If Warmth Is a Distortion, Why Do So Many Audiophiles Still Defend It?

@Rauliruegas, Great observation that no analog musical instrument produces one pure note.  When an orchestra tunes, the oboe plays an A at 440 Hz for about 30 seconds.  The oboist tries to make a steady 440 Hz with steady loudness.  But actually it is not steady, and many micro transients are heard.  These come from the air turbulence needed to produce the sound.  Similarly, while listening to the oboe A 440 Hz, I try to match my open A string to that 440 Hz.  The funny thing is that a violin at 440 Hz sounds slightly higher in pitch than the oboe at 440 Hz.  This is due to many more HF harmonic overtones in the violin than the oboe.  Violin string sound is created by scrapping the string, which generates more HF than the air turbulence used to create oboe sound.  A great violinist can move the bow all its length from the frog to the tip in over 30 sec, even 60 sec.  But even the best violinist moving the bow slowly and as steadily as possible still generates these micro transients which sound markedly different from the sine wave generator at 440 Hz.

A nonmusical medical analogy.  When I see the urologist, I urinate into a funnel passively without forcing the flow.  I then see the curve of volume vs time.  It is fascinating that the curve has lots of mini squiggles to show that what I think is smooth and steady is not that at all.  It's got lots of transients which are shown by the mini squiggles.  I hope you enjoyed this analogy.  Music is part of real life in many ways.  High fidelity accuracies should reflect real life.

@r27y8u92,

"I have enjoyed the warm and smooth sound. Not any more. Whenever I go to music concert, I feel the sound from the concert somewaht harsher. But, the harsher sound is true to the music, and I like it better! Because it is simply more vivid! Some people whose ears are trained by the real concert sound do not much prefer the WARMTH. I am the one of them." 

Well said.  That is the truth. The conductor hears everything at the most vivid.  In the 1st row center, it is somewhat less vivid but still enjoyable.  Vividness is progressively lost further away.  Yes, the 7th row may have the best overall balance, but the vividness is markedly subdued.  In the 7th row, there is more uniformity between the musicians close to the edge of the stage and those in the back of the stage.  But everything is way less vivid in the 7th row, so I am less interested in balance when everything is mediocre by my standards.

sargonicuse, devinplombier,

Thanks for your info on the SPL apps.  Are there good ones for Android?  Or non phone apps now that Radio Shack is out of business?

@viber6 

The Android sound apps I tried were limited to 80 dB, making them essentially useless.

At first I was surprised by the 80 dB readings when my system was clearly playing well into the 100s. As an experiment, I placed the phone with the SPL app running into an empty oil drum and whacked the drum hard with a hammer... 80 dB.

I am not sure if the limitation is a function of Android or my Pixel phone, the information I found online was contradictory, but it appears to be intentional. There might be a way to defeat it but I lost interest.

I sat in front of a string quartet quite recently. It sounded warm.....

Scram back under the rock with the [warmth = distortion] gibberish.

Over time, a few things have stood out to me:

• Warmth is pleasant, but it’s still coloration.
Beautiful, yes — but not accuracy, not transparency, and not always the artist’s intention.

• Warm gear enhances some tracks but softens accuracy in others.
Especially vocals, piano, violin, guitar, and other acoustic instruments. Some people hear this, some don’t, and some just prefer it that way.

• Modern Class D deserves more respect than it gets.
Many older audiophiles dismiss it based on outdated assumptions. But the latest designs are already extremely neutral, fast, and precise. I’m not sure how much longer Class A/AB will remain relevant beyond nostalgia and brand loyalty.

• Price reflects real quality only up to a point.
Beyond that, it becomes about branding, house sound, and personal bias. Preference is fine — but preference isn’t the same as absolute fidelity.