美國有本發燒雜誌叫 The Absolute Sound。顧名思義，發燒友潛在一種追求「絕對發燒之聲」的意識。這種音响哲學，跟西方世界認為宇宙萬物都能以至理覆蓋一樣，音响重現唱片的聲音都有客觀的真理，甚麽是好的聲音給定義了。
有位仁兄 Romy The Cat 主持一個名為 Good Sound Club 的網站討論區，他是何許人也，並不知曉，只知道他聲名相當「狼藉」，被不少論壇「封殺」，唯他對音響有獨到理論，其一為他認為世上没有「絕對之聲」，音響組合最重要的，就是要表達自己腦海中的聲音。他引述了卡拉揚，這位已故的德國指揮説過 —— 他有兩個管弦樂團，一個是他正在指揮的，另一個則在他腦海之中。Romy 認為，音響組合就像腦海中那個樂團，理應要能準確地呈現出自己想要重播的聲音。音響的藝術，是一種「再創造」。
法國大哲德勒滋 (Gilles Delueze) 活在一個後現代的時代，探問哲學為何物的時候，就説過 philosophy is the art of forming, inventing and fabricating concepts。我們有幸生活在這樣一個多姿多彩的時代，為的不但要顛覆現代哲學為我們準備好固有而僵化的一切觀念 —— 顛覆以為真理在握的幻象，更重要的，還有再創造新的觀念。
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| 日本音響界大老菅野沖彥 |
没有很在意，其實自己作為一個掛着『學』牌「唱片演奏者」，演奏的「風格」，都因着年紀和「演奏技巧」（即是器材的配搭）而改變（希望是一種進步吧）。多年前，覺得只有極 Hi-fi 的聲音才有 the Absolute Sound，獨愛 Mark Levinson 跟 Eggleston Works 揚聲器的組合，年長了，開始覺得 Mark 太冷了，以前不以為然的 Jeff Rowland 擴音器和 Avalon 喇叭，早前再聽，竟然有另一番天地。而且再没有追求 Absolute Sound 的念頭了。
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| 重新發行的『三盲鼠』，音色好到不得了。 |
今日思考如何去「演奏」唱片，嘗試用不同的「樂器」去「演奏」重新發行的『三盲鼠』(Three Blind Mice) ，三木敏悟作曲的《北歐組曲》（這張 Blu-spec CD 折實要 234 元，購買時有點肉刺，但一播之後，音色之美麗清澈，底聲的寧靜，心裡内疚感頓時大减）。此 CD 演奏者為高橋達也和東京 Union。一九七七年的錄音。换了三款耳機，有清淡到濃烈，還是喜歡中庸的樂聲 —— 我腦海裡理想的爵士樂，跟貝多芬的《田園》南轅北轍，原來要用不同的「樂器」才可以「演奏」出最令人欣喜的聲音。「唱片演奏家論」無論如何，是有其道理吧。
I used to buy every copy of the Absolute Sound and all the hi-fi magzaines I could lay my hands on and would hang around fi fi joints to listen to the latest speakers, pre-amps, amps, digital connect, analog connect, power cords, CD players, , digital processers vacuum tubes and buy all kinds of "gadgets" in the hope of improving the sound like filters, metal and wood sound energy dispersers etc. and would spend hours testing each new addition and position and reposition speakers to get the right sound, the right kind of frequency balance and sound image and even studied college level hi-fi electronics and learn how to make my own tube amps. But in the end, I came to the conclusion that beyond a certain level, the ideal of of the "absolute" sound is just so much hype and exist nowhere except in our imagination. What is far more important than the equipment is the "life" and the "feeling" in the music for which no amount of fine tuning of equipment could ever compensate. What we should also aim at is not sound but the music which emerges from the sound. The Jeff Rowland sound may not be the most powerful but it's balance is excellent: it's a cultured sound just like Sonus Faber, which pays great attention to the kind of wood used is excellent for string sound. There is no perfect equipment only the right kind of equipment for different kinds of music heavy metal and rock is very different from the sound of a string quartet, chamber music requires a different kind of equipment from that needed for Mahler #9 and piano sound is different again. That's why listening and adjusting the kind of sound you like is an art, not just a science and perhaps more an art than a science. So many factors are involved, the size, the shape of your listening room, the placement of your speakers, avoidance of EMI, the quality of electricity, even the steadiness of the power supply etc. Ultimately, the crucial question to be asked is not whether the sound met certain objective "general" technical requirements but the "fit/match" between the kind of music you're listening to and the overall effect of your 'system". Some hi fi fan never went beyond pursuit of "sound" into the pursuit of "music": some of them have never attended even one live jazz band or orchestral concert and they deliver their authoritative "judgment" on the quality of sound coming out from their system! But then hi end fi fi can't survive without them! They do more good to the economy than to either their ears or their 'soul".
ReplyDeleteI can tell you're not only a music lover but also an audiophile and an expert on audio systems. Indeed someone gets mixed up the appreciation of music with the pursuit of the so-called 'perfect' sound (and some software (CD's, etc) in the market is deliberately made to cater for this purpose without considering the music itself.) If one only emphasises the sound and overlooks the music, as you said, this does not do much benefit to his/her soul. Moreover, once you have attended a live concert you inevitably realise a stereo system is only a compromise, and sounds no better than the music you hear on a seat in a concert that costs you only HK$200. Despite it being a 'compromise' I still pursue 'my personal perfect sound' as I want to enjoy good music, which makes me unwind and serves as a medicine of my soul, at home. The process of such pursuit, I totally agree with you, is an art and itself has a lot of fun and pleasure (if at the end I am immersed in the beautiful music that my system reproduces in a way that touches my heart).
DeleteI do not mean that a "good hi fi system" is unimportant at all, just that from the point of view of cost/benefit analysis, it probably pays a much higher dividend if we were to invest more of our time in actually "listening" to the music "embedded" in the sound coming out of our tolerably "good" system than in spending hours listening to this or that latest edition of what kind of hardware or software on the market about the "sound". We'd probably enjoy more. If you're into the mechanical aspect of sound, which gives a "qualitatively different" kind of enjoyment "associated" with sound reproduction, that's a different matter because that itself is a source of "enjoyment", technical, not musical!
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