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Listening Deeply

Jason Victor Serinus  |  Nov 2, 2021

Take a walk at night. Walk so silently that the bottoms of your feet become ears.—Pauline Oliveros, Sonic Meditations

The one activity that distinguishes audiophiles from other music lovers is our practice of sitting in solitude and listening closely to music reproduced on a finely tuned playback system.

That is not to suggest that there's anything wrong with playing music in the background. But what's unique about us audiophiles is the seriousness of intent with which some of us sit in front of or among two or more speakers, or within a headphone soundfield, and focus intently on well-produced and well-reproduced music. What was formerly a collective ritual shared by millions of gramophone owners and folks who gathered 'round a piano for music-making and listening is now practiced by relatively few music lovers. Among them are the members of our loose-knit audiophile community who take great care in assembling sound systems that provide a superior listening experience.

But assembling great hardware and music software is just part of the equation. Turning off the world and focusing solely on music is not easy to do. First, one must quiet children, animals, roommates, partner, or spouse and shut out intrusions from neighbors, cars, planes, lawnmowers, and not so "smart" devices. (How can anything that interrupts music be "smart"?) When I retreat to my relatively soundproof listening room and control digital playback with my iPad, for example, I must remember to turn off the tablet's sound and place it out of view so that, in the middle of the quietest or most heart-gripping musical passages, texts and headlines about matters profound, ridiculous, or profoundly ridiculous don't distract me as they flash across the screen. (Editor Jim Austin has castigated me for not having a second iPad that's devoted solely to digital music playback. He has a point.)

Next, one must quiet the mind. Once I'm sure that the dogs have been walked and fed and that sufficient time remains before dinner or bed, I sit down, take some deep breaths, and prepare to enter an altered universe. In an act of will, I shut out the world and immerse myself deeply in the music that brings me joy. Joy, of course, can come in many forms. Music can make me smile, laugh, or sob. Some music touches my soul, transports me to new dimensions, or opens a portal to truths and mysteries beyond words. Other music infuriates. I try to make room for it all. Sometimes I embark on the journey with music tried-and-true, performed by artists I'm familiar with. At other times the music is familiar, but the artists and approach are new. And then there's music that's entirely unknown, which I eagerly explore to see what it can reveal.

What I value most deeply, beyond the music itself and the music's sound, is artists whose every sound is created with intention. I never tire of hearing how far Rickie Lee Jones goes in her bizarre rendition of the Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" or how singers on the exalted level of Elisabeth Schumann, Lotte Lehmann, Maggie Teyte, Lorraine Hunt Lieberson, Joan Baez, and Joni Mitchell sustain tension in a manner that transforms a simple string of notes into something profound. I can't explain how much it means to me to hear Schumann descend from a high note as if her voice was a feather floating downward on the cushion of a soft breeze, or to hear Teyte, in Debussy's Chansons de Bilitis, sound the last three words of "et tour à tour nos bouches s'unissent sur la flûte" (and our mouths join in turn on the flute) as if two people were engaged in the most profound act of lovemaking ever recorded.

Why does Billy Eckstine's and Ella Fitzgerald's singing almost always make me feel good? How do Yo-Yo Ma and Emanuel Ax manage to smile through their instruments when the music calls for smiles? How can Murray Perahia, with more than a little help from J.S. Bach, channel the voice of the Divine through a single aria, 30 variations, and a recapitulation? How can the soundscapes of Anna Thorvaldsdóttir be so rooted in the earth yet metaphysical in their expanse?

I don't have answers to these questions. Nor do I need them. What I do need, and crave, is the experience of getting closer to the artists and music I love. I not only want to hear intent; I want to feel it. And for that, a great sound system (or a great live performance in a superb acoustic) is essential.

The late teacher and music pioneer Pauline Oliveros defined deep listening as "a way of listening in every possible way to everything possible, to hear no matter what you are doing." Oliveros is talking about listening into music and sound in a way that transports you to a level where subject and object—listener and that which is listened to—become one. She's describing the unity that comes about when we merge with what we are hearing.

It's a lofty goal, this merging, and its ambitiousness increases my desire to create the mindset, listening space, and sound system where unity with music in all its manifestations is possible. Hence, I take great delight in every change to system and room that enables me to hear more of what artists, composers, and sound engineers hope to convey.

