THE FUNDAMENTAL TRUTH ABOUT HOME MUSIC LISTENING ! 

100% truth. "Hi end" is a rip off industry. It took me a few walks around the block to realize this, but I now laugh at most of the "reviews", "reviewers", "professionals", and the industry as a whole. Having said this, the effects of marketing are so ingrained in all of us that even after realizing the above, I sometimes have a hard time just listening to the music instead of focusing on the gear. But awareness of the BS surrounding this hobby is the first step towards "seeing the light" and hearing the music. Case in point... I just sold a solid state McIntosh integrated amp that cost me literally 3 times the amount of a Chinese tube integrated that sounds **significantly** better than the American-made piece of masturbatory audio-jewelry. It took me a while to admit this. I was just keeping the McIntosh around because it was a McIntosh. Not because it actually made me enjoy the music more, or because it sounded better. It didn't, in fact. It was just a giant, 80-pound status symbol, truth be told. Selling it has made me appreciate the cheap Chinese amp even more, and I have been enjoying music more as well ever since.

Being an audiophile there are two kinds of systems. One is the music can sound real or the carnival trick system of deep sound stage and everything else we get involved in when we buy a stereo system. When you can listen to a system and say: boy, that sounds like a Chicago night club then you have it. However, if you listen to a system and you can only hear that deep sound stage then you’re chasing your tail. You’ve gust thrown realism out the window for the carnival tricks.

I’ve been watching your videos for a few weeks now and they speak to me. After 20 years of listening to an IPod or my car stereo I finally have the chance and the cash to finish my basement and build a rig. Getting taken in by sexy looking gear and slick advertising is a deep expensive rabbit hole making it hard to decide how to do it. But being nearly 60, time is running out to listen to my 1500 CD’s and 600 lp’s. I want to enjoy my life and spend quality time with my wife. Most of all, I want the emotional connection to the music, to take me away from the stress of work and being overly analytical. Thanks for your videos. The streaming thing is finally getting thru to me. Looking forward to more of your gear suggestions and to ripping all my CD’s and using my time wisely, deep inside the music like when I was a teenager. Thanks Mikey.

Great rant! What is also intellectually interesting is how to cross the line from equipment analysis to music connection. After puzzling over it for a few months, my own formula is: streamer / transport with detail resolution, dac with holographic soundstage, preamp with smooth transients, power amp with dynamic contrast and loudspeakers with tonal realism.

Great video Mickey, you are spot on!!! Greetings from Rapallo, Italy.

Mikey is 100% true. I took my a few years of making mistakes in audio to appreciate and understand what this guy is trying to teach us. Now I have a system that brings this kind of magic and I fully enjoy the listening experience, not fixating on the gear itself.

Right on! Agreed 100%, technology serves the music….

I love listening to Kraftwerk’s Autobahn and hearing a car come from left near to right far.

Ok Mikey!!!!!! As a professional hi end audio designer and pro recording enginee and musician, you are 2000 percent SPOT on....kudos my friend for nailing this one for the audience. CHEERS

Being in this hobby for a long long time I’m totally in agreement with you. I’m my case my beginner hi end system was one that transported me emotionally and my final two systems did the same. All the ones in between were searches for something or somethings analytical I thought I was missing. The Playback Designs purchase from you was my first foray into streaming. I am totally enamored with the exploration I can do now with old and new stuff. Good talk on the “why hifi” Mike. 🖖🏾

Love it! I was just able to hear a Jamaican sound system. This was near a similar regular concert. One thing was clear. When anyone got near the sound system, they danced! It connected so deeply, the sound consumed you. The regular rig. No dancing! I want a rig that makes me want to move.

❤ it! Well said. Thank you for all your help Mike! (Best audio consultant I’ve worked with in 20 years)

Shots fired! I am this guy at times 😅😅😅 🤠🤠

There's a point when you look at your gear and say - this is good enough, I can live with this for a long time. Chasing the best system is an illusion, waste of time and often you will not even see noticeable improvement with upgrading your current set-up. As Mikey said - enjoy the music!

