I don't think the "ambience" that the author referred to in the linked article was speaking to excess treble or brightness. I think he was likely referring to the sense of "body" or "weight" created by off-axis reflections in the omnidirectional dispersion (ambient energy) of the Ohms. I think some people also describe this as "reverberance".
Mini-monitors often have that bright and "lean" presentation that highlights recorded detail. My guess is that this writer had that in mind when describing what he found missing in the Ohms. That type of SQ rarely sounds musical to me, but I admit that it can be more revealing of the recording. In one sense, it's a fair point - because that's not the obvious strength of Ohm speakers (IMHO). However,.....
His point about "listening through" the ambience and his idea of the "recorded room" sounding confused in the "actual listening room" are kinda old school audiophile philosophy. An abstract idea of "accurate" SQ over convincing musical reproduction. I want to argue the point, but - why bother?
In another way, I don't want to argue the point...because it's not IMO a right vs wrong thing. Listening "through" the music is part of the audiophile experience for many purists. For some folks, I guess it's the whole hobbyist's raison d'etre, but I personally find it tiresome these days.
To to each their own, I guess.
Mini-monitors often have that bright and "lean" presentation that highlights recorded detail. My guess is that this writer had that in mind when describing what he found missing in the Ohms. That type of SQ rarely sounds musical to me, but I admit that it can be more revealing of the recording. In one sense, it's a fair point - because that's not the obvious strength of Ohm speakers (IMHO). However,.....
His point about "listening through" the ambience and his idea of the "recorded room" sounding confused in the "actual listening room" are kinda old school audiophile philosophy. An abstract idea of "accurate" SQ over convincing musical reproduction. I want to argue the point, but - why bother?
In another way, I don't want to argue the point...because it's not IMO a right vs wrong thing. Listening "through" the music is part of the audiophile experience for many purists. For some folks, I guess it's the whole hobbyist's raison d'etre, but I personally find it tiresome these days.
To to each their own, I guess.