[SWG255]

Earlier this week my Sony SCD-1 returned from Music Technology in Springfield, Virginia, where it received the Vacuum State Electronics modifications. It hasn't broken in yet, so this isn't offered as a review, but rather as an observation of how better sound can open one's mind to new music.

My daughter and I have computers at one end of the room where my system lives. She was listening to a couple CDs on her little boom box while I was working at the PC. I asked her if she wanted to listen to the Lincoln Park "meteora" CD she was currently playing on the big rig, and she agreed. Now I'm more than a bit gray on top, and really haven't thought too much of this disc, but after putting it in the SCD-1 and turning the volume up to just above a background level, I found myself captivated by the music. I worked at my PC for the first couple of tracks, but the sound kept pulling me in. I finally sat down in my listening chair and gave the disc my full attention. Before too long, I was completely drawn in. I have played the disc on this system before, but it never grabbed me at all. now i was listening to the whole thing, almost mesmerized.

What drew me in? Initially it was all the little turntable and sampler effects on the disc, behind the screaming vocals and guitar work. But soon after sitting down, I was listening to the words and even during the screaming found i could hear them better than ever before. I listened to the whole disc while my daughter continued to noodle around on the internet on her PC.

So, what can i say? I'm not going to run out and buy the rest of their discs, nor am i going to catch them live when they come to town, but i was very surprised that the improved sound of my SCD-1 would cause me to be drawn in by this, to me, most unlikely recording.

For me then, I'd have to say that the new mod has opened my ears, and mind, to some new music.

How about you folks on AC? Has some new piece of gear, tweak or mod caused you to listen to some new music with "fresh ears"? If so, what upgrade, and more importantly, what new music?

[Smeggy]

Yep, same thing happened to me just a few weeks back, I bought a new set of Etymotic ER4s canal 'phones and all of a sudden I started to enjoy Jazz for the first time in my life! I too am a little grey on top but things like Linkin Park et al are my usual staple. Been a Rock fan ever since the late 60's, Jazz never even crossed my mind, and now...  Sheesh, must be getting old  

Next thing you know it'll be Classical and Opera    

[hmen]

I have a CD called "Adventures in Early Music", which is a collection of mostly Baroque peices by variuos ccomposers, played on period instruments. For some reason they have a couple of modern pieces on the disc. One is by Mahler. I've never been a Mahler fan (I find his work boring) so after hearing the entire disc the first time I always skipped the Mahler piece.
  Then I upgraded my speakers. The Mahler piece is still boring but it sounds beautiful. Even though I'm not crazy about the music, with the better soundstage and more "space" between the instruments I'm able to better appreciate the sounds of the instruments themselves and not just concentrate on the lame melody (or lack thereof).
I've found that with a decent system even when my wife puts on her showtune albums (no music could posssibly be worse) I can ususally find something in the music I like, even if it's as little as the plucking sound of a bass.
 There is something really compelling about the real sounds of voices and instruments. The closer to that you can get, the more palpable your feel for it, the more there is to enjoy.
My apologies to the descendents of Gustav Mahler and to the Musical theater community.

[orthobiz]

When I was in college, I had a Tandberg 1055 receiver, B&O Beogram 3000 (still have it, eBay bound), Braun 701 speakers. I borrowed a dBX expander, put in between the preamp and amp, from what I can remember. Now, back in 1975 I was heavily into rock and for the most part the dBX expansion thing didn't much matter. I guess it would be more noticeable on classical material and I didn't have any.

But, I put on J Tull, Thick as a Brick, a recording of extreme dynamic range (from a rock standpoint) and lo and behold the total dBX effect became evident to the max! Then I had to draw everybody in the dorm into my room to "hear the difference."

So for the last 2 years of college, "oh, I hear the difference" became the operant phrase whenever my buds would rag on me. I never was able to buy that unit but it probably would have only mattered on that Tull record anyway.

And speaking of Etymotics and a piece of hardware "drawing you in": the portable Headroom Airhead amp has a mixing switch that gets rid of the 1970's "guitar in the left ear/voice in the right ear" effects. I never knew how disconcerting that was now that I'm getting gray on the top (especially with each new haircut!). I sure did think it was supercool when I was in college with my HD424 Sennheisers. I'm still a rocker and listening to songs like Shangrila (The Kinks, Arthur) bring out the beauty of this switch big time! I'm addicted to it. Really makes headphone listening more worthwhile on the iPod as the subtle mixing adds life, realism and soundstage to these cans. Not to mention power and bass to the Etymotics.

biz

[Eduardo AAVM]

It is interesting, but may I ask you what your daughter thought about it ?

Did she like more the music or was irrelevant for here the big improvement ?

[Jon L]

It is interesting, but may I ask you what your daughter thought about it ?

Did she like more the music or was irrelevant for here the big improbement ?

Definitely true that a good system can enhance the listening experience.  However,  Linkin Park's album is a good-sounding CD.  Even though it's all electronic, there's good clarity and no offensive peaks.

Now go ahead and put on some other commercial discs, such as Britney Spears "In the Zone," Outkast, or Usher.  A revealing system will reveal these for what they are, unlistenable POS not even considering the musical content, or lack thereof.

[SWG255]

My daughter hasn't commented on the upgraded Sony SCD-1 yet except to say that something sounded like subliminal Morse code at the end of a track on her Evanessence CD. However after the SCD-1 went for its mods early in March I put my Marantz CDR-630 in the system where it was and she said it didn't sound nearly as good as the stock SCD-1.

As for listening to "classical" music, I've always done that, but opera, no! I like opera live, it seems more like theatre to me than music. However, human voices now sound so palpable and "real" through my system, who knows?

As for unlistenable commercial discs, I've been railing against the lack of dynamic range and the over-use of compression and vocal processors since the late 70's. Even otherwise great sounding discs like Nickel Creek's first disc on SACD have too much vocal processing, leading to an edgy quality in some of the vocals. Other vocals on that disc sound fine, and all the instruments sound fantastic, so I have to believe the ocasional harsh sibilent sound on some of the vocals are in the mix, not in my system.

 

It is interesting, but may I ask you what your daughter thought about it ?

Did she like more the music or was irrelevant for here the big improbement ?

Definitely true that a good system can enhance the listening experience.  However,  Linkin Park's album is a good-sounding CD.  Even though it's all electronic, there's good clarity and no offensive peaks.

Now go ahead and put on some other commercial discs, such as Britney Spears "In the Zone," Outkast, or Usher.  A re ...