That sucks. What What normally influences the type of presentation you describe are overly warm components and cables and how all that stiff interacts with your listening space. Can you list your components, cables and describe your room and speaker placement? That would help us help you.
Placing Instrument Separation of Large Ensembles in Recordings
I have noticed that my stereo presents solo piano recordings with more realism and impact than any others. And that’s great but I can’t just listen to piano all of the time. I will say that I have mostly zero objections to other chamber music ensemble recordings, regardless of their instrumentation. But when it comes to orchestral recordings, it seems to be all over the place. Some recordings sound like the orchestra has been divided into blocks and fitted together. So that might entail a block consisting of double basses, tympani and bassoons fitted with a block consisting of cellos, French horns and percussion, etc… In this scenario, it’s hard to differentiate instrument separation within those blocks. Some recordings sound like sections of the orchestra are divided from the center and then segmented outwards. Other recordings sound as though microphone placement is done according to their respective sections, first violins, second violins, violas, cellos, double basses, etc… And to me, this makes the most sense however it’s still sometimes difficult to make out what’s what. So is it my equipment, or is it the quality of the microphones and their placement? I will say that I find some orchestral recordings to be very good in this regard, i.e. mostly 128 cycle DSD downloads. While others make me think of sitting on the DC Beltway during rush hour. (No I don’t live in the District of Columbia). To a large degree, my thought is that this is normal and that different recording techniques will render different results. It’s simple to realize that newer recordings will have a technical advantage over older recordings. Though I have heard early stereo recordings (i.e. RCA Living Stereo) that were remastered and they sounded remarkable. Anyway, I’d appreciate input from others on this matter. Thanks!
- ...
- 26 posts total
@audphile1 I don't have warm components. The post should pertain to the inconsistencies regarding orchestral recordings. Some are great, some are poor and there's a lot in between. Here's a list of my components; Ayre QB9 Twenty DAC. Bryston BDP 3 renderer, ASR Emitter II Exclusive amp, Quad 2912 ESL's, Hi Diamond speaker and interconnect cables, Wire World USB cables, PS Audio line conditioner Akiko tuning sticks, etc.. |
@goofyfoot you’re posing a question in your post
As you haven’t listed your components, without knowing your system it’s difficult to answer this question. I haven’t run into the issues you’re describing in my system. One thing worth mentioning is that when you’re listening to a symphony orchestra live you don’t exactly experience tremendous instrument separation. You won’t hear every violin and cello in the string section as separate entities. It’s possible you’re used to the sound of your system so much that you started analyzing the sounds instead of listening to music and you’re nitpicking. One other thing that can play a part in how the recordings are presented is your room acoustics. And yes the recording quality is equally important. |
@audphile1 Most of my files are from an SSD, local rather than streaming. I prefer Manic Moose to Roon where sound is concerned. Actually my point of comparison comes from live venues. Hearing music in a good sounding concert hall. This is where I can zone in to hear each instrument or take in everything as a whole. |
@goofyfoot sounds like you have all your bases covered! |
- 26 posts total