RV, I agree with you and some of the others who consider tonality and timbre to be the most important of the various sonic traits that can be attributed to a system. And I agree that those are the keys to making "a violin sound like a violin, an oboe like an oboe, a trumpet like a trumpet," etc.
But the difficulty, as I see it, is that many things contribute to perceived tonality and timbre, while at the same time contributing to "definition." Including frequency response flatness, harmonic content, numerous forms of distortion, coherence, transient response, and yes (as Messrs. Rodman and David_Ten alluded to), clarity, resolution, and transparency.
As is usual in audio, there are no easy answers. But if I were to attempt to translate the ability of a system to reproduce realistic tonality and timbre into just a couple of words that encompass many of these other terms, and that are somewhat more hardware-related, I would say that first and foremost is "harmonic accuracy."
The following thread from 2010 may be of interest:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/which-attributes-do-you-value-most
Best regards,
-- Al
But the difficulty, as I see it, is that many things contribute to perceived tonality and timbre, while at the same time contributing to "definition." Including frequency response flatness, harmonic content, numerous forms of distortion, coherence, transient response, and yes (as Messrs. Rodman and David_Ten alluded to), clarity, resolution, and transparency.
As is usual in audio, there are no easy answers. But if I were to attempt to translate the ability of a system to reproduce realistic tonality and timbre into just a couple of words that encompass many of these other terms, and that are somewhat more hardware-related, I would say that first and foremost is "harmonic accuracy."
The following thread from 2010 may be of interest:
https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/which-attributes-do-you-value-most
Best regards,
-- Al