Topic: Music

[Michael]

Was contemplating this topic last night, and there are some good posts on my ideas about music in Soma, but I don't believe I've spoken of my own view on how to listen to music.

It's hard to talk about how audiophiles approach music, especially spiritually-oriented audiophiles, because music has taken a completely different course, publicly, in the current world. There was a shift somewhere around the turn of the millennial, where convenience overtook quality in the public's interest in music. It is strange, because that coincided with a quantum shift in the quality stream - both for listeners and producers of music. Just as the music production industry overcame the inherent limitations that bedevilled the change from analogue to digital, the public thumbed their nose and flocked to Spotify which delivered the lowest quality product on the market - no one cared. Why, is another matter, but there did remain a dedicated stream of people still avidly in love with producing and receiving the highest quality of sound possible.

I won't go into how producers overcame the digital discordant problems, as it is too technical, and want to share about why you should seek the highest quality sound, and how I have approached that.

Sound, in the form of music, has an unbelievable capacity to penetrate into our deepest core. It profoundly affects our mind, soul and body. But to gain these benefits we have first to tune, or tone, our ears to listening to sound. This changes over age phases. When young, we first go for volume, then we seek bass because it has a bodily effect. Later we discover treble and delight in clarity. Lastly, we focus on midrange as it holds all the emotional character in sound. This affects, in the normal way, how we choose to play music. That is the progression from transistor radios I used in my teenage years, to small players like you see a lot today (ie JBL tubes). Then we go for speakers to get the visceral effect. Initially any speaker, but then ported speakers (used to be called American speakers) which boost the bass, and lastly to high quality speakers. After that the focus turns to components, and you end up spending a lot of money.

Music sounds have the capacity to penetrate deeply into our being. This is why audiophiles become obsessed with improving both their equipment and perceptual facilities. High quality sounds, and music which aligns with that, changes our neurology. It has a powerful affect upon the nervous system. Quality creates an almost neurological tactile effect, and the tones, harmonies and rhythms resonate through the nervous system, rearranging molecules and cells into a centrally coordinated integration and flexibility. For a spiritual person, this process can be felt both somatically and subconsciously, unifying the whole being.

I don't talk much about this, because I find few who are interested, but it has been a major focus of my life. Quality of sound vivifies the etheric body, thereby electrifying the nervous and then blood system, right through to muscular system. The kind of music layers over that vivification, creating interrelationships, flexible integrations and coordinations. Harmonies especially affect the colour of our soul-aura, and tone of voice or instrument has been one of my most enduring explorations on how deep it goes - down to the lowest layers of our physical being as well as into the third attention of spirit.

What I spent most of my life focusing on was rhythm, and how it has the potential to vivify the muscular-nervous system. But not all rhythms. The value of rhythms depends critically on the type. European Classical music is wonderful for soul-landscape development, but totally useless for bodily-rhythmic development. So too, modern rock and pop music rhythms are pretty much ineffectual. To experience the mental-neurological effect of rhythms, Indian Classical music is far an away the best. To develop the somatic-muscular-neurological effects of rhythm the African thread is really the only worthwhile style - either African-influenced South American (ie not indigenous SA music) or best, pure African music. When listening to this African influenced rhythmic music, you can feel the waves rolling through the etheric-energetic body, toning it into a delicious, integrated vibrancy.

This approach to music has the effect of creating a latex quality to the integration of spirit-soul-body. But to gain this, one needs to listen in the right way....

[Michael]

Stereo system or headphones?

Definitely, a high quality stereo system is best. Not sure how this works, but it is true that the ears are not the only organ to receive sound and pulse. The problem with stereo systems is cost. Firstly, you need to have the money to live in a separate house - units and apartments cause neighbour issues. But even if you have a house in the suburbs, you need good sound insulation to avoid flooding the neighbours during the early hours of the morning. Secondly, they require amplifier, media server or (not so recommended these days) CD player, speakers, interconnects, cables... all of which can cost thousands of dollars each. You'd be scrimping to set one up for less than $10-15k. Nonetheless, there is no need to go overboard and spend up around $50k - that's just unnecessarily reduced returns to cost.

These days of compact living, stereo systems are, unfortunately, too often impractical. Thus, we opt for headphones.

Earbuds are good for travelling or at work, and there are some high-end ones. I have a nice pair of Sennheiser earbuds with mic, so I can listen to music at work and still answer the phone. Alas, there is, as far as I can tell, no earbud with mic that employs a sidechain function to hear your own voice through the ear speaker. This means that while the earbud is sealed into your ear, when you speak, you hear your own voice booming inside your brain. Not so pleasant.

