What Does Holographic Sound Like?


And how do you get there? This is an interesting question. I have finally arrived at a very satisfying level of holography in my system. But it has taken a lot of time, effort and money to get there. I wish there had been a faster, easier and less expensive way to get there. But I never found one.

Can you get to a high level of holography in your system with one pair of interconnects and one pair of speaker wires? I don't believe so. I run cables in series. I never found one pair of interconnects and speaker wires that would achieve what has taken a heck of a lot of wires and "tweaks" to achieve. Let alone all the power cords that I run in series. Although I have found one special cable that has enabled the system to reach a very high level of holography -- HiDiamond -- I still need to run cables in series for the sound to be at its holographic best.

There are many levels of holography. Each level is built incrementally with the addition of one more wire and one more "tweak". I have a lot of wires and "tweaks" in my system. Each cable and each "tweak" has added another level to the holography. Just when I thought things could not get any better -- which has happened many times -- the addition of one more cable or "tweak" enabled the system to reach a higher level yet.

Will one "loom" do the job. I never found that special "loom". To achieve the best effects I have combined cables from Synergistic Research, Bybee, ASI Liveline, Cardas, Supra and HiDiamond -- with "tweaks" too numerous to mention but featuring Bybee products and a variety of other products, many of which have the word "quantum" in their description.

The effort to arrive at this point with my system has been two-fold. Firstly, finding the right cables and "tweaks" for the system. Secondly, finding where to place them in the system for the best effects -- a process of trial and error. A lot of cables and "tweaks" had to be sold off in the process. I put "tweaks" in quotation marks because the best "tweaks" in my system have had as profound effect as the components on the sound. The same for the best of the cables, as well. For me, cables and "tweaks" are components.

Have I finally "arrived"? I have just about arrived at the best level that I can expect within my budget -- there are a couple of items on the way. In any case, I assume there are many levels beyond what my system has arrived at. But since I'll never get there I am sitting back and enjoying the music in the blissful recognition that I don't know what I am missing.

I should mention that there are many elements that are as important as holography for the sound to be satisfying, IMO. They include detail, transparency, coherence, tonality, and dynamics, among others. My system has all of these elements in good measure.

Have you had success with holographic sound in your system? If so, how did you get there?
sabai
There's no mystery here. The territory is well understood, like Saskatchewan. No trees. See right across. Simple. Straight line. As the crow flies. Crystal clear.
Csontos,

I would tend to agree that the home audio territories we are discussing are very well understood and not all that complicated on grand scale of things.

No doubt there are still some frontiers though. You can explore on your own or hire a guide. If you hire a guide, be sure you can trust them....
Mapman wrote,

"Personally, as one who seeks perfection in my home audio sound (yet knows that is not likely to happen 100%) I tend to want to well exceed the 80/20 rule when it comes to home audio matters. I would say I want my rig to achieve 90% or better of what is possible in theory. Some tweaking will be necessary to get that but realizing the fundamentals has a good chance of putting one in the game based on the Pareto Principle.. "

You appear to assume in advance what 100% sounds like, so it would be rather difficult to say you have achieved 80 or 90%, or whatever. Besides, there is no consensus for what constitutes "what is possible in theory," as you put it. Any limit or ceiling or percentage is strictly artificial or imagined. The only thing you can logically conclude is that you've gotten your system to sound as good as it sounds to you.

Cheers
Geoff.

Each of us can obviously only assess relative to what each of us have actually heard.

In my case and I'm sure in the case of many other experienced listeners I have heard a lot of live music and home and pro systems over the years. Many performances, many venues, many genres of music, many systems including many high end systems. I have a lot of practical reference in this area as I am sure many do.

So what I mean by what one can expect "in theory" is each person's personal experiences and understandings.

Theory is probably a poor choice of words in this case. ITs really more about having a reference standard and then attempting to hit it.
Mapman wrote,

"Each of us can obviously only assess relative to what each of us have actually heard."

Yes! That's the whole problem in a nutshell.

Cheers