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What is this term 'analytical' ?

I see this routinely in reviews & comments and so do you:

It’s too analytical. It’s so analytical that it’s not musical. Etc.

What does this mean? You can actually hear stuff? You picture math problems on a chalkboard? A shrink’s couch?

Isn’t the entire point of this hobby to hear music clearly? But apparently: not too clearly?

128x128zufan
cd318
2,636 posts
 

@rja 

"Analytical" is something I’ve been fighting ever since I got into this stupid hobby.

The arrival of "Digital" made things worse.

 

 

I felt the same way for a very long time. Always looking for a particular kind of elusive sound - warm, analogue, organic, seductive, human, lacking grain etc.

 

Nowadays, I have gained considerable respect for digital, especially for its temporal qualities.

However, it's nothing less than a tragedy that we have ended up with decades of recordings that have been dynamically ruined because of the so called loudness wars.

 

This is akin to putting a 55kph limiter on a Ferrari. Now even if most of their customers wanted such a thing, would Ferrari ever do it?

mapman's avatar
mapman
22,399 posts
 

I wouldn’t over analyze it. 😉

asctim
500 posts
 

There are a lot of good answers on here that match my idea of analytical sound. Specifically too much highs at the expense of midrange tonality, and a lack of sense of musical rhythm and pace. The rhythm and pace part may have something to do with the way a speaker interacts with the room. Here where I work we analyze bass burst tones that have been played through a hifi system and recorded at the listening position. These are 16th notes with 16th rests in between. At some frequencies the note can be off at the listening position by a 16th note! It's silent when the note is supposed to be playing, and the note is playing when it's supposed to be silent! That happens because early reflections that are out of phase cancel out the sound from the speaker, but when the speakers go silent the remaining reflections can then be heard. 

tweak1
3,679 posts
 

In my opinion analytical means lack of body to the tones/sounds

Example: when vocals sound as though they are confined to the 'head voice', instead of the chest, or with a string instrument you hear only the attack without the body of the instrument

hth

mijostyn's avatar
mijostyn
8,570 posts
 

@zufan , I hate the adjectives used to describe music. Think about it. All stereos analyze the music. That is their job. The problem is a bad analysis vs a good one.

Stereos do not have pace and rhythm. The music has pace and rhythm which in most modern cases is under the control of the drummer. (or a click track)

In order to know how a system is performing you have to have a known reference. Most of us have no reference because we have no idea what our systems are doing. They have not been measured. We are out to sea without a compass. My reference is flat and equal. Flat does not sound best. I boost the bass a bit and roll of the high end a little. The two channels always have to have exactly the same frequency response curve. Two identical speakers will always be a little different Then the situation can get a lot worse because you put them in different locations. You locate sounds by volume and phase. If the volume (amplitude) of one speaker is louder at certain frequencies those frequencies are going to shift to the louder speaker. What do you think that is going to do to the image. Just because you hear a guitar in the left and a piano in the right does not mean the system is imaging well.  

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