Real or Surreal. Do you throw accuracy out the window for "better" sound?
I visited a friend recently who has an estimated $150,000 system. At first listen it sounded wonderful, airy, hyper detailed, with an excellent well delineated image, an audiophile's dream. Then we put on a jazz quartet album I am extremely familiar with, an excellent recording from the analog days. There was something wrong. On closing my eyes it stood out immediately. The cymbals were way out in front of everything. The drummer would have needed at least 10 foot arms to get to them. I had him put on a female vocalist I know and sure enough there was sibilance with her voice, same with violins. These are all signs that the systems frequency response is sloped upwards as the frequency rises resulting in more air and detail. This is a system that sounds right at low volumes except my friend listens with gusto. This is like someone who watches TV with the color controls all the way up.
I have always tried to recreate the live performance. Admittedly, this might not result in the most attractive sound. Most systems are seriously compromised in terms of bass power and output. Maybe this is a way of compensating.
There is no right or wrong. This is purely a matter of preference accuracy be damn. What would you rather, real or surreal?
My audio system sounds the closest to the original music. That makes my system the most accurate sound system. All your speakers behave like a left speaker in below. Only my speaker sounds like a right one. Alex/Wavetouch Killing me softly - Natural vs. Un-natural sound, PA speaker comparison. |
Unfortunately, I think it is song dependent. Lean one way and you find some tracks that make you long for more detail. Lean the other way and your looking for more bloom. Maybe some have more normalized feeding habits than me, but any system that works for Sydney Bechet is going to struggle with Pavement. |
i perceive clearly a difference in your video as evweryone who will hear them ... One is more fatiguing than the other and you were right , one is more natural it is evident especially when coupling your voice with the recorded one... Now i will not like this unnatural sound nor on my headphone neither on my speakers exactly as you dont like it at all ...😊 i dont have this fatiguing sound on neither my headphone and my speake only one in the worlr exactly as you but me i can explain WHY... Before my various modifications i disliked the sound of my actual speaker and from my 9 headphones... I implemented 6 modifications critical for my less ARTIFICIAL sounding headphone and as much on my speakers... Describe what you have done for the benefit of others...😁 Where is your explanation ? I perceive your difference clearly but you are not the only one in the world owning natural sound... An artificial sound is easy to spot...i hate it...I dont think that i can change as i did for my speakers all headphones i ever owned because i dislike headphone artificiality...I succeeded only with the K340 to my satisfaction ... For example all my 9 headphones without exception sounded "artificial" , the only one i did not discard was sounding better but unbalanced and muffled the AKG K340 ... It takes me 6 months every day to discover how to make them natural sound so much that i NEVER listen to any other headphone again after that and i will never need to upgrade... Same for my speakers which i owned for 12 years and which i discarded for computer use not music for 12 years 😁... But when I lost my big speakers and room acoustic one year ago... I did not have any other choice than modifying and optimizing the small one i hated... In a dedicated acoustic corner tailored made for them for the first time .... To figure it out with specific box modifications , vibrations control and EMI shielding , take me 6 months of experiment ... All homemade modifications by the way... Then my sound too is now as natural as yours ...I can explain why and how... What are your explanation ? You never gave one and then you claimed to be the only one with a natural sound in the world ... It is a bit too much claim....Synergy, modifications , and acoustic optimization can be done ... I did them with complete success ...it was not e3asy to figure it out... Most will not... There is not one road only nor only one possible piece of gear to modify, optimize and put in their right acoustic environment designed for them...😊
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To me, surgically dissecting each track and obsessing about instrument placement isn't enjoyment, it's an OCD vampire sucking all the enjoyment out of music and probably life in general. I listen to music for pure enjoyment. I know the way I like it to sound and I build my system to obtain that sound. I want deep but not over bearing bass, natural mids and crisp but not harsh highs. I realize and accept that not all recordings have those attributes to reproduce, and I'm fine with that. No amount of money spent on gear will ever make a crap recording sound like anything other than what it is. Finally, I never audition my system for others because, quite frankly, I couldn't care less what others think of my system. I built it for me to please me, and it does that quite admirably. |
