Originally Posted by VirusKiller
Then I decided to up the volume; and it was a *revelation*. To put this into context, I've been listening at work and I tend not to listen particularly loudly anyway. But in upping the volume, everything came to life - all that MQA realism appeared - and the timbral clarity, accuracy, and richness I'd expected were all there. The dynamics are also superb!

I wonder if, psycho-acoustically, if something is too quiet, your brain recognizes that something is not right. In other words, the impact of everything is reduced; if you are hearing a piano, it needs to be “piano loud” [or should that be piano forte wink ].

As a footnote, the 'Ubi Caritas', at higher volume, sounds very high res indeed…
Hi Joel
FWIW, I've always found that the same rationale holds true, even when say comparing MP3 320 to Lossless..........or 24/192 to CD.......i.e. that the music needs to be at "life like" volume in order for the resolution differences to be [more] apparent

And I agree with your Piano analogy........if someone was playing an actual Steinway Grand in your room, you can rest assured that it would be at a relatively high volume level, even without any amplification..........same with an Acoustic Guitar, Violin, Chello........and the same with a powerful singer

If any of the above were truly present in our rooms, then we can be quite certain that they would not be "in the background" volume wise.......and instead would likely dominate all other ambient noise etc

So, if we are looking for our systems to simulate "live" recordings, then I think it's wise to elevate our system volume levels, where possible.......not to "ear bleed" levels......but to volume levels that we may have heard at small scale Piano Recitals etc., that don't involve amplification

I would also add that the "hot" recordings that have dominated the last 15 years have all caused us to reduce the Startup volumes of our systems from what they were 15 years ago.........and we are then quite loath to turn them back up again

And as it happens, for the well recorded stuff from 2L et al, which isn't "hot", it needs the extra volume to "breathe" properly.........and I find the same for properly recorded and mastered high res material, even before the advent of MQA

So I think your pointer to "Turn the Music Up" is a very good one.......most especially when it comes to non-"hot" recordings

Last edited by Ronnie; 2016-02-12 02:25.
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