By Michael Miguest

What separates  Audio Cognoscenti from the rest is it offers its readers real, unbiased  perspectives on high-end audio without any influence from magazine reviews or  manufacturer bias. Audio Cognoscenti emphatically believes you can enjoy the  beauty of high-end audio without a six figure or more investment.  However, achieving this level of audio satisfaction takes a higher understanding  of those principles that are necessary for the growth and development of your  system. Our objective is to give readers the straight dope on how they can accomplish this goal. Our Blogs make every attempt to convey the ideas, and  methodologies that can make this a reality.
 
Audio Cognoscenti embraces 'Simplicity" as the key to a system that will beautifully  reproduce the complexities of music. I do not buy into the bells and whistles with regard to high-end audio components. An exceptional system in my opinion is  one that is 'simply', accurate, natural, musical, and emotionally connecting  which can only happen in the absence of complexity. My high-end objectivity is  based upon these principles.
 
In my opinion, accuracy, is inextricably connected to the micro and macro details and  the greater the accuracy the greater these details are rendered with a higher  degree of clarity. Thus, an accurate system will yield a more natural  presentation with timbres that are more life like, a greater  immediacy, a greater decay of notes from instruments, a greater dynamic  intensity and a greater sense of space yielding a presentation that has a higher  level of realism even at low volumes. With these elements present, a musical  presentation is ineluctable as well as a more profound emotional completeness of  the recorded event.
 
The subjectivity in high-end audio has individuals imparting personal biases on accuracy, naturalness, musicality, and emotional completeness. I define this as "Individual Musical Truth"( IMT). The satisfaction of 'SELF' must be the priority. However, the realization of the basic tenets of what I consider the essential  elements of an exceptional sounding high-end audio system allows the  individual music lover a perfect starting position. There is another realization  that we must all accept: we will always fall short of perfection. The key to all  of this however, is to satisfy 'SELF' because this is undeniably "Objective".

By Michael Miguest

The first line of the TAO TE CHING (pronounced: DOW DAY JING) says "The way that can be told is not the
way and He who knows does not speak, he who speaks does not know". I have practiced Taoism since the 1970's. Over 2,500 years ago Chinese thinkers found and explored a way to (1) unite mind, body, and spirit (2)
the integration of self (3) enjoying a long and healthy life (4) having an awareness of our place in the universe (5) appreciating the beauty and wonder of nature. The TAO is the "Way".
 
As a Blogger on High-End Audio, it is my sincere hope that what I write about and share will be useful to some in this hobby. However, the lines He who knows does not speak, he who speaks does not know ostensibly presents a dilemma. Let me clarify and justify my writings about high-end audio with regard to my Taoist approach to life. I refer to Chuang Tzu who wrote about the TAO to communicate his ideals and methods. Chuang Tzu says "Words are valuable: what is valuable in them is the ideas they convey. But those ideas are a sequence of something else, and that something else can't be conveyed by words". I want my Blogs to give readers an ephemeral glimpse of the mysterious 'something else' that Chuang Tzu refers to. The ultimate stage from a Taoist perspective is to forget the words, and penetrate directly to the reality of TAO. When ideas are understood, you forget the words.
 
MY TAO of High-End Audio relates to the holistic, ecological view of life in which our existence on earth only makes sense if it is linked with all the processes of nature. Alone we are nothing. Taoists knew that all life depended on all other life for its existence, and thinking of things as separates is only possible intellectually. In reality, nothing can be separated.
 
Taoism seeks to find a profound balance and serenity in life. As music lovers in this high-end audio hobby, we are constantly seeking this profound balance and enjoyment from our system's performance. I contend that a Taoist approach to your high-end audio system will deliver a more effective, and more satisfying performance from your system. It is imperative that you understand that higher performance is predicated on the realization that everything in your system is inextricably connected to the  "system".
 
Let's delve deeper and explore the elements that act in unison that is the TAO and how this approach/philosophy can
relate to high-end audio. Chinese thinkers were constantly in search of a universal substance and reality, and found it in something they call chi, which translates as breath, or energy. Chi is the energy permeating and organizing all
of existence. I relate chi to the power sources of our high-end audio systems.
 
