David Bowie's personal stereo is on display and is up for sale now!

Discussion in 'General Audio Discussion' started by Kunlun, Sep 20, 2016.

  1. Kunlun

    Kunlun cat-alyzes cat-aclysmic cat-erwauling - Friend

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  2. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    We can use SBAF funds to win that and put it on a loaner tour, right?
     
  3. Pyruvate

    Pyruvate Friend

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    @shaizada needs this the most because he doesn't have enough tables yet :D
     
  4. cizx

    cizx Friend

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    I wonder how Jude would react if SBAF did that.
     
  5. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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    It is interesting that many working musicians are not audiophiles. I have no clue how Bowie's personal stereo sounds from an audiophile perspective, but it's clearly a beautifully designed piece and I'm sure Bowie got a lot of satisfaction out of using it, but it may have been an entirely different satisfaction from what audiophiles look for.
     
  6. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    My inner Bowie fanboy is rendered somewhat speechless by this. Given his art collection and pseudonymous published art criticism, and famous eye for design, I'm not surprised that it looks beautifully retro-futuristic. Given his track record as an instrumentalist and sound obsessive producer, I'd be shocked if it didn't sound pretty decent. Even his death was cool, I'm not at all surprised that his stereo was, either.

    I also want Bowie back- can we swap him for Jude or something?
     
    Last edited: Sep 23, 2016
  7. Wfojas

    Wfojas Friend

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    I was surprised when I found out that a lot of musicians I personally know and ones I read about actually don't have great sounding systems. They kind of fill the music in their heads, is how they describe it.
     
  8. Kattefjaes

    Kattefjaes Mostly Harmless

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    Yeah, they vary wildly. I've known some who're happy with the speakers on their phones.
     
  9. Pyruvate

    Pyruvate Friend

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    It's true. Boggles my mind too. My girl has an extensive musical background, played several instruments, studied theory... yet plays YouTube songs from her phone via Apple EarPods. She gives zero shits about my gear.
     
  10. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    I've been reading Hi-Fi magazines since the early 1970s. (Not so much after the internet.) Often when they interviewed a musician, being Hi-Fi magazines, they would get asked about their audio systems. Probably 9 times out of 10 it would be something rather Lo-Fi.

    That "filling in the missing sound in their heads" came up a lot.

    That might explain why when I read "Mastering supervised by the Artist" or somesuch, I am more often than not disappointed in the results.

    I wish I could remember this more clearly. I read an interview with someone involved with the sound on many of David Bowie's earlier albums. (Ken Scott or Tony Visconti?). They told a story about whenever they went by Bowie's place to listen to records/tapes, Bowie would have the bass knob turned all of the way down and the treble knob turned all of the way up. It puzzled the sound guy and kind of drove him nuts but he didn't say anything about it. I found that interesting. I wish I could remember the source.
     
  11. TwoEars

    TwoEars Friend

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    Hearing loss? Lots of musicians have it. Performing Ziggy Stardust about 500 times without earplugs will do that to you.
     
  12. New Reformation

    New Reformation Facebook Friend

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    As someone who plays music and enjoys improving by ear, I can relate to the sentiment. It's about conveying the feeling that is linked to the memory of musical experience, both in the active and passive aspects.

    Maybe we should distinguish between listening and hearing more. The measurements may dictate how I hear some gear, but my mind will determine how I listen to a song.
     
  13. Dino

    Dino Friend

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    That crossed my mind, as well.
     
  14. bumrush101

    bumrush101 Acquaintance

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    Yup, a good bit of musicians I've met want at least a decent level of sound quality, but aren't audiophile level connoisseurs at all. I found that they already have music playing in their heads as a kind of catalystic soundtrack...meaning that they turn on a song and then tend to tune in to their own heads (turn on, tune in :) ) like it's a spark to an idea or dream. I don't know the lyrics to most of my favorite songs, but could hum or rudimentarily play whole passages. When I find out the actual lyrics to some songs, it's a friggin' laugh riot sometimes...I usually listen only to instrumental stuff or mostly vocal/lyrical oriented things these days. I find genres in the middle to be off putting as of the last decade.
     
  15. bumrush101

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  16. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    l think it depends on the kind of musician. The ones I have heard of with audiophile $$$ systems tend to be jazz musicians or in orchestras. It's super rare for me to read about a rock musician that has a serious HiFi system. A lot of them tour so much that they just aren't home enough to enjoy it, so they go for live shows. However that doesn't mean that they don't have a nice head-fi system already. Any serious live musician will have a set of CIEMs easily worth >$1000 and they tend to use them to listen to music while traveling on airplanes or tour buses. A good number of them will also have the latest iPhone which has a pretty good output as is.

    What's a real embarrassment to me is the number of music reviewers with lofi systems. I mean their job is to listen to music all day and I have read of at least one that used Apple earpods until she decided to invest in a pair of HD 650s and realized what she was missing out on. Which on one hand might not be dumb because that's how the majority of people listen, but I think you should really listen in the best environment possible. At least musicians spend serious money where it counts for their profession, in their instruments. A music reviewer should take their tools seriously as well.
     
  17. Wfojas

    Wfojas Friend

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    I agree with you to a point. I think if you review for content, emotional impact, significance, it might be easier to listen to it the way it was intended for. Listening to compressed music in a high res systems may actually make it a fatiguing, hateful experience, which could impact how they feel and what they write. Or mashups which will probably sample heavy.

    And yeah, losing a good part of the mix and not appreciating what's really there is bad, too. In this digital morass we're currently at,
    It's even worst. I was listening to a vinyl press that was a digitally recorded and mastered album this morning, and lament what might have been, cause it's not there. I listen to recordings made from the same studio from 65 years ago, and its there in spades. But not that many will know, or care. Which is sad, because what made music a pleasure is gone.

    I guess some musicians can always find it.
     
  18. GTABeancounter

    GTABeancounter Friend

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    I installed onkyo hq player on my Samsung phone and messed around with the built in eq curves for a while. I came away with the same conclusion posted above. Those of you who've used the app will know that there are a couple dozen or so preset eq options that were set up by professional musicians and producers, some of whom are pretty well known. Several of the options were unusual sounding to say the least.

    f**k, I miss Bowie too. So much artistry yet such a seemingly gentle soul. In they days following his death a lot of his interviews were replayed and it didn't matter which era they were from he always had a humility about him.

    Edited to add.... as long as musicians/artists hope to get their message to the widest audience possible there will always be a barrier to "audiophile" sound. This is where I disagree with many here and actually believe that "high res" branding is not necessarily a bad thing... once you've bought your first "high res" headphone you might start on a path to seeking out better sound and with enough critical mass the industry may just start paying attention to the quality of recordings.
     
    Last edited: Nov 6, 2016
  19. TwoEars

    TwoEars Friend

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    I like this one:

     
  20. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    If you are truly listening to the way it's intended then they would be using studio monitors, no one actually produces music through earbuds. But even so, I think they could take a page from some headphone reviews. Good reviews will test headphones on solid state, vacuum tube and straight from the headphone jack of a laptop or smartphone. I see no reason why they can't listen to the same album on multiple systems to get a feel for what best expresses the album. I think I remember a review where some garage rock band released an album on cassette tape and the way the music was mixed just made far better sense on a boombox cassette deck then on a big stereo system.
     

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