What some might dismiss as nervosa I see as a path to nirvana. As hilarious at it may seem to contemplate achieving samadhi via an 80-year-old recording and a change of interconnect, it's a dance I love. And there you have it.

COMMENTS
Anton's picture
Submitted by Anton on November 2, 2021 - 11:36am

To me, audiophilia is like optometry. It helps me see better, but there are those who don't need such sonic remediation to extract the same amount of joy.

My wife is a fantastic music lover, and takes great and deep pleasure from musical experience. She doesn't need to hear the subway at Carnegie Hall to fully get a musical performance.

I think I can extract the full measure of pleasure from a piece of music while zipping about in my car, too. I enjoy the Hi Fi at home, of course, but the pleasure is often where I find the music, not specifically in my Hi Fi room. (That would make it a fetish, more than anything. I mean, more and more microscopic detail in many things can change something like romance into 'anatomy.)

Aaron Copland on a pair of battery powered speakers speaking to me from my iPhone as I sit in an actual panorama can crush the same experience on my Hi Fi!

I may have to turn in my audiophile card, but the gear is a toy that I enjoy playing with and listening to as I play music, but I don't think I've ever heard a piece of music on any Hi Fi that transported me from "Meh" to "Marvelous!" The Hi Fi enhances, but is never essential. Hi Fi is an accoutrement more than essential nutrient...but that's only to me. Every audiophile gets to decide for themself.

I mean that all in good humor, I LOVE Hi Fi, but I don't need it.

I hope that makes sense.

I love audiophilia and (most) audiophiles. It's a party!

Jason Victor Serinus's picture
Submitted by Jason Victor Serinus on November 2, 2021 - 2:52pm

A lot to ponder.

jason

Jack L's picture
Submitted by Jack L on November 3, 2021 - 11:06am

HI

You're not alone, my friend.

All roads lead to Rome. My elder son does the same thing like you:
enjoying his music from his labtop minispeakers at home & from his iPhone earbuds on the go.

Mind you, he received formal music training (as leisure, of course) & graduated from my city's Royal Conservatory of Music classical piano with first class honour before entering university.

He never yet owns any HiFi & yet he still enjoy his music in his own way.

Listening is believing

Jack L

georgehifi's picture
Submitted by georgehifi on November 2, 2021 - 11:45am

The pianist only has xray eyes for the babe in the pink top.

Jason Victor Serinus's picture
Submitted by Jason Victor Serinus on November 2, 2021 - 1:32pm

It's a woman. Do you really need to indulge in this sexism, George (assuming your name is George)?

The pianist is Claude Debussy. I don't know the details around the photo, but he had affairs with numerous women and was married twice. At least one of those affairs caused a scandal that resulted in the loss of many friends.

windansea's picture
Submitted by windansea on November 2, 2021 - 7:40pm

george was just joking. The pianist does seem to be gazing at the young lady.

And many of us in the audiophile world know george, so I'll personally vouch for him! Look up his attenuator with the optocoupler.

Jack L's picture
Submitted by Jack L on November 3, 2021 - 2:02pm

Hi

I like yr humour.

There is always varous angles to size up things, right ?

First off, a seasoned pianist does not need to look at the keyboard at all time while playing. So his/her eyes got to be browsing something else, somewhere, & somehow. So the French composer/performer happened to get eyes to eyes with the lady in pink who was also gazing at the pianist.

So I do not see anything fishy or sexy between the both characters on the record sleeve front cove.

Chances were the lady in pink could be singing, accompanied by Claude Debussy's piano.

So .....

Jack L

Anton's picture
Submitted by Anton on November 3, 2021 - 3:07pm

I also thought she looked like she was waiting for a cue as a singer.

But, I can see how someone might have thought it was more lusty than chaste.

I did not know the social stuff about Debussy's libidinous side. Looking back over the past 60 years, he was positively Presidential!

Awsmone0's picture
Submitted by Awsmone0 on November 2, 2021 - 2:21pm

This photo is cropped from the original, was taken in 1893 , and the gentlemen behind Debussy is Chausson turning the pages for him :)

Jason Victor Serinus's picture
Submitted by Jason Victor Serinus on November 2, 2021 - 2:50pm

I just checked the 10-CD set which has this as a cover and was going to post something to that effect. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe subjects had to hold stock still for photographs in 1893. My guess is that the photographer directed everyone into the poses shown in the photo.

