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Striking a balance between musicality and resolution

As my years and experience in this hobby continue to grow I notice a divergence between those seeking extreme resolution and detail from their music reproduction systems and those in search of maximum musicality.

In theory, high-end audio systems should provide more than garden variety stereo systems. In my view that means more detail and information should be heard from a high-end music reproduction system than one hears from ordinary HiFi stereo systems set ups. BUT is there such thing as too much resolution and detail in a stereo system’s sound presentation?

Some people feel that a less detailed presentation that is easier for your brain to process has better flow and provides more enjoyable listening.

So there is the dichotomy. Should one pay more to hear less? Can a frequency response performance that is curtailed at both frequency extremes be desired and praised?

Those that seek a “more musical” presentation usually point to their belief that that is how they hear live un-amplified acoustic music in the real world. In nature, high frequencies attenuate and decay with distance from the source and sound waves get absorbed, diffracted, reflected, and diffused by the environmental factors and landscapes; so they are not wrong in stating that in the real world the sound of music is less detailed and extended. The issue is that when we listen to our music reproduction systems at home we are not listening to live un-amplified music in a concert venue, but rather professionally produced audio recordings typically recorded with close-microphones techniques.

So the question is, do we want our systems to reproduce the sound on the commercial audio recordings accurately or does one want hear the sound the way one thinks that it should sound?

Lucky for me, I have enough systems at home that I have been able to design, set up, and tune them for different targeted resultant sound, sound presentation, and sound qualities. For instance, my OKTAN6 ultimate horn system is a dissecting microscope, my Pinnacle horn system aims at extreme musicality, and my WAAR reference system is a chameleon, which can be adjusted to sound exactly how you want it to sound in real-time.

My “test-bed” system takes on the sound character and sound qualities of the components in use and it is excellent for evaluating what new components have to offer or bring to the table in terms of sound qualities. But with the Acapella TW-1S ION plasma super-tweeters extending the high frequencies, the TBI Emperor subwoofers extending the low frequencies, and the highly detailed & nuanced Digital Audio Denmark AX24 DSD dac streaming HQPLAYER as the source, the “Test Bed” system is a highly resolving system.

As with everything else in life, is there a happy medium or compromise that gives you the best of those worlds? I believe that there is and that great music reproduction systems can be tuned to strike a balance between musicality and resolution. If one listens to the evolution of my OKTAN6 ultimate horn system for instance you can hear that the fine tuning is driving the sound in that direction.

So during last night’s listening session I adjusted the sound of my “Test Bed” system to a more musical sound presentation. The “Test Bed” system is always in flux so it allows me to experiment, explore, tweak, tune, and have fun with it.

Here is an audio recording from last night’s listening session that captures the revised sound presentation and conveys the sound qualities that exemplify a more organic sound versus a more delineated & resolved sound presentation:
 

The Way It Goes

 

carlos269
ghdprentice's avatar
ghdprentice
9,454 posts
 

@kennymacc "...In over 30 years in the hobby, not once have I ever sat down in front of any of my audio systems and asked myself. I wonder how accurately or faithfully this sounds relative to the original commercial studio recording or, to a live, or a recorded live musical event."

I probably did not for the first 25 years during my time pursuing high end audio. However, I found that improving my system would often take me down a dead end... for instance: where one genre sounded better at the expense of all others. Then, detaisl became astonishing... but at the expense of the soul... the emotional connections to the music. 

I realized I needed an empirical ruler. I realized rock and electronic generated music could not perform that function; electronically generated and manipulated. But that acoustic instrumentation could... and that if I got that right then all others must be as close to perfect as possible.

So I started to listen to every instrument I could... put my head next to a piano... and across the room, then the 10 years at the symphony. I would listen as if it was a system... hundreds of concerts and jazz ensembles. I remember the first time going to the symphony and listening to it as if it were a system. What an eye (ear) opener! My system didn't sound anything like that.

I found the closer I got to the real thing, the better all genre sounded not just one. Each step would result in a greater emotional connection, until I found it almost impossible to listen to my system... the music is too compelling. The system will not hold my interest... transient of a bass note, or image edge... or decay of bass note.  I get sucked into the musical experience and forget about the system. When I got there, I realized I was done... I was there. 

audphile1's avatar
audphile1
7,934 posts
 

Carlos the only conclusion I can make from your videos is that both sound very good and the second video has a more spotlit presentation. It’s impossible to determine how it sounds in the room, how it images and what soundstage characteristics each system showcases. I can only make assumptions. 
 

There are many differences between the real thing and a reproduction of the recording at home. Including one of the most important aspects of the recording is that it is engineered to sound how the recording studio techs had envisioned it. There’s a human / sound preference factor that’s worked into each recording. We can only tell, again based on our personal preferences, whether or not it’s reproduced with natural tone and colors. At the end of the day we determine what sounds good to us. You might not like how @ghdprentice system sounds. What natters is that he likes it and it sounds like “the real thing” to him based on his standards. Interesting conversation but we’re not picking apart differences between Stradivarius and Guarneri with Heifetz standing in front of us live switching from one violin to another. 

toddalin's avatar
toddalin
659 posts
 

It is clear to me that many here have no idea how to use YouTube to evaluate a system.  Sure you will not get the nuance nor the soundstage or imaging that you will get in your environment on your system, but that it not the goal here!

 

The goal is to listen to how close your recording comes to the DIRECT TRANSFER that was made to YouTube.  This then takes any system or room variation into account, regardless of what you listen back on, assuming it is of quality.  Any variation from the direct transfer is a distortion.  You may like that distortion, and/or you may not.

tomrk
158 posts
 

The definition of musicality I’ve found is pretty simple:
Musicality - sensitivity to, knowledge of, or talent for music 

(and obviously that’s not what people are talking about)

Based on how people are speaking about "musicality" in this context, I can only conclude that what you’re referring to is accuracy in reproducing what's on the recorded medium, which is a function of how the stereo system is put together and more importantly the skill of the producer in capturing the sound that the artist wants.

Since hearing is extremely subjective and often limited as we grow older, there’s no way to measure what people hear in their brain, so the best you can do is pick what sounds good to you. If you like mustard on your dogs, you can’t explain why other than "it tastes good".   If you like a stereo setup, it’s "because it makes the music I like sound good".    

cleeds
6,580 posts
 
toddalin

... The goal is to listen to how close your recording comes to the DIRECT TRANSFER that was made to YouTube ... 

There’s no such thing as a "direct transfer" to YouTube. Your use of ALLCAPS, italics, and boldface can’t change that simple fact. All YouTube audio relies on lossy compression which throws away high frequencies, dynamic range and resolution in a way similar to mp3 files.

One thing to consider is that many people prefer the sound of lossy audio files and that’s fine, as a preference. But it’s just silly to pretend that it’s anything other than that. It doesn’t really have anything to do with "high fidelity."

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