what does "too dark" mean


when you describe a preamp as being too dark what does this refer to?
dpm2340
It probably means that the person speaking likes his sound on the warm side of neutral or, that he likes the top end rolled off, but that what he is hearing is too warm or too rolled off FOR HIM. Remember dark to some means warm and to others it means rolled off. You won't find it in Webster.
I would recommend J. Gordon Holt's Sounds Like audio vocabulary compendium.

Dark: "A warm, mellow, excessively rich quality in reproduced sound. The audible effect of a frequency response which is clockwise-tilted across the entire range, so that output diminishes with increasing frequency."

If you are interested in learning more, I have several links in my website's audio section:
Val e-diction