What define "musicality" ? And what constitute "musicality" in audio ?



I think that "musicality" is the most important factor and attribute in living audio experience... The experience of "musicality" i think, cannot be reduced to subjective factors only, nor objective one...It is more easy to describe what it is not, than to describe what it is, perhaps like the experience of God in theology...But for sure if you get it, it seems the most important resultant factor of your audio grid system,you feel it and like it the most...After 7 years i feel it more than ever...The urge to upgrade recess in the background because when you feel "musicality" already at a certain level, you dont believe that it is possible to push that level really higher at an affordable cost... "Musicality" for me, in my words, correlate with realistic musical timbre and voice, fluidity,no harshness at all, no fatigue, and last but not least, listening music and forgetting the sound...

This is my personal my experience, i am curious to read others about that,about their "way" and "means" to live that experience...Thanks to all...
128x128mahgister

Showing 10 responses by n80

I've never understood that specific characteristic but your description helps. Looking forward to seeing what others have to say.

There are some descriptors that make perfect sense to me both intuitively and with experience but some do not. Musicality seems like it could have a lot of 'felt' variables; hard to pin down.

I think when that is the case it is easy for us to misunderstand one another and not even know it.
But plenty of people use the term "musical" to describe how a system sounds, not just how a performance sounds. That makes it sound like two different things.
@schubert :  "Pretty simple , sounds like live music ."

For me that definition falls short in far too many ways.

First, not all live music sounds good. Not all live music is performed well. Not all live venues have good acoustics. All venues and performers sound different at different times. So there would have to be some other qualification than 'live'. It just doesn't tell us much.

Second, the vast majority of music I listen to is made in a studio. And the stuff I really like is made well and played well. So in that case the characterstic of 'live' is not relevant to what I'm hearing on my system.

musicality |ˌmyo͞oziˈkalətē|

noun

tastefulness and accomplishment in music: she sings with unfailing musicality.

• the quality of being melodious and tuneful: his speaking voice hinted at musicality.

• awareness of music and rhythm, especially in dance: the audition panel was looking for coordination, musicality, and flexibility.


@schubert : "A rock concert is more a social event than a musical event"

A very narrow opinion and not one that can be supported with anything but a single opinion.

I’m not a classical aficionado. But I’ve been to a lot of live symphonies in good places, I’ve been to opera in Italy, been to chamber music series at Spoleto, I have friends who are phd’s in violin, piano and organ. And I’ve been to a fair share of live rock and blues shows. And I just don’t get your narrow view.

Nothing wrong with having it. But sharing it doesn’t help anything.

"How else could you get 5k people to wave their hands in unison like a
Nurnburgh rally ?"

I would be surprised if Wagner wasn’t playing AT Nuremberg. In fact, Bruckner was played during some of those rallies.





@mahgister, you asked:

"Apart of personal musical taste and education, in your own audio system what steps had make possible the experience of "musicality""

As with some others above, I’m still not convinced "musicality" is a useful term. That’s why I said in my first response:

"I think when that is the case it is easy for us to misunderstand one another and not even know it."

In this thread alone there is almost no agreement on what it is or even whether it is a system issue or a performance issue.

Heck for schubert it is any music that is at least 100 years old and performed without the aid of any 20th century technology whatsoever. ;-)

So I can’t answer the question.

I can tell you what I like about my system but I wouldn't use the term musicality or musical to do it.


"Your history enlightened my day"

Glad my story could do that.

My system was originally purchased by a fairly wealthy bachelor cousin. When he moved out of his home and into a penthouse apartment he told family members to come get whatever of his stuff they wanted. He was going minimalist. I thought all this was kind of strange and did not go.

But, my brother-in-law and his family jumped in the truck and got some of his stuff. In that stuff was this system. I think they thought they were getting something like those multi-component systems from the 1980s.

When they got it home the wife didn't want the giant speakers in the house and they did not know how to hook it all up anyway and so it went in their basement for several years. I knew it was there but had no notion of what it was.

So when my low end system started to fail I asked him if I could try that stuff. Once I got it all going I told my brother-in-law how great it was but he did not want it and did not want it back in his basement. So here I am.
@mahgister: "I am interested by you and your walk and particular road and experience in audio toward simple joy"

Okay, I'll bite. Others have heard this before. I have always been a music lover. I have always had some sort of 'system' but mostly low-fi. And for decades had great enjoyment of music on those low end systems. Usually on weekends.

Last summer I inherited a really nice system 16-17 year old system that had been languishing in a basement.  I wasn't even sure how to hook it all up....had never seen XLR cables or bi-wired speaker wires bigger than a garden hose.

The first try out of the system was disappointing. Sounded flat and low bass.

So I came to this site and got some advice about old gear that had been sitting a long time, room dynamics, etc. When I got all that right I was blown away. Dropped DirecTV and now listen to music every day. Mostly the same music as before just on a better system. I've been replacing a lot of that music which was mp3s purchased on iTunes with well researched and well produced CDs.

So what grabbed me? Transparency. The system disappears. Richness. Fullness. Ample soundstage. Separation. Precision without sterility. Nice highs without glare or being too bright. And one of the most important things to me: bass. Not thumpy boomy bass but tight, precise, well defined bass that is balanced with the highs and mids but still able to thump when it should. That's what keeps me coming back and what has given new life to the music I have always liked.
When I first came to Audiogon I asked if there was a glossary of some sort with terms used to describe sound and music. I think it was member david_ten who provided this link.

This is a very handy and very extensive resource:

https://www.stereophile.com/content/sounds-audio-glossary-glossary


I agree with Geoff. Saying a system has 'musicality' is like saying a steak or cup of coffee has flavor. On the one hand it states the obvious and on the other hand it doesn't convey any useful information. 

And again, if everyone has their own definition of it then it can only really serve to confuse things.