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Playback Listening
Topic: We are creatures of habit!

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Posted by Romy the Cat on 02-25-2026
We take a noble instrument — let us say the 2A3 — and we build an altar around it. We adjust parameters, refine topology, polish transformers, and whisper to ourselves that each refinement brings us closer to “better” sound. But what is this “better”? It is the echo of our own will or projections. We do not hear purity; we hear ourselves. We sanctify our labor and then kneel before its result. The sound is not improved — we are justified.

Remove the builder and the illusion trembles. The ear does not assemble; it receives. The music does not argue; it strikes. What we call fidelity is often only the morality of effort — the belief that toil must produce truth.

And yet musicality is not merely the vibration of air against the drum of the ear. To consume music is not to measure frequencies, but to be seized by interpretation. Hearing is only the doorway; understanding is the event. It is a psychological and cultural transformation — a becoming. The body resonates, the memory awakens, culture speaks through us. What is heard is never merely sound; it is meaning forged in the furnace of our instincts, our history, our training of perception.

The machine does not create this meaning. It only provokes it.

Without awareness of the forces within us — without psychological courage and cultural depth — one mistakes the refinement of equipment for the refinement of perception. One polishes the instrument but neglects the listener. And thus one misunderstands what audio truly is: not a compilation of tones, but an encounter; not an object, but a relation; not a system, but an interpretation.  It is an ultimate fugue of human life experiences where the layers of complexity gradually introduced and processed by human psyche. One must learn to hear without care the altar one has built.
Posted by Paul S on 02-25-2026
Just so. Quite a while ago I went to hear a group of musicians playing Stradivarius instruments provided by a Trust that owned them. Let's just say I've heard more engaging music, and I've also heard better sound. I recall talking about it with a nextdoor neighbor who was a concert violinist at the time. She said that some otherwise-special instruments required players who could "get the best from that particular instrument and play something wonderful with it", and then it might be great, indeed. Not getting into the audience...

Paul S
Posted by rowuk on 02-26-2026
It is true that there is a period of acclimation when combining the most special instruments and musicians. This period can be from weeks to years depending on how close the instrument is to previous musical habits. Some instruments also need to be constantly played to keep the player well tuned in. Sometimes we have to give up because the demands made by the instrument simply cannot be followed.

I know of no cases where like with HiFi gear, some people try something new and claim to be immediately "blown away". I do not believe that this is possible if we already have a well tuned system and just change something. Different yes, but better? Whatever changes must withstand the test of time to enter our perception, be accepted and then become "better". This does raise the question if the "best" of anything is the right challenge for our perception. Perhaps we get a "better reaction" if everything is not "perfectly matched". My trumpet students mature MUCH faster when they get student instruments in the beginning and professional instruments when they have developed the necessary skills/habits later on. Maybe we need to consider audio systems with training wheels?

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