@kennyc You also seem to require reading comprehension course. In what world does “striking a balance” equal “maximum” anything? I guess reading the words doesn’t always get decoded correctly in some people’s brains.
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:
- ...
- 512 posts total
I am interested by acoustics concepts and hearing theory not by DSP in itself and you confuse my interest for Choueiri explanations and understanding with technology competition.. It seems you read what you want to read ...
I dont enter pissing contest by the way... I piss in my own way... I wish you the best and i believe your are good in your job this does not means that audio is centered around your gear understanding and that Choueiri is a marketer compared to you ... i dont need to buy a device to read about acoustics be it Choueiri articles or others... Choueiri is an acoustician you are not ....
|
A big takeaway for me from this thread is how many people struggle with simple reading comprehension and read what they want to read into someone else’s writing instead of reading and taking a moment to think about what was just stated. Everything is interpreted by some in the most extreme ways. I like posting audio recordings of my systems because they speak for themselves. While I was away I experienced a great analogy. I am working on a project and I was putting a report together and while putting some pictures I took I noticed something in one of the pictures that I was not aware of. Although I was the one who took the picture and obviously I was there physically, I had not acknowledged a certain aspect of what I was reviewing. Audio recordings of one’s systems serve in the same way, many times I notice certain things that escaped me in the moment in the listening chair. Why is it so easy for people to see the power and extreme usefulness of pictures, videos and visual artifacts but these same people fail to find the usefulness and power of audio recordings, specially when our entire hobby is based on the premise of the accuracy of audio recordings? Some people are so limited in vision and understanding that the words “YouTube” blinds them from looking any further. These are simply audio recordings that just happen to be embedded in videos but many dense individuals simply cannot get passed that. When you listen to your favorite album do you ever ask yourself if that is how it sounded in the studio or in the arena? Probably not but you record your system and share it and that sound cannot possibly be representative of what it sounded like in the room. I guess some of us have a higher capacity for knowledge and understanding than others. It is very frustrating to get others to see and understand what should be obvious. |
+1. Many audio related business pros here are scared that they lose their customers due to people figure out how ugly sound current audio technology is. They don't want their customers to know the truth of audio. They want the audio in mystery forever. They want the people are confused in audio and merry-go-round. YT is the best thing ever happen to audio world just like the information hwy benefits every aspects of the human life "if you can use it wisely". Alex/Wavetouch audio |
@carlos269 - like the pot calling the kettle black. We don’t strive for maximum, extreme, or balance, we strive for personal enjoyment
|
- 512 posts total