What exactly is PRaT???
Ok, it’s like this thing and is associated with “toe tapping” and such. I confess, I don’t get it. Apparently companies like Linn and Naim get it, and I don’t and find it a bit frustrating. What am I missing? I’m a drummer and am as sensitive as anyone to timing and beats, so why don’t I perceive this PRaT thing that many of you obviously do and prize as it occurs in stereo systems? When I read many Brit reviews a lot of attention goes to “rhythm” and “timing” and it’s useless to me and I just don’t get it. If someone can give me a concrete example of what the hell I’m not getting I’d sincerely be most appreciative. To be clear, enough people I greatly respect consider it a thing so objectively speaking it’s either something I can’t hear or maybe just don’t care about — or both. Can someone finally define this “thing” for me cause I seriously wanna learn something I clearly don’t know or understand.
As a drummer, you know you can push the beat or play more relaxed and still be "on time". It's a feel thing. I notice it most on plucked strings. Acoustic guitar, mandolin, pizz strings. I think it's mostly about transient response on the high end and maybe damping on the low end to respond accurately to the speed of the waveform. |
@stuartk No. I do not. A system either plays music the way I perceive it or it does not. If a system truncates highs, sounds bleached or lacking in tone, or sounds two dimensional I get that. Timing? Pace? No. These things are not in my audiophile vocabulary. A system either plays music in a believable way or it does not. I’ve never heard a system that sounds “slow” or lacks ”pace” or whatever the hell that is. I just don’t get it. I will say this though, I was at an audio show and I knew 10 yards out from a Linn room that it was Linn speakers because it sounded bleached and nasally. If that’s pace and rhythm you can have it. |
Well, that’s pretty definitive! Considering the fact that you are a drummer and (I presume) very familiar with how rhythms "feel" in your body, I don’t feel qualified to challenge you on this. I have noticed over the years that reviews by Brits seem to often mention PRaT. It would be interesting to ask Tarun (A British Audiophile) what it means to him.
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I keep reading words like transient response, time aligned drivers, authenticity, musicality to describe PRaT. Why not just use those words rather than some esoteric acronym? It also seems to be as much a property of the music itself as the system on which it is being played and the listeners connection to the music. It seems to me that any system can be regarded as having these elements if it’s engaging and musical to the person who put it together. So far no one has been able to give a reasonable objective definition of it that folks agree upon and makes sense to the folks trying to understand which says to me that no one really knows what it is. |
