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What exactly is colored sound?

I guess the definition would be a deviation from what what was originally intended but how do we really know what was originally intended anyway?  I mean solid state mostly sounds like solid state.  I guess that would be a coloration, push pull amps and set have their own colorations.  It seems we try to denote certain definitions to either promote or dis certain sounds I guess.  We could have a supposedly neutral amp but their just is not enough bass so we turn up the subwoofer or the bass, a coloration per se.  I guess one could say that colored sound would be a good thing.  after all, each instrument has its own sound (color).  A mullard, a telefunken, I mean who knows what tubes were in the recording studios at the time of the recording.  Syrupy, sweet, rich, NEUTRAL, forward, backward I mean really...  I guess its all about certain preferences for each person.  even in the studio.  who knows, maybe a recording may be meant to sound syrupy or sweet and then we try to make it as neutral as possible.  Maybe thats a coloration in itself.  I guess what I am asking is why do reviewers use the word colored in reviews anyway?
tzh21y
jkuc
181 posts
 
Uncolored sound is natural sound,  as close to real as possible.  It should be neither brighter (many systems are on the bright side)  nor darker than life sound. I should be neither warmer nor colder than the real..  Correct timbre... and so on.  When I go to concerts (of course not those organized in stadiums)  it happens to me to pay attention, to listen to the mentioned attributes and then compare sound of my system.. 
tzh21y OP
1,654 posts
 
If you actually had a copy of an original master tape, for example, and you played it on two different systems, lets say they are extreme high end, I bet that master tape would sound different on each to some degree even if you used the same reel to reel device.  So, unless you were present at the actual recording and heard it with your own ears, would you really know how it sounded?
russmaleartist's avatar
russmaleartist
52 posts
 
Think in terms of the government’s claim to “transparency” -- that which obscures the TRUTH is colorization by whatever means that is used to distort, change, obscure, pervert, or even enhance the original and change what the recipient receives no matter what the media used or form of communication implemented. IF you are receiving a facsimile, no matter how “good or bad” the results appear to be to you . . . then you have been knowingly and willingly -- or unwittingly, but decidedly, have become an accomplice to the transformation . . . which is, of course, ultimately the individual’s choice and personal satisfaction.
inna
7,202 posts
 
You would know approximately or very close, depending on the recording. I have a few records of the musicians that I heard live without any microphones, I also have a few records of the musicians that I heard live with microphones. Really good recording played on high-end system in a tuned room that is big enough does bring you close. Some systems sound sterile - that's coloration too.

mirolab
208 posts
 
You could listen to a dozen different $100k audiophile systems, and guess what, they will all sound different.  You could go into a dozen different recording studio's and listen to their monitors, and guess what?  They will all sound different.  They are all colored in some way.  They all have areas of excellence, and areas of deficiency.
To me... certain "colorations" only need to be minimized such that when i close my eyes, i can just listen to the music and "suspend the disbelief".  If a system can draw me into the music and make me forget about the speakers, the room, the amps...... then it's doing it's job.
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