I like the way you put it; holistic

My living room system comprises of a stupidly mixed up set (fab horn spkrs on the front and Bose on the rear for example) and yet the connections to the music are incredible wonderful and when my granddaughter and I dance to Howlin’ Wolf that’s the zone. It’s in my heart… and I don’t care what anyone says. The cheapest Marantz processor into ARC power amp lol. IDGA…

Love to see your playlist !

Hi Mike you are so right. The gear is fun but it is ultimately about the music. It's easy to over analyse things. Some will over think it anyway. When I sit in front of a very expensive system at a hifi show I wonder Ide go that far if I did have the money. Happy to go back to my Luxman Accuphase and Rotel gear. Ear candy lol. Why I work in hardware diy. Hifi and music as a hifi. Like how you speak plainly. In the Matrix Mikey love it.

Does it make your Soul Sing, can you be Content/Happy lost in the Music!!! Mikey, I have gotten more "Miles out of a Cheap Pair of Speakers!!!" Escapism can be Achieved at many Financial Levels! You Nailed It Brother!

Yes I was treated to some serious submersion with Roger Waters - In The Flesh Live "Perfect Sense 1&2." But the piece that made the biggest difference is not cheap. But it's worth it and it pulled my system together like a mom giving her kids a hug at once.🌺 🎶🍻

I like listening to the gear and get to know it but what I love more is connecting to the singer or the musicians more and that's is much harder to do!

Excellent point of this post!😊

Excellent content.

Your spot on with this subject.

WOW

glad to see some humor,nice rant

I went down this road of trying out MANY things but in fact never lost any money as I predominantly bought used. The road is long, took me 10 years, but also trained my hearing abilities and I gained a lot of experience. Finally I got THERE and my system transports me to pure musical enjoyment/ „nirvana“ every time I listen to music. It goes directly to my soul and gives me joy and peace. IMO this is also an important part of this hobby and it’s NOT that I didn’t enjoy music on this way. But when you finally nailed it there is much much more to be proud of instead of simply going to a dealer who sets up a plug & play system …and journey done. This, in the longer run I think isn’t truly satisfying either…as you may start to question yourself: „how would this other cable, amp, source etc sound in my system…?“ THERE IS NO SHORTCUT TO SUCCESS

Great truth Mikey! For me great music conquers all, it doesnt matter what Ramble On, War Pigs, Sweat Leaf, Its a Long Way to the Top is played on, a walkman, nice home stereo or in the car over the radio. Great music is gonna reach out and grab my soul. On the other hand trying and listening to different equiptment and rigs is just another part of the whole. As in car audio, its just as much fun checking out someone elses build as it is building your own. Its when people attach their identity to some "perceived" value of their rigs, they cross a line that devolves the music.

Agree. My goal is simply not to have my audio gear distract from the music.

😆"squirrel food"!!!!

This is great. What would be very helpful is if you could do videos for different budgets with recommend gear for connecting to music as you described. For example, 1000 dollar system, 2000 dollar system, 3-4k system etc. Would help a lot of people and would be wildly popular.

It's amazing how darn satisfied i am listening to some old Polk Monitor 7c's that i was able to pick up used for $175. The guy had recapped them and put in the better tweeters etc. I have them sitting on the floor with 2 5lb dumbbells angling them up to my seated position. I sit right in the triangle sweet spot. The speakers can really disappear and sound phenomenal with excellent depth and great instrument positioning(sound field or stage). Added a sub to them. Just incredible sound. I went down the rabbit hole for awhile. Still using Acoustic Zen Holograms as speaker cables to them. Just using Ifi Dac i picked up for $200 and a tube buffer for $50 (upgraded tubes). Mac Mini. Streaming everything (mainly Qobuz for music) sounds INCREDIBLE. I'm 63 and soooo satisfied with the sound i am getting out of these. Will swap back my Mirage Omnidirectional speakers when i want a change. Picked those up used for chump change. I can't even believe the extremely high price on some of this gear. Ridiculous. So glad i am no longer a young fanatic and wasting money. It is not that i am not discerning either. This just sounds frickin amazing for VERY little monetary output. I sit very close to these Polks so almost nearfield i guess? Speakers are about 6-7ft apart and i pull out my comfortable reclining patio chair and sit equal distance. Nirvana....but not listening to Nirvana....hah

Your spot on.

