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

From what I learned over long years - it is the way we born. Generally, there are two groups: one likes "bright" sound and one likes "warm" sound. The bright group is not very vocal and the warm group is very vocal about displeasures. Let’s say we have same size surface area for frequency receptors. The bright group usually could not hear high frequencies > 13kHz and the worm group can hear well above. But what it means? I think the bright group has more receptors for mid and bass (sensitive) and lacks receptors for > 13 kHz (not as sensitive). The warm group has more area dedicated for high frequencies (very sensitive), but lacks some receptors for mids and bass (less sensitive). So bright group always trying to cut mid and bump highs and warm group is trying to bump mids and cut highs. There is not much going on above 13kHz in the music, but I guess whatever warm group could hear - it is not very pleasant (unless you are a bat). I am in the bright group. Just my 2c. 
PS: And yes, the "warmth" distortion would generally "dissolve" high frequencies.

I am listening to the most resolving DAC in the world at the moment, the Multi-Path Imersiv D-1. This thing allows you to hear into a recording like nothing I ever heard. The DAC has a filter called Harmonic Distortion. There are 6 pre-canned filters and each one can be set to a level from 0 to 10. With 10 having the most distortion.

When the DAC had 0 hours on it last week, I cranked the distortion to 10 and have been progressively lowering it. Maybe one day I go to zero but at the moment I am at 4. It is an understatement to say every song I ever heard on an audio systems sound better through this DAC. This DAC will blow up the DAC field; nothing can compete with it spec wise and the sound is not neutral like some other great measuring DACs. I am not calling it digital or analog, my term for this sound is Audio Realism which I spice up with a touch of 2nd order Harmonic Distortion.

I have hooked this DAC up to 3 systems. The big rig was beyond belief great. However, the Magnepan Mini in my office is like a new speaker. I tossed the KEF KC62 sub from this system, the Mini with this DAC did not need it. As I write this, I am listening to heavy metal on Maggie Mini’s and blown away. I never would listen to this music on Mini’s with my other DACs.

Only negative for me was on my bright RAAL SR1a phones. My Yggi+ DAC, which now seems veiled in comparison, is better with the SR1a. The Imersiv Harmonic Distortion helps a lot on the phones, but it is not as good as the Yggi+ MIB on the SR1a. On 2-channel the Yggi+ are way way behind, and I loved the Yggi+ before I heard this DAC.

I am selling my Schiit Yggi+ OG | Schiit Yggi+ MIB | Benchmark HPA4 preamp | KEF KC62 sub because this DAC eliminates all those items.

I bought the DAC. Not cheap at MSRP of $12k (what I paid). Got to sell a few more items to make the cash work. 

FAQ - Imersiv

During D-1 beta testing, a seasoned mastering engineer compared the D-1 DAC to his 25-year-old Pacific Microsonics Model 2 DAC. The D-1 was vastly better in all respects (40dB lower noise, 100X lower THD, etc). But his old DAC had a low-mid “thickness” or “richness” coloration, which made certain kinds of music sound “fuller” or more “finished”. I immediately recognized this as second-harmonic distortion giving music more apparent “body.” That’s what 2H distortion does, in very small amounts.

I really liked the sound of his vintage DAC.

So the mastering engineer says, “my clients keep coming back because they LIKE the sound of my signal path. They LIKE the sound of the old PM2 DACs, and I don’t want to change that.” He then went on, “if you can add some coloration to your DAC that emulates my old DAC, then I would have the best of all worlds and would replace all the DACs in all my studios.”

So that’s what we did. We spent the better part of a year learning how to add different amounts and flavors of 2H distortion as a selectable feature of the D-1 DAC. We put a curated selection of these 2H distortion parameters in the D-1 Pro Menu, selectable as “A”, “B”, “C”, etc.. Go to the Pro Menu, select a 2H preset letter, then use the front-panel encoder knob to dial-in a desired amount of harmonic coloration. There’s also a switch-bypass setting for quick A-B comparisons.

Use care — a little goes a long way. At full blend (“10”), measured distortion levels can exceed 10% THD (!) Don’t overdo it. Often, just the slightest hint of “warmth” and “richness” can be the difference between “too thin” and “just right.” We’ve created the 2H presets such that numerical levels between 2 and 4 will likely be most common for pop music masters. Each preset has a different harmonic structure and bandwidth. We spent months “ear tuning” these presets to address many types of pop music. I hope you find them useful.

Home users may find this a curiosity, and are welcome to experiment. One beta tester told us it “sounds like analog tape.” Another said it reminded him of vinyl. 

I have been a patron of live, unamplified music for around thirty years. The various halls have their different accoustics. I listen to the L.A. Philharmonic at Disney Hall, which was accoustically designed by sound engineers and the conductor at the time, Essa Pekka Salonen. The sound still bounces around, though. It does when I listen to live jazz or rock too.

At Disney Hall I'm about 100 feet from the orchestra. I sit about 9 feet from my stereo. "Analytic" gear that has a precise soundstage with all the instruments separated by black spaces just doesn't sound real. Some distortion is required to make it sound like live music. The L.A. Phil sounds like a wave of music when it gets going. Even when one musician is playing in the orchestra, I have to look around for that musician. A French horn can sound like any other brass horn, or even woodwinds sometimes. And the sound bounces around the auditorium so it's not precisely placed.

That's what real music sounds like, and I want it to sound as close as possible to real music in my listening room.

Bob Dylan writes songs and leaves the lyrical interpretation to the listener.  How we interpret an artists work is part of the process.  

“Audiophiles don’t use their systems to listen to your music, they use your music to listen to their systems.”

@audio-b-dog 

+1 "...Some distortion is required to make it sound like live music."... 

I would think less emphasis on details over the rest of the spectrum will for fully integrate the sound to so make it sound more real... as opposed to distortion.