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:
Dear @carlos269 : It's you who braged the target your target to listen the original MUSIC. How can you validate it? where is the evidence that confirms your words? Yes, I'm not qualified as you are but I'm only posting an opinion and not pick a fight. With your post you go out by the tangent. I kno and listen more than once the WAMM , Alexx and owned the Watt. I was at Wilson in Utha and I know its stand alone subs too . I own all Wilson recordings even before D,Wilson founded Wilson Audio.
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A tough balancing act for sure. In addition to musicality and resolution there's also the issue of tonal balance. Some products in an effort to be musical or resolute alter the tonal balance. This can be fun at first but ultilmately you'll grow tired of the improper rendering of instruments. It's rare for a product to balance all three of these ideals. Since speakers are the final link in the chain they will tend to make or break this balancing act. The only speakers I have found to balance all three are the Vivid Audio speakers. And I've heard essentially all of the contenders. |
who determines which end result is better? More valid? More accurate? More faithful to the original? And how is that confirmed and validated? It really helps if you were at the recording session to know how things sounded at that time. When you are at home and lacking that experience, you can only change the sound, and possibly more pleasing to yourself. But you won't improve on it. Obviously in so doing there is no confirmation or validation. "More accurate" and "More faithful to the original" are the same thing FWIW... This:
is in direct contradiction to this:
It appears that both sides are being played.
@cleeds Agreed!! You can't even use it to verify the system playing, since the audio can be added from any source. @rauliruegas +1 |
I couldn’t edit my previous post but my Wilson Audio WAMM subwoofer towers that I use in my WAAR reference system are actually Series VII (7) and made of the “X” composite material, unlike previous series which were made from MDF. Here you can see them: Wilson Audio WAMM Series VII in WAAR reference system And here you can hear them in action: St. John’s Night on Bald Mountain
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