Audio Streams #5 Page 2

Hi-fi is not about sound. Hi-fi is about music. That may seem painfully obvious, but I would suggest that those who argue about what they perceive to be objective values in hi-fi have lost sight of this simple statement. Sure, we can abstract the listening experience, measuring and comparing how different components reproduce recorded sounds. We have no emotional connection to sounds. Many reviewers—I'm as guilty as the next—tend to dissect the listening experience to the point that they mistake the parts (the sounds) for the whole (the music).

Midrange magic. Deep, tuneful bass. Sweet highs. That's not how we talk about music—it's how we talk about sounds. But this sort of language makes it easy to compare the sounds of different components: how well Component A handles bass compared to Component B, etc. And when comparing components, it also helps to listen to the same music over and over—especially music we're very familiar with. The reference track. No wonder people forget that listening to music is, first and foremost, about music, and not about comparing how different components reproduce sound. We should get back to how we listened as children, and ask a different question: Does this DAC make me want to dance and sing?

Ultimately, we want our hi-fis to make us want to listen more. Ideally, our hi-fis will make us want to explore as much new music as we can, finding joy in discovery, in new voices and new rhythms. If you find yourself listening to the same music over and over, buying mostly audiophile reissues of records you already own, and arguing on forums and blogs about other people's choices in gear, it may be time for a new hi-fi—or a new hobby.

Tidal Lossless Streaming
What better way to discover new music than to select from a library of recordings comprising millions of albums in CD-quality sound for a fixed monthly price of $19.99? The Tidal lossless streaming service (www.tidalhifi.com) became available last fall in the US and Canada, and I've been listening to it pretty much every day for the past month or so. My typical listening habits revolve around reading reviews and getting recommendations from friends, then logging in to Tidal and searching for the music I'm interested in. In most cases, the albums I'm looking for are right there. Sweet.

The Tidal interface is simple, and familiar to anyone who's used some sort of computer-based music service. Tidal offers curated Playlists, What's New, Recommended Albums, Top 20 Albums, Favorites (yours), and Playlists (yours). The search engine returns results in an instant. So far, I've discovered a few new favorite albums, including Weyes Blood's The Innocents, Richard Dawson's Nothing Important, Grouper's Ruins, Caribou's Our Love, and others.

I've also queued up a bunch of old favorites from the Doors, Tom Waits, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Archie Shepp, Don Cherry, Jimmy Scott, Jimi Hendrix, EinstÅrzende Neubauten, and more. The way I figure, I'd have spent more money buying all of the music I've listened to on Tidal—and then some—than I have on the monthly fee. Tidal claims to have over 25 million tracks in its library, and the number grows each week—my explorations can continue practically unabated.

You can listen to Tidal in a number of ways, including through a Web browser (currently, the Compact Disc's resolution of 16-bit/44.1kHz is supported only by Google Chrome), through Tidal's desktop app, or via the mobile app for iOS and Android devices. I've pretty much stuck to the desktop app, and the sound quality of their lossless streaming is about as good as playing music from my NAS devices. One nice feature of the mobile app is the ability to listen to your selections Offline: the songs are downloaded to your device for local playback, saving you data charges.

Setting up the Tidal desktop app is relatively simple. Click on the System icon in the upper-right corner of the screen, and select Sound Quality (HiFi) and your Sound Output Device (your DAC). You're ready to roll. I used Tidal through my desktop system—a Mytek Digital Stereo192-DSD DAC and a pair of Adam A3X powered speakers—as well as through my main system: a MacBook Pro laptop, Auralic Vega DAC, Pass INT-30A integrated amplifier, and DeVore Fidelity The Nine speakers. I find Tidal's lossless streaming to be on a par with CD-quality sources, which means I can listen, explore, and enjoy for as long as time allows.

As you listen, the Tidal app also displays Related Artists, which I've come to appreciate as another way to discover new music. Again, having direct access to millions of albums in CD-quality sound leaves me little to complain about. Tidal has signed deals with a number of audio manufacturers—including Bluesound, Linn, Auralic, and Electrocompaniet—to make their service available with the purchase of a supported device.

The Best Hi-Fi . . .
. . . is the one that's used to discover and enjoy music most often. Musical enjoyment is something to be shared and cherished. To turn this hobby into a catfight over whose big rig is best is a travesty brought about by a few misguided misanthropes.

