Fatigue free listening

[Audiophile Neuroscience]

17 hours ago, Rexp said:

Digititus, fatigue, glare, the feeling you just want to turn the music off after a while to give your ears a break. Now not everone suffers from this but its the biggest problem with digital playback for most folks. One way to alleviate the problem is to listen to lo-res, quite a few members prefer Spotify to Tidal/Qobuz for example. I've gone back to using the headphone out of my laptop rather than external DACs cos, although its lower res, it doesn't make my ears bleed. Any more solutions out there? 

Hi Rexp,

much of this topic was covered in the "can bad recordings sound good" thread. I agree with those that advocate better source quality combined with good quality gear and proper implementation. You of course already know what Frank will say ......

 

Great digital sound has now been available for many years and at "affordable prices" (insert definition here).

 

I suggest start a thread with your gear listed and budget available for possible upgrade paths.

 

 

[Audiophile Neuroscience]

12 minutes ago, Rexp said:

I've just stated I've demmed many hi-end digital sources and found them fatiguing and your response is to say no they are not? 

 

yeh, sorry i missed that. I guess it's true that some high end sources are not what they are cracked up to be.

 

Accepting you have high-end gear, decent recordings shouldn't be fatiguing on a decent playback system that is well configured. So what gear are you using?

[Audiophile Neuroscience]

1 minute ago, Rexp said:

I'm starting from scratch again, what do you suggest I demo for as little money as possible? 

 

That's why I suggest start a thread dedicated to gear recommendations and budget rather than come at it from a fatigue perspective. The latter would need to be emphasized as a priority in that thread.

The first thing to ask is have you ever heard excellent sound quality that didn't sound fatiguing?

 

I would be listening to different components, preferably auditioning at home if possible. Schiit audio has been recommended in other threads

[Audiophile Neuroscience]

8 minutes ago, Rexp said:

That is a good question, I've heard dsd playback that didn't sound fatiguing but didn't want to go down that route due to limited source material. Ideally a streaming option is my preference. 

 

There are others that know way more than I about dsd playback. There must be PCM gear that has 'dsd like' sound. They might upsample or whatever. Have you tried software upsampling?

[Audiophile Neuroscience]

5 minutes ago, Rexp said:

I've tried roon upsampling, sounded different not better. I want to go to a shop, listen and buy off the shelf, rather than tinker with software. 

If you give a budget i am sure others will chime in...probably a bigger response in a "what should I buy" thread. Good luck

[Audiophile Neuroscience]

52 minutes ago, One and a half said:

Clean media server (availability like rocking horse poo)

🤣

 

I needed a good laugh ! The only thing rarer would be Unicorn poo !

 

Which rocking horse applies ?