Jeff here, and welcome to Jeff's Place!

I hope you are doing well and holding up during this extended coronavirus pandemic. 

I know a lot of people are stressed out - including me - and are looking for ways to destress during this extended pandemic. 

Of course, if you are reading this, then like me, music and hifi are some of your go-to ways to relax and have a little fun, so let's explore that a little more. 

Here's a few music listening adventures I've been doing that I think you'd enjoy.

Listening to Music That Spans the Entirety of Our Recorded Music Canon

On the music front I've been exploring a lot of music that is new to me, as well as some old favorites. Something that has revitalized my musical joy has been listening to and exploring music that is new to me from all of the different eras of the recording arts: the acoustic era (1877 to 1925), the electric era (1925 to 1945), the magnetic era (1945 to 1975), and digital era (1975 to present).  Listening to music that spans the entirety of our recorded music canon has not only been fun, but an illuminating learning experience as well.

Listen to Music That You Don't Normally Listen To

If you are a rock & roll guy try listening to some classical. If you are a jazz guy try listening to some opera. If you are into country music try listening to some rap or pop. You get the idea, try listening to something new that you don't normally listen to that will stretch you as a music lover and expand your listening interests.

Listen to Music for the Quality of the Performances Instead of Sound Quality

Particularly for audiophiles, its easy to get into the trap of listening to music that is marketed specifically to audiophiles for its sound quality.

If that's all you do you'll eventually hate your hifi hobby.

Instead, search out music enthusiast websites and periodicals and check out their lists of recommend musical performances. 

For example, for jazz you might try listening to the albums of the  "Jazz 100" or the "50 Greatest Jazz Vocalists" at Jazz 24. Or you might check out Gramophone for classical music recommendations of great performances. If you enjoy exploring historic musical performances like I do, check out The Record Collector. 

You get the idea, find enthusiast sites for different styles of music, find out what the great performances are for that particular genre of music, and listen to something new.

Broaden your listening horizons, you'll be glad you did.

The Record Collector magazine and 78 transfers to CD.

Experience the Music In Different Ways

As you listen, consider how the music makes you feel. What emotions and memories does it trigger? For music from different recording eras, how does the music listening experience vary through the different eras? What music can you listen to and just get lost in it? 

Since a current interest of mine is in music that spans the eras of the recording arts, I've been listening to how each era differs in terms of the genres of musical performances, how the sound quality varies for the musical performances from the different eras, how the emotional impact of the performances varies in the different eras, how the variations in recording techniques and manipulating the sound quality of recordings varies in the different eras, and so forth.  

Considering each album as a unique document of a musical performance, a unique recording from a given era of recording, and a unique stylistic exercise on the part of recording engineers in recording and mastering, has been fun and illuminating.

Recognizing that each album is unique document of music from our recorded musical canon, and how to get the most out of listening to it on a high-fidelity audio system has been a lot of fun.

For example, the albums from the acoustic and electric recording eras sound much better on a high-fidelity system than I thought they would. That's been an important learning experience for me. Also, it was a real surprise to me that recordings from the acoustic and electric eras of the recording arts have greater emotional impact than do many of those from the magnetic and digital recording eras. Why is that? 

Remember, most importantly, that music and hifi is supposed to be a fun hobby that makes your life better. Have fun with it!

Just For Fun

Speaking of fun, just for fun, I just bought a nearly 100 year old 78 record player from the 1920s, so I could hear what listeners in that period experienced when listening to music. 

Mine is a completely mechanical Columbia Grafonola that you have to wind up like a clock or metronome, put a 78 on, and then listen to the music play as the mechanical mechanism spins the platter. It is a beautiful machine, and it is primitive. Its a listening experience circa 1920s. 

What's it like listening to music on one of these old fossils? I don't know, as I haven't had a chance to listen to it yet (just unboxed it), but I'll fill you in on what it was like listening to music in the 1920s as soon as I get some listening time in. 

Long Term Listening Impressions

When I first started Jeff's Place it was to write about music and hifi topics that don't fit well into the typical audio review.

