What the heck do these terms mean?

I read a lot about audio equipment and some descriptions come up occasionally about the components sound qualities that to me are confusing. Most of the time I regard these descriptions as by someone with little knowledge about audio equipment that are trying to sound impressive.

Yes. Add in other terms besides sound qualities into the mix and you just covered most of the so-called "information" out there. Add in grandstanding and clever by half dopey comments and its surprising how little is left.

Most of these terms are used in describing speakers but I have also seen them used on cables, amps , electronics of all sorts etc..

Well this for the most part actually does make sense. Sound qualities are sound qualities, regardless of where they come from. For years you would have been hard pressed to have me believe an electronic component like a phono stage could have anything resembling a boxy or woody quality. Until I got the Herron, and all of a sudden realized compared to that the ARC PH3SE was boxy and woody. Read my review, pretty sure that’s what I said. So the universality of acoustic terminology does make sense.

So, can someone help define these common descriptive terms?

For the best organized most thorough and most easily understandable description please read Robert Harley’s The Complete Guide to High End Audio. Indispensable.

1. Treble/ bass is dry- Huh? What does this mean?
2. Treble/bass is wet.- Huh? Again, what does this mean?

That’s the problem with dopey language, nobody knows what it means. Including whoever wrote it. This is what is really at the root of so much anger and argument. People write stuff they never really understood, then when challenged get all defensive instead of trying to think things through.

In fairness all these descriptors are metaphorical and imprecise. Still, most people, if you say the bass is tubby they get your drift. Whether the tub is one of those galvanized livestock tubs that makes a sound when you hit it, or a cast iron bathtub that takes the sound of your voice and emphasizes it all out of proportion, everyone gets tubby.

Wet might be related to liquid. Liquid is water- smooth and seamless and natural. Could be syrupy, could gloss over details, which is too smooth. Or could be dry, not quite grainy but not quite liquid either.

Either way these are usually used to describe midrange and treble. Hard to imagine dry bass. Lean, sure. Taut, of course. Dry? Odds-on bet they are parroting more than describing. Not quite word salad but getting there.

3. Organic sounding- Huh, huh?
4. Musical sounding.- What? Compared to non musical sounding?

Organic I can get if used in the sense of the timing and balance of attack, fundamental, harmonic overtones and timbre is organic and whole. When this happens the result is palpable presence, which is a whole lot clearer and easier to understand.

The last one can be used with just about any description of any component or speaker performance.

Exactly. Which is why regurgitating and mimicking is such a waste of time. Harley, again, indispensable.

There may be more...

Infinitely. Stay tuned. Same bat time. Same bat channel.

1. Treble/ bass is dry- Huh? What does this mean?
2. Treble/bass is wet.- Huh? Again, what does this mean?
3. Organic sounding- Huh, huh?
4. Musical sounding.- What? Compared to non musical sounding?

1) if bass, not enough, if treble, too much and mixed with distortion (higher ordered harmonics)

2) ’wet’ usually refers to reverb in the studio. Not heard it used so much in audiophile circles.

3) Organic is the quality that allows you to play the system all day long without fatigue; isn’t bright or harsh, nice seamless sound (no obvious peaks or dips, so this is often associated with full range drivers in loudspeakers or speakers with a very well done crossover); may have some 2nd or 3rd harmonic distortion although not enough to be perceived as a coloration; also refers to a palpable soundstage that is well-defined and 3D in every respect.

4) Sounds like music. Also refers to euphonic colorations such as excessive 2nd harmonic. But this can also be neutral if the traditional higher ordered harmonic distortions that cause brightness are absent. And yes, compared to non-musical sounding, for example when higher ordered harmonics are causing harshness.

It is not nearly as easy to describe sound as it is to read about it. Also, properly, the description should be of the system, not the individual component. The only exception to that might be after many systems have been used and a pattern emerges in regards to the involvement of the component under assessment, or in direct comparison to another. 

I suspect the person was attempting to use the terms "wet" and "dry" as synonyms for discussion of fullness of the bass, i.e. wet would be a richer, fuller bass, and dry would be thinner, lighter bass. It could also refer to tonal character, as in wet being warmer and dry being cooler.
I would not use those terms in that manner, but that is perhaps where they were headed in use of them.

"organic" and "musical" are wide open terms. I recently discuss in a review how, when a system is improved, even synthesized notes can take on a more organic sound to the ear, more like an acoustic instrument’s note. I typically understand organic as unvarnished and raw, not sounding processed.

"musical" is fairly a throw-away term in description of music. Entirely subjective in definition and application.

Thank you for help in trying to understand those descriptions. As they all are very subjective to wild interpretations.

When I hear, Musical and Organic terms, to me, they sound like terms trying to describe something for sale or used to impress someone... I mean, who wouldn't want the item to sound "Musical"?  Organic is still a smelly connotation to me.

ozzy

I think it’s hard to convey what you hear, thats why these terms exist.

 Organic to me would be the opposite of digital sounding.  I guess it would be a fuller, richer sound with more underlying tones. Organic would be smoother and less etched or zippy.  Organic to me would be LP’s vs CD’s.  Digital playback has become so good though that the lines get blurred.

Musical to me means more warmth or pleasing colorations.  Musical, to me, would be the opposite of Cold, thin and analytical.  Musical has more “meat on the bones” in my opinion.

I suppose we could better describe what we hear if we used terms like attack, decay, compressed, headroom, noise floor, peaks, nulls, palpable, holographic...terms that are easily defined and understood.