In the endless attempt to understand audio playback from the listener’s perspective, a considerable vocabulary has developed to describe each facet of the sound. Copious use of the audio lexicon can be seen at the end of equipment reviews, including such metrics as sound stage, dimensionality, timber, pace, dynamics, attack, decay, noise floor, and the list goes on and on. To the uninitiated it can be both confusing and discouraging. Truly, these words and phrases have their place, allowing us to discuss sonic characteristics that would otherwise be difficult if not impossible to describe. It is a great benefit to learn this language, but it comes with patient investment of time, reading and practice. Many newcomers see this language in a discouraging light. “Since I cannot discuss sound this way,” they think, “I must not have the ears to hear sound the way the experts do.”
To those who suffer in the aforementioned way, I would like to give you a breath of hope. The technical descriptors of sound do not account for the beauty of sound. They are much like the foundation of a house, its frame, its materials, and so on. Such things place the physical structure before you, but they are not the image you see of it. You see the house as a whole when you first see it, and you either think, “Wow!” or you do not. Now, let us consider the proposition of high-end audio playback. We are to believe that a suitably equipped system is capable of immersing us in the sound field of the original performance. However jaded or skeptical you may be, if the system lives up to this commission, or comes reasonably close to it, you are likely to get goosebumps. Of course, you need a really good performance of a really good piece of music, recorded by really good engineers in a really good recording or performance venue. Yet, when this is all provided, the result should be goosebumps. How much of the above technical jargon are you thinking about when you get goosebumps? I venture to say, none of it at all. It is the music itself that thrills, and the unexpected realism of the playback, and that is it. Do you need trained ears or a deep understanding of the playback technology to be thrilled by the playback? Absolutely not! To think otherwise is tantamount to thinking that you cannot recognize a piano without studying the technologies of soundboards, piano harps, piano strings, and the basics of sound propagation. Yet, a blindfolded six-year-old could distinguish between an electric piano and an acoustic one.
This is a case of getting the cart before the horse. We are looking for an experience that thrills us. If we find it, we can enjoy it and, perhaps, go out and buy the stuff that is giving it to us. But what if we are not thrilled? That is the point of the technical jargon and educated listening. Why am I not thrilled? Well, maybe it’s a small sound stage, or a two-dimensional sound field, or perhaps it is a lack of dynamics, etc. If we can understand and articulate the flaws of a system then we are better equipped to remove them. It is a bit like having to repair a structural problem with a house. You need the technical knowledge to broach the problem, but you do not need it to enjoy the finished product.
What does all of this mean? It means that the uninitiated audio seeker has everything he or she needs to enjoy really good audio playback, and that is the most important equipping an audiophile can have.
Let us not be glib – there are different ways a system can disappoint, and they fall into two broad categories. First, you have the system that makes annoying sounds that obviously are not part of the original performance. These sounds are the evidence of overt distortion. One needs no education to know that, “Ouch! That hurts my ears!” But there is another, second category, and it contains the sound that has no indication of being wrong. There is no discernable distortion, and the sound even seems “musical” and “nice.” It is good, but I have no goosebumps when it plays. This category contains the sins of omission; the playback does not do anything wrong, yet it also does not do everything right. It simply omits the minuscule details that take our breath away and convince us, “This is real.”
The majority of newbies don’t hold the bar high enough; they don’t expect to be thrilled. But, if you are new to high end audio, and if you think you may be someone who will take the endeavor far, let me do you a huge favor. Let me convince you that you should demand to be thrilled. Go to a few audio shows and drop into one room after another. Does it thrill you? If not, move on. If it does, take to heart the equipment you are listening to. Afterall, the price tags are steep, and if you are to make a considerable investment in this hobby, don’t settle for less than you should be getting. Expect to be thrilled. If you make large investments in your own system and you are not moved by it, it can be a hollow feeling and a remorseful one. But, if you hold the bar where it belongs, if you demand goosebumps, then you will look forward to firing the system up, for a long time to come. An audio system can be quite expensive, yet the satisfaction one derives from it is frequently not a simple function of money spent. If such were the case, it would be simple enough to come into it with as big a war chest as possible. A few audio shows may very possibly convince you otherwise, and the rooms that make the greatest impact on you are sometimes surprisingly less expensive than the premier ones. Notwithstanding, a system that thrills is seldom a small investment. And if the financial impact of a thrilling system ever haunts you after purchasing it, a convincing remedy that you did the right thing is only one piece of music away.
The information contained herein is presented in good faith and with all hopes of helping the reader to find the best equipment for an audio system. Neither the author, nor Bella Sound LLC, assume any responsibility or liability due to loss on the part of the reader, owing to or believed to be owing to the content of this article, or resulting from or believed to be resulting from an application of the information contained herein, regardless the level of expertise engaged thereto.
