What is PRaT

Pace, Rhythm and timing

I have heard it described as the ability of a system to make you want to tap your foot to the music. This does make sense to me as I've heard the same recording on different systems where one system had me struggling to listen and the other had me tapping my foot in pure musical enjoyment.

Enjoy,

TIC

A subjectivist fiction.

Something that is attributable to real music and the ability of an audio system to reproduce it. An audio system can't have PRaT on its own. It is amusing to me to see a system described as having PRaT, how could this be?

Some components appear to have better PRAT than others because of the aspect of the note that you are hearing. As a drummer, I time the music on the edge of the notes. And I guarantee that you hear/assess PRAT in the same way.

If a player opens up the middle of the note more than another, it may sound fantastic for vocals, but appear to have less PRAT--or even to sound too laid back--than another player that accentuates more the edge of the tone. This is often the reason that one player has you tapping your foot to the music, and another not. Or that you might conclude that a particular component is great for rock but not for jazz.

My Sony XA7ES, for example, appeared to have much better PRAT than our Audio Aero Prima, simply because it had better definition in the tones where we listen for PRAT. It did not play any faster, though it actually might appear to be doing so. So as Pbb suggests, it may be a subjectivist fiction. However, the term does help one audiophile to communicate to another on a specific arrangement of the sound one can expect to hear from a particular component.
Hope that helps,

Howard

pbb wow have I missed you and your insiteful comments. Thanks for clearing that up for the rest of us that thought it might be something useful.