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  1. #1
    Join Date: Apr 2016

    Location: Gravesend and France

    Posts: 1,498
    I'm paul.

    Default Ever have a bad listening day

    Was in the workshop today and listening to the Lii audio crystal 10, have sounded very nice but today they just sounded awful. I've experienced the same thing in my listening room on occasion and another day back to the usual great sound. Must be my ears. Anyone experience the same thing. .......I await the onslaught of derogatory comments and piss taking, do your worst I can take it.
    Bakoon 13r Denon DP80 Stax UA-70 Shure Ultra 500 in a Martin Bastin body with jico stylus, project ds2 digital Rullit aero 8 field coils in tqwt speakers

    Office system, DIY CSS fullrange speakers with aurum cantus G2 ribbons yulong dac Sony STR6055 receiver Jvc QL-A51 direct drive turntable, Leema sub. JVC Z4S cart is in the house

    Garage system another Sony receiver, cassette deck


    System components are subject to change without warning and at the discretion of the owner.

  2. #2
    Join Date: Apr 2013

    Location: Barry, South Wales, UK

    Posts: 1,052
    I'm Rich.

    Default

    I haven't experienced it where I live now, but I definitely used to notice off days where I lived before. I'm not sure if it's different kit or the different environment/building/electricity supply/mental state/expectations/unknown element.

    I sold the TT I had at roughly the same time I moved, so I can't really rule out either variable.

    Clearaudio Emotion with Clearaudio Performer cart
    Copland CDA 266
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    Squeezebox Touch
    Impulse Lali
    Van Damme I/Cs and cables

  3. #3
    Join Date: Aug 2009

    Location: Staffordshire, England

    Posts: 37,737
    I'm Martin.

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    No piss taking , it does happen. Has happened to me. How can a system that wowed you the previous night now sound so pedestrian? With the exact same music?

    Sometimes I worked out the cause - a noisy car journey with the windows down was the reason one time. Other times it baffles me but I'm pretty certain it is psychological. We hear with our brains not our ears. Added to that I've had situations where systems I have put together that were total crap would still sound good if I was in a particularly euphoric mood.
    Current Lash Up:

    TEAC VRDS 701T > Sony TAE1000ESD > Krell KSA50S > JM Labs Focal Electra 926.

  4. #4
    Join Date: Jun 2015

    Location: London/Durham

    Posts: 6,861
    I'm Lawrence.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Macca View Post
    No piss taking , it does happen. Has happened to me. How can a system that wowed you the previous night now sound so pedestrian? With the exact same music?

    Sometimes I worked out the cause - a noisy car journey with the windows down was the reason one time. Other times it baffles me but I'm pretty certain it is psychological. We hear with our brains not our ears. Added to that I've had situations where systems I have put together that were total crap would still sound good if I was in a particularly euphoric mood.
    Mood plus possibly background noise and electricity supply noise. Never managed to figure out which it might be.

    Sent from my BLN-L21 using Tapatalk

  5. #5
    Join Date: Apr 2012

    Location: Southall, West London

    Posts: 51,621
    I'm Geoff.

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    Hangovers don't help either.
    It is impossible for anything digital to sound analogue, because it isn't analogue!

  6. #6
    Join Date: Jun 2015

    Location: London/Durham

    Posts: 6,861
    I'm Lawrence.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by walpurgis View Post
    Hangovers don't help either.
    I just veg out in front of the telly, have no interest in serious listening when hungover and background music doesn't do it for me either.

    Sent from my BLN-L21 using Tapatalk

  7. #7
    Audio Al is offline Pishanto Specialist & Super-Daftee
    Join Date: May 2012

    Location: Dagenham Essex

    Posts: 11,215
    I'm Allen.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Macca View Post
    No piss taking , it does happen. Has happened to me. How can a system that wowed you the previous night now sound so pedestrian? With the exact same music?

    Sometimes I worked out the cause - a noisy car journey with the windows down was the reason one time. Other times it baffles me but I'm pretty certain it is psychological. We hear with our brains not our ears. Added to that I've had situations where systems I have put together that were total crap would still sound good if I was in a particularly euphoric mood.
    That rules me out then
    [

  8. #8
    Join Date: Jan 2008

    Location: Wrexham, North Wales, UK

    Posts: 110,012
    I'm AudioAl'sArbiterForPISHANTO.

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Audio Al View Post
    That rules me out then
    Yes, we 'listen' with both. The ear/brain thing is a relationship, so one cannot be independent from the other.

