What is meant exactly by the description 'more musical'?


Once in awhile, I hear the term 'this amp is more musical' for some amps. To describe sound, I know there is 'imaging' and 'sound stage'. What exactly is meant by 'more musical' when used to describe amp?

dman777

I wanted to see my favorite performers and/or groups perform more than I wanted to hear them perform. . . .

 

As i see it now after my experiments and this correspond to what you said when you said that you want to see the musicians more than hear them, is the fact that in an optimized acoustically controlled room with a minimally good system for sure and synergetical , the initial recording process of the performance, which recording implicate a trade-off set of choices by the recording engineer( location and type of the mics etc ) is now so well reproduced and translated by your system/room that now you "SEE" the instruments and musicians...

The way it was recorded make it possible and each albums is way different , but in all good recordings you keep the eyes open , not close, because you are irresistibly convinced that you are there in the church where the organ played or you are persuaded that the organ is there in your room and your room begun to be a church... That was my stunning impression and thats why for me acoustic is not the cherry on the system cake but more part of  the cake itself provide for sure the system is synergetical and as high quality enough ...

There is many levels of realism ... My Sansui alpha so good it is dont rival the best that atmasphere can create for example , i dont have any doubt about that ...

But this is what i called the minimal acoustical satisfaction level ...

Most people dont enjoy this minimal level ...

This is why i insisted on the system synergy/room and their electrical,mechanical and acoustical rightful  embeddings controls even with mechanical devices or/and with some  DSP etc  ...The last rev9olutionary devices being the BACCH filters..

but in all good recordings you keep the eyes open , not close, because you are irresistibly convinced that you are there in the church where the organ played or you are persuaded that the organ is there in your room and your room begun to be a church...

I actually find that I enjoy my system more in the dark and with my eyes closed.  Fortunately for me, I have lost one retina and the remaining one is not all that good and my world is getting darker every day.  I am weighing the pros and cons of gouging my remaining eye out, as I am sure that would enhance my ability to hear and perceive "more musical," but I do have to take into consideration that I will not be able to adjust the biases on my amp unless I can get a meter that can talk to me.  I am not sure if they make such a meter, but in this day and age one would think that they might.

@immatthewj... *G*  Well, I took it to encompass 'systems', but I stand corrected.

And, no problem with that...  I'm personally happy with what I've amassed; not one to haunt the shows, I'll flip through the pages, and drill the sites to note the pulse of SOTA and the Sorta-SOTA..... ;)

In another forum, a gent comments on his 8K$ DAC; understanding that verbiage only hints at the IRL experience (and that of most, if not all) items of audiophilia of that nature and $ v. performance/experience, I'm actually disposed to pass on the exposure....wonderful as it may be.

In a similar vein, I can appreciate Ferraris', Lambos', and others; I'm a Lotus fan, but would still have to auction off too many body parts to join in....and the fact that anyone would want any part of my now aging frame ought to have a 'neck-up' exam prior to any deal.  Too much 'mileage', too much 'obscure fun'....

Too long of story, long enough in edit, I amuse myself enough with what and how I listen and my DIY pursuits. *S*  And all can enjoy theirs...

Todays' distraction @ noon EST:

...new copy of Basket of Light > The Pentangle *yay*

@immatthewj ...in my college years, I knew Rebecca who was blind since birth. Although braille was her second language, not all books make it to being published in that fashion: college textbooks in particular at the time, and likely even now.

She was lucky to be chosen to receive a device that she could pass what we’d call now a ’lipstick’ camera, that was connected to a device that would ’translate’ the print into ’bumps’, much like braille’s raised patterns but a ’reconstruction’ of the copy....

She grew quickly into using it. *S* Wasn’t much good at pictures or diagrams at the time....but it was some 50 years ago.

Maybe not a VU meter, but a linear version of an LED display?

And, I'd bet, one that 'talks' may not be as inconceivable as thought..... ;) 

Worth the question if you follow through on that comment...

@asvjerry , I will admit that

There is at least one I can think of specifically who describes a great room and speakers that cost more than my entire system front to back.

was poorly constructed and could have easily been construed to mean other than what I intended it to mean. Someone could have read that and thought that I was saying that the individual’s speakers plus room cost more than my entire system. After seeing the pictures of his room, he may well have more into that than for what I could list this crappy little aluminum can on a slab that I call home.

What I should have typed was: "I can think of one individual who has a great room, and his speakers alone cost more than my entire system; I am aware that there are many others on this site who are also in that league but he is the only one who I can think of specifically at the moment."

And when I also typed that I would be better off not hearing the sound that he gets to hear, I was serious. And I told him as much. I’ve been rolling some tubes in my preamp and I recently found a combination that is just absolutely thrilling me. (I came by a pair of ’52 Sylvania "Bad Boys" 6SN7s and they are in for the balanced inputs in front of four JJs that I recently used to replace the EHs with. I do not know if the JJs are just starting to come alive at 50 hours, or it is all about those Sylvanias, but there is source material that is affecting me like it has not affected me in the past. I finished off my session last night by listening to two songs: Brandy Carlyle singing The Story and Eliza Gilkyson singing Borderline and I was moved nearly to tears.) However, my point is that: if I was to hear a pair of 30k speakers driven by the stuff he has in front of them in a GREAT room . . . I doubt that I could appreciate what I presently now perceive as a musical system.

On another note: although I was serious about my reaction to the last two songs I listened to last night, I was being totally tongue and cheek about gouging out my right eye. When/if the retina comes off of the back of that one I will then cross that bridge. A lot of things will definitely change in my life when/if that occurs, but a talking multimeter would mitigate some of the changes. But it still might not be enough for me to continue in this hobby.