ricred1,
In music, audio reproduction and life, there are some objective absolutes and some subjective preferences. Clarity/detail is one of those absolutes, not a matter of opinion. Songs have words which are often hard to fully appreciate. It is obviously desirable to have more clarity/detail to grasp what the words are, their inflections/nuances, delivery with unique and subtle pauses, etc. With the spoken word in the absence of music, this is obvious. Great actors have this clarity in abundance, and even radio/TV announcers are chosen for their clear speech and relative absence of distracting local accents like Southern drawl and NY mannerisms. These desirable qualities are obvious to any listener. Same goes for music. Now, add instrumental sounds, and ever more complex music (especially classical) and the need for maximum clarity is obvious. The trick is to obtain clarity without emphasis on any 1 feature--you don't want to sound like a didactic English grammar teacher who is highlighting a particular quality of the spoken word, which is certainly not a natural way of speaking. The same applies to music and audio. You don't want emphasis on any particular freq range which creates artificial, unbalanced sound. In theory, this is ideal, but the reality of all speakers which are far from perfectly neutral and clear is that to compensate for deficiencies of the speaker, you may end up emphasizing certain freq ranges with your choice of components. This is a legitimate use of subjective analysis which dictates your preferences. I am not contradicting myself here, but all this effort is in the service towards the goal of high fidelity. It is just the reality of all the components that the whole system is highly flawed, and we must strive for the goal of high fidelity, not just striving for a full or warm sound just because you like it. It is a general observation that full/warm sound with more bass and rolled off high freq will detract from clarity. The most accurate/neutral amps are also well balanced AND clear/detailed in all freq ranges. Bass will have less slam and fullness, but it will be tighter and reveal more clarity in those freq. If you go too far and cut the bass at say, 100 Hz you will have more clarity in mid and high freq by default emphasis, but of course this is not natural and true to life.
In music, audio reproduction and life, there are some objective absolutes and some subjective preferences. Clarity/detail is one of those absolutes, not a matter of opinion. Songs have words which are often hard to fully appreciate. It is obviously desirable to have more clarity/detail to grasp what the words are, their inflections/nuances, delivery with unique and subtle pauses, etc. With the spoken word in the absence of music, this is obvious. Great actors have this clarity in abundance, and even radio/TV announcers are chosen for their clear speech and relative absence of distracting local accents like Southern drawl and NY mannerisms. These desirable qualities are obvious to any listener. Same goes for music. Now, add instrumental sounds, and ever more complex music (especially classical) and the need for maximum clarity is obvious. The trick is to obtain clarity without emphasis on any 1 feature--you don't want to sound like a didactic English grammar teacher who is highlighting a particular quality of the spoken word, which is certainly not a natural way of speaking. The same applies to music and audio. You don't want emphasis on any particular freq range which creates artificial, unbalanced sound. In theory, this is ideal, but the reality of all speakers which are far from perfectly neutral and clear is that to compensate for deficiencies of the speaker, you may end up emphasizing certain freq ranges with your choice of components. This is a legitimate use of subjective analysis which dictates your preferences. I am not contradicting myself here, but all this effort is in the service towards the goal of high fidelity. It is just the reality of all the components that the whole system is highly flawed, and we must strive for the goal of high fidelity, not just striving for a full or warm sound just because you like it. It is a general observation that full/warm sound with more bass and rolled off high freq will detract from clarity. The most accurate/neutral amps are also well balanced AND clear/detailed in all freq ranges. Bass will have less slam and fullness, but it will be tighter and reveal more clarity in those freq. If you go too far and cut the bass at say, 100 Hz you will have more clarity in mid and high freq by default emphasis, but of course this is not natural and true to life.