I write about new music I am listening to. I write about new DIY projects I am doing. I write philosophical pieces about what's important in listening to music and hifi kit. I write about audio lessons learned. 

I write about receiving new audio components for review at Positive Feedback ("Today's Fresh Catch"). I provide updates about first listening impressions to new components. I write about how long it takes for a component to run-in.

The focus of all that is about sharing my impressions of audio components up until the time the formal article about them is published at Positive Feedback, and then I move onto the next component in my review queue. 

Now I am going to start a new series of "Long Term Listening Impressions" posts so I can share with you what I've learned about those components left with me for a longer term, after their review has been published at Positive Feedback, and any new realizations I may have about the components that I think you would like to hear about. 

In order to be able to do that, it goes without saying that equipment has to be left with me longer than for the usual review period. Not every manufacturer is able to - or wants to - do that, and of course I can only accomodate so much equipment and still write about it, so that is a factor as well.

I would like to thank Peter Qvortrup (Audio Note (UK)), Bryan Stanton (J. B. Stanton Communications) & Nelson Pass (Pass Labs, First Watt), Frank Ng (Triode Lab), Yoshi Hontani (Leben), Richard and Sue (Sophia Electric), and Ken Ishiguro (Acoustic Revive), just to name a few to get started, for allowing me to keep audio components on longer term loan than that the usual review period, so I could tell you about how their equipment stands the test of time, and the new things I have learned about the components over time.

It is often the case with longer term use of audio components, that after the formal review period is over, that I gain new insights about performance, life-cycle costs of ownership, reliability, value, enjoyment, and other stuff, that I think will be valuable for you to know. 

So that's the sort of thing I'll be writing about in my "Long Term Listening Impressions" posts. I hope you enjoy the posts. I think it is a neat idea and will be valuable for you to hear if you are considering a component for the long term.

"Dear Abby"

I get a ton of messages via email, Facebook, Positive Feedback, and Jeff's Place, from readers and other writers all over the world, asking me about my opinions, experiences, preferences, and my advice for their purchasing decisions.

I try to answer every message with a thoughtful reply. I just discovered that my spam filter had shuffled some messages to a spam folder delaying my responses. Sigh.

If you don't hear back from me its likely something happened and the message was flagged as spam, I accidentally deleted it, or I got busy and forgot to answer. Just ping me again. 

Please keep in mind my time for music and audio is limited. I usually don't have time to do lengthy sequences of replies. I never talk on the phone about audio, just so you know. 

I still have a life outside of audio that I enjoy, so I can only do so much. I'll help if I can, but I also have my limits, so try to be sensitive to that with inquiries. 

Next Up In My Review Queue

The Leben CS-300F integrated amplifier.

The beautiful little Leben CS-300F integrated amplifier is next up in my review queue. 

The Leben CS-300F has really been an interesting experience as far as run-in goes. It started off sounding pretty good, then went through a period where it was strained and hard sounding, and turning up the volume beyond a whisper only made it worse. 

Now, many, many hours later, it is sounding impressive indeed. I suspect the one I have here still has room for a bit more run-in time, but the transformation is remarkable.

That's not an atypical run-in experience for a CS-300F, as I am hearing from other CS-300F owners.

All ends well, so not to worry. I've been listening to the CS-300F in my AV system (below) with excellent results.

Leben CS-300F in my vintage Altec A5 Voice of the Theatre based AV system.

I'm guessing its the nature of the NOS 6197 (left center, below), 17EWi (right center, below) vacuum tubes used in it that were responsible the atypical run-in experience, but I don't know for sure.

EL84 (left), 6197 (left center), 17EWi (right center), 12AX7 (right).

My DIY urgings make me wonder what it would sound like with some PIO coupling caps. Mind-blowing good I bet. Perhaps some of those new Bumblebee reissue caps would be very nice in it?

That's it for now.

Anyways, I hope you are doing well.

Thanks for stopping by, and may the tone be with you!