What makes the Bloom around instruments . . .

Fool,

If the Pass amp kills the organ on the DS song why would you want to hear it? =8>D

Let's take our audiophile hats off for a moment, and ask: In general, what do we usually think of when we hear the word "bloom"? Speaking for myself, I think of a flower. When a flower blooms, what does it do? It radiates in all directions. In music/audio, that is exactly what "bloom" means. It is the sense that the sound of a sonic image radiates in all directions. It creates a sense of dimensionality, with an audible sense of the sound projecting not just forward, but also sideways, and to the rear. Additionally, contrary to the audiophilic quest for the elusive "black space between images", there is a sense of great energy in those spaces; rich with the overtones, and undertones of each image.

That is what happens when an acoustic musical instruments play in a real space. Their sound is projected in all directions. The fundamental tones, and overtones (harmonics) of each note that is played create "difference tones". These difference tones are the result of two notes (frequencies) creating a lower tone, which is the difference in frequency of the two original notes. This process is repeated a practically infinite number of times in the course of a musical performance, creating an incredibly complex sonic soup. The ability of a component to pass that much information through is also referred to as the ability to resolve, or pass low level information. However, "bloom" is not a quality that a component should bring to the table. True bloom is something to be retrieved from a recording. The test is simple: If all recordings sound "bloomy" through a given component, that "bloom" is a distortion. Recordings are subject to the limitations of the equipment used to make the recording. In other words, not all recordings have "bloom". Some were recorded in a way, or with equipment, that will sound really flat, and two dimensional, with little sense of the expansion of overtones; without any "bloom". But the great recordings, when played back on equipment that can resolve that subtle low level information will sound, as we all know, fantastic.

I grew up in the tube days,and there are descriptive words that are being used now,that's different from what I've learned.The best way that I know of on how to describe a lot of these words that are used,is to have two different amps,one that has a lot of the characteristic,the other, very little.This was how I learned them,hanging around audio stores,since I was little.Basically it captures all the warmth,timbre,air,and the 3d imaging,full body of an instrument,hardly anything lacking.Upper end SS amps do capture more of it now,but not quite as much as a tube amp does,at least in my opinion.I may be wrong on my description.Threads like these are hard to post on,because the way the descriptions seen to very more and more.A person that's fairly new to audio,will start using these descriptive words,on what they think they are,and it may very.One audio dealer(in hi-end),that was around since the tube days, caught me of guard.He asked me this when tube amps started returning,what does the word liquid mean,that you tube amp guys tend to use.He asked me,because he knew I wouldn't embarrass him.It took a while,but I came in there with an old Dynaco(full of liquid),a old Nad(dry),and a couple of old recordings that had some instruments that were recorded on gear,that was real liquid sounding.He got it right from the beginning,just nobody ever compared it to him.He said he felt dumb,and seem embarrassed,should have known,but was relieved to know for sure.He was familiar the sound difference of it,but didn't want to use that word until somebody assured him.

Pardon the night grammar.

Hello,
Frogman that was an excellent description of what`s called bloom. It`s most certainly a function of harmonic overtone/fundamental tones and when captured is utterly beautiful. It makes music sound more realistic,thus less canned and sterile. It is a reflection of a component`s noise floor and ability to retrieve low level detail/resolution. How the Pass amp can do this well yet bury the organ in the musical track as the OP stated seems very strange, as preserving the bloom quaility is the more elusive trait.