Distortions that the human ear likes. Are there any ?

mrdecibel writes:

This is based on a post from another thread, where someone speaking to a studio mastering engineer, repeated a quote by this engineer, stating " most audiophiles like certain distortions ", and it quickly started a debate.

This would hardly even be debatable except for two things: engineers using "audiophile" as innuendo to talk down what is in fact a universal human characteristic, and "distortion" being used to define another perfectly normal characteristic, harmonic development, which in this case is a character woven into the very fabric of the universe itself.

Set those aside and its just an obvious fact that people love harmonics. I mean, we got the harmonica, harmony, harmonious, any of these ring a bell? Which itself when it rings, the better the bell the more harmonically rich it rings. I mean, come on. Only engineers could be so dense.

Well, and audiophiles.

Both come along and redefine perfectly natural harmonics into distortions. As if when Itzhak Perlman plays a chord its pure but somehow Jimmy Hendrix plays it its distortion. How, exactly? Splain it to me, Lucy.

OF COURSE we like some harmonics better than others. They're called even-order harmonics. Duh.

Next question.....


 

It’s not the harmonics. It’s the harmonic distortion. Harmonic distortion is a technical term. Specifically,

The total harmonic distortion (THD) is a measurement of the harmonic distortion present in a signal and is defined as the ratio of the sum of the powers of all harmonic components to the power of the fundamental frequency. Distortion factor, a closely related term, is sometimes used as a synonym.

Guess what, they already found out a long time ago THD is not well correlated to what audiophiles perceive as good sound. In fact, Amplifier A can sound decidedly worse than Amplifier B even when Amplifier A has a THD 💯 Times better than Amplifier A.

Next up, list as many sources of distortion as you can.

I think what the engineers were talking about were the nuanced distortions injected into even order harmonics that can please our ears. He wasn't referring to even ordered natural harmonics as they wouldn't be distorted, by their very nature.

Think tubes from the good old days that couldn't help but introduce even ordered harmonic distortions. Those old enough to remember when tubes powered everything, including your TV. Those days. 

All of what engineers do nowadays is based on those very old notions of what sounds pleasing. It can't be helped. It gives rise to lots of debate as to what sounds right as technology progresses and when you hear a really good, minimalist recording, you get it. Our ears have been played with for a long, long time.

Musicians estates, long after they've departed, still insist on that sound that existed/was used back in the day. Sometimes it's played with but not often are they corrected to what it actually sounded like. Those that do are usually reissued and touted as remastered.

Nat King Cole is a good example. I was lucky enough to hear a CD that made it pass his estate where there was no manipulation of the performance and it sounded like he was right in the room with me, playing away. When his estate found out, they halted and recalled all the CDs that made it out and had the recording altered to how they felt Nat should be remembered; like he sounded on all of his recordings. 

He was no longer in the room. 

All the best,
Nonoise

This just in!

“The higher harmonics, above the 7th, give the tone "edge" or "bite." The basic cause of the difference in tube and transistor sound is the weighting of harmonic distortion in the amplifier’s overload region (the italics are mine). Transistor amplifiers exhibit a strong component of 3rd harmonic distortion when driven into overload.”

Since there are so many sources of distortion one has a very tough road to hoe to try attribute any distortion he hears to the particular source or sources. Some things are easier than others, for example mechanical feedback and clipping.