There Is Nothing Like the Real Thing - Our State of the Art
This is a long expose’. My apologies in advance. Perhaps you will find it enjoyable or thought provoking. Perhaps you will find me in need of therapy.
I am lucky to live in the NYC suburbs that provide multifarious venues for all genres of music, dance, and theater within the inner city and beyond. There are the large venues (Carnegie Hall, Koch Theater, Metropolitan) but many smaller venues where ensembles perform. This weekend I attended a Fever Candlelight Concert of seasonal music at the St. Mark’s Episodical Church in Mount Kisco NY performed by the Highline String Quartet sitting about 25 feet from the performers in a warm acoustic environment. Much enjoyable. Vivaldi L’inverno evoked a tear. However, every time I come home from a live performance, I reflect on the state of the art of musical recording and playback, with feelings that as far as technology has advanced in the past 10 years, we are far off from the real thing. I have spent much time with $1mm systems at dealers and have curated a system within my means that focuses on timbre, dynamics, and image density, at least to my ears. But after listening to the real thing, I have the following observations:
1. Organic nature of reproduced music cannot approach the sweetness, liquidity, and palpability of the real thing. The real thing is detailed but never with harsh artifacts that I still hear even in $1mm systems. Massed orchestral strings is the best example of where the state of the art is getting better, but still far off from the sweetness and liquidity of the real thing.
2. Imaging and staging of reproduced music cannot approach the real thing. I find systems homogenizes the sound field and some separate the sound field images in excess compared to the real thing. When in a live venue, there images are distinct but the secondary harmonics from the instruments and the reflected sounds from the venue mix and diffuse the images in a manner that recorded and reproduced music cannot capture.
3. The dynamics of recorded and reproduced music have a different quality than the real thing. Dynamics is where the state of the art has much improved. Macro and microdynamics of systems I like are well reproduced. The difference I hear is that the leading edge of the real thing is powerfully evident but never harsh. It’s forceful and relaxed at the same time.
4. Many systems today produce vivid detail but in a manner different than the real thing. The way the bow, strings, and sounding board/body of the instrument develops and ripples out into the venue in an integrated manner is getting closer, but not yet there. This, combined with my comments on imaging/staging produce detailed sound that progresses from a point source outward in three dimensions. As an analogy, the detailed sound wave images progress into the venue like the visual image of a fireworks exploding in the sky. Recorded music playback is getting closer, but it’s not the real thing.
I believe the recording technology is most at fault. This belief stems from the fact that some recording labels consistently come closer to the real thing. For example, certain offerings from Reference Recordings, 2L, Linn, Blue Note, and Stockfish produce timbre, staging/imaging, and dynamics closer to the real thing. I do not understand recording engineering to understand why.
What are your observations on the state of the art compared to the real thing? For those technical competent, any explanation why we are not closer?
I've tried everything. 6'-4" labyrinths in the listen room. Multiple subs. Monster amps. Even dozens of candle scents. But, listening to my Big Sounds of the Drags album at home doesn't duplicate the pavement pounding, eardrum-shattering SLP levels, nor the smell of burning rubber and spent nitro of the live performance at the drag strip. |
@_dalek__ Spot on. Humorous but true. There should be on-the-spot expulsions for all of the above. Except if the fart is silent. |
If one looks at the steps of recording and playback, it seems a miracle that it can sound fairly real. But trying to chase “real” in one’s audio chain can be foolhardy if expectations aren’t realistic (poor recordings, difficult room..), it’s much better to chase personal subjective satisfaction. This isn’t some competition of reality vs high-end audio sonics, the later is simply a hobby - both can be enjoyed. |
I am going to create a product named Live Music Generator that will take any studio performance and elevate it to the level of a live performance. It consists of 12 bookshelf speakers randomly placed in the listening room. At random intervals, the sounds of a live performance are added to the studio recording. Here's a small sample:
Enjoy the show, and have a Merry Christmas all. |
Thank you for your observations. I understand what you are saying. I think there are a lot of companies chasing different sound... as you have mentioned. Like you, I have spent a lot of time listening to live acoustic music, with the intent moving my system to reproduce natural musical sound. Some companies are trying to produce equipment that captures the gestalt and proportional sound quality of the real experience. Companies like Audio Research, Conrad Johnson, and Sonus Faber. if your objective is fidelity with the real thing, it can be approached very closely. But I think this is not the intent of most companies / users... it is often to "sound great" which varies enormously from person to person. |
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The most expensive microphones are from 1940s~50's. They sound great. The world's best mic right now is Wavetouch mics. Yes. Finally, modern mics catch up the sound of those 80 years old mics. Wavetouch mic sound: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9couuLwOYLs Mic and speaker have a same topology. If one can make the best sound speaker, one can make the best mic too and vice versa. Wavetouch speaker: https://youtu.be/2ru4D-mOMdo?si=Lj8ZagayG11DqhWq Alex / wavetouch audio |
As you say we are at the mercy of what the recording engineers lay down, and that’s always an interpretation of the original event to some extent. Also, when you hear live music it’s often in a larger, open venue as opposed to our relatively smaller listening rooms, and the room has a huge impact on what we hear. Put a four-piece jazz band in your listening room and it’s gonna sound way different from how they sound in a jazz club. That said, I still really enjoy the sound my system produces in the context of my room even if it’s not quite as good as hearing the live event. It’s still good enough that it can, especially with good recordings, suspend disbelief that I’m not listening to a real performance, which is a main goal of hifi IMHO. |