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.  

soix

IN high end audio it is the MUSICAL flow of the music.  When you hear a system does it give you foot tapping body moving experience?  Or is it analytical sounding where it could be clean sounding but dull dead and no foot tapping.    I always interpreted it to be the musical flow of the music!

Play this song, a not so great recording on a relatively crappy rig and it could still sound like great PRT.

A musician can give you good PRT even if everything else sucked.

 

Chris Rea - I can hear your heartbeat, 1983 version

https://youtu.be/OwOV8HyQyKk?si=4GdniWVv97YKRpn6

Play another not so great recording on a lousy rig and the musician still gave  you some perception of great PRT.

 

Bombino - Niamey Jam

https://youtu.be/ActhAx-374o?si=x3VsT9nv8PoBUkQd

That Chris Rea song is garbage. Hard to find PRaT in garbage. It’s got everything that made music suck in the 80s. Bombino is a better example. It still seems like no one can come up with a definition but plenty of examples of what they think it is. Seems like it’s more a quality of the song and whether the system can reproduce those qualities. If that’s the case then shouldn’t there be some way to quantify what makes the system do that? Whether it’s transients or decay or midrange quality or phase coherent drivers or even room treatments.  Basically something like if you want a system that can reproduce PRaT then it needs these n number of qualities.