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In the Forum: Playback Listening
In the Thread: My Audio Philosophy
Post Subject: I am amazed!Posted by rowuk on: 10/18/2019
In the western world we have preconceptions about availability of „luxury“ items elsewhere.  We don‘t know much about Iran and due to embargos and sanctions I had never given it much thought.

It certainly shows my ignorance but I am surprised at the apparent market in Iran but still am pretty sure that it is a very small „privileged“ group of people participating. Practicing audio certainly can reflect the local „culture“ of music appreciation. Questions come to mind about how much exposure to live music (symphony, Opera, chamber music for instance) is involved in developing musical taste - or if the primary exposure is through recordings.

I am a professional musician living in Germany and certainly can attribute playing style and articulation to basic cultural traits based on language, folk music influence, religious use of music. A spanish trumpeter plays differently than a hungarian, plays differently than a german. The instruments used can also be much different. Of course there was a time of great cultural exchange between Iran and the western world under the Shah. I dated an Iranian girl studying in Germany for a while.

I would be very interested in learning more about the live music scene in Iran. It is not my goal to Reproduce a sonic event, rather to create a plausible rendition in terms of space, geometry and connection between musicians on that „virtual“ stage. Getting playback to offer plausible tone for violins/trumpets/woodwinds is not a great feat, even very basic, or „Stereophile A grade“ playback does this. The magic is in the head and actions of the owner of the hi fi. I have heard systems with many positive playback features - regardless of the pedigree of the individual parts.

This gets back to the original thread interest. What I am missing is a philosophy. What cultural background (interest in music, interest in science, interest in society) guides musical decisions for someone in Iran. The obvious exposure to expensive audio is not culture or background. It is privilege. How do we develop taste for what is better - or only different? From my view, we build long term relationships with our music, with our equipment, with our rooms. That exposes weaknesses in ourselves, our listening habits, our cultural depth. In the process, we learn new vocabulary to communicate what art does to us inside. In a „philosophy“ I expect culture not hardware. I do not get my greatest audio high from a stereo, concert or reading a score. The audio high comes at magic moments when the mood, the surroundings and the performance create something new in me. I have cried at performances when driving my car somewhere listening to the radio. Sometimes a glass of wine and some cheese at home make a choral performance spicier. Sometimes at a live concert, I am insulted by the playing and leave. Examining all of this shows me that I am a very „lucky“ asshole. My personal playback is work in very slow progress. Very often, I find the problem with me and not the hardware - although there are issues that I can define as not „perfect“. Attempts to correct them are not always successful - then less becomes more.

What draws me to this site is not Romys Playback, rather his path to better understanding. He touches on very abstract things audio and personal that are sometimes very difficult to understand because my background is much different. With time and research however, many things become at least „clearer“. The recordings that he mentions are well worth owning and are useful to help translate the meaning of what he writes.

So, I am waiting for a philosophy instead of descriptions of the „wonderful hardware bliss“ that one has but others do not. At the same time, musings about the music that we listen to increase the believability of any posting. Talking about musical playback, but not the music is a sign of delusion.

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