Private Ear: Where do you listen from?

By John Groom

June 2007

Naim Headline headphone amplifier

Grado SR60

I read a survey recently, suggesting that people were more afraid of public speaking than they were of dying. This points to the interesting prospect that people at a funeral would rather be in the coffin, than saying a eulogy. I don’t think so; but most of us are nervous of public speaking, or have had a bad experience in a group. I come into the last category. The details of what happened don’t matter, but it did lead me to seek out a wonderful process called Speaking Circles. This is a deceptively simple method that allows people to be connected with their audience rather than in performance mode.

Keeping the life

The Speaking Circle provided great learning, not only about how we speak, but also about how we listen. I was shocked to find that I wasn’t a great listener. Much of my listening training both professionally and in hi-fi has been about being analytical. Psychology justifies its existence ultimately by the ability to categorise people and processes, often by listening for what is wrong. Hi-fi reviewing has a similar slant. A typical review in the ‘how it sounds’ section will describe formula like the bass, then the midrange and finally the treble, as though in dissecting these three elements we can capture the sound. This is a bit like deciding that you want better relationships with people so you go to work in a morgue doing autopsies. Somewhere in the middle of this, the life is missed.

The core quality

In Speaking Circles we are trained to listen to a person’s ‘essence’. They might be sincere, honest, open, present or warm for example. This has been described as ‘listening with the third ear’ or listening ‘in soft focus’. I have been trying to think of hi-fi examples. My favourite description of an amplifier (that I have owned) came from a review that described it as ‘relentlessly musical’. I started thinking about some of my equipment at the bach, where I was doing this pondering. The Cambridge phono amplifier oozes ‘sophistication’ while the Harman Kardon amplifier is ‘warmly enthusiastic’, the turntable is ‘solid’ and the Goodman speakers are ‘forgiving’.

The body’s wisdom

I became curious about how this way of listening would influence me when applied to headphones. I have been fortunate over the last few weeks to have a Naim Headline Amplifier on loan to me from Shore Hi-Fi. This is a fabulous piece of equipment and by any conventional hi-fi criteria an exceptional performer, exact and in control; it is also a good match to my Sennheiser headphones and brings just the right kind of insights a reviewer needs. It is a true benchmark.

So what is my reservation? Well, a question that we ask in Speaking Circles is, ‘Where are you listening from?’ I would suggest that much of our hi-fi listening can be from the head, that is, in the intellect. The book Blink quotes some amazing research supporting the notion that we also process information with our bodies or in a visceral way. In my own words it is listening with my breath (from the solar-plexus).

So when I switch back from the Headline amplifier to the headphone socket on the Pioneer CD player my head tells me that I can hear the added warmth, the gunge and generally the impact of an inexpensive op amp. The problem is that when I listen with the body, my solar plexus relaxes and I breathe into the sound. I listen longer, I am not as fatigued and I enjoy the experience.

Theory into practice

I next observed the impact of this new way of listening with Grado SR60 ($169) headphones. The very reasonably priced SR 60 is a good introduction to the Grado sound. It is moderately efficient, though not as efficient as my trusty Sennheiser PX 100’s (which are also $60 dollars cheaper). Certainly their strength is in resolving difficult material for a modest outlay. Take for example the new blues release from Mavis Staples We’ll never turn back. The SR60’s’s are able to dig deeper into the recording than the PX 100’s to maintain the fidelity of Mavis’s voice, as it is held clearly but lightly, the percussion also has a sparkle and the bass has more texture. This sound is detailed, in the ear, has a clear leading edge and sounds more like a conventional speaker than an electrostatic.

A better contrast is with the Sennheiser HD 465’s ($159), which were reviewed, in the previous column. The HD 465’s were physically more comfortable as they are an over the ear design rather than the on the ear design of the Grado’s which become warm to the ear with lengthy listening. The sonic compromises with the 465’s are in the opposite direction towards forgiveness and sins of omission. In style terms, if the Sennheiser’s sound is like old slippers then the Grado sound is a classy pair of Italian dress shoes.

So to summarise the essence of the Grado sound, while the Sennheiser is like putting your head into the sound, the Grado is putting the sound into the head. Close and intimate.

Be flexible

In looking back on this column, I realise that in trying to portray to you what I am listening to in equipment, I have needed to be clinical and comparative, while also trying to communicate the essence of the sound. Perhaps the moral of the story is that we need to be able to listen with both our intellect and our hearts. Try the experiment yourself.

Next time, we will revisit Grado as we move up through their range and introduce the modestly priced, but very capable Project headphone amplifiers. In the meantime, if you are asked to give a eulogy over the next couple of months and you feel nervous, then just consider the alternative and keep breathing.

John is an executive coach and mentor who lives on the North Shore of Auckland

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