Hunting Discovery Repitition New Software vs New Toy

NY Diary (20-1) Jaded?
HiFi Basics: The Joy of Hunting and Discovery, and The Cost of Repetition
HiFi Basics: Looking for and Listening to New Music Material vs New Gear

Note: Today I went over my unfinished articles (many over the years) and was shocked to discover this one, which I thought I had published, but perhaps I accidentally reverted it back to draft form, perhaps to alter something, and then forgot. In any case, it is here, and apt for New Year's Day, for many the day one faces the aftermath of excess.

This article may appear rambling, but it has a logic of its own. The first section starts with how I look for new material to listen to. The second deals with how I look for audio gears. In both, I make some generalizations and dispense some "advices". Recurrent themes are The Joy of Hunting and Discovery, and The Cost of Repetition.

For how I gradually built my system and evolved into an audiophile, a related and relevant article would be the first part of this article.

Keep in mind that, occasional straying notwithstanding, I am still basically value inclined and buy mostly second-hand gears. This goes for software as well as hardware. There is no hurry.

When we say New York City is the greatest city in the world (for me it certainly is), we mean Manhattan. As one who now lives in an outer borough, I regret the lack of a multi-faceted cultural life, particularly since I had once lived in Manhattan for 15 years. Due to current family obligations I do not find that much time to go into the City. Basically I only go to Manhattan when I go to a concert at Carnegie Hall (less so Lincoln Center). When I do go into the City I go out of my way to spend up to an hour browsing for used records.

Looking for and Listening to New Music Material
This is the greatest joy of all, and all music lovers should do that. To me, an ever expanding musical experience is what properly drives the audio experience. The more music one consumes and knows, the better the audio system is likely to sound. Audiophilia detached from music appreciation is hazardous to your well-being, not to mention your ears and wallet.

The Radio In my era, this was very important. I started classical music just by listening to the radio. Ah! The Joy of Discovery! For how I evolved, read the first part of this article. Even today, as FM stations are in decline, there are still good radio stations around. Add to this Internet Radio and Podcasts, one has a good choice. Even if you have a large music library, sometimes, not knowing what comes next is a lot better than staying in your own cocoon.

Reading Fortifying oneself by reading is of immense importance in any human endeavor. This is precisely why modern social media is seriously lacking: you are much more likely to read what others feed you than to research what should be important to you. In my era, once I got into classical music, I read some books from the library, but what I found most informative were liner notes on the back of LPs (and CD booklets), which I always read. This is one thing that is seriously lacking in modern digital media, be it streaming or hi-res files. I also loved the huge compilations, such as the incomparable ALL Music Guide series (one for every genre, each an epic survey in one thick book, still available on Amazon). Particularly, I learned a lot about rock and roll and jazz reading them. Now it is online (point your arrow at "discover" to select your preferred genre) and I still consult it for various items from the library, which frequently are missing the notes. This is the wikipedia of recordings - make sure you use it! For classical music, another of my favorite webpages is musicweb-international.

Browsing for Used LPs and Dollar Bins and Used CDs Shopping for vinyl has been a habit of over 40 years. It reached a peak during the early 90's when CD was starting to overtake LP. For a while I visited the Tower Records Annex almost every night. Though I am now much less often on the move, The Joy of Hunting is still very much on my mind. Although I buy mostly dollar LPs now, and frequently come up empty-handed, the occasional find is enough to keep my going (like the 2 LPs pictured above). I also buy an occasional bargain-bin CD. If you live in a big city and still buy vinyl (or CD), I urge you to get away from the screen, stop buying re-issues and start scourging for used media everywhere, and don't be afraid to get down on your knees for the dollar bins! BTW, in case you don't know, I believe the CD will never die and actually will be slowly more collectible than now.

Recently I added one more chore to my Manhattan routine.

Browsing CDs at the Library This is actually my preferred way of keeping up (to a degree) with new releases. Readers who read my musical recommendations know that I borrow often from the HK libraries when I was there. They also know I wrote about the lack of good music at my local Queens library now. The Central Queens Library at Jamaica has a lot more but nothing remotely like Manhattan's Performing Arts Library, and if I have to take public transportation I might as well go to Manhattan. So I updated my Manhattan library card and added visiting that library to my Manhattan routine. Which is why you sometimes see relatively recent issues in my capsules. That library has rows and rows of CDs (some SACDs) (haven't tackled DVDs and BRs yet). Even before I enter the premise, my heart starts to beat faster - that's The Joy of Hunting! No different from going to a record store, except that this is free. On my last trip I concentrated on the large scaled music of my favorite composers, Bruckner, Brahms, Mahler etc and borrowed 25 items (many contain more than one CD). If I don't like a recording I just stopped listening to it, it is that simple, whereas if I had bought it, I'd likely try again to no avail or go into regret mode. The only catch is that they cannot be returned to the Queens Library, so a bit of careful planning is needed. It's too bad I can't visit as often as I like. I asked the clerk and she said some people come in with 3 cards and borrow 150 CD's! If you have a nearby library that has a good collection, visit often!

