How do you know when your system is really, truly singing?
In tennis, there is a saying: “in the zone.”
When one is playing in the zone, you just can’t miss. Every shot is going in. You can hit shots that are normally very difficult effortlessly, with ease.
This is how my system sounded late this afternoon. It was singing.
Today, I turned my system on about 9 AM, a little earlier than usual because I knew I was going to have to run an errand around 3 PM. I wanted to get plenty of listening in before the going out to run the errand. Right before 3 PM, instead of turning things off, I decided to leave the system playing FM classical public radio, and maybe I would get to do some more listening when I got back. I got back about 5 PM, and sat down to listen.
And wow! Everything sounded as good as it ever has. Maybe better. Details galore, but not bright hifi details—rich full musical details. And maybe smoother. No grain, no etch, no hard leading edges. Not like good hifi, like musicians playing music.
My indicator was that the music sounded as if it was slowed down. It was “in the zone”: revealing every nuance and detail I don’t think I’ve heard before. Or, if I had heard them before, they just didn’t register. Now they were going by in slow motion. So things I had not heard before were there, present, easy to hear, and part of a greater whole.
My best guess on why the music sounded slowed down is that with so many new details present, I was hearing so much more. Psychologically, there was more there there, and my brain was trying to make sense of that. Maybe, for some unknown reason, it was a lower noise floor. Maybe some newish cables had finally burned in and settled down. Maybe everyone in my neighborhood had decided to shut off every electrical appliance in their houses. Maybe my ears had just been cleaned out by a certified audiologist. (Nope.)
What’s your indicator that your system is really singing or “in the zone”?
In tennis, there is a saying: “in the zone.”
When one is playing in the zone, you just can’t miss. Every shot is going in. You can hit shots that are normally very difficult effortlessly, with ease.
This is how my system sounded late this afternoon. It was singing.
Today, I turned my system on about 9 AM, a little earlier than usual because I knew I was going to have to run an errand around 3 PM. I wanted to get plenty of listening in before the going out to run the errand. Right before 3 PM, instead of turning things off, I decided to leave the system playing FM classical public radio, and maybe I would get to do some more listening when I got back. I got back about 5 PM, and sat down to listen.
And wow! Everything sounded as good as it ever has. Maybe better. Details galore, but not bright hifi details—rich full musical details. And maybe smoother. No grain, no etch, no hard leading edges. Not like good hifi, like musicians playing music.
My indicator was that the music sounded as if it was slowed down. It was “in the zone”: revealing every nuance and detail I don’t think I’ve heard before. Or, if I had heard them before, they just didn’t register. Now they were going by in slow motion. So things I had not heard before were there, present, easy to hear, and part of a greater whole.
My best guess on why the music sounded slowed down is that with so many new details present, I was hearing so much more. Psychologically, there was more there there, and my brain was trying to make sense of that. Maybe, for some unknown reason, it was a lower noise floor. Maybe some newish cables had finally burned in and settled down. Maybe everyone in my neighborhood had decided to shut off every electrical appliance in their houses. Maybe my ears had just been cleaned out by a certified audiologist. (Nope.)
What’s your indicator that your system is really singing or “in the zone”?
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