I can really relate to the message you are conveying here, got a friend that has thosen of records he has collected over a liftime. His system is mediocre at best. he's all about the music.

Pretty solid rant, Pardner.

Didn't leave much meat on the bone. Needed to be said. I agree! Love Matrix reference!

Nice sermon, Reverend Mikey! 🙏🏻🙏🏻

Because time is so valuable and I feel guilty when I have downtime or relaxing… I try to buy decent audio gear to make that time to listen worthwhile and meaningful.

my most expensive piece of audio equipment is the Schiit Freya+ preamp. To go much higher is a chore for me. And at my age I doubt I will ever lay down $5000 for any piece of equipment. Very hard for someone like me to fall into the trap of constantly swapping out expensive gear for more expensive gear. Maybe that's a good thing. Knowing that I won't be constantly swapping out gear gives me the chance to appreciate what I have and more importantly, enjoy what I have. And I do enjoy it. I don't know what I would do if I was one of those guys that could afford a 50K amp and $8000 cables. I might very well fall into the trap. But, that's not gonna happen. So I do have some peace of mind knowing that. But I do drool over the very high-end gear just like everyone else. 🙂

100% allways been about listening to music for me, the gear is a means to an end

Mikey, does your plant need water? Love your vids brother, I agree 100%, usually do to poor speaker placement

Thank you sir. "gear fetish" sums it up

BTW... Excellent lighting improvement!

We need more cooking with Mikey videos. Love the fireside chats

The mindset of I just want to enjoy the music will save you a ton of money and that can happen at any price point too. I analyze things for work I really don't want to analyze music or movies in my free time.

where you have to start. Some are never satisfied or do not know where they want to go . some don't even know the difference between a closed box and a transmission box. open baffle . folded baffle horn systems backoaded horns. just a few different speaker systems with the right combo in amplifier and source. do you always listen to a set or do you listen to music in which the system is good for you and no one else? I only eat jazz and classical music I like to do that with a broadband speaker with tubes. a conscious choice and certainly not the best all-round set by far. But it does what it's supposed to do for me and that's as extreme as possible for me in a certain genre. I've been playing with my set for 5 years and my mono power amplifier is over 20 years old. every 2 yrs I get them checked and they play like crazy. piece of peace in your head is a big gain. expensive is cheap and then you are basically ready

If you want to experience the music, you MUST be mindful. If you catch your mind drifting away from the music, re-focus!

OK 👍.

Reflecting on being in this hobby 20 yrs- it’s been people I know personally, and the RU-vidrs Mike and Real Hifi Help (Larry) that have raised this truth most prominently . It was hardly discussed a few years ago. People would say ‘tubes are best’ or ‘vinyl is best’ when what they meant was ‘music is best’. I see it as a partly a backlash to the sterile, cold emotionless fetish for clarity and artificially exaggerated imaging the industry prizes so much now. Greetings from Melbourne (Aust) music lovers.

I call it "The Magic". You eyes are closed and the music wraps around your head carrying you off...

Yes and don't limit to just tidal or qobuz either---Roon will aid you in finding that music that one might never find via solely the Tidal/Qobuz interfaces. Or put even more plainly, the what's new on the Tidal platform is a waste of time unless you want to just limit yourself to what a suit somewhere thinks you should access.

Hi Mikey. I can I ask you a question about a DIY digital device related to the projects you recommended previously?

Way to tell it……., the truth hurts, and I’m referring to a couple of guys I know that’s on this endless search for the Absolute Illusion I call it.

Mikey, my old punk rock records seem to have harsh highs and sibilance in some of the vocals, (especially the screaming and yelling parts) and cymbals. Should I throw more money at the problem?

When you are at a meal, enjoy the meal instead of just looking at the cutlery.

I think at a certain level you hit the point where you have to decide: are you after the truth, or something pretty close, but that will never sound bad? The former, as cool as it is to say that the resolution is so good it can highlight the smallest details, doesn't sound particularly fun as a listener. At the end of the day, you are the one stuck with the system.

10 Grand for a complete rig is not bad ! Yes , let your music move you !!!

Many times at shows I just walk on buy their rooms , the look on their faces when I tell them no thanks. Way to much BS . I use streaming to dusouver new stuff, then go and purchase it if its available.