Listening Among the crop, there were 3 Bruckner 5th's (Rosbaud/SWR; Herreweghe/HM; Klemperer/Testament), 2 Bruckner 3rd (Rosbaud/SWR; Nelsons/DG), 2 Mahler 5th (Ivan Fischer/Challenge; Adam Fischer/CAvi) and 2 Pathetiques (Honeck/RR; Fischer/Challenge). Much as I love all of these pieces, listening to different versions in a short time blur their distinctions. Aside from different sonic merits, my memory seems not to acknowledge that much significant musical difference in the performances of the 3 Bruckner 5ths. Can that be the case, or have I paid The Cost of Repetition? I think so but, the good news is, a really fresh perspective still duly stood out, like the two recordings pictured, and that is The Joy of Discovery. Incidentally, concerning Reference Recording, touted in hifi circles, I think the quality is over-rated (I actually called up Andy about this, and he concurs with me) and the two SACDs in this crop (the other is Honeck/Beethoven) just sound lumpy to me.

Streaming Although I don't currently do so, I approve of streaming, much more than downloading and purchasing hi-res files. The sound is actually much less important than accumulating experience through browsing (with the advantage of sampling). Through Streaming, young people and music lovers are experiencing The Joy of Hunting and Discovery, and audiophiles should emulate. Some of my friends in HK, like icefox, do so. There are many ways to stream, but even via lowly bluetooth it can still be fun (an experience is recorded at the last section of this article)!

Shop for a New Music Experience rather than an Audio Experience!

Looking for and Listening to New Toys
Make no mistake, this can be a great joy but for the uninitiated there can be a lot of frustrations and traps. Some of the related and relevant issues have been treated in a previous HiFi Basics column (part of this article). Here are further thoughts parallel to the section above:

Reading When it comes to audio gears, it is a whole lot more complicated than reading about recordings. Basically, the relationship between manufacturers and an audio magazine (trade or internet) is a calculated one; too many commercial and non-audio factors are involved. Whereas, for a review of a recording, it is much simpler, as evidenced by the fact that negative reviews are gratifyingly common. I do read the trade magazines, but I look at them as useful sources of information, not truth. I don't often buy new, but as a result of reading I certainly have done so a few times (particularly phonoamps, like my Fosgate Signature, Parasound JC3 and the LCR Aurorasound Vida) but I'd not buy anything more expensive than those based on what I read in the magazines. As for the web, I can only say many sites are just as commercial, and not worth reading about. Again, use them as source of information, but take in all the hyperboles with a coarse grain of salt. YMMV.

Used and Vintage Equipment Another reason most magazines are not worth reading is because most only deal with the present. That is a big mistake. Context is important, and knowledge of hifi history and vintage equipment is a plus. This is why I value HiFi News (dedicated in-depth vintage articles) and Stereophile (which keeps archiving valuable old articles by the likes of J Gordon Holt, an excellent critic) much more than everything-newer-is-better TAS. A few webzines also have some writers with at least some vintage knowledge and perspective (like TNT, and sometimes dagogo, among others), and they are usually the better ones.

Sourcing Used Equipment The Good Old Days In the heydays of hifi, before the advent of the internet, there were many ways to buy used equipment. A friend introduced me to Walter Bender's Audiomart (a useful thread here), a subscription pamphlet that had a huge listing of used equipment. That was how I got my Eico's and a pair of Motiograph's (I think the seller was named Sunny and he taught me a few things). But it was easier for us in big cities, where there were many audio stores around, where we got exposure to a lot of used and vintage equipment. One could walk into Manhattan's Audio Exchange's basement and see a roomful of McIntosh and Marantz among other lesser known but equally desirable stuff, and that was where I bought my first serious turntable, Thorens TD-125 with an SME cutout and a pair of Dahlquist DQ-10 (covered in this article; I think it was circa 1985). I still remember the salesman, a tall guy with leather jacket who looked like a Harley rider. It got even crazier after 1992, when I went back to HK for my unexpectedly long teaching stint: there were so many shops selling second-hand and vintage hifi (I am sure more than any city in the world) that I basically went browsing everyday after work (second-hand CDs too). The great thing about HK is that you can find products from everywhere, including many excellent Japanese vintage equipment unobtainable in the US. Of course, I ended up buying much more than I ever need but it was a great learning experience! Ah, The Joy of Hunting and Discovery! Ebay The next wave that shook the world was of course Ebay. Unfortunately, I was not a very early purveyor, as prices just shot up. Still, in the late 90's I was basically hooked and bought a lot of equipment and tubes. What made it special is that there are pictures, so we get to see real pics of what we have only heard of before and even more of what we have never heard of before. Of course, a lot of audio trading platforms followed suit, but none was as educational as Ebay, where one doesn't just buy (I have never sold) but also learn. For a vintage afficionado, The Joy of Hunting and Discovery! But then, after several years accumulating and even duplicating stuff ("cannot resist that bargain") I was getting burnt out, and that is The Cost of Repetition.