Do you know whether the woman was a listener or, perhaps, a singer?

The year after this (colorized) photo was taken, Chausson ended his friendship with Debussy in protest over one of his affairs.

Jason Victor Serinus's picture
Submitted by Jason Victor Serinus on November 2, 2021 - 3:45pm

Ah, the miracles of the internet. Please see: https://www.alamy.com/na-franais-claude-debussy-au-piano-lt-1893-dans-la-maison-de-luzancy-chez-son-ami-ernest-chausson-de-gauche-droite-yvonne-lerolle-mme-lerolle-raymond-bonheur-henri-lerolle-ernest-chausson-claude-debussy-christine-lerolle-mme-chausson-etiennette-chausson-taken-in1893-unknown-431-debussy-au-piano-image210157798.html. This link describes everyone in the photo. The woman to the right of the piano, Christine Lerolle, was the sister of Yvonne Lerolle who is seated on the left. Renoir painted the sisters together at the piano four years later. He also painted Christine separately https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pierre-Auguste_Renoir_-_Christine_Lerolle.jpg

Degas is shown in this self-portrait with the sisters: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/285444

As for how everyone ended up painting the sisters, they were the daughters of French painter and art collector Henry Lerolle, whose wife's sister was married to Chausson. Perhaps it was taken at the Lerolle residence, which was a meeting place for musicians including d'Indy, Debussy, and Dukas.

Even more interesting, Debussy dedicated piano several works to Yvonne Lerolle.

Which takes us back to the music...

donnrut's picture
Submitted by donnrut on November 2, 2021 - 9:12pm

This is why vinyl beats digital. There is a lot of room on a 12 inch 2 sided (or more) cardboard for good photos and a lot of verbage. Can't read liner notes in a CD jewel case without big time eye surgery. and can't tell a piano from a pianoforte on those tiny pix.

georgehifi's picture
Submitted by georgehifi on November 3, 2021 - 12:41am

"It's a woman. Do you really need to indulge in this sexism, George (assuming your name is George)?"

Of course it's a woman and he thinks she's a babe, look at the way he's staring at her and she back at him, while everyone else is staring at the notes
And thanks' for seeing it as I did windansea. Some just have no humor and are just too serious

Cheers George

Archimago's picture
Submitted by Archimago on November 3, 2021 - 7:54am

Whether intended or not, that interpretation with added emotional "tension"/interest specifically between the pianist and the young woman adds a nice level of complexity into the photograph. The suggestion of the allure between the musician and potentially "available" audience is a nice one.

Props to the photographer!

Archimago's picture
Submitted by Archimago on November 3, 2021 - 8:20am

"What some might dismiss as nervosa I see as a path to nirvana. As hilarious at it may seem to contemplate achieving samadhi via an 80-year-old recording and a change of interconnect, it's a dance I love. And there you have it."

I think for audiophiles we already accept the "nervosa" of obsessively listening, and loving the music regardless if it's 80 years old or likely younger.

It's that part about a "change of interconnect" that's more problematic - when likely that changes nothing about the sound itself. But often times very much requires transfer of a substantial amount in bank funds.

Jack L's picture
Submitted by Jack L on November 3, 2021 - 10:44am

Hi

"But often times very much requires transfer of a substantial amount in bank funds."

What you just quoted may happen to many audiophiles - spent money on interconnects & hear no different !

Nada for yours truly, pal.

Being a skeptial die-hard DIYer, I've heard change of interconnects change the sound & therefore design/built interconnects & power cords to improve the music sound.

To make my critical ears 'happy', I experimented & finally settled on building the audio cords using 99.99% pure silver conductors. It sweeps the floors of all other audio cords using non-silver metals, sonically big bigtime, IMO.

Knowing where to get silver wires of such purity without wrecking my wallet is also some knowhow - the most costly part of the project.

I built 7 pairs of 99.99% pure solid silver-wired interconnets for my rig & a pure silver power cord for my tube power amp.

Yet, I do not see much money needed for my silver cable project !

Jack L

thatguy's picture
Submitted by thatguy on November 3, 2021 - 10:41am

I love music for the way it makes me feel and when it really makes me feel, then I know the system is right.
I rarely if ever sit and only listen. I prefer to find myself singing (badly) or moving (even worse) to the music without even thinking about it. Then I know it has gotten to me. And, to me, that is what the artist intended.
If I'm feeling what they want me to feel at that time, be it sad, happy, or excited then their music has reached me.

