OP,
You are going to have to listen to different systems while learning the terminology. Here is a glossary of terminology.
https://www.stereophile.com/reference/50/index.html
What is this term 'analytical' ?
I see this routinely in reviews & comments and so do you:
It’s too analytical. It’s so analytical that it’s not musical. Etc.
What does this mean? You can actually hear stuff? You picture math problems on a chalkboard? A shrink’s couch?
Isn’t the entire point of this hobby to hear music clearly? But apparently: not too clearly?
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Several weeks ago I wrote a review of a DAC that was mostly about sound reproduction generally. It seems to touch very closely to the issues raised in this thread. As only one line of it refers to the DAC in question I think it’s OK to let it appear here. I’m certain there are other DACs that can meet the standard that I find praiseworthy and the review says so. |
Some amp and speaker combinations are poor matches for me. I’ve had combinations where there was far to much control over the speaker. It took the rhythm out of the music and made it sound mechanical. There are those that prefer this type of system because I’ve heard their praise with the same setup. There is something mysterious about sound and our brains that makes it like the saying- beauty is in the eye of the beholder. |
"Analytical" is something I’ve been fighting ever since I got into this stupid hobby. The arrival of "Digital" made things worse.
I felt the same way for a very long time. Always looking for a particular kind of elusive sound - warm, analogue, organic, seductive, human, lacking grain etc.
Nowadays, I have gained considerable respect for digital, especially for its temporal qualities. However, it's nothing less than a tragedy that we have ended up with decades of recordings that have been dynamically ruined because of the so called loudness wars.
This is akin to putting a 55kph limiter on a Ferrari. Now even if most of their customers wanted such a thing, would Ferrari ever do it? |
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