@mahgister do you consider the room featured in the following audio recording an acoustically controlled room?
High Level System in Acoustically Controlled Room?
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:
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@toddalin frequency balance and distortion of a microphone is not what is being assessed. When I posted the two audio recordings of two of my systems I ask the forum members to judge how the musicality and resolution of the two systems compared. For volume related frequency response look no further than the Fletcher-Munson effect. But again this is immaterial for the comparison under consideration. Or do you believe that volume matching at the input of the microphones would have tilted the scales? |
A room can be controlled mechanically and/or by DSP (Diffusion/absorption/reflections ratio and locations relatively to listening position with a LV/ASW ratio under control mechanically and by DSP).. This room seems to be under some relative mechanical control with diffusion panels but i dont know for DSP or for others means and devices ... To judge it i must be there ...The fact that on a youtube video the sound impression impress by clarity means not much if i want to judge other acoustics factors as the main ASW/LV ratio for a listening position... By the way straight out of youtube clarity aside the sound is fatiguing a bit, too much in my face not around me...I cannot judge a system without being there ... Also we must not feel the sound of our "room" when listening to music but we must feel the Recording set of trade-off choices by the recording engineer translated in our room acoustics but without being impeded by our room acoustic... i felt the "room" in this youtube video not so much the recording... I cannot judge anyway without being there ... I am not gifted as you are it seems ... Nor as much knowledgeable ... But i know how to make my system/room great...
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@carlos269 Here is the nonsense quote:
Somehow a distinction is drawn; in the analog case Ohm’s Law prevails while in the digital case (as best this can be interpreted) its does not. Further, you reasserted in your attack on me a statement with which I concured, which supports that what you think of the first half of the quote above is correct. So this makes the comment about digital either grossly incorrect or its just poorly written; the only way to interpret the statement being that somehow Ohm’s Law doesn’t apply to digital, which clearly it does, including errors that can occur despite its ’encoded integrity’ (and is why things like parity bits exist...). If there is a different interpretation, that means that the original statement was poorly written, enough to be nonsense. BTW this statement:
-is false, and your demeanor suggests possibly in more ways than one. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof. Folks, please keep in mind that when looking at YT videos, nothing prevents someone from simply dubbing in what he wants you to hear. They cannot be used for proof of sound quality, something any engineer knows inside and out.
Your opinion is wrong. Its well known in blind testing that matching levels is mandatory.
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@mahgister Well the one thing that I can tell you is that none of my rooms are acoustically controlled. When what you hear at the listening chair position is govern by direct sound, the brain does a wonderful job of arbitrating reflected and refracted sounds in temporal phase. Room effects can be mitigated to a great extent. Here is audio recording of my OKTAN6 system playing the same track in my acoustically uncontrolled room: Tipy top high level system in acoustically engineered and controlled room? OKTAN6 system in acoustically uncontrolled room
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