I thought I would write a little practical article on music listening. Listening is such a subtle thing we often don't even notice how subtle it is. When we are listening to someone we love and care about very much or conversely someone who has authority over us or who we are meeting for the first time, we pick all kinds of nuances. We notice their inflections, their breathing and how these correspond to their gestures and postures. Because we use our vision so much and because it is so stimulated the aural information often seems like background. That is one reason why it is good sometimes just to listen and allow our emotions and imagination to be engaged.
Most of our listening is casual; we do it while we are doing something else. So it may not occur to us to be deliberate in setting ourselves up for better listening. Between that and our subconscious repetition of marketing about what brands sound good, we may convince ourselves that we are really hearing what is available.
I'd like to do two things in this little article. One is to make some suggestions that will allow you to improve your listening experience without spending any additional money. The second is to give you some suggestions that involve spending relatively little money to improve what already have in the way of equipment.
It is true, that what you hear is the result of the cumulative effect of the source, the equipment (including their power), setup and your own hearing.
Are you listening through your phone? There are four possible connections you may be using -- Bluetooth, the headphone jack, the physical connection (USB most probably) or WiFi. If you are using headphones, they are probably the biggest determinant of the quality of sound. Currently the sound engineering of much music is designed to be played at high volume levels but contains little dynamic range, i.e., the difference between loud and quiet. This takes away something of the subtlety that we are used to experiencing with live conversation. Even though it might not seem as engaging, consider playing some of your favourite music at a LOWER volume. Force yourself to listen to the texture of the music. How do the various instruments, sounds and voices interact? As you begin to notice the texture of the music more you can start thinking about the virtues of each part. In turn, you will be advancing your appreciation for music, knowing better what you like and, as time goes on, why. As to setup, you might experiment with wired and wireless connections. If you have the same files or streaming service on a computer or tablet you might try listening there; it may be better quality than the phone.
Speakers. Many of the same principles apply whether you are using speakers with your computer, bookshelf speakers or even floorstanding speakers. The first question is, "Do you have equal hearing in both your ears?" If not, don't be afraid to adjust the balance, which is usually in the right place if you hear the lead singer in the centre. There are certainly ways to fine tune speakers to your room by adjusting their position, but a place to start may be by creating an imaginary equilateral triangle between the speakers and the position of your ears. Most speakers also need to be some distance from the wall. Even marking a good speaker position and then returning the speakers there when you want to do your listening is a way to satisfy the multiple uses the room may have and be able to enjoy good listening. Should the speakers be turned toward your seating position, and if so, how much. Start with a little. That will probably reduce any reflections along the long wall between you and the speakers and help also to reduce some of the reflection from the wall behind you. As you adjust these things you will find that the sound gets clearer or foggier, and, at some point, you will be able to hear the instruments and voices in space -- some more forward, some further back, some to the left or to the right and even some higher up or lower down. Just like a pair of binoculars you are beginning to experience an aural image of the recording of the artists you are listening to. To me, this is when music feels more connected, and I become more aware of the human beings engaged in making the music and sharing it with me. That's a little parallel to the spiritual life -- fine tuning in our prayers and in our deep conversations with others renders something more fulsome.
Electricity. It is everywhere and in modern places radio waves are everywhere and every device hooked up to the electrical service in your home affects the qualities of the current coming through the outlet. In turn, these things affect all your devices and are most important in the devices that use the smallest currents and voltages, e.g., phono preamps, DAC's in network players or even CD players and the preamp stage in an amplifier. There are all kinds of heroic measures you can take to address these issues and taking a few of them
can make the texture of voices and the illusion of 3-dimensional sound much more credible. The simplest thing you can do, however, is clean all your contacts. You can get specialist audio equipment contact cleaners from Amazon for about $25, but even if you do not do that, a little friction with a soft cotton cloth will make an audible difference -- cost $0. If I were to choose one change to make I would say spend some decent money on any interconnect you have between a source and its amplification. If you have an all-in-one arrangement, and you can replace the power cable with something specifically for audio you will also notice a difference. You will get the benefit of some shielding from interference and may also get some lessening of the problematic aspects of the power supply.
Vibration. If your speakers are loud, then your equipment is also vibrating. Imagine the very small circuits that are handling very detailed and yet small signals being bounced around as they attempt to strengthen those signals. You are introducing variants into the amplification. There are better and worse materials to use and specialist advice exists to steer you to something that will attempt to address a wide frequency and amplitude range, but even simple measures can make a difference. Experiment with pads or even a thick cloth under your devices. For the speakers, most of them need some separation for the floor or surface they are sitting on. The traditional approach is to use points seated on metal discs. Go to the dollar store and get some small adhesive pads appropriately sized for your speakers. Stick them on the four corners and see if you hear a difference.
Source. If you are using a low quality streaming service or compressed mp3 files there are definite limitations. If you want to compare, try a less-compressed format like Apple's Lossless and see if you hear differences. Bear in mind even if you are listening to the same track they may come from different masters or even mixes too. You will need to figure out both if you can hear a difference and what value that may be to you at least for some of your music listening. I subscribe to Spotify and find that for casual listening it is good value. I do use it, though to figure out what music I may want to buy for deeper listening either as a download or in a physical format, CD or vinyl. And recently I have begun to subscribe to Tidal which has two tiers of subscription, the first roughly equivalent to Spotify and the other including "CD" quality streaming as well as a new protocol called MQA. To use MQA you need equipment that is compatible with it -- and that list has started to grow.
