the appreciation for it, even if I donĀ“t have the money to pursue that in every aspect in life. (which I am absolutely fine with, since I already live relatively seen in great luxury). But hey, I am here on Changstar, meaning a great private headphone music system might be something which is worth it for me...
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Azteca X

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Re: Anax at InnerFidelity
« Reply #44 on: September 03, 2015, 04:36:31 PM »

I don't really think any of those are good analogies for the topic at hand.  You're talking about big life choices for one thing, which is a good bit different than trying to a/b very subtle differences between gear as a means of nothing more than a hobby.

It's not so that you can differentiate gear. It's so that you can get closer to the music and absorb more of what is contained within the recordings. Some people simply like gear and impressive designs but for most of us, it's about the music. Like why get a blu-ray when you can stream a movie in lossy 720 on Youtube/dailymotion/etc? Probably because you want to see as much of what was originally there as possible, and doing so will increase your enjoyment and the visceral experience. I don't think this is a mind-blowing concept. Most of us will settle for "pretty damn good" and that's great. But why not find out what's on top? Why would you drive a souped-up monster around a racetrack even if you aren't going to buy it and drive it every day? Because it's cool and exciting.
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lm4der

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Re: Anax at InnerFidelity
« Reply #45 on: September 03, 2015, 04:38:20 PM »

a great private headphone music system might be something which is worth it for me...

I like the way this statement captures the essence of what we are doing here.
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TMRaven

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Re: Anax at InnerFidelity
« Reply #46 on: September 03, 2015, 04:55:10 PM »

The problem is that there's not so much a clear-cut 'top' in this hobby as opposed to something more objectively-based, say being a computer enthusiast trying to get as much FPS as possible out of a video game.
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Anaxilus

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Re: Anax at InnerFidelity
« Reply #47 on: September 03, 2015, 05:13:56 PM »

That's what it's all about. Getting lost in the music. For some, the content and structure of the music is enough and they could be content for life with their smartphone and included ear buds. For others, they have had a transcendental experience with music either at a live performance or having played an instrument and want to get back to that experience as often as possible. Nailing that hyper accurate reproduction of reality is simply not as easy as some would like to make it seem, but it can be worth it for some.

Everyone has different preferences. Jason had a great point that many should just step back and reevaluate where they are going with audio relative to other life choices they could be making. Life is about priorities and making choices. For me, considering how bad live music has gotten for some genres with terrible concert engineers, a lot of times I can get closer to the real music at home and save $100-$200 a pop per bad performance. So it's not a bad investment per se. Besides, the transcendental musical experience is simply priceless to me. Then you have recording quality and for others, greater fidelity might actually take you further away from your music depending on how you listen.

Everything is relative and personal.
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Tyll Hertsens

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Re: Anax at InnerFidelity
« Reply #48 on: September 03, 2015, 05:57:39 PM »

Persoanlly, I think the whole blind testing and ear training thing is most valuable in putting the world of audio into context. Anyone going off on a hype train or on and on about how cables and break-in totally changed their headphones is just so obviously full of crap after you've heard how hard it is to tell the differences between stuff.

And then, once you get good at it and can tell the subtle differences between things, you can begin to more closely identify those subtle characteristics with your own sense of musical pleasure, and possibly do a better job of honing in on the gear you like as you put together a system within your budget.

But in the end, it matters very little with regard to the exquisite experience of listening to music you love. Except that maybe you'll have a sense of confidence in the gear you've acquired and know you don't really need to keep looking anymore, rather than being unsure and worried that there may be something better out there.
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keanex

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Re: Anax at InnerFidelity
« Reply #49 on: September 03, 2015, 06:11:45 PM »

I know, right. Why should I learn to cook when there's a place with a dollar menu right up the street? Why should I get a college degree when I can get a job at the local Water & Sewerage plant down the street with just a high school diploma? (After all, I'll make just as much.) Why should I get married when I have a Tinder app and a winning profile? (Weddings cost money. Plus, he/she will own half your stuff after. That's a suckers game.) Why should I learn another language when I already know English? Why should I learn to fire a gun when we already have police? Why should I go to the movies when Netflix is cheap and right here in my living room?

Why do anything better? Why crawl out of the goddamn primordial ooze? We were just fine before we had fucking midocondria man and life is hard.
None of these analogies are comparable to the subject at hand. I am not saying there is or isn't a difference in the dacs/amps being tested but this is a completely illogical post.
« Last Edit: September 03, 2015, 06:50:32 PM by keanex »
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