High Performance Audio - The End?

@desktopguy,

’One of the first sonic decision points I faced in my early days of audio gear appreciation was rather similar: many in the hobby are proponents of "neutrality," "accuracy," and "detail," while others are more interested in "musical," even "romantic" sounding gear. I was going to much live music all through those years (jazz & classical, primarily)--and I realized I prefer "musical" gear simply because music I knew well (once or twice recorded in front of me) retained its core sound & "feel" better on the "musical" gear than the other kind.

These divergent sonic concepts have pursued me into headphone audio, where treble-cannon headphones are often the most prized (they give me a headache).’


That sounds like my preferences too. Although I also want accuracy, I’m very much in the ’musical/romantic’ (harmonics/timbre) camp.



@frogman,

’Personally, I don’t buy the “certain gear for certain music” approach.’

I don’t want to either, I too want a universal loudspeaker that handles most music well, but how do I know exactly what George Martin and Geoff Emerick heard whilst recording the Beatles unless I have similar speakers to what they used at Abbey Road studio 2, 1962-70?

[apparently they had Altec 605A’s in Studio 2 and the other rooms used a pair of Tannoy Golds! - I have Tannoy Berkeley’s and that might be near enough!]

https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/abbey-road-speakers-beatletime.755817/



@calvinandhobbes.

Great post!

’I will say that my personal opinion (which aligns with Steve Guttenberg’s opinion posted here) is that too much focus on detail and resolution seems to detract from musicality for me.’

Yes, detail, often at the expense of harmonics, as loved by fans of P.R.A.T. (pace, rhythm and timing).


’To me, some audio systems sound "right" from a clinical, "objective" standpoint, but leave me cold from the simple perspective of enjoying music listening.’


Happens all too often at shows. Seems somehow more noticeable with uber-expensive gear. Maybe due to my elevated expectations.


’I will say that I think it is possible to build an audio system that does everything right,’


You’re an optimist, good for you!

Me, I’d settle for one that’s has a very good all round balance.

A proficient jack of all trades rather than just a master of one.

But finding that elusive balance is another matter.

My experience is that recordings which are compressed sounding, often classical and jazz cheap multi-disc CD compilations will be more annoying on high end gear. They sound like MP3s. I listen to a lot of 78s, including acoustical recordings. They have natural dynamics and keep sounding more colorful and detailed as my equipment became more resolving/revealing. Otherwise, any decently recorded/mastered recording sounds better on higher end equipment or great vintage tube gear (like a Mac 30, 225 or 240 amp). I suppose that Guttenberg was referring to music I generally don’t listen to, recordings from 1995 (retro, punk, rock, hip hop, rap, etc). E.g. Steely Dan and Yello recordings keep sounding better and better with higher end gear. They start out as meticulously well recorded albums.  @millercarbon-I am in complete agreement to your last comment.  Each recording is different (labels can have a "house" sound due to engineering, recording venue, miking, etc) and I am sorry I don't have sufficient time to listen more.

My wife loves my system's improvements over the years because she listens to 70s and 80s rock, including heavy metal.  My ML Monolith III stats were awful sounding to her.  The Legacy speakers could handle the bass and dynamics of rock without brightning/hardening the sound.  Her Berlin and Foreigner CDs sound almost analog like.  I can listen to her Metallica and Prong "music."  I have sold 18,000 records over the past 40 years, mostly due to performance reasons and  due to poor mastering (compression-those 50s and 60s LPs that were made to play on cheap equipment or for radio broadcasts).  

Perhaps this is a bit like Frances Fukuyama claiming history ended when the Cold War ended, ensuring liberal democracy a long history devoid of any alternate system of governance.

The hifi busines should split in two areas:
Area 1) Music recorded from real sources in real spaces.
Area 2) Syntetized or strongly manipulated music.

Area 1 offers audio gear which follows the rules of "realism".
Area 2 offers audio gear which follows the rules of abstraction, subjectivity and so on.

In this way we finally stop expecting to produce abstract images using a Nikon camera or to produce 100% photorealistic images using watercolors, or even worst, to produce both using the same device.

This would enourmusly benefit both worlds.