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Grain free, how to identify it

I keep hearing continuously of grain free, efforless, natural reproduction... For example, certain preamplifiers such as those from LAMM, First Sound, CAT are characterized as grain free. I own one of these preamps, I wonder what people mean when they describe the product being grain free.....Does grain free mean, effortless, continuous reproduction of frequencies without necessarily sounding harsh...is harshness itself synonimous to CLINICAL sound? I know that there are products are that ever clinical, clean in sound, that are grain free, but I am uncertain about what does it really mean. Another element that can add to the confusion is the recording itself. If one has one of these GRAIN FREE devices and has a recording that was not well mastered or recorded, then obviously it will not necessarily sound "Grain free." Need someone to explain to me the nature behind this concept of grain free, and if there are recording or set ups which can truly allow me to understand it.
bemopti123
nighthawk
259 posts
 
To me, grain sounds like a very low-level distortion. You can hear it in both electronics and cables. You can have accurate tonality and still have grain. For electronics, it seems that the ones with the lowest levels of high-frequency distortions sound the most grain-free. For cables, the purity of the metal seems to make the most difference.
zargon's avatar
zargon
453 posts
 
How hard it is to describe what we hear! For me, the grain appears as if the sound stage was playing through a window screen. What should be a smoothly varying spherically expanding image, is broken up into many fragments as if it was sifted through a screen. The sharpness of these individual pieces can at first fool you into thinking the sound has great resolution, but with time you ears can get very fatigued, and you wish you could smooth it over. For someone who is used to a grainy image, they might thing at first dislike a grain free image as being too laid back. This is my best attempt. I hope it helps.
cdc
1,663 posts
 
My take is that vocals sound rough and coarse like the singer has a hoarse throat.
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