[Tyson]

I was thinking about this a while back while listening to some tunes on a friends (very high end) system and thinking about RMAF and other audio shows.  It struck me.  I listen for very specific things when I listen to gear (as opposed to listening to music).  When you audition gear, what exactly do you listen for?

Me?  I have a checklist -

1, do I want to turn it down or off (got this from mgalusha, very sage advice). 

2, does any one or 2 areas stick out as outstanding above all others? 

3, what's the resolution like? 

4, how's the bass? 

5, Mids?

6, does it move me?  Do I want to dance or get out of my chair?

7. Rich or thin sounding?

8. Can I live with this long term?

[brj]

9. Dynamics

10. Attacks & decays

11. Imaging & soundstage

12. Frequency response (tipped up or rolled off highs?  Any suckouts?  Keep in mind the room contribution...)

[max190]

13. When the music stops, is it dead quiet?

[*Scotty*]

If I can get past number one I close my eyes and I listen to the gestalt.
Scotty 

[Bob in St. Louis]

1, do I want to turn it down or off (got this from mgalusha, very sage advice). 

Or....Do you want to turn it up?

[amadeus916]

I often ask myself while listening, how "real" does this sound? I play piano myself, so that one is a bit easier, but does this speaker make the music sound realistic, and "in the room"?

[Jon L]

All that audiophile stuff is nice, but my *real* criterion is simple:

Do I get goosebumps when playing:

Rachel Yamagata album "Elephants...Teeth Sinking Into Heart"

Bach violin partitas and sonatas

Leonard Cohen album "Dear Heather"

Patty Griffin "Children Running Through."

P.S.  In the end, I don't much care about silly things soundstaging, flat frequency response, etc, as long as the goosebump has erupted...

[Zero]

I know the system is a winner when the pants fly off.  Don't ask.

[MGDeWulf]

The only way to truly assess the qualities a component possesses is to listen to it long term.  By long term I mean more than 5 minutes in a strange room.  Several weeks is a minimum, though certain qualities generally manifest themselves within a few hours.  Why so slow?  Because first impressions are notoriously bad and can't be relied upon.

The best judge for me is if I want to listen more and more.  Middle of the road componentry doesn't wear well after time.  If listening time goes down after a few days it's not good.  OTOH, if I can't wait to get home at the end of the day to turn it on - it's good!

Marty

[dyohn]

The only way to truly assess the qualities a component possesses is to listen to it long term.  By long term I mean more than 5 minutes in a strange room.  Several weeks is a minimum, though certain qualities generally manifest themselves within a few hours.  Why so slow?  Because first impressions are notoriously bad and can't be relied upon.

The best judge for me is if I want to listen more and more.  Middle of the road componentry doesn't wear well after time.  If listening time goes down after a few days it's not good.  OTOH, if I can't wait to get home at the end of the day to turn it on - it's good!

Marty

Well said.

[Imperial]

I know the system is a winner when the pants fly off.  Don't ask.

What, no multiple choices so we can zero in on the answer?  aa

No no, I won't ask... 

Imperial

[Imperial]

The only way to truly assess the qualities a component possesses is to listen to it long term.  By long term I mean more than 5 minutes in a strange room.  Several weeks is a minimum, though certain qualities generally manifest themselves within a few hours.  Why so slow?  Because first impressions are notoriously bad and can't be relied upon.

The best judge for me is if I want to listen more and more.  Middle of the road componentry doesn't wear well after time.  If listening time goes down after a few days it's not good.  OTOH, if I can't wait to get home at the end of the day to turn it on - it's good!

Marty

I think this can be individual to some degree.
I believe that if you absolutely "know" that this component isn't right for the system, it is something that usually will be
detected within say 5-15 seconds.

If it's just "wrong" that decision comes very fast.
If it is something that sort of have to "grow" on ya, It might be that one at first really can't put a finger on it or...

It's like falling in love really. You have those crushes... Wow! Great bass! Then it becomes apparent that the bass is something that is disjointed from the rest, it's great, but it's not complementing the midrange..

Then there are those slow emerging feelings that build over time, and is well, love...
Everything is cut from the same cloth and the cloth, well, it slowly comes to rest over the smooth figure that can be seen underneath.
Clinging firmly to every Nuck and cranny and behold... beauty! The beauty being the soul of the music, of course...
Now that is how it's suppose to be you know!!! All you need to do then, is to just reach out and lift that veil, that cloth... now that you know where to look... (Oh, poetic tonight!!!  )
The veil is the old component, of course..

