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Golden Ears
I could never claim myself as Golden ears. First, it is not just the ears, I am in the disavatage that I did not play any instrument before, did not go to many classical concerts---(just starting in the last two years), so I do not have a well established reference in my brain; secondly, unless it is a day and night difference, I could not easily---like some of my golden ears friend could---tell a cable or devise is better or worse only after the first minute of installment and playing music. In fact, I know I made many errors in choosing set up, I often times thought a new devise was great at first, only realized something is lost/wrong after a week or two of having it. I guess I would be a really bad judge for a blind test.
I do think my ears are improving with time though, or, I should say my taste of sound is improving. However, there has been set backs and confusion. A most recent case in point, I could easily tell my new One SE DAC is much better than my old one, this is confirmed by several of my friends; however, two of my \"golden ears\" friends knew I got the SE and came over to listen on last Friday night, after brief listening period, both of them thought they heard better sound the last time when the SE was not in place. How could this be?
Fortunately, the best compliment re the SE I got came last night. My wife was in the mood to listen to music, and we sat down and listened after dinner. In fact, I did not tell her about the new purchase, and that I placed the SE well hidden under my bottom shelf---(most gears look the same to her anyway). Before the first song was over, she asked \"did you change something? it sounds so much improved\".
I think I just found the most unbiased golden ears!
I would think many of you here on this forum regard yourself golden ears. Question: are you confident that you are always right? do you think taste has anything to do with right or wrong?
I do think my ears are improving with time though, or, I should say my taste of sound is improving. However, there has been set backs and confusion. A most recent case in point, I could easily tell my new One SE DAC is much better than my old one, this is confirmed by several of my friends; however, two of my \"golden ears\" friends knew I got the SE and came over to listen on last Friday night, after brief listening period, both of them thought they heard better sound the last time when the SE was not in place. How could this be?
Fortunately, the best compliment re the SE I got came last night. My wife was in the mood to listen to music, and we sat down and listened after dinner. In fact, I did not tell her about the new purchase, and that I placed the SE well hidden under my bottom shelf---(most gears look the same to her anyway). Before the first song was over, she asked \"did you change something? it sounds so much improved\".
I think I just found the most unbiased golden ears!
I would think many of you here on this forum regard yourself golden ears. Question: are you confident that you are always right? do you think taste has anything to do with right or wrong?
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Comments
I don\'t know what is your old dac. I cannot really comment. If your previous dac has a bloated mid-range, lower mid bass and trebles with edges, sometimes people like this sensational sound. Most audiophiles grow up in this sound environment. Many manufacturer can break through the traditional though. Some manufacturer know sensational sound sell, don\'t bother to educate the audiophile community.
At the end of the day, music is for self enjoyment. Don\'t bother what golden ears think. Everyone is golden ears. You wife must have good ears. I think the O1SE is excellent dac from music enjoyment angle, only the Heritage is better.
Dan
I went through a similar journey. At the begining, when you start with some popular brands, which are desinged for the mass market. They normally carry a certain degree of signature sound of their own for differentiation. So, it is not unusual for those \"audiophiles\" running in to the loop of adding/replacing a certain equipment to make the whole system to reach a perceived balance.
I am lucky that I can get out of the loop a few years back when I first met JLam and Tuner, and get know some brands of hifi equipments that I never heard before. I believe there is a fundamental difference for those exotic brands from the mass as the designer do normally have music background, had a lot of experience in listening/playing live music. This is very very important and reinforce Tuner\'s comment to you before, get the basics right! Music is the priority of their design principle and then supplemented by technical theories. This is different from others as most of rest would place \"technology\" on the top of their list.
Music enjoyment is very subjective. Somebody would prefer a scientific approach (using whatever available attributes ) to evaluate whether a system playback is good or bad. Somebody would prefer a \"feeling\" approach.
I just want to say congratulations to you as you find your way to enjoy music. Golden Ears, doesnt really matter!
Bigpiece
Thanks for the encouragement!
There is no doubt that the one SE is better than my old DAC. I often disagreed with the two \"golden ears\" friends I mentioned, as I know they did generally like more bright/sensational presentation. However, it is quite frustrating to find other people do not hear the obvious improvement as I did.
Anyway, their criticism turned out to be really helpful. Actually, to be fair, they agreed that the SE sounded more natural and resolute than my old DAC, but they thought my system sounded darker, fatter, too much bass, and slower than before. After the initial disappointment of hearing the comment, I have to say it was not completely groundless. In the last few days, I repositioned my speakers, putting Acoustic System wood bases under the speakers\' spikes, adjusted position of the difusers behind the speakers, placed Finite Elemente isolation feet under the Zero and the One SE, and changed a few cables. The resulting change in sound was quite dramatic for the better.
Come to think of it, maybe my system was better tuned for my old DAC, with the arrival of the new One SE, I was so focused on its strength, I neglected to do some basic tuning/adjustment, hence the result was not as impressive as it should have been. I know that my taste is still different from my two \"golden ears\" friends, however, It was good that they picked out what they think was wrong, otherwise I would not be as motivated to do as many changes right away to achieve a more balanced sound.
Who knows what comment I will get when the next golden ears comes by my home. It is a fine art in itself as to what to believe and what to ignore from the criticism we received.
Robert