In summary, this little bit of info is simply to encourage you to make the best use of what you have in order to hear more deeply and richly. It may also give you a flavour of what is possible and you may start thinking about improving your equipment. Just remember that the primary goal is hearing another person share their soul through music.
Most of our listening is casual; we do it while we are doing something else. So it may not occur to us to be deliberate in setting ourselves up for better listening. Between that and our subconscious repetition of marketing about what brands sound good, we may convince ourselves that we are really hearing what is available.
I'd like to do two things in this little article. One is to make some suggestions that will allow you to improve your listening experience without spending any additional money. The second is to give you some suggestions that involve spending relatively little money to improve what already have in the way of equipment.
It is true, that what you hear is the result of the cumulative effect of the source, the equipment (including their power), setup and your own hearing.
Are you listening through your phone? There are four possible connections you may be using -- Bluetooth, the headphone jack, the physical connection (USB most probably) or WiFi. If you are using headphones, they are probably the biggest determinant of the quality of sound. Currently the sound engineering of much music is designed to be played at high volume levels but contains little dynamic range, i.e., the difference between loud and quiet. This takes away something of the subtlety that we are used to experiencing with live conversation. Even though it might not seem as engaging, consider playing some of your favourite music at a LOWER volume. Force yourself to listen to the texture of the music. How do the various instruments, sounds and voices interact? As you begin to notice the texture of the music more you can start thinking about the virtues of each part. In turn, you will be advancing your appreciation for music, knowing better what you like and, as time goes on, why. As to setup, you might experiment with wired and wireless connections. If you have the same files or streaming service on a computer or tablet you might try listening there; it may be better quality than the phone.
Speakers. Many of the same principles apply whether you are using speakers with your computer, bookshelf speakers or even floorstanding speakers. The first question is, "Do you have equal hearing in both your ears?" If not, don't be afraid to adjust the balance, which is usually in the right place if you hear the lead singer in the centre. There are certainly ways to fine tune speakers to your room by adjusting their position, but a place to start may be by creating an imaginary equilateral triangle between the speakers and the position of your ears. Most speakers also need to be some distance from the wall. Even marking a good speaker position and then returning the speakers there when you want to do your listening is a way to satisfy the multiple uses the room may have and be able to enjoy good listening. Should the speakers be turned toward your seating position, and if so, how much. Start with a little. That will probably reduce any reflections along the long wall between you and the speakers and help also to reduce some of the reflection from the wall behind you. As you adjust these things you will find that the sound gets clearer or foggier, and, at some point, you will be able to hear the instruments and voices in space -- some more forward, some further back, some to the left or to the right and even some higher up or lower down. Just like a pair of binoculars you are beginning to experience an aural image of the recording of the artists you are listening to. To me, this is when music feels more connected, and I become more aware of the human beings engaged in making the music and sharing it with me. That's a little parallel to the spiritual life -- fine tuning in our prayers and in our deep conversations with others renders something more fulsome.
Electricity. It is everywhere and in modern places radio waves are everywhere and every device hooked up to the electrical service in your home affects the qualities of the current coming through the outlet. In turn, these things affect all your devices and are most important in the devices that use the smallest currents and voltages, e.g., phono preamps, DAC's in network players or even CD players and the preamp stage in an amplifier. There are all kinds of heroic measures you can take to address these issues and taking a few of themcan make the texture of voices and the illusion of 3-dimensional sound much more credible. The simplest thing you can do, however, is clean all your contacts. You can get specialist audio equipment contact cleaners from Amazon for about $25, but even if you do not do that, a little friction with a soft cotton cloth will make an audible difference -- cost $0. If I were to choose one change to make I would say spend some decent money on any interconnect you have between a source and its amplification. If you have an all-in-one arrangement, and you can replace the power cable with something specifically for audio you will also notice a difference. You will get the benefit of some shielding from interference and may also get some lessening of the problematic aspects of the power supply.
Vibration. If your speakers are loud, then your equipment is also vibrating. Imagine the very small circuits that are handling very detailed and yet small signals being bounced around as they attempt to strengthen those signals. You are introducing variants into the amplification. There are better and worse materials to use and specialist advice exists to steer you to something that will attempt to address a wide frequency and amplitude range, but even simple measures can make a difference. Experiment with pads or even a thick cloth under your devices. For the speakers, most of them need some separation for the floor or surface they are sitting on. The traditional approach is to use points seated on metal discs. Go to the dollar store and get some small adhesive pads appropriately sized for your speakers. Stick them on the four corners and see if you hear a difference.
Source. If you are using a low quality streaming service or compressed mp3 files there are definite limitations. If you want to compare, try a less-compressed format like Apple's Lossless and see if you hear differences. Bear in mind even if you are listening to the same track they may come from different masters or even mixes too. You will need to figure out both if you can hear a difference and what value that may be to you at least for some of your music listening. I subscribe to Spotify and find that for casual listening it is good value. I do use it, though to figure out what music I may want to buy for deeper listening either as a download or in a physical format, CD or vinyl. And recently I have begun to subscribe to Tidal which has two tiers of subscription, the first roughly equivalent to Spotify and the other including "CD" quality streaming as well as a new protocol called MQA. To use MQA you need equipment that is compatible with it -- and that list has started to grow.
In summary, this little bit of info is simply to encourage you to make the best use of what you have in order to hear more deeply and richly. It may also give you a flavour of what is possible and you may start thinking about improving your equipment. Just remember that the primary goal is hearing another person share their soul through music.