Definition of a gear head… Jay @Jay’s Audio See his latest amps investment idk…

I'm sure opinions vary, but for me I can connect to music over virtually any system... but true listening enjoyment on a good system is another thing. It's like saying the only thing satisfying about a meal is the food. It's also the presentation, ambiance as opposed to a pile of food on a paper plate. I'm very content listening to music on my humble system, but I do enjoy also discovering and analysing... there's noting wrong with that for me...

Ahem....audio is distorted AF !

Very few people have a clue. If you ask out there for a Dac below 5K Dollars with good wolumcontroll or buildt in analogue pre stage, they start talking about chinese stuff like Matrix Element or Topping, because they dont know any better. I stick with my T+A dac bought used for 2K dollars or 20K Norwegian kroners.

Emails finally blowing up his phone

Whenever I audition a new component one of the requirements is it must improve the musically of not only my good recordings but the poor recording as well. It's a myth that the better your system becomes the worse your poor recording will sound.

Music is the moonlight in the gloomy night of life. John Paul Friedrich Richter

i strictly use music to analyze gear 😝

Enjoy the Music (damn it) an stop analyzing the blue meters.. 😂🍾

A comment from one of Mike’s earlier videos I’ll always remember: Music lovers use hifi to listen to music. Audiophiles use music to analyze hifi.

More good recorded Music would help and it depends on your mood as well.

You need to be analytical for testing... but in the end you need to be able to leave this analytical state to a more feeling state... And if you can't leave the analytical state, that's propably because your system is not involving. Remember : Analytical equipment give you the feeling you get more, but they often leave the pleasure behind.

My advise is alway go hifi show or retail to listen more. Explore lots of different stuffs and listen more. There is alway stuff you like and don't like, not just base on reading on the internet. Of course some twerk stuffs you have to risk your wallet.

I think a large number of audiophiles buy what they can afford at the moment. Many of us at a more mature stage of income and some experience in the hi-fi world can find the point of diminishing return and be satisfied. The experience you describe is what I have and I am not chasing the next great thing. There is a minimum investment that will give audiophiles the wow factor. For some it is 30K and others much more. Certainly $1,000,000 is ridiculous.

Aside from the HIFI addiction to equipment etc>There's a problem with music tracks > they have been distorted, crushed and turned into a flaming pile of AM tonal sound. Its the audible sin Audiphiles think they can solve by purchasing new equipment to satisfy the tonal qualities that one song lacked with one specific equipment from which another piece of equipment seems to solve> at the expense of losing another tonal quality. Its similar to trying to tone down a peaky high snare in a track by changing the amplifier> the source of the problems is of course the source> either you respect the Artists SoundScape of sounds they've created, and respect the soul of the track> or you need to actually fix the Tracks Distortion tonal problems that plague all modern music tracks. Eventually AI can be a source to correct these flaming issues in music tracks. Dont listen to the Music like a mixing mastering engineer that looks to correct tonal issues, Enjoy it.

how do I connect to a loudness war cd?

I have a DAC that is ugly, it is made in England and to me blows way everything, i have listened to MSB and dCS and the crazy brands, never connected me to the music. My amp and preamp were designed by John Curl, they are not pretty, but connect me to the music, it is amazing. They don't have the cute VU meters, or the me too tech 😂😂😂😂😂

