What exactly is textural density??

John Atkinson's writing may be clearer, but his conclusions are inscrutable.

+1 to cheeg!
We've all used adjectives like "threadbare", "thin", or the old standby, "tinny" to describe sound reproduction that reduces the "richness", "color" or "warmth" of the music.  This is just another positive adjectival phrase in the same vein.  All this for those of us with BA degrees not EEs. 

“Textural density” in audio is the (partly successful) appropriation of a term in music which refers to the way that instruments/voices and their respective musical lines in a musical composition are used. Each musical line is a “layer” and the “density” of the composition refers to the overall character of the sound as determined by the number of layers employed in the composition. One or few layers results in a “thin” musical texture. Many layers, a “thick texture”.

I think one can then extrapolate and in audio, if one thinks of the naturally occurring harmonics in musical sounds as “layers” themselves, a reproduced musical sound which expresses an accurate (natural) number and combination of harmonics can be said to be “texturally dense”. One that is lacking in full harmonic expression can be said to be “thin” or “threadbare”.

You are right i think about the musical origin....

In acoustic concept speaking about "Timbre",  it is the difference between pure tone/noise and the spectral envelope and the time envelope in an instrument playing a note and the particular  way this instrument body vibrations  will  give the note in an acoustical context like a room, but it is my own interpretation only....



The fact that a reviewer use this concept meaningfully or not,for other motives, dont deprive it of his deep possible meanings...

What I like most about this thread is that none of the well meaning and generous definitions posted so far can be proven to be anything like the others.