The absolute sound turns out to be the one that's in our heads. Also rattling around in there—as with every other form of enjoyment—each of us has his or her preferences and favorites. Instead of arguing, we should be endlessly thankful that we can afford the time simply to listen to music. This luxury is the most valuable means to our end, which is . . . enjoyment.

Stating the obvious seldom changes anything. Some people will go on arguing about hi-fi. Some people will go on doing lots of other things that are even more stultifying. Yes, hi-fi is a serious business—but let's try to remember that enjoying music through a hi-fi is serious fun.

ARTICLE CONTENTS

COMMENTS
markbrauer's picture

It seems that the techniques explained in this New Yorker article could be used to measure listening enjoyment. Could be applied to AB testing or to long term sessions. Could be used to "quantify" differences in equipment, or differences in sampling rate, or system setup, or the affects of the same music on different listeners. Possibilities are endless. Someone should be pursuing this.
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/01/19/know-feel

michaelavorgna's picture

Thanks for the link!

I was just watching this video of Oliver Sacks again yesterday on YouTube. If you are not familiar with it, neuroscientists from Columbia University measure Sack's brain's response to music by Bach and Beethoven. Sack's is a Back lover, while Beethoven leaves him "flat". The interesting thing about this video is after one A/B comparison, Sack's is not sure whether he was listening to Bach or Beethoven. He was confused. Yet his brain clearly knew which was which. Great stuff.

Michael Lavorgna

Editor, AudioStream

BradleyP's picture

I would submit that those who are obsessed with their hifis and five songs don't actually like music. They like toys and superciliousness. Let's just leave them to their miserable hobby. You will never talk sense into them. The music lovers among us are acutely aware of the fetish side of hifi and run little risk of going to the dark side. If only the fetishists would go away and the music lovers would wake up to what a serious sound system can do, we'd have a whole different landscape and a healthier industry to support it. Preaching to the choir, I know.

Catch22's picture

You can't improve your system if you can't listen critically, but you can't enjoy music if you always have your critical hat on.

I think most people who get stuck in the critical listening mode have not yet figured out the nature of music reprodcution and all the parts and pieces that do and don't matter and to what degree.

There is a lot to learn about music, sound and reproduction and nobody is born with that knowledge and not everybody gets to the point where they are satisfied by pure accident. There is clearly a very long learning curve and journey.

I'm not going to be critical of either camp to the extent that I would say anyone is doing "it" wrong because I'm not in a position to know where they've been or where they want to go.

A number of years ago, I was at a HiFi shop and talking to one of the sales staff. We were discussing various combinations of gear and I gently asked what he used at home. His reply was that he listened to a table radio with a cd player. He went on to say that he had fallen on hard times some years back and had to sell his rig in a divorce and wasn't interested in getting anything until he could achieve that level of HiFi again. In other words, he knew how good music could sound and couldn't enjoy compromising for a modest system having heard so much better.

Laugh at him, but how many of us would be very interested in going back to a 19" BW television?

corrective_unconscious's picture

You can be an audiophile for both the music and the toys. These things don't have to be either / or.

I tend to listen to more live, acoustic music than to recorded music, so I shall remain smug....

dalethorn's picture

There are better systems that can provide a richer experience. People can debate the emotions of that experience all they want, but the bottom line is the bottom line in hi-fi as much as it is in having an ocean-front property or driving a Rolls. Once you've tasted it, going back to peasant-ware is dreadful - depressing even. I suppose the best answer for those who don't have the money or have fallen off the gravy train is continued improvements in technology, and reading reviews that point out where the best values are.

rssarma's picture

As a photographer I can tell you this, there have been times when I've bought a new piece of equipment like a lens, strobe or even a camera and that has rekindled some excitement within me and actually allowed me to make some good photographs. I perceive HiFi to be no different.......sometimes you just lose the excitement and the connection that you've had and the equipment that seemed perfect for so long now appears flawed. The new gear probably has nothing to do with being better, but just invokes new excitement allowing one to "re-enjoy" what's been lost. Sort of like having a mistress....

