|
General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
|
|
|
General Asylum General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories. |
|
In Reply to: Why Doesn't It Sound Live? posted by crutschow on March 21, 2007 at 10:16:50:
This is a very complex subject as a number of people have said. I agree with Donald North that binaural recording can sound very close to real in some respects, particularly spatially, but of course it can't give the body "thump" that a loud bass drum can give in real life. And as soon as you move your head the illusion is gone because real musicians don't move with the listener's head movement. Speakers are better in those respects but as any headphone listener knows, you lose details listening to speakers compared to headphones. Also, anyone can verify that a mono speaker reproducing a mono source sounds more "there" than two stereo speakers attempting to do the same thing. Reasons for this could include room reflections, inter-aural cross talk (each ear hears both speakers), spectral variations (no speaker puts out the same frequency response at all angles), etc. etc. etc. Still sticking to speakers, there does seem to be something to the notion that a big speaker producing a big wavefront can produce a feeling of size (e.g. an orchestra) better than a small speaker playing the same material at the same volume, even if the small speaker isn't overloaded and distorting.Then there's the room to consider. Unless you're living in an anechoic chamber, room reflections will always give the ear and brain a continuous reminder that they are in a room of a particular size, and that information will always be in conflict with any aural information (e.g. ambience, wall reflections, etc.) on the recording itself.
And then there is the recording. Recording engineers record either two channels or multichannels using different recording techniques, different microphone placements to try to achieve a "realistic" recording without having ANY knowledge of the playback system. In a pure Blumlein system using crossed ribbon (figure eight) technique, the playback speakers are supposed to be at ninety degrees to each other. Very few home playback systems are so positioned. Throw in multi-miked recordings, spaced omni recordings (e.g. Telarc), three microphone recordings such as Mercury. Well, let's just say they can't all be right. And that's not even taking into account that many microphones are not acoustically flat (and at which angle? - microphone frequency responses vary depending on where the subject is in relation to the microphone). Of course this also assumes that the engineer is even trying to get a "realistic" recording (whatever that means) and isn't using a graphic equalizer and compressor to achieve whatever sound his or her twisted, commercial mind thinks is "sellable."
Finally, I believe that we all listen differently. We have different tolerances for how much inaccuracy we can tolerate. People who prefer BBC monitors may find horns intolerably colored, whereas horn lovers may regard BBC monitors as bland and compressed. Dipole lovers can't stand monkey coffin boxes whereas big box speaker lovers think dipole bass is too wimpy. Etc., etc., etc. Some people are very sensitive to the effect of tweaks while others don't notice any difference at all. Some people will notice minute changes in soundstage, or coloration, or dynamics, whereas others ignore them. In theory, if one could exactly reproduce the original wave at the listener's ears then everyone should be able to say that it sounds real - we're not even close to that. With headphones, binaural is the closest, with speakers, Blumlein is probably the closest (at least theoretically) but very few recordings or playback systems are Blumlein oriented. It would be an interesting exercise to record a Blumlein recording and play it back with speakers placed at 90 degrees in an anechoic chamber to see how close to reality that would sound. It might be significantly better than can be achieved with the most expensive equipment in a normal room - or maybe not.
Compared to these factors, such things as whether you're using dipoles vs. front firing speakers, SET vs. PP tube vs. transistor, etc. really are relatively minor. Not that we don't enjoy arguing about those! :-) Lynn Olsen has referred to a stereo system as an illusion machine, and that's really true. Unfortunately the more critically you listen the more obvious the illusion becomes, regardless of what you listen to or how much it costs.
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
Follow Ups
- Re: Why Doesn't It Sound Live? - JimL 17:23:45 03/21/07 (0)
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2025, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
