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High definition vs. tonal balance

After many, many years as an audiophile, I’ve come to a conclusion that a goal of tonal balance is far more rewarding and less crazy producing than the quest for greater and greater definition.
Of course, both together is Nirvana.  But so many audiophiles go awry in the holy quest for lucidity.
Years ago I had a system that was far less defined than the system I have today. But, tonally, it was in perfect balance.  A violin sounded like a violin, an oboe like an oboe, a trumpet like a trumpet, you get the idea.  But, it was lacking in those elusive fine points of definition that I thought I needed.
Then began a many year’s quest to find the right component, wire, fuse, what have you to get the sharpest picture I could attain.  Trouble is, I would improve one aspect at the expense of another.  More piling on of fixes and I couldn’t get to the place of happiness I had before I started.
Finally, probably by luck and after thousands of dollars I’ve reached the point of content I was at several years ago.
Maybe my system is better defined now, but it also has achieved that synergy.
My point is, was it worth the torture?



128x128rvpiano
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millercarbon's avatar
millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
Zen Master shkong78 writes:
I recommend you to stop paying attention to sound and just enjoy the music.


There is an old story. In the version I heard Alan Watts tell, a Zen Master says, "In the beginning mountains are mountains, waters are waters. Later on you see mountains are not mountains, waters are not waters. Later still mountains are mountains, waters are waters."

Or something like that. We begin knowing music is music. Then we learn music is inner detail, pace, timing, attack, decay, frequency response, harmonic development.... That music is not music.

Finally, wisdom: Music is music.

Thank you. 
shadorne's avatar
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shadorne
7,467 posts
 
Absolutely. I would call that balance. Like TV to use an analogy: You want the highest definition possible but colour, contrast, black levels and brightness must be authentic and accurate. High definition with exaggeration is eye catching initially but quickly becomes tiring.
jtcf's avatar
jtcf
1,589 posts
 
Exactly!High definition with exaggeration is fascinating at first,but it makes me tense after a while.I enjoy a presentation that leans toward euphonic.
erik_squires
15,641 posts
 
Re: soundstaging

Yep, a dip around 2.4 kHz in the response seems to do this. It’s kind of a convenient point too, as crossovers often occur in this range so as a speaker designer, all I have to do is push the high pass and low pass filters a little further apart than optimal, and voila, exaggerated soundstage.


As I recall, some Wilsons did this.


On a related note, many years ago, budding audiophile me, did blind testing with speaker cables and neighbors. I preferred sound staging, they much preferred the more neutral and liveliness of the cheaper cables. We agreed on what we heard, but disagreed on what was more important.
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