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  3. 170320-147550

Whether to do anything about the limitations of our ears

In the thread 'How do you listen?' appears the following:

"We do not hear all frequencies equally well at all volume levels. Low bass and high treble in particular need to be at a fairly high level to be heard at all."

This asks a big question:

Should we listen as our ears hear, with their inability to apprehend all audio band frequencies at the same intensity? As we are of course compelled to do when listening to live music.

Or when listening to recorded music should we adjust the intensity of particular frequencies we don't hear so well?  This will of course give a different presentation from what we hear live.

Or, to put it a different way, should audio manufacturers design equipment to present the frequency range as flat as a microphone perceives it, or as our ears perceive it?

But a microphone is just another flawed ear, with its own imperfections as regards intensity across the audio frequency range (and others of course).

Or, again: a flat response can be flat only as the means of listening presents it.



128x128clearthinker

Showing 1 response by jjss49

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jjss49
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two points to raise in reply to your op above, in the spirit of discussion...

1. achieving a flat, in phase response, at the prime listening position in a room/system setup is a laudable goal, if for no other reason than for the listener to judge/realize that some deviation from this ideal may make the music as presented seem more ’beautiful’ or ’real’ subjectively -- i have not tried to dabble in this pursuit myself, but at least regarding frequency response, this is what a lot of the room correction tech in modern gear attempts to enable

2. on a subjective basis, when it comes to voicing of hifi components (and most prominently speakers), there is some agreement that numerous successful but aging designers are releasing newer products that have greater/too much treble energy (as they personally are experiencing a reduction in their ability to hear higher and mid treble frequencies, but have yet to admit that, and still insist on personally voicing their gear) -- folks such as richard vandersteen, mike/jason at schiit, frank van alstine, and david belles have all been ’accused’ of this...
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