How do you judge your system's neutrality?



Here’s an answer I’ve been kicking around: Your system is becoming more neutral whenever you change a system element (component, cable, room treatment, etc.) and you get the following results:

(1) Individual pieces of music sound more unique.
(2) Your music collection sounds more diverse.

This theory occurred to me one day when I changed amps and noticed that the timbres of instruments were suddenly more distinct from one another. With the old amp, all instruments seemed to have a common harmonic element (the signature of the amp?!). With the new amp, individual instrument timbres sounded more unique and the range of instrument timbres sounded more diverse. I went on to notice that whole songs (and even whole albums) sounded more unique, and that my music collection, taken as a whole, sounded more diverse.

That led me to the following idea: If, after changing a system element, (1) individual pieces of music sound more unique, and (2) your music collection sounds more diverse, then your system is contributing less of its own signature to the music. And less signature means more neutral.

Thoughts?

P.S. This is only a way of judging the relative neutrality of a system. Judging the absolute neutrality of a system is a philosophical question for another day.

P.P.S. I don’t believe a system’s signature can be reduced to zero. But it doesn’t follow from that that differences in neutrality do not exist.

P.P.P.S. I’m not suggesting that neutrality is the most important goal in building an audio system, but in my experience, the changes that have resulted in greater neutrality (using the standard above) have also been the changes that resulted in more musical enjoyment.
bryoncunningham

Showing 9 responses by mapman

what you hear with neutral versus colored sound is analogous to what you see through clear and transparent versus tinted glass
Pipedream is right.

I will say that some recordings resemble what I hear live enough to think them to be pretty neutral, but in general different recordings are recorded differently and will sound different. They is what they is. Attempts to make them into something else will usually have undesirable consequences.

Realizing this is one way to get off the high end audio merry go round.

Seeking perfection continuously with all or even most recordings is the best way to stay on.
Audio is an illusion.

Any truth, to whatever extent ascertained, is just one flavor of that illusion.

Few people all like the same flavor.
Tbg,

I have not given up on anything. In fact, it took a lot of time and some money to get to a good place. I have just learned to focus on the things i can control, not waste time with what i cannot, like how recordings are made. They is what they is. It does not pay to try to make them something they are not.
TBG,

That's a recording I am not familiar with but has appeal to me.

Maybe I'll pick it up and see what I can hear.

I see there are multiple CD versions/masterings on amazon. Which CD version specifically are you referring to?

I do have this CD (one of my favorite recordings on CD) in which I hear some of the kinds of recording elements you refer to.
My dog seems to think a lot of what he hears me play is real, especially animal sound effects, which he reacts to the same way as if real.

A good omen.
Sound effects of things that you are familiar with in real life make good tests.

We may never know exactly how the beatles sounded in the studio for reference but there are many sounds of nature and society we might know when we hear.

Logitech squeeze system provides several well recorded sound effects. Try some and see.


"But we, or our brains are aware of harmonics and even notes well above 20kHz. This is why 44.1 sampling is totally inadequate."

Well, I guess when things sound bad to me for some unclear reason, and all else fails, I will consider that and then become depressed that it is something I have no control over and just have to live with. So I will probably then end up punting and trying something else.

By the way tbg, I read you are/were a professor. In what field might I ask?

Thanks.
"That led me to the following idea: If, after changing a system element, (1) individual pieces of music sound more unique, and (2) your music collection sounds more diverse, then your system is contributing less of its own signature to the music. And less signature means more neutral."

I agree with the principle that there is a positive relationship between diverse sound and neutrality.

There is a point at which though I think practically our ability to detect this becomes questionable. Its in that twilight zone we often discuss where science and measurements cannot detect and confirm what we hear. ANd beyond that is the point where we as humans and our ears fail. For example, we cannot hear radio frequencies nor can we see infrared light. But science says they exist. The question then becomes: when does it matter to which the easy answer is: it depends.