Home Hi-Rez Highway

New high resolution SACD releases, players and technology.

[ Follow Ups ] [ Post Followup ] Thread: [ Display  All  Email ] [ Hi-Rez Highway ]
[ Alert Moderator ]

Here's why it is the only true reference...

When someone is being trained to identify counterfeit currency, they don’t spend time evaluating many different types of counterfeits. Rather, they spend their time studying the real thing to become so intimately familiar with it that the counterfeit becomes apparent when it appears. The same is true in evaluating music reproduction. Using recordings as one’s reference is like studying the best “counterfeit” instead of using the real thing as the reference. No matter how “good” the counterfeit is, it is still a counterfeit.

As such, only purely acoustic instruments can be used as a reference because amplified instruments on recordings often don’t have a real reference. For example, in many/most studio recordings that use electronic keyboards, the instrument is run directly to the mixing board and has no “live” sound at all in the studio – only what the players hear in their headphones and what the mixing engineer hears at the console through the monitor speakers. The same is true for most electric bass players. What one hears in the final recording is the mixing engineer’s idea of “what sounds good to him”. No one but the final mixing engineer (and anyone else present during that process) knows just how a given studio recording is supposed to sound. So, we can throw out all electronic music as potential reference sources a priori. That leaves us with acoustic instruments played in real spaces as the only true reference source.

Sound production of acoustic instruments is a complex sum of several key parameters:

• Instrument tonality (which itself is comprised of a combination of fundamentals, harmonics, and balance),
• Dynamics (the range of sound pressure levels and the time over which these changes occur), and
• Venue characteristics (e.g. direct and reverberant sound, selective absorption/reflection, ambient noise, etc.).

One can become intimately familiar with the tonality and dynamics of real instruments by hearing them in person. With exposure, you can know what a real violin sounds like – the balance of the fundamentals with the upper harmonics, the “bite” of the bow on the strings, the dynamics and how the sound changes from quiet to loud playing. When you’ve become intimately familiar with the real thing, you will be sensitized to the counterfeits in recordings. For me, these two parameters (tonality and dynamics) are the most important parts of listening at home. When these two parameters are close to reality, I can get lots of satisfaction from a recording.

The third parameter – venue – is also important for ultimate reality of a recording but, for me, it is less important for enjoying a recording. The reason is that venues can differ wildly and I am not personally familiar with most of them (although I have attended many concerts both in the USA and abroad over the years). For this parameter, I look for the recording to transport me to the place the recording was made (NOT to bring the ensemble into my room). If I get a reasonable facsimile of being in the hall/studio, with an appropriate balance of direct and hall sound, I am usually satisfied.

I have been using Hafler-type surround reproduction at home for over 25 years. I found long ago that the extra information from the rear speakers creates a more three dimensional sound from conventional stereo recordings. I have chosen to stay with this approach even in this discreet multichannel age. It’s not because I think 5.1 playback is flawed in any way (I know it to provide very realistic venue characteristics) but that most of my large recording collection is stereo and with my setup I can appreciate all of my collection with this enhanced soundstaging instead of just the discreet 5.1 recordings. For me, it is a happy compromise.

So, that is why you cannot use recordings as a reference.

This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors:
  Kimber Kable  

Follow Ups Full Thread
Follow Ups
FAQ

Post a Message!

 Forgot Password?
Moniker (Username):
Password (Optional):
  Remember my Moniker & Password  (What's this?)    Eat Me
E-Mail (Optional):
Subject:
Message:   (Posts are subject to Content Rules)
Optional Link URL:
Optional Link Title:
Optional Image URL:
Upload Image:
E-mail Replies:  Automagically notify you when someone responds.

[ Top Top of Page ] [ Contact Us ] [ Support/Wish List ] [ Copyright © 2024, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ General ] [ Speakers ] [ Tubes ] [ Vinyl ] [ Digital ] [ Hi-Rez ] [ Video Asylum ] [ Cables ] [ Tweaks/DIY ] [ Music ] [ Films ]