Improvements in audio quality.

[RamblinE]

I'm noticing this phenomenon with my first dac and now with a pair of headphones that I received today.

You plug that new toy into the mix, fire it up and realize you hardly notice anything different.

Then after a few hours you go back to what you were using before and realize just then how different they sound and how much better the upgrade is.

It's not an immediate difference, but once you step backwards you're like, how the f*ck did I listen to this before?

Anyone else notice this before? Anyone else have any thoughts? Anyone else notice no immediate change in their major upgrades? The differences make themselves clear in side by side comparisons but at first you're like what differences?

 

[Panotaker]

I've notice that the more I spend, the more improvement I think I hear.

 

[Blue Shadow]

I have read about break-in of different components and did not hear it for years and years. But after changing to Clarity Caps into a friends Response Audio, Purity One I was subjected to sounds I would not want to listen to for any length of time. I used the unit for a day or two and then pulled it out of the system as I wanted to hear enjoyable music.

I put the unit back into the rig a few days later and still not sweet sounding. Left it playing while I was out for a couple hours, came back and wow what a difference. I played some of the things that sounded horrible just a few days earlier and the sound quality was there. I am now a believer in break-in of gear.

There have been many times I have used components and enjoyed the music and swapped gear and again enjoyed the music, not hearing much difference. Quick swaps are good but when I do the swap, that is what I am thinking about not what I heard to compare to what I'm going to hear. It usually takes a long term listen and frequently a return to the old gear to hear subtle differences. Not so when one component is vastly superior, though.

 

[Adda]

Yeah this is my experience too, you only know how good an upgrade has been, when you go back listen to what you had before.

What cans did you get RamblinE?

 

[ofajen]

I'm noticing this phenomenon with my first dac and now with a pair of headphones that I received today.

You plug that new toy into the mix, fire it up and realize you hardly notice anything different.

Then after a few hours you go back to what you were using before and realize just then how different they sound and how much better the upgrade is.

I'd say a related phenomenon is the adaptability of our hearing and listening sense to a change. I routinely switch between rather different sounding speakers because they each offer me a particular view on how a mix sounds. One is very accurate and neutral, the other rolls off both high and low as it's a 5" midrange used as a "full range".

The full range sounds very harsh and small when I switch to it. OTOH, if I listen for a while, it starts to seem less strange and starts to seem OK. When I switch back to the accurate speakers, they seem very recessed and boring and suddenly the very high frequencies seem noticeable. Again, within a short time, they become the immersive, transparent environment.

Hearing is odd that way.

Cheers,

Otto

 

[Tom Brennan]

An interesting observation Otto.

 

[Frank Sol]

Humans adapt well...

Tom T. Hall wrote about it best...

Week in a County Jail

Later on his (Jailer's) wife brought hot baloney eggs and gravy
The first day I was there I turned it down...

Later on we got more hot baloney eggs n' gravy
By now I wasn't quite so hard to please...

The jailer had a wife and let me tell ya she was awful
But she brought that hot baloney every day
And after seven days she got to looking so much better
I asked her if she'd like to run away...

 

[RichPA]

I've also usually found that differences are more obvious when going back to previous gear. I don't believe that this phenomenon is just a matter of persuading yourself about differences.

 

[RamblinE]

What cans did you get RamblinE?

I got a very generous deal on a pair of the AKG K701 headphones.

As for any comment on the psycho-acoustics of having gotten something new that you're excited about, I'm attempting to judge things much more objectively.

It's really hard with the upgrade from dac to headphone amp because there's no concrete way to describe the improvement. Seems the dac just adds body and life to the sound, makes it more believable.

As far as the headphones go, why upgrade headphones if the difference isn't at first perceptible? How about hearing every single detail of a drum roll like you're banging one out right in front of you? Delicate guitar sounds much more finely articulated. There's a greater balance here between highs, mids and lows. Less peaks. No reason to apply EQ like on a few of my >$100. Just the level of detail surpasses what my >$100 headphones can do. HOWEVER this isn't immediately apparent.

 

[Adda]

^
Oh my, congratulations! a K701 is quite a bit ahead of of both the K240 Studio and M50.
Many people find them a bit bright so a warm sounding amp or source would probably do them good.

They should definitely give you all the detail you could want from a conventional headphone.

 

[Frank Sol]

Seems the dac just adds body and life to the sound, makes it more believable.

