For lovers of good audio there is an interesting, if unsettling science called psychoacoustics. It concerns what is going on between the ear and the brain, or at least that part of the brain of which we are aware. In the case of this record: difficult as it is, this music comes to me much easier when I’ve rested. Much easier when I’m sitting on the couch with a glass of wine, like now.
Realising that there is so much difference between the rested ear and the tired ear puts your investments in good quality sound recreation to shame. Why do you need anything better than say, a decent mp3 player and some small ear buds? I could have leave it at that, and enjoy an even better bottle of wine with equal contentment. Why bother?
No, I don’t know the magical answer to that question. Maybe my ears are never really satisfied, no matter how rested. Maybe my psychoacoustic conscience tells me the sound can only be good once I’ve spent this whole months salary on a small metal weight to put over the spindle. Or on some good looking speaker cables. The best snake oil I’ve ever found was a circuit breaker built into the mains cable, costing 4000 euro. To each his own, but sometimes I wish I had that clever entrepreneur’s marketing budget. Maybe I can sell some well rested ears.