Years ago I visited a famous audio reviewer's home. I was there to make sure our new piece of kit he was about to review was properly setup. I was hardly prepared for what followed.
Like any new experience, the first thing to do is see what the status quo is. To do that, I get the center seat and the reviewer plays for me a few familiar standards so that I can get my sonic bearings. That's the standard procedure and to be honest, I wasn't expecting anything unusual. Boy, was I wrong.
The sound of his reference system was so far removed from anything I had ever heard—and not in a good way—that it took me by surprise. Disc after familiar disc, hooting and cupped with nearly no low end. By the third or fourth track my sonic guard had let itself down and I noticed my foot started tapping to the music.
I had gotten used to this unfamiliar presentation. I adapted.
For the next few hours we played a great deal of music until it was time for me to say my goodbyes and return to the normal I had always assumed to be the standard.
We say that our ultimate reference is the sound of live and unamplified music. I believe that to be true.
What's fascinating is our ability as listeners to be pliable. Not to bad audio. Not to shrill, harsh, aggressive sound, but to a different presentation—ike adapting to your reflection in a minimal fun house mirror.
Just as we can enjoy music in our cars, on a decent set of earbuds, or in a crowded and noisy space, our ability to mold our standards and adapt to that which is foreign to our experience is a good way to broaden our horizons.
