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In Reply to: RE: And I believe they do like! posted by Sostenuto on May 08, 2009 at 05:50:20
I'm going to respond to your comments in reverse order.
"A far better approach is to seek the lowest amount of coloration and distortion. "
Of course. Again expensive audio components usually don't measure better than good midfi equipment. At what point does selective compromise become distortion or coloration? It's not like any designer isn't forced to make choices. Designers have to make choices - their designs will deviate from the ideal one way or the other no matter what they do. Understanding and selecting these compromises is what differentiates good audio equipment designers from circuit designers and expensive hifi from good midfi audio equipment.
"Coloration in speakers may produce pleasant (to you) sounds on some recordings, but will almost certainly make other recordings sound worse."
Exactly as you say. Colorations that produce pleasant or desirable results will certainly favor recording quality's exactly like you specify. However other colorations, not those producing pleasant or desirable results, and carefully selected by the designer may effect all recordings equally and may over all benefit the majority of recordings of interests to some/many or even a majority of listeners.
"Well, no. What you're saying is that you prefer tone controls that you can't turn off."
Regardless if we say it or not it's reality for all of us. Most of us chose equipment that sounds best to our ears - period. Where I may differ from some other audiophiles is that I can easily ignore an obvious coloration if it doesn't impede my enjoyment of the recordings I am interested in listening. I listen to all genres of music and wide diversity of recording qualities.
The obviousness of colorations or distortions present is not, in my opinion, a key indicator to system quality. What's important is how well the system convey's the essence of the music of interest. Sure colorations that favor genre or recording quality are undesireable - but not all colorations or distortions are like this and I think some of them may allow the listener to enjoy the music on a greater range of recordings than some systems with less obvious colorations.
Very good point. How I would put it is the annoyance associated with the coloration or distortion is the main thing, and that's an individual call. I've heard systems that make me want to run from the room that other folks think sounds swell. And vise-versa I'm sure.
All the world is a compromise and we are just the compromised...
Rick
"How I would put it is the annoyance associated with the coloration or distortion is the main thing, and that's an individual call. I've heard systems that make me want to run from the room that other folks think sounds swell."
I agree. I know some say, but I disagree for a variety of reasons, that there's some point where the focus of the reproduction gets so great that the characteristics of the recording become an annoyance or a distraction. It doesn't make sense to me that if accurate reproduction of music is the purpose that there's some reason why some recordings would be better served by less than accurate reproduction. I think I've heard all the arguments, some of them sound smart and reasonable, but my experiences and individual call is they are just excuses for stereos that aren't really working that well.
... Doesn't seem like a great recommendation to me. I'm with you, it indicates a stereo with problems. Push comes to shove if you are aware of your stereo system it isn't doing it's job very well. The idea is to listen through them, not to them.
Accuracy isn't a scalar. In the real audio world there are usually so many tradeoffs that the question devolves into accuracy in what parameter at what cost to which others. Fortunately we are adaptive and can adjust to many shortcomings of our systems, but not to all, and those are the ones that become annoyances or dictate what sort of music it's good for.
I sometimes wonder why binaural recordings and headphone listening aren't standard fare for AA folks. I'd venture to say that it's the most 'accurate' recording/reproduction system available for real sounds, and one that's affordable and practical.
Rick
"I sometimes wonder why binaural recordings and headphone listening aren't standard fare for AA folks. I'd venture to say that it's the most 'accurate' recording/reproduction system available for real sounds, and one that's affordable and practical."
Or active equalizers for those who claim accurate reproduction of the recorded waveform is all important.
"I'm with you, it indicates a stereo with problems. "
Or one that's colored to favor the owners preferences.
I like to think my systems are about getting the most music out of the most recordings. Not everyone will share my purpose. Where ever there is a claim of "most" or "best", except for measureable accuracy, there are going to be colorations involved. Whether it's most live, most real, most music, most recordings, etc. I think there will be a degree of colorations involved leading us to our conclusion.
If someone wants to minimize colorations there's plenty of test equipment and tools available for such endeavors but I'm confident in the end they will end up with a system that sounds pretty average but one that measures the best.
While I'm not a big tube power amp fan (pre-amp is a different story) designs that take various types of output tubes provide, I think, a clear example of coloration tradeoffs.In particular in designs that can accept either EL34 or KT88 (common) I find the KT88 provide a more "linear" sound, accurate, transparent... then swap in EL34 and its (in my experience anyway) pleasant colorations of the "euphonic" sort, easy on the ears, etc.
I can appreciate the EL34 "sound" but I would opt for KT88 for most material. However I acknowledge that's just me, my preference and priorities... nothing more.
Everything matters, don't forget to tweak your placebos!
Edits: 05/09/09
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