Is the appeal to euphonic distortion learned?

It was lived & learned I think?.....

   I remember listening to records on tube amps long time ago,
then in the solid state sound, it went away, the sound seemed not as relaxing, and it was harder to get that relaxed fall asleep feeling. 
 I use the tube (1 ohm resistor) tap on my Sunfire a lot, to get that tone, it’s close, but not the same as a nice tube amp/preamp, LP playing. I do miss that tone, the Sunfire tap brings me close, but it’s not the same. I do miss it. 

I don't think its learned.

The presence of enough 2nd or 3rd (both are treated by the ear the same way) masks the presence of the higher ordered harmonics. This is common in tube equipment but not so much in solid state equipment, although Nelson Pass (as an example) is careful to see to it that his stuff expresses a bit more of the lower orders than many solid state products to create this masking.

I'm not saying that his stuff makes more distortion. I am saying that the **ratio** of lower orders to higher orders is enough that the lower orders are able to mask the higher orders to a certain extent. So you can still have lower distortion, say 0.05%THD and still get this masking to work.


Traditional solid state has typically been lower distortion but since the higher ordered harmonics aren't masked solid state has gotten a reputation for being bright and harsh, since the ear is keenly sensitive to these harmonics and assigns a tonality to all forms of distortion. This is why tubes are still around.

Its arguable that the orders of the harmonics should have a weighting system applied, since the ear is insensitive to the lower orders and very sensitive to the higher orders.


When the music is correctly reproduced, the higher ordered harmonics won't be audible. But when the 2nd in particular is too profound, the electronics are said to be 'euphonic', which is to say that they are musical, just perhaps not all that neutral.


But this is certainly not learned! All humans respond to these harmonics in the same way; the higher orders are used by the ear to sense sound pressure. That is why the ear is so sensitive to them.

I believe what we learn has a weight, i will take it the other way round.
Imagine what our reaction would be if hearing a euphonic amp for the first time having heard only accurate ones. 

G

I'm not saying that his stuff makes more distortion.

This is something easily seen in the Stereophile measurements, but judging Pass gear is not the point I'm trying to make here.

In large part I wonder if my like or dislike for certain gear has to do with how I grew up, in terms of gear.  Nature vs. nurture.

I crave detail. If it's all euphoric and warm, I'd figure I was being cheated. But, then again, I'm all vinyl and tubes so anything could be in there! My current main rig is detailed, sweet, holographic and surprisingly clear, transparent and neutral.