Next there is Te (pronounced: de ) or Inner Power. To understand Te, consider a tree. Similar to the universe and what physicist Stephen Hawking calls a 'singularity', it starts from a tiny seed, and that seed contains its Te or "Potential". When that Te is actualized, through the natural forces of growth and development, that tree develops into a mature , fully grown plant. I relate Te to the potential that our high-end audio systems can obtain with a higher understanding of what is necessary for the growth and development of our systems.
 
Next there is Yin and Yang ( also known as the Tai Chi ). Taoism believes that everything else comes into existence from Yin and Yang acting together. Yang represents the aggressive and expanding principle while the Yin represents the passive, responsive, and contracting principle. I relate Yin and Yang to the dynamic balance we all strive for in our high-end audio systems as we seek an endless equilibrium.
 
Finally, there is the Wu Wei which is the way of acting without acting or not interfering. We are born with what the
Taoists call the Mind of Tao, but the conditioning of society distorts it and replaces it with the Human Mind. I relate this to the majority of high-end audio 'Reviewers' who are forever touting what is their so-called 'Best'. Taoists believe that before we can recapture this obfuscated Mind of Tao, we must go into a process of de-conditioning of the ideas we already consciously and unconsciously hold. Learning how to look at the world not as a world of opposites of which we must always pursue one and deny the other, but instead look at it as a unity of which opposites are merely polar manifestations of Yin and Yang. This leads to a state of complete openness. What Wu-Wei really means is not forcing things, the ability to be willing to watch as things develop naturally by themselves before making changes. I relate this to the myriad of music lovers who change their components like underwear, always in search of a greater fulfillment. This is why Audiogon is so successful. It feeds on those music lovers who don't have a clue.
 
I have been in this hobby a long time. Building a system that allows you to 'Enjoy the Music' is the ultimate goal. This is only possible, if and only if, music lovers can build a synergistic system. I have come close to this on occasions but purely by happenstance. The TAO approach to life is a transformation of your very existence by uniting the mind, body, and spirit which ultimately leads to dynamic balance that yields serenity and harmony. Every component in ones high-end audio system has inductance, capacitance, and impedance and uniting these like mind, body, and spirit will yield the ultimate objective of every music lover - 'Enjoying the Music'. Enter Sound Design Labs http://www.sounddesignlabs.org/: Sound Design Labs is the only product-line that is available in the high-end audio marketplace at this moment in time that is capable of uniting the inductance, capacitance, and impedance which allows your components to communicate synergistically. The Integrated Active - Link and Variable Bias allows music lovers to dial-in 'Synergy'. SDL products eliminate all physical barriers to energy transmission and signal propagation with their Joule Case Power Conditioners. Implemented in three phases, each level provides an increasingly stronger link and elimination of the barriers between you and the performance. 

Finally, I would be remiss if I did not give thanks to my TAO source that I reference on a daily basis: The Living Wisdom Series:  The TAO:  Mark Forstater:  Author of Yoga Masters.  Enjoy the Music and "FORGET THE WORDS".

By Michael Miguest



 
(1)  Kelly Blue / Wynton Kelly
         
         Released: 1959

         Recorded: Feb 19, 1959 & Mar 10, 1959

         Genre: Jazz

         Length:41:70

         Label: Riverside

         Producer: Orrin Keepnews
      
                   

                    Personnel:
  
           Wynton Kelly - piano
            
           Nat  Adderley – cornet

           Bobby Jaspar – flute
 
           Benny Golson – tenor saxophone
 
           Paul Chambers – bass
 
           Jimmy Cobb – drums
  
  
  
(2) Gettin' Together / Art Pepper
 
      Release Date: 1960         

      Duration: 58:05        

      Genre: Jazz
 
      Recording Date: February 29, 1960
  
  
                               Personnel:

 Art  Pepper — alto saxophone; tenor saxophone

 Conte Candoli — trumpet
 
 Wynton Kelly — piano
 
 Paul Chambers — bass
 
 Jimmy Cobb — drums

 
 
 
(3) A Look Within / Javon Jackson
  
      Release Date:1996         
   
      Duration: 57:06         
 
      Genre: Jazz
 
      Recording Date: February 3, 1996 & February 4, 1996
 
 
                
                        Personnel:
  

           Javon Jackson —  tenor saxophone
 
           Lonnie Smith —   organ

  Fareed Haque —  guitar
 
  Peter Washington — bass
 
  Billy Drummond — drums
 
  Cassandra Wilson --- Vocal