How do you judge your system's neutrality?



Here’s an answer I’ve been kicking around: Your system is becoming more neutral whenever you change a system element (component, cable, room treatment, etc.) and you get the following results:

(1) Individual pieces of music sound more unique.
(2) Your music collection sounds more diverse.

This theory occurred to me one day when I changed amps and noticed that the timbres of instruments were suddenly more distinct from one another. With the old amp, all instruments seemed to have a common harmonic element (the signature of the amp?!). With the new amp, individual instrument timbres sounded more unique and the range of instrument timbres sounded more diverse. I went on to notice that whole songs (and even whole albums) sounded more unique, and that my music collection, taken as a whole, sounded more diverse.

That led me to the following idea: If, after changing a system element, (1) individual pieces of music sound more unique, and (2) your music collection sounds more diverse, then your system is contributing less of its own signature to the music. And less signature means more neutral.

Thoughts?

P.S. This is only a way of judging the relative neutrality of a system. Judging the absolute neutrality of a system is a philosophical question for another day.

P.P.S. I don’t believe a system’s signature can be reduced to zero. But it doesn’t follow from that that differences in neutrality do not exist.

P.P.P.S. I’m not suggesting that neutrality is the most important goal in building an audio system, but in my experience, the changes that have resulted in greater neutrality (using the standard above) have also been the changes that resulted in more musical enjoyment.
bryoncunningham
TBG,

That's a recording I am not familiar with but has appeal to me.

Maybe I'll pick it up and see what I can hear.

I see there are multiple CD versions/masterings on amazon. Which CD version specifically are you referring to?

I do have this CD (one of my favorite recordings on CD) in which I hear some of the kinds of recording elements you refer to.
Mapman, it is Sinatra and Basie’s Sinatra At The Sands [Vicy 94366 Japan SHM]. I think I got it directly from Japan. Supper High Materials cds use the plastic used for dvds.
I have a carefully assembled system but also one that due to its cost (around $9k) I wouldn't presume to be capable of the realism of super-expensive systems. Last weekend, I was listening to an opera and at one point a character unexpectedly knocks on a door - for a split-second I thought someone was knocking on my front door before I realized it was the recording. That was surprising and pleasing to me - it indicated I was getting close enough to neutrality to realistically evoke a far-away sound.
My dog seems to think a lot of what he hears me play is real, especially animal sound effects, which he reacts to the same way as if real.

A good omen.
Dog reaction is an amusing test of a system's realism. After a significant system improvement, my dog reacts the same way I do... "What was that?!" After a few days, it wears off, and she doesn't react again until the next major upgrade. I guess that makes her an audiophile.

Bryon