Do your speakers bite??

There’s a curious phrase audiophiles use for speakers with well defined leading transients, or extra string or reed sounds: bite

Ergo, "well defined leading transients" are something "extra" as well? Speakers being transiently capable to my ears are less smeared sounding, and in effect oftentimes lend a more natural imprinting to them. In the bass region lack of smear or overhang/stored energy is characteristic of a smoothness in presentation here (apart from speaking of frequency response and flatness), as could be said for the entire frequency region really where smear is a lesser issue. "Bite" as something deemed "extra" would seem unrelated to transient cleanliness, as I see it, and more a product of something else. On the other hand what is subjectively perceived as "speed" of sound, or "snap" can be or typically is an equivalent to transient cleanliness.

Sometimes this is also extra resonance from inside a string instrument. I say it’s extra because I don’t hear the same in real life,

But if it’s an extra resonance from inside a string instrument, isn’t it what’s heard in real life from that very instrument? Real life sound is un-equalized; it’s what’s reproduced that adds that very component.

but for some speakers these are marked selling points.

I’m sure it is.

So, do your speakers bite? Do you like your speakers to bite you? What is your threshold?

My speakers are build for pro cinema use, so "bite" as a selling point would seem moot, as opposed to a perhaps more common "hifi" trick with speakers in this segment. In any case I’ve made my own filter adjustments actively, and I prefer a less trebly response because, as I you said yourself, it’s not what I hear in real life instruments. Some like more "zing" or air in upper octaves likely as a means into an enhanced sensation of detail, where to my ears it draws attention to itself.

I want to hear bite if it’s in the recording but not because of speakers. Yes my speakers can deliver that when it’s there. Ohms or KEFs. But it’s not just the speakers. The things that feed them matter as much if not more. Newer good quality Class D amps seem to do it quite well. My Cambridge evo 150 falls into that category.

I’ve had more “laid back” gear feeding same speakers before. I like that too. In a different way. More relaxed and less attention grabbing as better dynamics tend to do. There is more than one way to make good sound. Who says any one is always best? It’s not. Different strokes. Even sometimes for the same folks in different moods. 

I know what you mean. I have heard it. But over my fifty years pursuing high end audio I found that the more you shoot for natural and what the real acoustic events sound like, the more your system will sound better with all genera of music. I don’t hear that bite in real live acoustic music, just like I don’t hear a lot of slam or over emphasis on the subtitles of the venue.

So, while some overemphasis may favor one kind of music, typically it will get in the way of the others. As an example, I really chased the ethereal magic in Delerium and Enigma in the early ‘90’s. But it was to the detriment of almost every other music.

Around 2010 I got season tickets to the symphony (7th row center) and listened to acoustical instruments everywhere I could. The change in direction for my system was striking… all music started improving. It brought me to where I am today, with the most engaging and immersive system I have heard. I really have a hard time tearing myself away from it after hours of listening every day.

So, for me. Be careful about really cool artificially accentuated characteristics like excessive detail or slam and focus on natural and musical. All music will sound better and your system will be more rewarding.

There's a fine line between bite and a hardening of the sound and the trick is to tread lightly.  I've been going through some Toslink cable brands and lengths doing that very same thing: trying to find that balance. 

It's more of a finishing touch but what I found is that the right amount of bite can lend an incredible amount of realism and immediacy but too much ruins the sound. 

All the best,
Nonoise

I love the snap of a snare and the tsing of a trumpet or sax, but  when the sound acquires an overall hardness I quickly cease being a happy listener. But oh yes, back in the days when I listened to Vin Scully doing the Dodgers on AM, the hardness of the tiny transistor radio did lend an unmistakable aura of you-are-there excitement.