 

Basically, I sort of see sound... It's hard to explain, but when adding a component I can see in my minds eye how it sort of either
distorts the sonic "image" or makes it clearer...when I hear it...
Thats how I judge sound. I see it. weird I know, but there you go.

Imperial

[MGDeWulf]

If it's just "wrong" that decision comes very fast.

No argument with that.  Sometimes something is so obviously bad that it's apparent from the first audition. Though for me, the things that make a component truly inspiring are the subtleties that it is able to convey, and for me, I usually need a little time to properly assess them.  I tend to hear the good things first and have a good first impression.  I generally have to search for the bad characteristics, or allow them to hit me with time.

As you said, listening is very visual.  When listening to a system I catch myself looking to where sounds seem to be emanating from.  I also seem comfortable using visual terms when describing an auditory event.  I am not, however, one of those gifted individuals that actually "sees" the music in the form of colors or objects.

Marty 

[Imperial]

I am not, however, one of those gifted individuals that actually "sees" the music in the form of colors or objects.
Marty 

Few do, and I think that those who do, simply can't convey what they really see either.
Hehe, right about now I should point out that my nickname ain't "rainman" either, so I guess what I do see
is what i would describe as a "visual" image of what I hear. Not quite as colorfull or vivid as those gifted others...

---

But talking about colors, when judging a component, they say it's seeing the blend... or the new color or hue that is the sound.
I guess the lot of us will perceive say a cold sterile sound as blue, devoid of feelings.
So it's rather strange, don't you think that they named... the blues color the blue one.
I guess to see all the other colors that make up music you should feel blue, so that the sun, when melting that ice will project them
as the rainbow into the listening room...
That sort of color, or verbal cues to visual/sonic elements, can be heard/seen I believe, and described.

Imperial

[rabpaul]

14. How well it resolves i.e when you hear musical details that you have never heard before. You will need a recording that you know very well to be able to do this.

[andyr]

I know the system is a winner when the pants fly off.  Don't ask.

Should I retort ... wanker? ... or LOL!!?? 

Regards,

Andy

[JLM]

Sins of comission can be easily/quickly dismissed.  At an audiofest from earlier this year I instantly could "write off" most of the rooms as having flabby, exagerated, or one note bass; strident sound from all horns (the musical instruments, not the speaker type); non-coherent sound (no focus/imaging/soundstaging); any amount of vinyl surface noise; "thin" sound; component designs that don't follow my particular intellectual beliefs); etc.

Sins of omission such as lack of deep/tight bass, poor dynamic range, lack of detail/imaging, or "fussy" components (that don't "play well with others" or in a given room) take longer to discern.

Individual preferences come last.  "Easy to live with" or being musical and without listener fatigue is critical.  And the system must sound like the original (with live, unamplified music as being the only possible standard) versus sounding like a smoothed over PA system (like 90% of all systems sound to me). 

[chgolatin2]

If I close my eyes and the music jumps out at me, detail, detail details.  Bass doesnt overwhelm, all tones evenly match everything plays together coherent.  Lastly, if it feels like the band is playing right in front of me and I could distinguish most of the instruments CLEARLY. 

[KT]

If I can get past number one I close my eyes and I listen to the gestalt.
Scotty 

I agree with Scotty.

IME, there are a lot of different musical and enjoyable systems out there, and a lot of them present music in very different ways.

I'm always pleased when I listen to a system that sheds new insight on a performance or recording that I wasn't hearing in my own system. For example, my system is dialed in for naturalness of tone and phrasing and warmth at the expense of slam, macro dynamics, and soundstaging.

Then I'll hear a system that serves the music well, but also gives me new insight through its superior pacing, open soundscape, and dynamic swing, and I'll say: wow, that's really great. There are aspects of the performance that I wasn't aware of. It's great to revel in this different way of hearing the music. Different aspects of the performance are highlighted and it's thrilling to hear and compare them to how my own system presents things.

Though the gestalt of both systems are different, both are valid, and as long as both are musical and engaging, then I can appreciate and enjoy (even love) both.

I guess that's why many of us have a bunch of amps, preamps, and sources that we swap all the time: they all sound a little differently and we like to change them in and out for the variety they offer.

For my long term system, though, I have to have one that pushes enough of my right buttons so I don't feel like I'm missing something and get the urge to start swapping again.

Best,
KT

[fine]

One single word:
-balance
Dinamics,attack,resolution,microdetails....is nothing without balance-equillibrium.