Jason Victor Serinus's picture
Submitted by Jason Victor Serinus on November 3, 2021 - 12:24pm

Thank you for bringing the discussion back to music and talking about how it makes you feel.

Dr Z's picture
Submitted by Dr Z on November 3, 2021 - 1:08pm

honestly, I find your posts & writing infuriating at times, but always thought provoking - would absolutely enjoy sitting in either of our respective listening rooms arguing/discussing the finer points of how science (I'm a physicist, after all), psychology, physiology and art all play equally important roles in our enjoyment of music... this column was spot on!

Jason Victor Serinus's picture
Submitted by Jason Victor Serinus on November 4, 2021 - 1:37pm

:-)

Charles E Flynn's picture
Submitted by Charles E Flynn on November 3, 2021 - 4:56pm

https://soundlab.kef.com/lexicon/listen/

Jack L's picture
Submitted by Jack L on November 3, 2021 - 5:00pm

Hi

I like your 'humour' by using "an 80-year-old recording" hopefully bring us to music virvana.

That said, the first commercial Long Play vinyl records (33rpm, 12" 21 minutes of music) were available from CBS back in 1948. Some 73 years from today - close enough to 80 years !!

IMO, older the vinyl records, say before 1970s, better is the music, in term of being airy, transient, wide & deep soundstaging - closer to live performance vs LPs recorded in later years after 1970s.

The reason could be, IMO, due to the electronics used in mixing, recording & cutting the master disc in the old times when only vaccuum tubes were available vs tons of solid state electronics (analogue+digital) used nowadays.

I got old LPs recorded back before 1970s & compare them with LPs recorded later eras (including digitally mastered LPs which I got over 30 of them).

I find old LPs cut in earlier ears still sound closer to live than many many of those new cuts using solidstate only electronics.

Listening is believing

Jack L

Robin Landseadel's picture
Submitted by Robin Landseadel on November 4, 2021 - 10:16am

I guess we all have our own kinds of rituals with making music and music making machines. I've gone through most of the audiophile routines. My autographed copy of Pièces de luth Du Vieux Gaultier as performed by Hopkinson Smith has green marker on the CD's rim. And I certainly have experience with grizzly sounding antiques, like the Fedor Chaliapin 78s I got when I worked at Ray Avery's Rare Records. Dizzy Gillispie's "Manteca" on RCA is a bonafide audiophile 78, FWIW.

My attitude towards all things "audiophile" shifted drastically when I started recording concerts and sessions for CDs. I realized that microphones always imprint their sonic signature on the resultant recording. I am no longer concerned with the "Absolute Sound" in the knowledge that we really can't get there from here. That's when I learned to stop worrying and learn to love digital. I don't expect my recordings to sound like anything other than a microphone feed, because that's what it is. Let X = X, like Laurie Anderson always sez.

Right now, the APO Equalizer is all the audio tweaking I need. If I'm really in the mood to tweak, it's gonna be with my 12-string guitar with a top E that buzzes like a sitar.

Jack L's picture
Submitted by Jack L on November 4, 2021 - 3:12pm

Hi

You should know very well no one single mic would sound identical as another one of same model/make.

So music X in could result X1, X2... out of the mic M1 M2.....

Therefore X in is not X out anymore, for the sake of argument.

Jack L

Jack L's picture
Submitted by Jack L on November 4, 2021 - 3:13pm

.

windansea's picture
Submitted by windansea on November 4, 2021 - 7:58pm

The microphone (and the placement of the mics!) adds its own signature, then the A-D conversion adds a little extra, etc., etc.-- high-fidelity to the original phenomenon is practically impossible, so, as you say, let's stop worrying and learn to love what we have. For me it's planars and class D for some material, class A for other material, and SET and full-range open baffle for other material. It's not only what the music itself calls for (or demands), but also what the listener feels like that day. --an agnostic omnivore

Jack L's picture
Submitted by Jack L on November 5, 2021 - 9:44am

Hi

Too true.

But the original traditional media is still better - pure analogue without going thru the ever-evolving A-D conversion. Closer to the original live performance !!!

