How can you evaluate a system with highly processed music?


Each to their own.

But can you really evaluate a system by listening to highly processed, electric/electronic music? How do you know what that sounds like?

I like to listen to voices and acoustic music that is little processed. 

Instruments like piano, violin, etc. 

And the human voice. And the joy of hearing back up singers clearly, etc.

Even if full instrumentation backing a natural sounding voice.

(eg.: singer/songwriters like Lyle Lovett or Leonard Cohen)

There is a standard and a point of reference that can be gauged.

 

mglik

Showing 4 responses by rauliruegas

I have to say that those recording tracks and the full MUSIC scores must be a true challenge to any room system at  real ( live. ) SPL's. and to put at minimum all those room/system inaccuracies/distortions at least we have to intent take some measures ( today are many digital tools with a microphone at the seated position or in a near field one. ) as THD and IMD levels, noise levels, frequency response, etc,etc.

At the end we need try to stay as near is posible true to the recording and if we arrives there after the room/system fine tunning then we will enjoy the quality MUSIC levels as never before on each one  listening sessions day by day.

 

Obviously that all those is up to you.

 

R.

Dear @mglik  :  highly processed or not I will add to what I posted that the first step is to know " what to look for " on each one evaluation we want to do and I think that to to do that we need to define all the MUSIC home system characteristics that will be under evaluation ( each one of us have each one characteristic list that not necessarily coincide in between. ) and obviously we have to have several first hand experiences with live MUSIC ebents ( any kind of event/experiences. ).

Obviously too that we have to idenify in our " arsenal " of recordings 4-6 tracks for each characteristic that be as accurated as we can to really shows or where the characteristic really shines andafter all those we need  5-6 complete MUSIC scores to have the system whole evaluation and to be almost sure of our evaluation process we have to challenge it in at least 10-15 different systems to prove that each one of us prooooocess is " bullet proof ".

I think that with out a well defined evaluation process we could have almost nothing.

 

Btw, I said " accurated  as posible ", as posible because in both recording and playback process there are no true  accuracy, just does not exist, but the other way around: several inaccuracies and we have to try to mantain any kind of inaccuracy at minimum levels.  At the end we know that our ears sensitivity of sounds is very limited an non-accurated and is our main tool for system evaluation:

 

How The Ear Works (soundonsound.com)

 

R.

 

 

Dear @simonmoon : Accuracy is only one main MUSIC characteristic and not necesarily must be classical recording scores because the recording process depends too of the mastering process, plating and the like.In evaluation a room/system I think that the main MUSIC characteristic is transient response that develops the MUSIC dynamic power and yes that transient response must be accurated and your first hand experiences with live MUSIC ( any kind of MUSIC ) will tell you if it’s fine or wrong.

For accuracy I prefer the digital alternative over analog one ( everything the same. ) and does not matters if the score is acoustic or electronical or more or less processed. There are a lot of recordings with more processed steps that we can imagine and even that in many of those recordings you body are " moving/dancing " when listen those recordings classical or not..

Classical scores as the Firebird, 1812, Pictures at Exibition, Mahler symponies or other complex scores can’t tell us all about a room/system, can gives us maybe the 85%-90% of its quality level performance.

If we take recordings scores by Hans Zimmer, Vangelis, Jarré and many others we have down there a way wider accurated frequency response range, synthetizers is a way different world that makes we can complete a 99% room/system evaluation.

But exist other kind of MUSIC where normally we are not really accustom to and is the Asian scores where like Paramita recording ( Chinese composer. ) that uses only acoustic instruments ( including female voice. ) where the developed sound of those instruments are almost totally unknow for almost all of us and those kind of sounds are a true test to any room/system. Same happens with the instruments used in the Dafos scores ( Reference Recording label. ) and these kind of recordings an other ones I choosed in my evaluation whole process.

I own several CD’s of original soundtrack films where you can find out several to test any system. Gladiator is only an example but you can listen to the score of Memories of a Geisha and the MUSIC is splendid with yo yo Ma and Itzak Perlman or 3-4 tracks of the film The Thin Red Line and many more.

Other than the digital recorded old Telarc 1812 LP does not exist a classical score to evaluate the bass range of any system but CD’s as the Gladiator and the like.

Why is so important to me the home system bass range quality level? well in a home system as better the system bass range as better the overall quality performance. In a home system the MUSIC " belongs " to that bass range not to the mid range because the bass range and especially the low bass range develops notes/harmonics that modulates the quality level performance of the mid range that at the same time modulates the high frequency range response. So as better the bass range as better the home system. Yes, it has to be accurated.

R.

 

 

Dear @mglik : All recorded MUSIC are way processed through the recording process steps been acoustic or elctric/electronical: it needs microphones to start with the process.

" How do you know what that sounds like? "

We really don’t know for sure even with acoustics because one thing is what we listen in a live event and what we listen in a room/system at home. Yes we can evaluate what for our live MUSIC experiences we think is near to those experiences.

We all started our room/system evaluation for 10-20-30 or more years when step by step wse gone changing speakers/electronics/CD players/cartridges and the like and through all that heavy learned room/system " voyage " learned to evaluate a system almost any system.

In my case through all those years a test/evaluation process was created where I was choosing some recording tracks in LP/CD that through the years too were changing and improved and I could say that today my evaluation process with those choosed recorded tracks is almost bullet proof.

I use almost everykind of MUSIC from the Telarc 1812 LP passing for the D2D M&K Flamenco Fever and the Sheffield Drum record and the Paramita LP by WindMusic label or the CD Gladiator even Laura Branigan Self Control single and Fun Fun Color My Love 45rpm Maxi Single and the great voice of Montserrat Caballé , Kabi Laretei on piano Chopin Nocturne on Proprius label and Center Stage by Wilson Audio Label and other more as the RR Dafos. I know on each one track even the tone of diferrent recording mistakes or clicks/pops.

Different tracks to evaluate different characteristics on MUSIC and ovbusly always the same tracks for evaluation of those different characteristics.

 

Well that’s me.

 

Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,

R.