So, uh, I started going to the gym. I also finally cut my hair. Actually, the main reason I cut my hair was because it was getting in the way while I was at the gym. A similar thing happened ages ago when I started wearing contacts only because my glasses got in the way when I was sparring. But I digress. I start with this intro because starting going to the gym led to something else as well; namely, some new ~true wireless~ earbuds. As much as I love my wired earbuds (I rock the Symphonized NRG 3.0 Earbuds), they weren’t the best for that particular space. And while I wasn’t in quite the same rush to get some wireless earbuds as to cut my hair, when a mutual in a Discord server posted a Black Friday link to the Samsung Galaxy Buds+ for a third of their retail price, I jumped on them.
But this post isn’t really intended as a review of these earbuds. Not directly at least. Instead, I wanted to share some thoughts on listening, mediation, and (anti-)hifi aesthetics. More plainly: I want to talk about my process of listening when trying out new audio equipment. There are guides for this all across the internet, and I don’t really have too much to add. But over the last year or so I’ve acquired some new speakers and headphones, and wanted to come up with some semi-formal process of testing out the equipment.
Now, I’m no hifi (high fidelity) lossless audiophile. I’ve pretty intentionally avoided falling down that particular rabbit hole. (The same could be said of me and vinyl, though my vinyl collection is steadily growing… though "For Display Purposes ONLY" I tell myself.) But, as a musician and someone who writes and thinks about and listens to a lot of music, I am conscious of the quality of mediated sounds I listen to. So how do I actually test the audio?
When testing audio, there are a few areas you want to check: highs, mids, and lows, yes, but also usually a sense of space. And, depending on what genres you listen to (and/or which ones you maybe prioritize), you might want something else as well. That last point is especially important: you want to be intimately familiar with the pieces you’re using to test the equipment, songs that you’ve listened to, probably ad nauseum, so you have a sense of what should be represented (or, at least, what you want represented in the mediation). With all this in mind, here’s some of the music I’ve been using to test out headphones and speakers.
Bulgarian State Television Female Choir: Pilentze Pee
I use this piece (or sometimes the music to the main title of Ghost in the Shell) to test out highs. A lot of audio equipment doesn't handle Bulgarian choirs very well and will sound tinny or harsh when trying to process the lush harmonies. I like using this particle album, however, as it's a bit older and has some white noise in the recording. This means I can also test how the equipment handles white noise: is it still present? how intrusive is it?
Billie Eilish: xanny
This is my go-to song to test bass. Not only is the acoustic bass in the beginning tantalizingly material while accompanying Eilish's close-mic'd vocals, but WOW does this song have a dynamic range when it comes to types of bass represented, plummeting to a processed primal pit at the chorus. This song also brilliantly handles digitally manipulating the voice, and in ~s t e r e o~ at that. Absolute frisson the first time I heard it.
Honshou Marine and Yunomi: Unison
I actually wrote about this song in my last blog post, and it'll probably end up being my song of the year. I really enjoy this song's use of space. It's also extremely good for checking to hear how clearly you can differentiate between disparate layers (there's a LOT going on at once across this song) and also how clean the articulations are, especially given the kick which breathes this song into life and the varying polyrhythms that play against each other.
The White Stripes x The Glitch Mob: Seven Nation Army (Remix)
If "xanny" showcased a spectrum of bass, this throws all nuance out the window to revel in its aggression. From the heavy kick, to the distorted riff, to the processed vocals (actually, again, similar to "xanny"), everything about this remix screams "THIS IS MUSIC YOU FEEL, NOT SO MUCH HEAR." I'm reminded of Luis-Manuel's writing's on sonic tactility here. Sorry to be an academic, but this is grain incarnate.
Kami-sama, I have noticed: 名前のない青 (Namae no Nai Ao)
This is another song I have mentioned in a previous post, though last time very much in passing. And while I love this song dearly, it's not especially remarkable from the production side of things. It's pretty average in terms of its mixing for a J-rock song, but that actually works in its favor in this case. It allows me to test for the mids (so far missing in the sonic spectrum I've covered) that much of rock revels in. Plus it's a bop and reminds me of one of my fav anime. It's a win-win as far as I'm concerned.
HYUKOH – 공드리 (Gondry)
More than anything, "Gondry" lets me check how clean tones in a pretty straightforward ensemble setup sound. Can I hear all the articulations of the guitar? The slight cough at the beginning of the song? Like "xanny" (sorry I keep coming back to it, but it's just that good), "Gondry" also makes use of a fairly close mic'd sound, but one that isn't quite as crisp. What's gained in this almost analog sound? What's lost?
Dirty Projectors: Up in Hudson
S/o to Lena Console for sharing this song in a listening group I was a part of a year or so ago. I use this song to test two things: (1) song in stereo (that intro tho) and (2) to see how warm a sound the equipment can produce. This song sounds like a dream from a lazy summer afternoon in a stuffy room and it's a disservice to the song if that's not translated. As a bonus, the music video differs slightly musically and I maybe prefer it.
Wednesday Campanella: Melos (メロス)
This is perhaps my favorite song in terms of its production. So much is happening in so many moments in so many different ways. It's all just so... playful. Melos in Greek translates to something like "melody," something intended to be sung. And while the song, the melody itself in this piece is hypnotic, it's the interplay of everything else, all the other sounds and even sound effects that make it shine.
This isn't to say I always use all of these examples when testing out new equipment. It really depends on what I'm feeling at that moment and/or what I'll primarily be using the headphones or speakers for. It's also likely that if I've been obsessing over a song, I'll test it out as well—again, you want to listen to pieces you know well. If you've been spinning a particular single or record on repeat, well, what better test subject could you ask for?
Anyways, to return to my opening and my recent purchase, in trying out my new earbuds, I was actually somewhat disappointed with my initial test. It wasn’t until I started fiddling with the default settings and changed the equalizer to a more dynamic setting from the normal one that I found them agreeable. Mediation and questions of audio fidelity are tricky, and there's not really any one way of listening to things the "right" way. Find what works for you by actively thinking about what you like. Do you prefer bass heavy music? If so, do you like a harsher or more mellow bass sound? Does your equipment support that? Think about how you want your music to feel, and listen critically to find equipment to support your tastes.
