Interesting. It is probably 50/50 for me. people love to listen to my system and are usually taken back by the quality of sound. I will ask for a request and put it on. Friends and visitors often say that they have never heard x song sound like this and did not know they were missing so much. There are certainly times when conversation kicks in and a song or 3 are not heard properly, and other times when 3 or more people just get quiet, taken by the music. Lastly, when alone with a lady friend, the music can often be as seductive as a glass of wine or martini.
Do you listen alone or with guest s
I am curious about the social element of listening to an audiophile system. Do you listen alone?? with wife, ladyfriend, buddy or guests?? For myself, I prefer to listen alone and for a few important reasons. I like to listen to the performance of the system I have put together or have made changes to. I listen to judge the performance of the musicians in terms of innnovations,and new revelations about the music's structure. I listen to "just" listen, to get that emotional fix that only music can provide. I occasionally ask my wife to listen with me or to a particular cut, but after about six minutes she loses interest. In the past, with lesser systems, I tried to point out things to friends in the music that I was hearing. After a short while, I realized I was making others uncomfortable, and also myself. Listening alone over the years became a ritual. I never regretted following this path, and was/am surely open to other listeners in the room....Maybe this is smug attitude to have; I think it comes with the territory of high-end audio. It often annoys me when I see people switch on a stereo and listen for just background music, or incidental music. I feel it denigrates the music and the musicians (excluding hip-hop, Daughtry,and Lady Gaga) I realize and am grateful there is no "golden rule book" for listening to music. The audiophile who drops thousand of dollars on his system cares about sound and music---science in the service of art.
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- 44 posts total
- 44 posts total

