Do reviewers and "golden ears" with a recording background have an advantage?
- Thread starter caesar
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IME it can be both. It's more a matter of perspective. For someone chasing more realistic or accurate performance it is an advantage. For someone who just wants to get into a chill out zone, that type of experience can make you switch to critical listening mode too easily and knock you out of that zone. It's no surprise then that we all make so many alcohol jokes. It helps us stay in there
More knowledge is always an advantage, never an impediment.
I'll add that playing a musical instrument (or being able to sing) well is equally valuable for being an appreciative listener.
--Ethan
It is deeper experience in critical listening, particularly in listening for very specific tones and their impact on reproduction. Not sure I can see how that could be an impediment to assessing the performance of playback equipment. Could it impede sitting back and just enjoying the music? Sure. Any form/level of critical listening can do that. But do you need a reviewer to tell you whether or not you're enjoying the music? Whether or not the sound of a compoonent or system pleases you? Or do you need them to tell you the specific impact that system or component seems to have on specific aspects of reproduction, so you can, hopefully, narrow the field of components/systems to sit back and listen to?
Tim
Tim
I think that's an unfair statement. For instance, having a recording background makes one more aware of what the engineers were doing on the LP or CD. In fact, I hate having engineers over because all they can do is critique the recording (at least in the analog domain) and jump up and shout, can you hear that edit? Or how they speeded up the trumpet because he was falling behind the other instruments (Herb Alpert on Casino Royale Look of Love)?
This is an advantage all critics have. It is not unique to any subset of the high-end audio press.
Tim
The most "golden ears" exist on your own head.
Most recording engineers, when they talk, discuss signal manipulation, compression, error envelopes etc etc. They mash things up with various artistic and not so artistic machinations, then hand the product to audiophiles who talk about "signal purity". "This compressor turns it into such a beautiful wad" har har! The question is, can you decipher the ingredients of the recipe from the final baked product. It's not their fault, it is just what they do to make a living and please clients/end users.
Engineers do have the advantage of hearing a wide variety of recorded sound and product, and they also hear the stuff in the engineering booth before it hits the market, after which it turns into a unpredictable variable dependent upon end user systems.
It is kind of like talking about the virginal qualities of a painted harlot.
I don't have any problem using various manipulations and equalizations in my stereo system because I can't see any down side after the engineering post processing anyway, I am just returning it to something that is viable to my own sensibilities.
Most recording engineers, when they talk, discuss signal manipulation, compression, error envelopes etc etc. They mash things up with various artistic and not so artistic machinations, then hand the product to audiophiles who talk about "signal purity". "This compressor turns it into such a beautiful wad" har har! The question is, can you decipher the ingredients of the recipe from the final baked product. It's not their fault, it is just what they do to make a living and please clients/end users.
Engineers do have the advantage of hearing a wide variety of recorded sound and product, and they also hear the stuff in the engineering booth before it hits the market, after which it turns into a unpredictable variable dependent upon end user systems.
It is kind of like talking about the virginal qualities of a painted harlot.
I don't have any problem using various manipulations and equalizations in my stereo system because I can't see any down side after the engineering post processing anyway, I am just returning it to something that is viable to my own sensibilities.
I consistently find this funny ... I take a person (not an audiophile) in for a listen and they generally always claim on seeing the "system" that "my ears ain't good enough to justify spending that kind of money on stereo" ... then I proceed to watch their contrary reactions to not only what they're hearing ... but feeling.
Every time I added such devices to my system, its depth-of-field turned 2D.
tb1
I'm going to assume that by "depth of field" you mean the instrument-differentiated sense of front-to-back depth in a stereo image that is created by subtle variations in volume in the recording mix, and by differences in the reverb depth of individual instruments, providing distance information to your ears and brain.
That goes away when you add the ability to control amplitude by frequency range in your system?
Tim
When I've added different equalizers to my system years ago, it became far more opaque ... less transparent ... less depth-of-field. Maybe it was a simply matter of equalizer quality, or perhaps I'm more the straight wire with gain type.
tb1
I know Christian uses one of the same EQ's that I have in my system. He seems to love it, as do I. I have 4 or 5 EQ's (analog and digital) that I use and none seem to make the picture any less "transparent".
As far as I can tell you guys are using some of the best eq's out there. Most consumers that have tried eq used lower quality gear.
The best equalizer I owned was the Cello Audio Palette MIV. Although it was a lot of fun, when I realized that I was spending more time turning dials that listening to the music I decided to sell it!
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