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What is meant exactly by the description 'more musical'?

Once in awhile, I hear the term 'this amp is more musical' for some amps. To describe sound, I know there is 'imaging' and 'sound stage'. What exactly is meant by 'more musical' when used to describe amp?

dman777
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,426 posts
 

My summary of this thread is that the term ’musical’ is not a good term to describe sound or equipment characteristics. It appears to have multiple different means to different people.

We’ve been getting nice reviews on our products for decades now. ’Musical’ is a word easily applied. So I have concluded that a benign distortion character is paramount to equipment being musical and the evidence seems to support that.

What people choose to play on that equipment is a different matter- some of which some people might regard as musical while others might not. So the topic, IMO, is bit too broad in the context of this thread. I’ve only been posting about equipment and how that can be musical, while others have been considering actual music and the way taste might affect your appreciation of it.

 

immatthewj
3,300 posts
 

What people choose to play on that equipment is a different matter- some of which some people might regard as musical while others might not.

So the topic, IMO, is bit too broad in the context of this thread.

Exactly and again, exactly. I guess opinion and taste might enter into it?

immatthewj
3,300 posts
 

Some Mirriam Webster definitions of "music"

: vocal, instrumental, or mechanical sounds having rhythm, melody, or harmony
 
: the science or art of ordering tones or sounds in succession, in combination, and in temporal relationships to produce a composition having unity and continuity
 
: musical quality
 
: an agreeable sound : euphony
If one accepts any of those definitions of "music,"  it sure seems as if opinion and taste enter in to the equation. 
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
15,058 posts
 
: an agreeable sound : euphony
If one accepts any of those definitions of "music,"  it sure seems as if opinion and taste enter in to the equation. 

I already said : TASTE THERE IS. but musicality is not about INDIVIDUAL taste but about a collective acoustic experience and knowledge ... You dont get it ?

It seems you dont get it...

It seems your are unable to understand that your point is empty of content :

Using the dictionary definition about harmonious and euphony  only goes further in my direction : acoustic ...

To be "pleasing to the ears" which is the definition of euphony , is not a definition concerning individual taste but collective humanity ...It is  a culturally biased  definition for sure, culturally biased ; but nevermind these biases are  easy to overcome by any attentive listener, euphony  ask for optimal acoustic conditions  to be experienced as such...A  talented and trained playing musician in a good acoustic room sound euphonic , it is not a taste question ... Do you get it ?

But like a rabbit using a dictionary instead of thinking  you circle around your own tail ... Acoustic has nothing to do with INDIVIDUAL taste or about the  idiosyncrasies of a single perceiving subject , acoustic parameters were created by studies or ALL  humankind  specific abilities...

The fact that some with a boom box on their back revendicate this a "musical" will not transform some music in a "musical" event even if some "taste" it with delight ...

It is useless to argue more ... You dont want to understand , your "taste" is all you have , keep it ...

 

immatthewj
3,300 posts
 

@mahgister 

Why should I, or why should anyone, accept your word salad as the only definition of "music" and/or "musical" and reject Mirriam Webster?  Please explain.

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