Rep Power: 337

Aulthough admittedly I am a huge subjectivist so I can base my opinions of products on irreproducible experiemnts, here are seven great tips to keep in mind when listening to a stereo, to judge stereo performance or attempt to improve it:

One: Acknowledge and debunk your predjudices. The object of the game is to learn something, not to confirm your preconcieved notions.

Two: Listening is like swimming: You get better with practice, and you shouldn't go in alone. A good listening buddy can keep you from getting in over your head. If you both come up with the same unprompted assesment, it most likely contains useful information. You don't need "Golden ears," but you have to be willing to listen carefully and crittically.

Three: Dont worry about minutiae. You're never looking for tiny diffrences between two things. If you need repeated doubleblind test trials to differentiate A from B, then its probably not a distinction worth making.

Four: Turn only one **** at a time. Everything about your listening environment should be as consistant as possible througought the assessment. This means no opening of windows on the highway while you are tuning your car, it will change everything.

Five: Choose well recorded, familiar source material. Listening to something for the first time is in effect turning a ****. Sparse arrangements are more useful than dense "walls of sound" because they dont mask distortions. For the same reason, clean, crisp, transparent recordings of accoustic instruments are more telling than tracks with a lot of synthesizers, electronic instruments, or effects. That inclues electric guitars!

Six: Watch your monitoring levels. Listening fatigue can set in within 10 minutes or so at elevated levels. You can work effectively for far longer if you keep teh levels down.

Seven: Carefully note what you think you're hearing and come back to the same setup and retest your perceptions. Listening tests are difficult to control, the greatest and most dangerous variable is you. Use whatever analytic equipment is available.




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Rep Power: 337

i would add write down any changes you make and what you like and dislike after each change.