The Most Important Part of
Your Audio System
 There is no consensus about
what the most important component of an audio system is. Many people subscribe to the
"garbage in/garbage out" principle: Get the best source component possible,
because if your source can’t reproduce the best sound, then it won’t matter how
good your speakers are. Others think speakers are the most important because, unless you
have the best speakers available, then it won’t matter if your source is sending a
pristine signal. Both of these approaches miss what I think might be the right answer:
There is no single most important part of the system. You shouldn’t favor
speakers over sources or vice versa, but instead look for a good balance between them.
So much, I thought, for this silly audiophile obsession
with finding the most important part of the system. Then something happened.
I’m usually the healthy one in our family, even when
both kids are sniffling and coughing nonstop, but when I come down with something it is
often very bad. A few weeks ago, I started to feel a little sick on Saturday, and woke up
on Sunday with a completely congested head. When I blew my nose, something happened: my
right ear became completely clogged up and I could no longer hear out of it.
I didn’t panic; something similar had happened to me
several years before. That experience had been quite painful, and my hearing wasn’t
the same for several weeks. I had to go to an ear specialist, and it was scary. Although
the doctor assured me it would pass, I was afraid my hearing would never return to normal.
It didn’t help that the doctor’s advice was to chew lots of gum; I had hoped for
more from modern medicine. (Actually, it did help.)
With that memory clearly in mind, I was distressed with
this new blockage in my ear. Luckily, this time my ear problem lasted only a few days, and
I was back to enjoying music within the week. The doctor says my hearing is back to
normal, and, as I thought, it was a problem related to my sinuses.
All of this impressed on me the fact that the most
important part of my audio system isn’t some piece of electronics, but my ears. The
brain might come in a close second, but without the ears, there’s no sound for the
brain to process. So my plea to everyone is: Take care of your ears. If you’re
ever left with diminished hearing, even if only for a short period of time, you come to
appreciate your ears in a new way.
Having had this problem twice now, I’ve become
sensitive to the many ways people abuse their ears. The most obvious is playing headphones
too loudly. When I walk around campus or am on the subway and hear music coming from the
tiny earbuds Apple includes with iPods, I cringe. If I can hear the music easily
enough to identify the artist, then it is definitely too loud.
I can understand why people turn up the volume: City sounds
are loud; if you want to listen to music, you need to block out those sounds somehow. Too
bad more people don’t check out such products as the NoiseBuster headphones I review
this month. With their ability to cancel out outside noise, they let the listener hear the
music without having to raise the volume to a dangerous level. I wish Apple would
introduce voluntary volume-control software for the iPod that would help those who want to
keep their ears safe. If you could limit just how loud your iPod could be, then, even if
you’re tempted to raise the volume, you’d be able to check yourself. I hope
products like the NoiseBuster become more common.
Loud headphones aren’t the only problem. Last weekend,
after attending a sporting event, my friends and I tried to go to the afterparty hosted by
the home team. As soon as we opened the door to the bar, we quickly decided to not bother
-- the noise was so overpowering that we could immediately tell we wouldn’t be able
to talk or have a good time. The bar was full of people yelling to be heard over the band.
Most ear-care websites I checked suggest that if you need to yell to be heard, the noise
level can cause damage. A hint to up-and-coming bands: Playing loud won’t make your
bad songs sound any better.
If you can’t or don’t want to avoid overly loud
music, you should carry earplugs with you. Etymotic makes some great inexpensive and
reusable earplugs that you can easily slip into your pocket. They do a good job of keeping
the sound clear while lowering the volume level that reaches your ears. They’re not
the sexiest fashion accessory, but would you rather look cool rocking out to some bar band
now, or be able to enjoy music for decades to come?
The website www.stronghealth.com, which is connected to the University of
Rochester Medical Center, has a comprehensive overview of how to care for your ears and
what to avoid so that you don’t end up suffering premature hearing loss. Most
important, have your ears checked regularly and avoid exposing them to prolonged loud
noises. The site also points out that smoking is correlated with hearing loss. I
haven’t read the studies and so don’t know what causal connection, if any, there
might be between smoking and hearing, but it’s yet another reason to give up tobacco.
Just think: stop smoking and you’ll have more money for music and your audio system.
If, like me, you don’t want to live without the music
you love, you should respect and care for your ears. If you don’t, then it won’t
matter how much money, time, and effort you put into the rest of your audio system.
…Eric D. Hetherington
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