While I understand the premise, particularly in the context of Mikey's ongoing mission, which most of the time I agree with and respect, the argument here is, to me, too reductive, simplifying a complicated sensorial and intellectual experience to an either/or proposition. Our ability to at once perceive, be moved, calculate, and evaluate, is more complex, unstable, and necessary than this argument allows for. The mind is restless, continually darting from one subject to the next. I am quite sure, as seriously pensive as Rodin's Thinker looks, his hummingbird mind is no doubt flitting from philosophy, to his wife, to philosophy, to his kids, to philosophy, to what to have for lunch, and his upcoming prostate exam. This doesn't mean the Thinker is frivolous or not thinking seriously. It only means the mind is not static, that it is constantly engaged in numerous acts of perception, delineation, and evaluation. In the same way, not only is it possible possible to love both the music and the gear, it is possible to listen to the music and to the gear, to be swept away by the music, then be struck by admiration for the soundstage or the tweeter's ability to render a high C; to be moved by the music's message, then be equally moved and amazed by the gear's capacity to produce the music in such a way; to be in awe of a piece of music's power and delicacy, and to be in awe of the technology that is so able to deliver by turns such delicacy and power as the particular piece of music demands. It is no different than being floored by the majesty of the aurora borealis or a titanic thunderstorm while at the same time being equally aware of and floored by the scientific principles that create such phenomena. Our ability to analyze only increases our capacity for amazement. And there's something of a contradiction in Mikey's argument. The only way to get to this supposed place of pure emotional connection, unalloyed by intellect or analysis, is through years of listening and analyzing, trial and error, tinkering and adjusting, all based on the ability of our critical, analytical capacity to distinguish, differentiate, and determine (unless, of course, you have someone like Mikey build your system for you and you are willing to take his word that it is as good as it gets; but few of us are willing to accept those terms; we like to find out for ourselves). And, after all those hours and years of being critical, and of learning to be critical in the right way, to at long last truly be able to separate the wheat from the chaff, what allows us to relax and enjoy the fruits of our critical labor is that all those criteria by which we've decided what is best are finally satisfied. It's not that we've stopped being critical, it's that our antennae no longer perceive shortcomings, irregularities, deficiencies, imbalances, etc, and we can be carried away by the music, secure in the knowledge that there's nothing to fix. And our awareness of that fact, that there are no technical issues to resolve, that our gear is producing the music we want and providing us with the experience we've craved, only adds to that overall sense of wonder and emotional engagement. The mind, the critical faculty, the analytical part of us, gets a bad rap. Yes, it is possible to succumb to being too, or solely (or soulessly) analytical, to being unable to see the forest for the trees, but the fact that some fall prey to this doesn't preclude the analytical part of our mind from having its share in our emotional or spiritual experience. I've never subscribed to the going cant that understanding diminishes wonder. I've always found that the more I understand how a thing works, the more amazed I am that it works at all. In this way, for me, the intellect, the analytical mind, is not an obstacle at all but the path to and constant companion of a more heightened emotional experience.

you are a TRIP GUY

Mike , honestly , I do hear in all your videos I can do that.. I will get you the good stuff, bullshit that .. and so on , but you never tell how do you compare or what makes the difference between this and that... so , I do respectfully see you doing exactly the same the industry does .. advertising and promising. ok , I get that you sell but you can contribute to enlighten and purify... if not , well you just sell your expertise .. but you dont share or contribute.. it is exactly the same the industry sellers do .. but with a better ¨understanding¨ that you keep for your self .. ?? .. my two cents and without any hate really .. just a thought. ( I give you , that you depict very well what's very wrong and why in the industry and the nasty audiflia stupid wrongs and that's also sharing and caring .. )

I have met a number of rich middle-age guys whom to them - it is the gear ,,,,,,, they are techno nerdy guys and they love to talk about sine waves, graphs and metallurgical compositions of components - they could give a Rats arse about the music ....... heck half the camera buff wealthy older guys are more into optical formulas and test charts then taking artistically wonderful images - some of them spend thousands just to take test images of brick walls .😂

You only need room treatment, but on scientific basis. Some buildings have a natural acoustics built in. $10k in such building sound 10 time better than $100k in a subpar building in regard to acoustics. There is a video by a hippy 40yrs acoustics guy on YT who says so called bass traps are craps. And there is ASR's scientific proof that power conditioners "blackness" is a myth.

Connection to the music doesn't come from the ear, the brain, or the amount of money spent...it comes from the heart. And yes Mikey, unlistenable trash-can recordings DO exist.

What is the meaning of the word "HIFI" Any system I hear can't come close to the real live sound of anything that makes sound. All this is just market based on people's desire to listen to music. We discuss home equipment performance and realism of sound that they make, and in studios, they compress all sounds during recording. So what do we analyze or listen to at home then ??? The sound we like is HIFI for each of us. Is there a better sounding one, maybe but we do not care, we like what we like.

Neurotic not psychotic 😁