If a music lover gets amble time & unlimited fund to play the HiFi game, why not acquire whatever "signal chains" using different hardware combination, like an omninovre for various diets.

Yet for someone still working a job with limited cash to play the audio game, like yours truly, I could only go for one system that hopefully can handle various types of music & personal sonic preference.

So I go for staightforward vinyl (not solely involved in the ever-investing complex digital hardware) with All-trode electronics, a pair of standspeakers & 3 active subs to do the job, hopefully.

Well, such humble mainly DIYed audio rig of mine does bring me pretty pretty close the live performance enjoyment at home, without wrecking my nerves & wallet.

I am so gratified !!

Listening is believing

Jack L

Anton's picture
Submitted by Anton on November 5, 2021 - 1:34pm

A funny thing I find about this hobby is how many of us think that the only constant in our system from day to day is us.

I look at it like Dickens did:

Staring at my system and it sounds different today? Well, “That difference may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about it, whatever it is!”

In general.

Jack L's picture
Submitted by Jack L on November 5, 2021 - 6:08pm

Hi.

Haha, what a humour!

My audio rig sounds pretty "constant" to my critical ears day in day out good or lousy (days).

Badly cooked food can't ruin my music appetite at all.

Am I one of a kind or what ?

Jack L

Robin Landseadel's picture
Submitted by Robin Landseadel on November 5, 2021 - 11:20am

I'm tempted to get this set, if only for Walter Gieseking's earlier recordings of Debussy. The SACD set [EMI 9 55917 2 8, hopefully made the transfer over to Warners] of his later recordings is well enough mastered to justify tracking it down.

Jack L's picture
Submitted by Jack L on November 5, 2021 - 8:49am

Hi

Sorry, digital is not my very cup of tea.

Only vinyl is my favorite, leaving my digitals (CD/Dvd/streaming) as back burner.

Jack L

Robin Landseadel's picture
Submitted by Robin Landseadel on November 5, 2021 - 5:03pm

I've owned multiple LP copies of Gieseking's Debussy, both series. Most of the Angel pressings of the 1950s series have one sort of defect or another. The orange Angels of the 1970s are consistently warped, par for the course for Capitol pressings of the time. The Blue Angels sound like they've been eq-ed underwater. The Red/Black original Angels had better mastering, but are really old and likely to have wear or surface damage. There are many different masterings of these recordings, emphasis on the "different". I recall a superbudget Italian box [wood veneer cover], managed to suppress any sense of dynamics. I think I may have encountered an original European pressing with the usual surface noise issues [yes I know about record cleaning, no, it didn't help] but the eq was right on. The Seraphim single disc compilation had comparatively good sonics, but it's only a quarter of the music. Again, the SACDs are worth it on account of the mastering.

Jack L's picture
Submitted by Jack L on November 7, 2021 - 11:12am

Hi

So am I lucky or what ?

The so many Angel label Lps I got are in nearly 'perfect' condition physically (no warp) & sonically. Just to mention those Angel LPs I like so much: opera sopranos like Victoria de Los Angeles, Callas, Mady Mesple, & of course: Mirella Freni, my most admired. Digital mastered EMI Angel I got Itzhak Perlman played Beethoven Violin Concerto & Beethoven Symphony 1 & 2 etc etc.

In fact, out of my 1,000+ LPs of various labels, only one digitally mastered Water Music warpped like crazy.

Mind you, 99.5% of my vinyl collection were picked from thrift stores for a buck or so a piece.

So.....

Listening is believing

Jack L

Jason Victor Serinus's picture
Submitted by Jason Victor Serinus on November 6, 2021 - 9:54am

This 10-CD set came out in 2018. The Gieseking Préludes, Livre 1 (1936), Suite bergamasque (1931), and Images 1 & 2 (1948) were all remastered in 2018. Other remasterings date from 2018 to as far back as 1988. For example, Mary Garden's Debussy-accompanied Ariettes oubliées were remastered in 1988 (sigh), while Ninon Vallin, Claire Croiza, Jane Bathori and Charles Panzéra benefit from 2018. Equally importantly in the vocal department, Désormière's irreplaceable Pelléas from 1941 was remastered in 2018, as are the True-conducted Pelléas excerpts from 1928. Maggie Teyte must do with the filtering of 2012. If you're into vocal music, you know that most of these people either sang with Debussy or trained with people who did, and are true exponents of the French tradition.

