My Stereo Sounds Better & Worse At Time... Any Theories Why ?

[j3brow]

I have absolutely experienced this phenomenon. I also think combination ..... power fluctuations, environment (humidity, barometric pressure), and internal (state of mind).

[Robc33]

Originally Posted by 1KW

I have noticed that sometimes I go down to listen and am disappointed with the sound, it is almost like the magic is gone, music almost sounds flat. The imaging is still there but the bass is not how I rememebered it ? Other times I go down and everything sounds wonderful. This occurs without any physical changes to the speakers or system configuration. The other day I went down to listen and again something sounded wrong. I ended up moving my speakers a few inches here and there, leaning forward in my listening chair, sitting back, trying to see if I could capture a better listening level but it was not to be, so I shut everything down and have not been back down for a few days. I am going to give it a try later on today. Anyone else experience this phenomenon ?

Yes, yes, yes! Sometimes my system sounds amazing, and others it just is not pleasing to listen to. That's why I have flip-flopped about selling my speakers.
I have found that the more revealing my system becomes, the more this problem rears it's ugly head. As with my more forgiving 2nd, and 3rd systems, this seldom, if ever happens.

[For The Love of Music]

This, like most things can relate to a combination of things.

System wise; I’m in agreement move the Aurender to the Power Plant and consider replacing the tubes. Do an unplug and replug of the system.

Electrical; are you running a dedicated or shared circuit?

The Audiophile; that statement in in itself has a weight towards the result your looking for. Never satisfied, wanting more at any expense. Remedy, take a break and start over after a day or two, more time the better, just not to much [emoji851]

My gut tells me your solution is simple within this string.

[W9TR]

I too find my system sounds best later in the evening. Why? Who knows, but since this phenomena has spanned years in multiple homes with multiple different systems I think I’m the only common factor.

There could be a lot of external factors like power quality, the overall background noise level, hours of warmup.....the list goes on.

Lately I have experienced less of this phenomenon - maybe my gear and power conditioning make the system immune to power line related noise.

Tom

[jdandy]

I find that my mood impacts my listening pleasure more than anything else. If I am tired or a bit stressed about something, being able to fully engage with a musical performance tends to get clouded to some degree. If on the other hand I am relaxed, generally pleased with the day, and relatively free of aches and pains, I can spend many blissful hours with any one of my sound systems and enjoy every minute of it. There are some days I can't wait to get into the studio for a nice long listening session, and then there are days where I am not in the mood. I don't spend much time analyzing it. I just go with the flow. If a listening experience isn't joyful, I find something else to do until such time I am ready to allow myself to be enveloped and swept up in music once again. Mood is everything.

[audioguy3107]

I'm in the camp here of it being a result of personal mood and state of relaxation if you will. After a day dealing with the 5 and 7 year old, work other daily stuff, when you lower the lights and turn off the brain, it does wonders for the other senses, including the ears! Even on a light day, I've usually don't experience the complete relaxation state until later in the evening.

- Buck

[JBT]

Originally Posted by 1KW

I have noticed that sometimes I go down to listen and am disappointed with the sound, it is almost like the magic is gone, music almost sounds flat. The imaging is still there but the bass is not how I rememebered it ? Other times I go down and everything sounds wonderful. This occurs without any physical changes to the speakers or system configuration. The other day I went down to listen and again something sounded wrong. I ended up moving my speakers a few inches here and there, leaning forward in my listening chair, sitting back, trying to see if I could capture a better listening level but it was not to be, so I shut everything down and have not been back down for a few days. I am going to give it a try later on today. Anyone else experience this phenomenon ?

One day system sounds great, next day meh. Why?



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jHelEOHjtH4






https://www.stereophile.com/content/magic-moment

[Macuser]

The only changes I ever noticed in my rig is it does sound better after an hour's warm up time and even better after a couple ipa's

[mulveling]

WE are the biggest variable in our system. Our ability to accept our system's sound as "wonderful" varies within a relatively wide range over the days. If your system is really freaking GREAT (and finely tuned for your preferences), then it will still sound very good, maybe even great on your worst "off" days. This is complicated by the fact that many of us are our own systems' harshest critics. We've spent so much on this gear; we want to see a return on that investment!

I've long struggled with the "bad days", over 16 years as a hi-fi enthusiast. It gets extremely frustrating, and there were countless times I felt like giving up. In the past 12 months I dumped a LOT more money and effort into my main 2ch rig, and can happily report it's finally stabilized (after much fiddling and setting, even after the money was spent) to a point where there any never any days that dip below a "great" experience. And for the "on" days, it's an outright exhilarating performance. I was definitely worried at times during this huge upgrade push, but it paid off in the end. You know, the "am I crazy" moments when you plunk down for an $18K 3-shelf rack :P

I'm now moving focus to the high-end headphone system, which is really "great" most days but still yields some relatively blah days in the mix. I'm not sure any headphone system can even reach a level to still be "great" on the bad days, but I'll find out in the next few weeks, when I have: Stax 009 and 009S headphones, Kevin Gilmore'd T2 amplifier (the best headphone amp in the world), and a SOTA Nova V table with Shelter Accord cart. If that doesn't do it, nothing in the headphone world will.

I also don't feel my good/bad days have been too dependent on variable power quality. Maybe I just have decent power here.

[radio times]

I find with my humble Ruark I nearly always enjoy it, albeit it is little more than an ultra bedroom unit. It has taken over from my dap/headphone use, but I guess were evening creatures or easy living day off work chaps when it comes time for dem speakers. I don't enjoy it so much when it wakes me up or after a tiring day. At the moment Iggy Pop is playing his favorite tracks as the guest/weekly spot DJ on Radio 6, and the sound is rich and full as he goes across the genres.