Thus the next step is to acquire a functional headphone with mic arm - I think they call them traffic-controller head sets. Avoid the one-ear versions, as they are useless for listening to music. I have a quite reasonable headset from Sennheiser and I pair that with a special HiRes USB C dongle into the computer to bypass the computer's own D/A converter. It's pretty good actually, but I'd never use it to listen in dedicated mode at home. It also functions well into the iPhone with an adapter, and has the effect of, in phone or computer, providing your voice with the strength and clarity necessary to be empowered in communications - always keep in mind that the person with the clearest toned voice gains a unique empowerment in any conversation.

Headphones are the way to go for dedicated sound immersion experience. Always get an 'open', not 'closed' set. We use closed headphones when recording at mic, to avoid the earphone sound travelling into the mic, and creating a delayed background duplication of the backing track. For listening, always choose an open headphone. There are many good ones, but anything less that $2k is not worth it. Prepare to spend around $3.5k for a good set.

These days, they sell balanced cable headphones, which require a special plug hole in whatever you plug your headphones into. Yes, they are better, but more in volume than anything else. Balanced cables cancel out interference, and are used extensively in music production. They came to headphones late because they are not really needed - the gains are marginal, though worthwhile if your system supports that.

Next you'll need a headphone amplifier. Don't expect to get a good sound out of your home stereo amplifier's headphone output. Most stereo amplifiers throw all their smarts at the speaker output, and skimp on the headphone channel. A good quality headphone amplifier will cost at leat $1k, but better to get one around $2.5k - you'll notice the difference.

Then there is the source. The first important point is to ensure you are listening to at least CD quality resolution: 44.1kHz 16bit. Better if you can get Studio quality, 96kHz 24bit, and the key aspect is the word length - 24bit. The sample rate is less critical, so don't waste time on uber-sized kHz. In general, stick to WAV files or FLAC if your converter can handle those. Never use AAC or MP3 - always listen to lossless format file music. There is a good reason for this, as compressed music, like MP3, cause the brain to work in transforming the sound - you don't want that load on top of the fact you are already listening to digital sound.

But delivery is also important. Sound over WiFi, or Bluetooth, is always degraded. Thus, streaming your music from the internet is useless for this exercise, and listening through wireless headphones is also pointless. It must be wired.

Sound delivery from a mobile/cell phone is always degraded. Never think you are hearing quality sound from your phone. There are technical reasons, and each phone is different, but they all compromise due to space restrictions. I would love to go into why a large amplifier delivers a better sound, and it's not all about the A/D converters, although that is a fascinating area - power transformers have a lot to do with quality sound.

These days, the best delivery is from a hard drive connected to a media server - preferably a dedicated music media server. A good one will cost around $2k. The external hard drive part may be a bit of a stretch, so a USB stick into the server is fine, if not perfect. CDs suffer from gitter, and removing gitter is a complex matter. Still, they are better than streaming.

The usual sequence is computer to headphone amp, or USB stick into media server to headphone amp.

If you have to use a computer, no problem - that will be excellent, so long as you manage the output. The method preferred is digital output - USB C or B to headphone amp. Alas, computer OS systems modify the output before it exits, so you need a way to force the OS to DO NOTHING to the sound on the way out! You can try the systems sound settings - and be sure to check these anyway as many files are sample rates of 48 instead of 44.1kHz. YouTube has decided to force 44.1kHz but computers convert to 48 because that is the standard video sound track sample rate. It's a mess, so your computer will do what it's set up to do, and you can't necessarily change that. The point being that sample rate conversion is a speciality area, and cheap methods degrade the sound quality.

Preferably, your headphone amp will come with software to install on your computer that bypasses the OS's interference in the output process. And then there are other apps that go further - I'll explain later in my own setup.

Lastly, when and where to listen? When: always, alone after everyone else is asleep. That removes their compulsive energetic autocratic repression of sensibilities. Where: in the dark. Light/eyes interfere with the ears. This is a ceremonial experience - not a social event. If you have another person present, you will be assailed by their energetic presence and responses. We are trying to dive deeply into the ocean of sound - treat it a sacred moment.

Now, my own setup...

[Firestarter]

Yes I need headphones for my pc. Since I got a brand new one coming should be good.

Next month I have to get my car stereo fixed. I hate listening to music on my phone in the car. But it’s better than nothing!

I have a cd Walkman for walks. It’s actually pretty impressive. 🤣 But I don’t like music way too loud. It’s probably cause of clairaudience. I’m very sensitive to LOUD noise.  I love concerts, for example.  But loud music is brutal on my ears. I was one of those kids who dealt with ear ringing constantly. Back in the day club music. I liked the bass. But still. But I agree there is a certain quality. I would spend quite a bit of time back in the day trying to get bass and treble just right.

[Firestarter]

Btw. Can you explain why wireless headphones aren’t as good as plug in? Also ear buds are wireless. Like which is better for sound. The ear buds or plug in headset?

