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:
For those who want to test or are concerned about room acoustics and interested in hearing how musical their sound reproduction presentation is, play this recording on your system and compare it to this one on my Pinnacle 4-way system with field coil horn tweeters & midrange, mid-bass horns, and augmented by a pair subwoofers:
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@carlos269 : It’s weird that you did not own FM Acoustics electronics when Huber primary audio business is in the Pro audio as recording studio market and where the home audio is his side line.
I seen that you are in tubes and love the T.Mayer ones that it does not matters silver everywhere the amps are coupled by transformers and the audio signal must pass through that’s for me forbidden. Por the audio signal paths always less is always more of everything to enhance the signal quality performance..
You posted here:
" hat exactly is different between what I do and what just about every audiophile attempts to do through component selections, room acoustic treatments, power conditioning, interconnection cables selection, grounding, shielding, mechanical coupling, mechanical isolation, and so on? I tell you what’s different, one approach is intelligent and the other approach is trial and error. ""
and in that wbf thread that is exactly what you showed: trial an error even with those silver Tribute. Trial an error.
You have not success there neither here because even gentlemans as Bozo trust in their aural memory. Btw, gentlemans as bozo had not successs in this forum instead a native Audiogo as @mikelavigne with his aural memory always has the respect of all Agoners and has very good knowledge levels.
Even all those in your threads I learned something important from you: what not to do, unfortunatelly nothing that can help me to improve my room/system quality yet. I knew that you learned in 2020/2021 yhay good low bass reproduction enhance the quality of mid/high frequency. I did it in around 2004 and was one of my audio deep discovery.
Btw, I respect a lot your enthusiasm and passion for the audio/MUSIC.
R.
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I said my perception of your system synergy seems good to my ears. Congratulations! Once this is said, this does not means that your recording communicate TOP sound experience especially from your non controlled relatively small room . I heard few times great sound from youtube each time from an acoustically controlled room... When i say your system sound good that does not mean your system /room cannot be improved way much from what you have now... All acoustical control device and passive acoustic treatment are done from and for the listening location...it is an evidence by the way which does not cancel the necessity of acoustical control of any room ... No top system work at their real peak potential in living room or in non controlled room ... Sorry to convey bad news...it is called acoustics basic...A system can sound relatively "good" as your own in a living room or in a non controlled room , this does not means it work at his peak potential... My experience taught me that there is no relation at all between the same system, before and after, acoustics installation passive treatment+mechanical acoustics control or DSP acoustics control. None. For any system at any price. Why do you think architectural acoustic field exist for great Hall as for small room ? it is because good gear is not enough by far... Again my goal is not criticizing your system, it sound good to me, but my goal is to say my opinion, it could be way more great in a dedicated controlled room... If i had not experienced it myself, i would not believe the extent of the transformation of the perceived experience by acoustics passive treatment + active mechanical devices ( tuned resonators grid in my case) or active DSP as Choueiri filters which i am interested in or others sophisticated solution (Gilbert Yeung ) etc there is many ... Ultimately psycho-acoustics principles and parameters drive engineering in audio never the reverse because any designer use acoustics principle in their design (hearing implants) audio gear, or room studio or personal dedicated room ...
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@mahgister We have now started going around in circles and it is just not getting through to you that the net cumulative result of the contributions is the resultant sound. You could have a perfectly acoustically controlled room and optimal psychoacoustics parameters and yet yield an inferior resultant sound than what others have achieved without addressing the room acoustics. How is that possible you ask? Because the resultant sound is based on all the contributors and for example in the case of one of examples that I shared at the beginning of this threat where the system has a frequency extension of 8-12KHz it will never yield resolution, low & inner detail, as you will hear from a more cable system, no matter how optimized the room acoustics and psychoacoustics parameters are. I just cannot seem to get it through to you that the ONLY thing that matters is the resultant sound. The resultant sound we hear with our ears and perceive with our brain is the net commutative contributions, some constructive other destructive. Therefore the best sounding resultant sound is the highest goal in the hierarchy regardless of how it is achieved as in the end it is the ONLY thing that matters. |