I too just recently upgrade my DAC sort of... Added to it

Read Here

Basically what I said... "1st impression is the DI-DSP removes whatever 'smear' that was present yet unrecognized until it is gone"

So I agree with most of what you say :thmbsp: Better gear somethings does not add anything but takes away from the old SQ

 

[porphyriaboy]

I found a pair of HPM-100's this week. My neighbor had never shown me this stuff. I offered him $160.00 and he said OK. They are 97%. Model A's. I had never heard these. I have always liked AR/EPI/Polk etc, and these things remind me why. I am leaving them on my system with my Polk monitor 70's to switch back and forth...Mozart or Boston, each music style seems to fit one speaker better...just for me. I WILL tame these things in time...maybe caps...

 

[PickyEars81]

I'm noticing this phenomenon with my first dac and now with a pair of headphones that I received today.

You plug that new toy into the mix, fire it up and realize you hardly notice anything different.

Then after a few hours you go back to what you were using before and realize just then how different they sound and how much better the upgrade is.

It's not an immediate difference, but once you step backwards you're like, how the f*ck did I listen to this before?

Anyone else notice this before? Anyone else have any thoughts? Anyone else notice no immediate change in their major upgrades? The differences make themselves clear in side by side comparisons but at first you're like what differences?

Yes. I had a similar experience with my pre amp. I was actually ready to sell it, but when I took it back out of the mix, something was missing...

 

[AVService]

OK both of my big main amplifiers take an hour or so to warm up and sound their best,is this what you are talking about? It is pretty dramatic in my system too and easy to hear.
I would be surprised if any amp running cans would take that kind of warmup time but I get surprised almost every day.

 

[Adda]

^
If you are refering to my post about warm sounding amp/source for the K701 then no I'm not talking about warmup, but warm sound, a frequency response slightly tilted towards the low end.

 

[62caddy]

I've found that it often takes time to adapt.

What we prefer (or at least what we're accustomed to) and what musical fidelity is- are not always the same thing.

 

[JonL]

I've also experienced the phenomenon of things taking a long time to settle in my hearing. I've also had it the other way. I got my Audible Illusions preamp without knowing much about it other than I got a good deal on it. I intended to test it and flip it immediately 'cause I needed the money and couldn't even really afford to be out the money I spent on it. I simply laid the thing on top of my old preamp, half sideways so I could hook up the cables. When I started it up, the difference was immediately apparent and such an improvement that I left the preamp exactly where it was, sideways on a stack of gear, for about three weeks before I moved things around properly. In that case, I never once went back to listen to the old unit.

 

[AVService]

No I was talking about the O.P. saying at first he didn't notice the difference and it took a while until he did.

 

[Gang-Twanger]

Thankfully, I haven't experienced this with any of my big upgrades (Well, there was one amp where it took me 6 months to realize it was WRONG for me, but that was early on). When I bought my usb-dac, the difference was huge and immediate. So-immediate that I realized that I needed better headphones. And when I bought the Grados, THAT difference was immediate (once I got them plugged into my own system). And now, having just moved my new (vintage) W90's into their new home, the difference is jaw-dropping. Seriously. I'm not exaggerating in the least here. However, I DID notice how everything sounded noticably-better today than it did last night after spending the entire day on the road home from Maine, but that's simply because my system always sounds better when I'm better-rested. Still, I do find my ears getting used to the better resolution and bigger sound, and I believe there IS a period of adjustment...

 

[RamblinE]

No I was talking about the O.P. saying at first he didn't notice the difference and it took a while until he did.

When I removed the packing from the AKG's and tried them out I didn't really notice much a difference between them and my Grado SR60s. After a few hours I switched back to the SR60s and the difference became apparent via the Grado's lack of balance and detail, compared to the AKGs.

With my dac, it wasn't until a few days later when I tried to listen to music off of my computer's headphone jack that I noticed the decrease in sound quality.

Thankfully, I haven't experienced this with any of my big upgrades (Well, there was one amp where it took me 6 months to realize it was WRONG for me, but that was early on). When I bought my usb-dac, the difference was huge and immediate. So-immediate that I realized that I needed better headphones. And when I bought the Grados, THAT difference was immediate (once I got them plugged into my own system). And now, having just moved my new (vintage) W90's into their new home, the difference is jaw-dropping. Seriously. I'm not exaggerating in the least here. However, I DID notice how everything sounded noticably-better today than it did last night after spending the entire day on the road home from Maine, but that's simply because my system always sounds better when I'm better-rested. Still, I do find my ears getting used to the better resolution and bigger sound, and I believe there IS a period of adjustment...

There's nothing really disappointing about this. No regrets associated. I just find it interesting how sometimes a huge improvement is hardly perceptible until you go back to what you had been using. THEN you see how much of an improvement your upgrade was.

I've had the experience of using something for a long time before coming to realize it's not for me. That's not what I'm referring to here but I suppose it's still relevant as the converse to what I'm referring to.