[Michael]

You can get wired earbuds, which I use. The naming is a bit confusing - 'in-ear', ear-bud', 'earphones' etc.
Wireless earbuds or earphones usually use Bluetooth these days, and Bluetooth has improved over the past decades, although you have to have a device that has capability for latest version - both the earbud and the transmitting device (usually phone). WiFi connection is better than Bluetooth, but both degrade the sound - they are what is called lossy. The file has to be compressed to transfer wirelessly.

It's all about the purpose you have in mind. I'm not talking in this post about people who just like listening because they enjoy having background music going on. That is another matter, and from a sociological perspective, it is quite interesting how people have changed the way they engage with music - but not the point of my post. This post is about using music to change our energetic being, and one critical aspect of that is the quality of the sound.

If you do A/B tests constantly like I do, you soon realise the difference. For example, I am able to transmit a high quality sound file by both WiFi, Bluetooth and wired, and in those tests, it was very obvious how much was lost from the wireless versions. It's complex why, and is not just about compression of the data as it gets transferred, it's also about how the data loses its Word timing, which causes a specific type of gitter. This happens, though less, with wired transfer also, and is why I spend hundreds of dollars on high-end cables - you can even buy a device that sits at the end of the cable and reconstructs the Word timing before passing to the receiving component, like amplifier or media server.

The problem is that one has to compromise on expense. If you want to listen to music and don't have thousands of dollars to spend, then you just put up with inferior sound, and can't engage with the level of sound-music therapy I'm talking about. I'm writing this post because I've experimented with with this over most of my adult life, and thought it's time to pass on what I've discovered and experienced - well, at least some of it, because it does get very complex.

Nonetheless, there is a question for someone who wants to engage with music seriously, but can't afford high-end gear. In which case, I've, for a long time, felt that poor quality sound could possible do damage to our energy body. It's like a person born with impaired hearing eventually developing dementia in later life (studies have found), because the intricate neurological receptors can't get all the information they require to grow, develop and refine - they become dulled. Better listen to music than not, but if you can, use wired systems instead of wireless. Personally, my body gets agitated when I'm at someone's place and their music is low quality - I feel what's missing and would prefer they turn it off.

[Firestarter]

Ok makes sense! I need to get a headset for pc. Now I think you are right. I’ve worked call centers for years. Used wired and wireless headsets both. I used tons and sound could be an issue. I’ve used several types. Wired I found better so makes sense.

[Michael]

There are many good high quality music listening components, and cost becomes a serious obstacle. The idea, if you are keen to pursue this interest, is to reach that point of quality where, up to the point significant improvement is made, and beyond, only marginal improvements - that is, an optimal cost-benefit watershed.

Stereo systems, having been around for a long time, have a vast range of options in the quality level. You can read up on the variations that audiophiles go in for, but I suggest if you want to choose components, purchase a subscription to Hi-Fi Choice. That magazine has the best advice I have ever found on audiophile equipment, but you need to read it for a number of years.

What I think is better here is tell of the choices I eventually settled on for the headphone system.

I use the Sennheiser HDV 820 DAC/preamp. It's not the only one at this level, but as I use Sennheiser headphones, I figured better to follow through. Any headphone preamp at this level of price will be good, but the HDV also provides me with a lot of input/output options which I find useful.

For headphones, I use Sennheiser HD 800. If you were purchasing today you would probably go for the HD 820. When the HD 800 debuted is caused a major stir in the audiophile market, and it is obvious why. It has superb stereo staging and frequency reproduction. I have a number of other headphones, but finally I decided the HD 800 outperforms all the others. There are more expensive, and probably better headphones, but again, it is the diminishing returns to cost that have to be factored in.

For cables connecting the computer to the preamp, or hard drive to media server, I always use Nordost cables. I've spent a lot of money and time testing different cables, and finally decided Nordost have the best sound. Surprisingly, even their USB cables are noticeably superior. This is a huge controversy in the music industry, as to the reality of sound value in cables, and especially digital cables like USB, but I rely on my own obsessive testing and listening to judge that high quality cables, even digital, make a significant difference. Oddly, these high-end cables still remain at USB 2 - I've no idea why they have never upgraded to USB 3, but that doesn't matter as the performance speaks for itself.

When I really want to get the best sound, I source from my laptop, using Sennheiser's own installed driver. But I've discovered a great secret. Using the program Amarra Luxe, to process the music files on playback through the computer, it delivers an added enhancement that is delightful and enriching. No one knows why - what they do to get the effect. It's not the standard EQ'ing that distorts the original sound, but it somehow lifts the whole sound and makes more alive. The only drawback, constantly complained about by its fans, is an atrocious GUI (graphical user interface). Setting up play lists is tedious, but even today, they still haven't upgraded their GUI to make it user friendly. Users just suck it up because the effect is so good.