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:
Your question here made no sense... Your recording of your speakers capture also the sound of your room ... It is the case in all speakers/room recording i ever listened to on youtube... The speed of sound in a few meters room cross your mic how many times ? We then are able to hear the direct sound/indirect sound time ratio from your recording as the specific quality of your system/room...
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Op, you’re not the first one — and definitely won’t be the last — to hit a wall on this. Several years ago, there was a big shot on this forum claiming he managed to EQ his system flat down to 20 Hz in-room. I mean perfectly flat, with no roll-off past the 20 Hz mark and beyond. He even showed an SPL diagram. But how could that be physically possible with the moderate speaker system he owned? So I asked him to record and demonstrate the sound. Nope — with all kinds of refusal, denial, and defense, he literally told people to “just take his word for it.” I understand where this kind of resistance comes from — concerns about recording fidelity, YouTube compression, playback through other speakers, and so on. But in my view, none of these should be real obstacles as long as one can produce a high-fidelity recording. The key is the quality of the recording. If you use a cellphone, you’ll lose spatial cue information. A simple stereo mic (like XY or ORTF) can capture left and right imaging, but to preserve true spatial cues — including depth and envelopment — you need an array-based microphone setup and technique. To avoid all that hassle and expense while still removing the room from the equation and capturing spatial cue information, recording directly from the DAC output is probably the most practical and economical solution. So, to summarize and offer some hope to passionate individuals like yourself: It may sound like a lot of effort — and it is — but that’s what it takes to earn genuine appreciation from fellow forum members. And in the end how much you gain in return, nothing but the sense of achieving something that you feel passionate about. |
Dear @carlos269 No I don't have any suggestion about and of course that aural memory can't compete with audio recording.
" you don’t have to accept the sound quality of the commercial recordings releases, if you are knowledgeable you can improve on the source and get more out of the commercial recordings. "
"" The real-time transfer function adjustment system that I developed features dynamic filtering and convolution signal decomposition techniques done all in the analog domain without any digital processing. After successfully implementing the real-time adjustment system on my WAAR reference system, I decided to challenge myself and execute a different approach to achieve the same results, """
"""" there is nowhere to hide. This is what frightens most audiophiles who have made a sizable investment or who have made the effort…..to put the sound of their systems out here for others to hear, judge, scrutinize and get honest feedback. """"
Carlos your home audio/system listen targets are different from mine, againmy whole target is to stay truer to the recording when you like to manipulate the recording and in your whole proccess wnat it or not you are adding different noise/distortions levels that at least Idon't have it I don't need to listen to it. As I said different approach/targets. All those is wwhat you are looking for:improve the recording in one way or the other, not me. For me in audio less almost always means more.I listen at near seat position and room treatment is at minimum exactly as the number of passive/active stages where the source signal must pass through. Example:I integrated a pair of active subwoofers in my room/system using a crossover HP filter and with these I put at minimum the IMD in the main speakers woofers ( my speakers in stock fashion goes down 16hz ) and I did it because the speaker woofers croosover the mid range is higher than desired. Well, I don't use any external HP crossover and certainly not the one in the subs electronics. The HP filter function goes inside the monoblocks amps adding not a single active/passive part but what already stays in the amps. Btw,I like the immediacy reproduction of horns and directionality however I think I'm satisfied with my speakers silk domes.
" there is nowhere to hide. This is what frightens most audiophiles "" notme.Issue is that I'm not a young man bit over 60 years old and today after 30+ years in audio testing here and testing there and making several changes in the room/system my timeis GOLD and I use it only to enjoy MUSIC through my daily listen sessions, nothing more. Yes, make no sense to take only one kind of MUSIC as classical for evaluation and even to listen only. To each his own.
Btw,
@mihorn my system is in the virtual way here in Audiogon.
R.
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Dear @carlos269 :I just take my time and I listen your YT " Just like heaven " and in this same old laptop listened Dido YT White Flag and the main difference ( not for much ) is in the sound of drums in favor of your recording but we have to take in count the very low quality sound of this laptop but even that the Didovoice sounds realy fine for me. R. |