Bottomline, I feel audiophiles crave newness.

jtshaw's picture

rssarma wrote, "Bottomline, I feel audiophiles crave newness." I don't entirely disagree, but my system remains stable for years at a time. Part of that is just the expense and effort it takes to confidently upgrade. But I also find that it takes a long time to take the full measure of truly excellent loudspeakers. I'm into my fourth year with Joseph Audio Pulsars, and I still discover recordings that highlight something they do exceptionally well. I feel no boredom with them, and little curiosity to explore others (well, except the several Rockports...those loudspeakers are beyond boggling.)

Joe Whip's picture

Yes, for my money, too many audiophiles crave newness. Other than the DAC I purchased to get into computer based audio, my stuff is at least 20 years old. I keep it because they are high quality but not high cost and sound fantastic. Just because it is new doesn't mean it is better. Many audiophiles keep changing equipment and never seem satisfied. They seem to think I am crazy as I am satisfied. I attend countless live events a year, classical and jazz and use live sound as a reference, not some insanely expensive speaker or component, that more times than not, sounds nothing like the real thing. I would rather spend the money on adding music that I love to the collection or better yet, seeing it live.

dcolak's picture

with valab DAC and Virtue Audio Two amp give me more "pleasure" than JBL Array 1400 with NAD M51 DAC and NAD M3 amp.

Sometimes you just want some grit in the music and that bass shaking everything, screw the transparency! :-))

drblank's picture

just to see what the hype is all about. My biggest complaint isn't necessarily with Tidal itself, it's with my ISP and the crappy service I have, but am reliant on and I can't change it due to the service that i have. It just doesn't give much bandwidth as it's being shared with other people and I can't change that.

Otherwise, it seems to be pretty good, but I haven't put it through a lot of comparisons as of yet. I hope to be able to get better bandwidth so I can perform better tests, but to me, the biggest issue is ISP related.

I also was disappointed in that I searched for an artist and what came up was several different artists that had a similar name, but weren't the artist I was looking for. I think it could have done a better job with the search results in this particular case. The player seems to be just OK, there is room for improvement.

drblank's picture

just to see what the hype is all about. My biggest complaint isn't necessarily with Tidal itself, it's with my ISP and the crappy service I have, but am reliant on and I can't change it due to the service that i have. It just doesn't give much bandwidth as it's being shared with other people and I can't change that.

Otherwise, it seems to be pretty good, but I haven't put it through a lot of comparisons as of yet. I hope to be able to get better bandwidth so I can perform better tests, but to me, the biggest issue is ISP related.

I also was disappointed in that I searched for an artist and what came up was several different artists that had a similar name, but weren't the artist I was looking for. I think it could have done a better job with the search results in this particular case. The player seems to be just OK, there is room for improvement.

earwaxxer's picture

All of us 'philes' have been guilty of over-analyzing the 'sound' that emanates from our cherished kit. I think I can safely say that, and I dont feel there is anything wrong in it, or something to be ashamed of. It is something we can grow out of and mature. A part of life if you will. Its like being able to appreciate nature. To appreciate its subtleties there requires a patience with oneself and our place in the universe. That comes with maturity. With that said, all of it is life and all of it has equal value.

Doctor Fine's picture

In my world it is possible to obsess over the one and only correct way to build a system and at the same time be intoxicated by the piece of music you are hearing.
The two concepts work TOGETHER in my world.
It takes a properly built system that is tuned to the room---THEN I can get the sense of the music and it moves me greatly.
At the same time you can watch "Apocalypse Now" on a 13 inch Black and White TV and "get" the gist of the plot and the music.
But watch it at a proper Dolby movie theater and it's like seeing it for the first time.
Make sense.
They work TOGETHER.
Proper system and good music.

deetunes's picture

I've loved music as far back as my early teens (late 50's now) and I've always been interested in a system that accentuates that music. I'm currently in the process of converting a home office to a music listening room (sound deadening in the walls, etc.) and when that is finished I will look at upgrading my system. My speakers are 1988 vintage (Missions)that I have modified to bi-amp several years ago. I've enjoyed this system immensely, but the excitement around my current endeavor is off the charts and has rekindled a passion that has always been there. I have listened to some of the new equipment and the detail in the music (sounds) is astonishing. I still think by current system is above average but the new hi-fi system I envision will only enhance my enjoyment. So I'm in the camp that you can appreciate the systems ability to produce crisp, clear, powerful, sounds and still enjoy the music.

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