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:
@cleeds don’t get bogged down by YouTube. It is the audio recordings that are used by knowledgeable people for analysis, diagnosis, and adjustments and not YouTube. You don’t have to upload your audio recordings to YouTube, you can use and share the raw WAV files. YouTube is just an easy and convenient way to share the audio recordings with others. Did you listen to the audio recordings of home audio systems from Believe In High Fidelity? Those audio recordings were made by a studio professional using high-end microphones and high-end studio equipment. What did you think of the sound quality? Do you find those audio recordings more convincing and useful? |
@cleeds +1 |
Dear @carlos269 : You speak of ultimate room/system and unique way to do audio things but I can’t see that Ultimate when you have a weak in the low bass foundation of the MUSIC where the " composite " sound is full of those THD and youjust can’t avoid it even with words as " ultimate " that are only words.
The subs you are using normally are incar audio stereos and are competition of JL Audio that has around 6% THD in its home subs so yours could be in the 5% to 10%THD range that it’s not Ultimate. In your Test bed system things are not better because the TIB subs has a manufacturer spec of -9db FR response at 36hz.
All your " composite " sound is just colapsed like it or not and accept it or not. You can’t " win " against facts, words are only words and nothing more. You present your self as the unique penultimate top of the top " audiophile " where ( even that you don’t post yet ) the other gentlemans are a " joke ". Good for you. You can’t validate that " Ultimate " word but you want that the other gentlemans validate their systems when you have not almost nothing because MUSIC has by it self ACCURACY that’s why exist a pentagram and exist the harmonics and many other issues and your systems could be all what you want but accurated in that critical frequency range the more important range in that composite sound.
MUSIC start at instrument transient and the composite sound resides in the low bass foundation. Music halls breath at around 10hz. I have no problem with your ultimate composite sound that’s in reality is false, at least for me. Yes ultimate has maybe different meaning for each one of us and for me your systems are faraway to be " ultimate " as you brag about. Good for you that don’t worry about me neither because are your systems, then from where comes that ultimate system brag. I don’t care because it does not exist what you posted here when your premises are just out of that ultimate. Resolution/musicality comes from accuracy or for you the players play with no accuracy? Just an opinion .
R. |
@rauliruegas Judge my systems on sound and sound alone. It appears that you want to pick a fight and are not qualified to do so. You sneak in with “sorry to disturb you” asking for help and thanking me in advance and then you make strong statements on things that you don’t know enough about. If you want to engage with me any further post some audio recordings of your systems playing the same songs that I have posted here and let me and others hear the low “dust” that you speak of. Unless can provide evidence through audio recordings that you have assembled a good sounding system then I really can’t take you seriously. I don’t have time to waste with you if you are not confident enough to back up your writing with some audio. I have let you and others hear what I have achieved and it’s about time for you to stop typing and start providing some audio samples of your system playing some of those songs. If you are not going to be confident enough to let us hear where you coming from, then please don’t engage me any further. I don’t have time to waste with people like you, who make all types of statements and declarations while hiding behind the keyboard but lack the confidence and guts to let us hear what they feel so strongly about. Is time for you to put up or shut up. Maybe I should have directed your attention to my Wilson Audio WAMM Series IV subwoofer towers that I use in my WAAR reference system…. As you are as clueless as they come when it comes to the reproduction of low frequencies and that might have impressed you more, as you come across as superficial and lacking knowledge and substance. |
