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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
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
15,052 posts
 

Musicality and resolution balance when discussed here appear related to gear pieces synergy more than to acoustics...

But once synergy is there already, immersiveness and timbre realism are perfectly definined acoustics parameters which we can work with  in system/room tuning with mechanical methods and/or  DSP ...

You cannot find an object that has not been recognized, nor achieve a goal that you are unaware exists.

Our system room translate the recording of a lived event. The recording is not the lived event. Our system/room is not the lived event nor the recording. They are all translation (more than alleged reproduction ) into one another by trade-off choices related to human choices and their tools and gear .

Musical is more a subjective interpretation which most associate to gear type or brand or design. Resolution  is more associated with   quantifiable design choices then perception (Exemple: costlier gear is supposed to become more resolving) . The two qualities are  then  mainly associated with the gear market by most.

 

 

But if we dont understand how timbre is defined in acoustics  and immersiveness ( listener envelopment ) how can we reach it with any system/room to some level ?

A system alone, even the costlier one,  without  being paired with a specific room and with specific ears cannot give the optimal level of timbre realism and immersiveness . 

it is why for acoustician gear matter less than acoustics knowledge. They can optimize any gear system if the pieces are synergetically well chosen as starting point and at any price...

Cost  matter less than acoustics science...

 

 

mihorn
910 posts
 
rauliruegas  My syetm is relaxed when the recording is it and always has high resolution with an almost zero noise floor. Distortion levels  are low too, example: I take out all electronics input fuses and almost all electronics/speakers/elctrical power line are connected with out any kind of input/output connectors but wire soldered directly to the boards and the like. 

Please share. I love to listen a great sound system (zero noise). Do you have a online link of your system? Alex/WTA

mihorn
910 posts
 

tomic601    the excellent Rawlings - Welch song Hashtag by Acony.

Whisper "Hello" repeat with below music. Which is better recording? 

Elvis - If I Can Dream

Rawlings - Welch song Hashtag by Acony

Wavetouch audio live recording

Alex/Wavetouch audio

theophile's avatar
theophile
410 posts
 

I've come to the conclusion after a number of decades that there are as many different motivations for listening to recorded music as there are grains of sand on this planet.

Not one that is right and all the others a compromise.

'The absolute sound of live unamplified music in a space". Well this is only possible live. All recorded music went through an amplifier. 

Since 99.9 repeater of all music listened to worldwide since recording began is not the absolute sound I feel that high fidelity as a concept requires fidelity to what is in the recording. If the recording is compromised, high fidelity should convey that. If the recording is less compromised, high fidelity should convey that.

Some recorded music sounds better on systems which are less high fidelity. If that type of recorded music is the style/artist you like you'll nearly always enjoy it much more on a lower fidelity system. A lot of disagreement on the preference for some components over others boil down to what music is being replayed through the system. Better recordings, really faithful to the sound of live unamplified music in a real space, scale really well with higher fidelity equipment systems. Recordings which bear little resemblence to a live unamplified preformance usually sound more engaging on lesser quality systems and I feel that they were made to be listened to on lesser quality systems. 

carlos269's avatar
carlos269 OP
473 posts
 

For those like @richardbrand  who can only discern sound qualities through classical, here are a pair of recent audio recordings from two on my systems for your compare and contrast of their musicality and resolution:

Palermo Notturno (Test Bed)

Palermo Notturno (OKTAN6)

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