"Breathing" of the air


Hi folks, I would like to ask you the following. With some audiophile set ups I'm able to hear what I call "breathing" of the air, as if the air surrounding voices and instruments is a living entity, as if one is capable of hearing individual air molecules, if you know what I mean. Are you familiar with this phenomenon? Is this quality inherent to some amplifiers or speakers? Can you mention set ups that have these characteristics?

Chris
dazzdax

Showing 5 responses by shadorne

Air is around 7 to 12 Khz - if you have a system that boost this then you get more "air" - alternatively if you have a speaker with a recessed midrange or "midrange scoop" then you get more air and more bass (boom boom tizz).

IMD distortion, digital hash (jitter) and metal drivers that ring can destroy air by giving it a heavy "etched" sound that is not properly related to the musical context.
It is interesting that Shadorne mentions Air around 7 to 12khz. What about the Air content below 7 khz. There certainly is lot of air moved at low freqs- low, mid and high bass and even lower to mid mids.

Indeed. I may be misunderstanding Chris. "Air" is a technical term used in the recording industry. Each instrument has a band where you tend to get more "air" - a piano is around 10 to 12 KHZ (this is the sound of the strings after a note - or the sound a grand piano produces in a room when another instrument is played - the air vibrations cause the piano strings to "sing" like a harp only not as much).

Kodo on Naxos is an awesome sounding recording - very lifelike - drums are particularly good for air because you hear all the timbre of the drums - percussion has so much audible "air" because it excites the room and being percussive you don't get "masking" as you do with many instruments (of course it depends how the drums are setup too). Sheffield Labs drum track is another good one.

What I mean by "etched" is exactly how you think of it - imagine an "etching" where a picture is cut from wood with deep grooves...when "air" is correct it sounds light and delicate and related to the instruments and room reverberation....when "air" is heavy or "deeply etched" it means you have mechanical resonance or non-musically related sounds that go on much longer and mask the "air" on the recording. Highly damped speaker drivers will help you hear more air and lower IMD will help too - anything light weight or that has a tendency to resonate in the audible band will tend to mask or rob the natural "air" of the recording by imposing it's own signature (jitter does this)...two cents.
BTW - added "air" from manipulation of the recording by the playback system or harmonic resonance or reverb etc. can be pleasant too. So more "air" can also be used to describe equipment that adds its own signature to the recording.
As far as "breathing", in vocals and particularly reed instruments, like sax, my experience leads me towards 2 and 3 inch soft dome mids first

These type drivers are well damped and yet extremely light - so you get very little "ringing" or coloration - they usually exhibit a very clean waterfall.
There was an audiophile of Peru,
Who said play me something quite blue;
From his listening chair,
He screamed give me air?
But his Wife did not have a clue.