Robin Landseadel's picture
Submitted by Robin Landseadel on November 6, 2021 - 10:01am

Thanks. I'm seriously tempted, even though I'm in the process of handing off my CDs to others on account of limited space where I now live. Have fond memories of a Maggie Teyte collection on EMI UK LP pressings. There's astonishing things that can be done with 78 re-mastering if the transfer engineers take the trouble to do it right. I would point to the Robert Johnson Centennial edition as an example of great transfer work.

Jason Victor Serinus's picture
Submitted by Jason Victor Serinus on November 6, 2021 - 10:07am

The Naxos Historical transfers are the way to go.

Jack L's picture
Submitted by Jack L on November 7, 2021 - 11:27am

Hi

Sorry, my skeptical ears just don't like any A-D transfer.

IMO, what a waste of Naxos classical heritage when digitally transferred! So convenience comes before musicality, right ????

I'm not even happy with the sound of digitally mastered LPs (which I got over 30), let alone digital transfer, IMO.

Listening is believing

Jack L

Robin Landseadel's picture
Submitted by Robin Landseadel on November 7, 2021 - 12:41pm

Thanks!

MT_Guy723's picture
Submitted by MT_Guy723 on November 13, 2021 - 12:42pm

What a great column this is! I can relate to much of it although I'm probably on the bottom rung of being an 'audiophile' with all that that conveys. That first summer after graduating from college in 1975 I bought a receiver, turntable and a pair of Altec-Lansing Santana II's. It was 1996 before I felt the need to replace anything. I had added a Carver cassette deck to the mix, but no major changes other than speaker wire & interconnect upgrades. Working at the time as a designer-sales rep for a custom electronics company allowed me to upgrade my system's receiver and speakers at "Cost plus 10%" and add a 12" Velodyne sub = game changer. I had a pretty extensive music collection of around 750 albums and at that time about 1,400 CDs and that sub with the other upgrades made every album and CD like new again. I heard things I didn't know were there... and it all came from foreground listening. So I heartily agree with the author when he describes our joy as both the acquisition of the right gear AND actual listening to musical material. Many thanks for this great set of thoughts on our favorite subject.

Jason Victor Serinus's picture
Submitted by Jason Victor Serinus on November 14, 2021 - 2:16pm

Thank you.

jason

Jack L's picture
Submitted by Jack L on November 16, 2021 - 12:53pm

Hi

Indeed, active subs are audio "game changer" !!!!!

No so called 'full-range' loudspeakers can ever reproduce cathedral/auditorium pipe organs reallistically. So active sub(s) retrieves the missing bass notes, let alone electronic synthetic bass music of rock music.

FYI, I've installed, in stages, totally 3 100W subs (L,R, L+R) to suplement my KEF standspeakers. Indeed, they are huge "game changers", without which I would never know I missed so much music for so so long.

Listening is believing

Jack L

MT_Guy723's picture
Submitted by MT_Guy723 on November 16, 2021 - 1:35pm

One of the reasons I picked the model of Velodyne sub I did was servo-controlled accuracy. I never listen to my music at a volume loud enough to make the neighbors complain, so that model with its 100 watts behind it has been way more than I need... but I find that having that low bass for late night, low volume listening is an elegant step up in my listening enjoyment. I go by the mantra: no frequency being reproduced is more important than any other frequency. As such, I want to hear 'em all... with no loss of the highs because the over driven, too-heavy bass frequencies are eating them alive. I know from my A/V design days that a multi-sub environment tuned properly can be richly rewarding for the listener.

Jack L's picture
Submitted by Jack L on November 20, 2021 - 5:20pm

Hi MT_Guy

Bingo !

That's why I am so gratified with my 3 x100W subs (L,R, L+R) connected to my stereo system. Never look back !

Listening is believing

Jack L

MT_Guy723's picture
Submitted by MT_Guy723 on November 14, 2021 - 9:06pm

You're welcome, sir, but you earned the compliment. I should have mentioned that I was a longtime Stereophile subscriber even though I could never afford anything other than the budget components. However COMMA I did harvest some great music from the album reviews but also from the equipment reviews where the author would lay out what that piece of music should have sounded like on the equipment being reviewed. Buying most of those discs was like shooting fish in a barrel, so thank you, Stereophile, for that unintended assist to me personally.

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