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Detailed sound? Real?

I have read about many audiophiles wanting more detail and air around the instruments to improve realism. usually, when i hear a system with these qualities, the sound is almost always thin and fatiguing. When I hear live music, it never sounds like air around the instruments and detailed. Most detailed systems sound way too detailed. When i hear live music, there is a sense of air, but not around the instruments. Actually, many times it sounds natural and mono. It seems to me that detailed systems are probably the most unrealistic in audio. Yesterday I heard a live performance of a piano and sax. The piano was so muffled sounding, much more so than on any system I have recently heard. The sax sounded more detailed, but still not like the stereos portray it. I think the secret to listening is to find something that sounds good and that you can listen to without fatigue. Natural Timbre, color and good bass, not overblown but good, gets you closer to the real thing IMHO
tzh21y
cyclonicman
693 posts
 
Onhwy61, yuor opinion is not indicative of my opinion or experience. You are implying that amplified music is somehow not indicative of how "real" music sounds!! How does that make any sense? Maybe I am missing the point of this post because for me, it's just comparing my attendance at a stage performance to the recording that I listen to at home. For me, it's not some esoteric science and does not require such extensive analysis of every minor detail that one can imagine. This post clearly demonstrates that a great many audiophiles stopped listening to music and prefer to listen to the less than perfect sound of their equipment. What's even stranger is that if they are listening to rock, they want the sound of their less than perfect equipment to sound exactly like that unworthy amplified music to which you alluded.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
Electronic amplified music is undoubtedly just as real as acoustic music.

It is different though. Detail will vary but is a less prominent feature of amplified music in general compared to acoustic in general, that's all.

To be accurate, any discussion of what live music sounds like has to include the venue and listening location, which provides the context for how things sound. The same live music will sound different in different contexts. It will sound different still within the context of your listening room at home depending on how the recording was produced, how system is set up and where you listen from.

I think one has to acccept these facts first before any pursuit of the absolute sound can have any real meaning.
cyclonicman
693 posts
 
Mapman, I completely agree with you and the implications you mentioned. In my opinion, it is because of the myriad of differences in live venues, recording studios, listening rooms, etc., the pursuit of the absolute sound will always come up short. I tend to be in the same camp as Tvad and Mrtennis on this one.
mapman's avatar
mapman
21,838 posts
 
If by "Absolute SOund" we mean a single kind of optimal sound that can always be achieved, then I agree that this is an unrealistic goal.

A realistic "absolute sound" to achieve is one where the basic nature of most any kind of recorded music of interest is delivered in a particular listening room in a manner that the listener almost always finds satisfying.
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