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Is the appeal to euphonic distortion learned?

Hi everyone,

I have been thinking a little bit about the idea of euphonic distortion. The idea that we can make an amplifier or preamplifier sound better by not being so absolutely true to the input. The common story is that by adding 2nd order harmonics the music sounds more pleasant to more people. Certainly Pass has written a great deal, and with more nuance and detail about this and makes no bones about his desire to make a good sounding, rather than well measuring product.

Lets keep this simple description of euphonic distortion for the sake of argument, or we’ll devolve into a definition game.

I’m wondering whether it is possible that this is in large part learned? For instance, if I grew up with non-euphonic amps and then was exposed to an amp with high amounts of 2nd order distortion would I like it? Is the appeal here one which you have to have learned to like? Like black coffee through a French press?

And this discussion is of course in line with my thoughts about the ear/brain learning process. That there are no absolute’s in music reproduction because we keep re-training our ears. We keep adjusting what we listen to and ultimately at some point have to decide whether the discrimination between gear makes us happier or not. (Go ahead writers, steal this topic and don't mention me again, I know who you are).
erik_squires
erik_squires OP
16,737 posts
 
A good parallel to this is what home cooking tastes like. We all had parents of a variety of cooking skills and tastes, but that's what we learn as homey, and no restaurant can match it.

I'm wondering when it comes to euphonics if this is also true?
hilde45's avatar
hilde45
5,387 posts
 
I don't have an answer, but found a pertinent discussion, here: https://www.stereophile.com/reference/406howard/index.html
arcticdeth's avatar
arcticdeth
1,572 posts
 
It was lived & learned I think?.....

   I remember listening to records on tube amps long time ago,
then in the solid state sound, it went away, the sound seemed not as relaxing, and it was harder to get that relaxed fall asleep feeling. 
 I use the tube (1 ohm resistor) tap on my Sunfire a lot, to get that tone, it’s close, but not the same as a nice tube amp/preamp, LP playing. I do miss that tone, the Sunfire tap brings me close, but it’s not the same. I do miss it. 
atmasphere's avatar
atmasphere
12,116 posts
 
I don't think its learned.

The presence of enough 2nd or 3rd (both are treated by the ear the same way) masks the presence of the higher ordered harmonics. This is common in tube equipment but not so much in solid state equipment, although Nelson Pass (as an example) is careful to see to it that his stuff expresses a bit more of the lower orders than many solid state products to create this masking.

I'm not saying that his stuff makes more distortion. I am saying that the **ratio** of lower orders to higher orders is enough that the lower orders are able to mask the higher orders to a certain extent. So you can still have lower distortion, say 0.05%THD and still get this masking to work.


Traditional solid state has typically been lower distortion but since the higher ordered harmonics aren't masked solid state has gotten a reputation for being bright and harsh, since the ear is keenly sensitive to these harmonics and assigns a tonality to all forms of distortion. This is why tubes are still around.

Its arguable that the orders of the harmonics should have a weighting system applied, since the ear is insensitive to the lower orders and very sensitive to the higher orders.


When the music is correctly reproduced, the higher ordered harmonics won't be audible. But when the 2nd in particular is too profound, the electronics are said to be 'euphonic', which is to say that they are musical, just perhaps not all that neutral.


But this is certainly not learned! All humans respond to these harmonics in the same way; the higher orders are used by the ear to sense sound pressure. That is why the ear is so sensitive to them.
petg60
1,486 posts
 
I believe what we learn has a weight, i will take it the other way round.
Imagine what our reaction would be if hearing a euphonic amp for the first time having heard only accurate ones. 

G

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