What is “warmth” and how do you get it?


Many audiophiles set out to assemble a system that sounds “warm.” I have heard several systems that could be described that way. Some of them sounded wonderful. Others, less so. That got me wondering: What is this thing called “warmth”?

It seems to me that the term “warm” can refer to a surprising number of different system characteristics. Here are a few:

1. Harmonic content, esp. added low order harmonics
2. Frequency response, esp. elevated lower midrange/upper bass
3. Transient response, esp. underdamped (high Q) drivers for midrange or LF
4. Cabinet resonance, esp. some materials and shapes
5. Room resonance, esp. some materials and dimensions

IME, any of these characteristics (and others I haven’t included) can result in a system that might be described as “warm.”

Personally, I have not set out to assemble a system that sounds warm, but I can see the appeal in it. As my system changes over time, I sometimes consider experimenting more with various kinds of “warmth.” With that in mind…

Do you think some kinds of warmth are better than others?

Thanks for your thoughts.

Bryon
bryoncunningham

Showing 3 responses by kijanki

According to Technical Director of Benchmark John Siau, DAC1 that I own, was specifically designed not to sound warm but rather natural without enhancement of any harmonics odd or even. Enhancing even harmonics does sound really nice with guitar or voice but not so with instruments that poses a little more complex than regular overtones harmonic structure. Piano is such instrument (as well as percussion instruments) and when it is reproduced on very warm equipment it sounds almost like out of tune.

On the other hand SS gear often designed to sound hi-fiish or for good spects on paper enhances (because of transient intermodulation introduced by deep negative feedback) odd harmonics. Our ears are very sensitive to odd harmonics since loudness cues reside there (like 7th or 9th harmonic).

Neutral sound (whatever it is) is the best but I understand that staying a little on warm side protects from brightly recorded material. Fortunately my Hyperion speakers sound slightly warm with zero sibilants on any CD - and it is in combination with Benchmark DAC1 and unforgiving class D amp.
My older speaker had aluminum dome tweeter and was unbearably bright in the same setup.
Learsfool - jitter is a form of modulation. It creates in frequency domain sidebands of very low amplitude - still quite audible since not harmonically related to fundamental. This amplitude (order of <-70dB) is proportional to level of fundamental frequency. With many frequencies (music) it becomes many sidebands - hash (noise). This noise is proportional to level of the signal and is zero with no signal - therefore is detectable only as a lack of clarity. Everything affected by noise (clarity and imaging) will be affected by jitter.

By reading this thread and some internet articles I realize that complexity of instruments' sound is something that I will never understand. One article even mentioned that bassoon at low and high notes sounds like two different instruments. In addition to complex harmonics (first five harmonics stronger than fundamental) it has pipe resonances that are getting sharper going up, resulting in "11th resonance hitting 12th harmonic". Incredible complexity - and there is still effect of the hall and technique of the player. One article mentioned interaction between instruments and gave example of two people whistling two frequencies 204Hz and 214Hz. Bystander will hear just one frequency 209Hz (average) with loudness modulated at 10Hz (difference). Orchestra has perhaps many interactions like that but produces nice harmonics. I should read on theory of music to understand it better.
"I am unaware of any naturally occuring 'harmonics' in an electrical signal. Only distortion of what ever type."

Harmonic distortion measurement is done by feeding pure fundamental with no overtones (sinewave) and subtracting the same fundamental from the output. Whatever remains are harmonics introduced by electronics that weren't in the original (source) signal. You can call it naturally occuring harmonics (introduced by electronics). Enhancing means adding system produced harmonics to instrument harmonics. System can also introduce harmonics by intermodulation or transient intermodulation. It is also possible for system to introduce frequencies that are not harmonically related to fundamental frequency as it happens often with A/D or D/A conversion with jittery clock.

Instrument might have all overtones but they don't have to be harmonic overtones. Many instruments (like percussion) produce inharmonic overtones. System will alter the sound by adding it's own harmonics.