Listening I don't have to tell anyone reading this that listening to a new toy can be fun, but I do want to remind you that it can easily also be a disappointment, especially if you believe in all the hooplas dished out by the audio press. Unless you are a beginner, the joy of listening to a new piece of gear (even one that you love) is likely a lot less than discovering a new piece of music that you love. The law of diminishing return really applies to audio (and collecting CDs and LPs too), no matter how much money you throw at it. That is all OK and expected. What I really want to explore are the pathological types of audiophiles, and I count myself as one.

Overstocked By this I mean too many possessions, for which I am guilty. As one gets on in age and mortality looms larger, it is something to think about. For practical and psychological reasons, selling is a lot harder than buying. It is quite likely none of your family shares your passion for audio, and they certainly don't know the worth of your stuff. Moreover, unused gears tend to break down, repair is a hassle and you get next to nothing by selling as is. Do you face all these problems? If so, trim your possessions for a better state of mind. If you have too many CD players or amplifiers or what not, you are paying for The Cost of Repetition. I certainly am.

Overstuffed By this I mean too complicated a system configuration, for which I am not guilty (multiple sources don't count in this). Whether in art or cuisine, practitioners and connoisseurs know the meaning of economy and scale - it is best to have not too much nor too little. But audio is different, a more private affair, and we are both the practitioners as well as our own audience, making it harder to develop a critical facility. If you ask me, many of the systems I have encountered are overstuffed. Offenders are many in both the digital and analog arenas. CAS people can fiddle endlessly with computer parameters, connection, clocks etc, whereas analog addicts lust after turntables bigger than your seat, fiddling with pumps and vacuum, constantly adjusting intricate arms that make them curse every time. And then there are the myriad cables, accessories and tweaks that mostly change the sound for the worse.

Overly Trustful/Hopeful By this I mean a certain naivety in audiophile beliefs, a misplaced trust in reviews (whether magazines or online) and peers, rather than one's ears: Upgrades I don't have much sympathy for this. Why is Mk II better than Mk I? And why didn't they design the improvements in the first go? The worst example is Wilson Watt/Puppy, basically incoherent loudspeakers that went through 7 or more iterations, each lauded by the press as a significant advance, while the unreasonably loyal customers paid through the nose for Wilson to learn how to make a proper loudspeaker. Absurd. No self-respecting artist will make "incremental improvements" to his work. As for upgrading to the next level product, that is likely just as bad and as much a rip-off. The best example is probably Audio Note UK, whose upgrades are based on the same things, just adding over-priced components to the same circuit. Unfortunately, their business model is successful and copied by many others. And mods! All these mods that promise to take you to the next level and what do you end up with? Selling at a greater loss than usual, of course. In my opinion, the biggest victims of upgrades are those with less money, who'd cling onto this slow upgrade thing as a line to advancement. I'd rather spend money on trying things that are very different. An "upgraded" X is still genetically X, but a Y or Z may pay different dividends. Cables This is now regarded as an essential part of the system, and I agree cables matter. BUT, being a satisfied long-term user of professional cables, I despise the expense and cost of the so-called high end cables. I have heard systems cabled with all top-of-the-line Siltech, but they did nothing for me - colored and unnatural is what I'd say. Also, cables are so system dependent that I really do not think reviewers should review, let alone recommend, audiophile offerings. Accessories The press (particularly TAS, as in Cables) is again most contemptible in this aspect. Power Conditioners, all manners of isolation devices and room treatment - how do you properly review them? Treat these as anecdotal, but it is BIG business! If you have even a little bit of DIY trait, you can invent some yourself. Breakthroughs and Menu du Jour For those more endowed, the hyperboles of the press lead them to try one thing after another. Don't forget, solid state was a BIG breakthrough, and what happened? Tubes came back. I don't mean to demean innovative circuits, for they are deserving of praise (Berning's MicroZOTL comes to mind), but "breakthrough" is an overused word. And in terms of the best sound obtainable, there has been no overall improvement in the history of hifi. Don't let the press fool you.

I have to stop here, as I am repeating myself somewhat. Happy New Year!