Give Up on Bacch?

I have hesitated to comment on the effect of the Bacch system on "sound quality" because I'm not sure what I'm hearing,  or if I'm striving to hear what I think I am supposed to hear.  Or if my ears are just too new to this sound to discern and process it.  I'll try to be more clear.  Edgar steered me to an article he published in The Absolute Sound  recently:

https://www.theabsolutesound.com/articles/going-spatial/

Here is a crucial part:  "Spatial music is music in which the spatial aspect of sound—the perceived location, extent, and movements of sound sources in surrounding space—is more or less equal in stature to the traditional aspects, or elements, of music—pitch, timbre, texture, volume/dynamics, attack/duration/decay, melody, rhythm, and form. We shall call this traditional aspect of music canonical and contrast it with the spatial."  Until now I thought of sound quality as the traditional aspects plus imaging and soundstage.   The later two are spacial, to be sure, but Edgar defines spacial sound with seven terms, such as reverb, envelopment and depth/proximity.  Bacch leaves the traditional aspects alone and focuses on the seven aspects of spacial sound.

So, as I started listening to music played through the Bacch system I was trying to identify and evaluate these seven aspects of spacial sound.  I didn't get far, but I fully admit that the sound may have been there but I didn't know how to discern what I was listening to.

My initial impression is that the spacial effects are highly dependent on the quality of the recording.   Most of the tracks I listened to didn't sound different (to be sure, I did not A/B the tracks although I believe Bacch can be toggled on and off).  Tracks from the Gotan Project (Argentine tango) was a striking exception.  I believe I was hearing spacial segregation, motion and extension/resolution although I can't be sure at this point.  It's just too new to me.

Was I hearing all these things Edgar said to look for, or did I just want to hear them?  I don't know,  but for me at least sticking with Bacch will lead down a long learning curve.  Worth it?  Maybe.

Choueiri did not invent acoustics...Even if he is a genius...And he is... Reading his articles...😊

His filters gave us to perceive what i already learned to perceive in my own room experiments about spatial qualities...( but i could not and cannot eliminate completely crosstalk mechanically even if i tried 😁)

Reverberation is key, listener envelopment (LV) and source sound auditory width (ASW) are for exemple factors about spatial qualities most people who never played with acoustics of their system/room had no perception because they dont had the concept.... We cannot perceive clearly what we had no concept for before the perception.

And the BACCH filters cannot replace our room acoustics or make a bad recording greater about all acoustics aspects which were never recorded appropriately to begin with ...

I dont have the BACCH filters myself nor did i ever heard them but because i experimented 2 years non stop with my room all aspects of sound described by Choueiri make perfect sense to me when i read his article..

Most audiophiles know only superficial aspects of sound : imaging and soundstage which are anyway  only external manifestation of these 14 acoustics qualities  under controls, spatial and non spatial one...

@mahgister What you write is an affirmation that Edgar is on the right track and that investing time, money and effort to train my ears (my brain, actually) is worth it.  It was a bit of a shock to realize that a conceptual framework, new vocabulary and experience applying both are necessary for perception.

@mahgister What you write is an affirmation that Edgar is on the right track and that investing time, money and effort to train my ears (my brain, actually) is worth it.  It was a bit of a shock to realize that a conceptual framework, new vocabulary and experience applying both are necessary for perception.

Yes it is what i claim...

Your system/room/ears/brain must be tuned...

Together and each one ...

It is a process not a purchase...

And if it may comfort you the truth is BEFORE  my two years acoustics experiments i had no clue about sound.... As most audiophile objectivist as subjectivist one i was lost and i did not even know it ... ...

 Acoustics rules audio experience and design . Period.

 Takes all easy one week at a time and be relax and go on slowly at your own learning speed...

I tried Baach and ended up returning it.  It doesn't sound too natural for me and what I noticed was the tendency to mess with instruments decays was the cause. Edgar was super pleasant to work with and I did struggle to like it, but in the end the need for Mac and increased complexity with degrading performance, it was an easy choice for me.