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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:
 

The Way It Goes

 

carlos269
rauliruegas
13,400 posts
 

Dear friends:   @mahgister  is rigth on the room treatment/psychoacoustics in audio room at home place :

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vXgjFTBggk

 

Btw, a few years ago Carlos intented with out success to brag almost the same that he tought can do here again with out success because he is only bragging his self abaout with nothing to really enhance our each one audio/MUSIC learning levels that could improve to each one of us home audio room/system levels of our  enjoyment listening recording reproduction.

 

In that ocasion/time he did in WBF and after 4 year of bragging in his thread he received only 7 posts from other .down there and only one listened one of his YT videos and posted almost a " laugh ".

Yes rhose WBF gentlemans are smarter/ inteligent that we in Agon where even that the OP has no success with  that brag+brag+brag and more self brag here posted more than 10 members in only1-2monthsand he must be happy for that.

 

 

R.

abnerjack
288 posts
 

@rauliruegas    +1

carlos269's avatar
carlos269 OP
485 posts
 

As the saying goes, you can take a horse to water……but you can’t make him drink. Others can decide for themself who has their head in the sand and who is sharing knowledge on this or any other thread. The herd mentality that permeates on other forums seems less here so decide for yourself who is providing useful information and who is the gnat.

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
15,061 posts
 

The herd mentality in audio focus on gear design and price only and essentially...

The choice of gear design and price is mostly related to budget limits  and marketing conditioning...

The herd mentality membership  dont make people questioning marketing...

The sound experience  is not only first  determined by gear quality design and synergy,  but also and at last by: passive acoustic treatment+ active mechanical controls of the room (resonators) or/& active DSP controls of the room+ inner ears and HTRF measures ...

Boasting about our gear is often evidence of ignorance among audiophiles because it hide the other face of audio the most important factor which apply to any gear system at any price :  acoustics basic learnings, experiments,concepts, & parameters...

I am satisfied with my system/room experience only because i discovered this by lack of budget to buy costly gear and facing the only possibility to improve my horrible sound quality experience. Using the same system i embarked on a two years  experiment with mechanical control of the room and the listener position using resonators. I was astounded by the power of acoustics in shaping the sound experience...

Important note:

Acoustics controls and passive treatment and DSP and HTRF measures dont replace good gear pieces design or synergy...But inversely no system at any price can replace  passive or active acoustics controls of small room in the same way no orchestra or speakers can replace Great Hall acoustics architecture...

 I was lucky enough to have no serious money or budget for a system exceeding 1000 bucks.. A stroke of luck, to improve my S.Q. i had no choice other than learning basic acoustics and having fun with acoustics experiments, not only passive treatment but especially active mechanical controls  with tunable  Helmholtz resonators grid and location...( it costed my nothing save a collection of big tubes and small one to design the volume and the neck of each resonator, i used discarded tubes from 8 feet to few inches...)

If i had open budget , i would have bought the best dac , the best tube pre- amp (Berning Zotl ) the best  S.S. amp   the best  speakers , and i would come here posting beautiful image of my living room with them...

I would have learn nothing and call my system "my taste" and call it job done ...

smiley

 

jrareform's avatar
jrareform
205 posts
 

Fascinating discussion here.  I would argue that ultimately the listener's satisfaction is the paramount objective here for non engineers(who require mixes to translate so having deviations in frequency response can be a big detriment unless you know your preferences vs. the average).  So if they are happy with their high budget poor systems, then good for them.  As long as they're happy that's all that matters to me. 

For my own systems, I am skeptical of the benefits of some of these solutions listed... for me, it's about obtaining a flat frequency response, very low distortion especially in the mid and high band, spl requirements, and rt60 measurements for the room to determine decay times.  Then once those are dialed in from acoustic treatment (I do not use active acoustic treatment - was not interested in filling my sq footage with resonators etc) and from DSP, the user can make tweaks to their liking based on their own perception of the sound.  This can include component changes, toe in/out, or DSP adjustments particularly with bass frequencies where preferences seem to vary greatly.  One thing that won't show up on these tests are amplifier changes and power solution changes.  Something to keep in mind when evaluating your system, as these still can have a fairly large impact to the quality of sound and transparency of the system in my experience.  Best of luck to everyone trying to build a world class system!

 

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