    Bad listening days? Yes, I think we've all had them. Mostly it's a psychological thing, but it can also be down to factors such as poor, or poorer than usual, mains quality, which is one of the reasons why so often our systems sound better late at night or in the early hours of the morning, as the mains then is subject to less interference.

    Then there's the issue of ambient noise, especially if you live in a busy area, near a main road or a lot of industrial works, etc. During the day, that's going to play havoc with the mains supply it's almost certainly sharing in some way with your system, and you'll also have the constant 'thrum' of background noise superimposing itself upon any music you're listening to, which at times will be worse than others.

    Late at night, when that's gone and the mains supply is less distorted, things will almost certainly sound better!

    Plus, factors such as listening to equipment that's still cold, after having been switched off since the previous day, can sometimes have an effect on how it sounds, as almost certainly will speakers and things such as phono cartridges, when the ambient temperature of the room is too low, which is why your system invariably sounds better once your speakers have been given a bit of a 'caning' (had a signal going through them for a while) to warm up the voice coils, and the same applies to the generator/suspension system on cartridges, which is why your T/T will always sound better after having spun a few discs!

    Therefore, if you want to minimise the likelihood of experiencing a 'bad listening day', take the following steps:

    1) Fit a dedicated mains radial spur for your system, and/or apply some form of judicious noise filtering.
    2) Listen to music mostly late at night, or after peak mains usage hours, rather than during the day.
    3) Ensure that not only the electronic equipment you're using has been switched on for a while and warmed up, before listening critically to music, but also the room you're in isn't too cold, so that speakers and cartridges can perform optimally (there will be an ideal temperature allowing for such), and which should remain as a constant throughout listening sessions.
    4) Play your system for a while, putting a signal through the speakers, perhaps by leaving a CD on repeat and/or spin a few records on your T/T, in order to 'warm up' the cartridge, before listening critically to music, as that will definitely make a difference.

    And *most importantly* of all:

    5) Avoid listening to music critically, or judging the sound of your system when you're tired and/or in a bad mood!!

    Because even if you've ticked all of the above boxes, unless you're relaxed/unstressed and ready to enjoy a listening session, your system will NEVER sound right, or as it should.

    Marco.
    Main System

    Turntable: Heavily-modified Technics SL-1210MK5G [Mike New bearing/ETP platter/Paul Hynes SR7 PSU & reg mods]. Funk Firm APM Achromat/Nagaoka GL-601 Crystal Record Weight/Isonoe feet & boots/Ortofon RS-212D/Denon DL-103GL in Denon PCL-300 headshell with Funk Firm Houdini/Kondo SL-115 pure-silver cartridge leads.

    Paul Hynes MC head amp/SR5 PSU. Also modded Lentek head amp/Denon AU-310 SUT.

    Other Cartridges: Nippon Columbia (NOS 1987) Denon DL-103. USA-made Shure SC35C with NOS stylus. Goldring G820 with NOS stylus. Shure M55E with NOS stylus.

    CD Player: Audiocom-modified Sony X-777ES/DAS-R1 DAC.

    Tape Deck: Tandberg TCD 310, fully restored and recalibrated as new, by RDE, plus upgraded with heads from the TCD-420a. Also with matching TM4 Norway microphones.

    Preamps: Heavily-modified Croft Charisma-X. LDR Stereo Coffee. Power Amps: Tube Distinctions Copper Amp fitted with Tungsol KT-150s. Quad 306.

    Cables & Sundries: Mark Grant HDX1 interconnects and digital coaxial cable, plus Mark Grant 6mm UP-LCOFC Van Damme speaker cable. MCRU 'Ultimate' mains leads. Lehmann clone headphone amp with vintage Koss PRO-4AAA headphones.

    Tube Distinctions digital noise filter. VPI HW16.5 record cleaning machine.

    Speakers: Tannoy 15MGs in Lockwood cabinets with modified crossovers. 1967 Celestion Ditton 15.


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  9. #9
    Join Date: Mar 2017

    Location: Seaford UK

    Posts: 1,861
    I'm Dennis.

    Default

    Many factors; physical condition/health affects well being and vision and hearing, psychological state affects - us worry wearing us out mentally, actual humidity temperature and air pressure are supposed to according to Hi-Fi experts, and if as I do you listen to a lot of FM, reception conditions vary enormously, weekends being better, and public holidays more so.

  10. #10
    Join Date: Jan 2009

    Location: Essex

    Posts: 31,775
    I'm openingabottleofwine.

    Default

    Never had a "bad listening day", but depending on my mood I may only play a few discs or LPs, or I may be up half the night listening to music. But regardless of the amount of use, the performance of my system is pretty constant.
    Barry

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