April 14, 2011

The audiophile mouse wheel

Warning! This post is likely to offend some readers. (Which is precisely why some of you want to read it!)

In case you are wondering, no this isn't about toys for your pets but toys for adults. Here you have a nice toy to keep your pet occupied in a confined space, giving him something to do without moving ahead. Keep that phrase in mind, because it sums up many things that keep audiophiles busy.

The question comes up all the time on audio forums. Should I bi-wire my speakers? I have spare amp channels, should I bi-amp? Should I buy the quantum transfigurundem premorgifier? The quantum part makes it sound like they have a basis in real physics. Should I stick lots of little dots on my audio components?

All of these are symptoms of a desire to get somewhere, but all of them will leave you confined to your current limits while expending effort and spending money. No doubt you've read comments from within the confines of many mouse cages, full of subjective descriptions of the improvements, many of them simply describing the changes you get when listening to the same thing expecting to hear something different. The brain is very good at revealing new information that was always there. Have you ever seen a word that suddenly looked as if it were spelt incorrectly? Music is like a mysterious woman you can never fully know, always presenting something new even after familiarity has stopped you from noticing.

Personally, I prefer to do the real tweaks. The kind of changes that your dog can hear from outside without really paying attention. If I had a dog, and if he could talk, he'd say "wow, woof woof, those woofers now sound so tight and musical, I might be out of a job soon. Are you trying to replace me?"

So if you are looking for those kinds of tweaks, you'll find some sign posts in here.

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