Why isn’t more detail always better?

Something to consider...

When you hear sounds, music, birds, etc. in the real world, it is typically much further from you than listening to your speakers.

Sound attenuates with distance, and there are two types of attenuation. There is the typical "spreading loss" (e.g., 6 dB per doubling of the distance for a point source), but their is also "atmospheric attenuation" due to the energy being absorbed by the ambient atmosphere. In this case, the higher the frequency, the faster it attenuates.

So listening to music in your living room at 10 feet away from your speakers, or hanging a microphone in front of an amplifier's speaker, is not the same as sitting 40 feet away where you would experience a different frequency balance, not so heavy on the highs, unless the recording was made 40 feet away.

I have different setups in different rooms. One smaller room has KEF ls50 meta speakers set up near field. That setup is revelatory when it comes to delivering every last morsel of detail in a recording. The better recordings simply bring the room to life! Totally enthralling! That’s a word I do not toss around very often.  
 

Give near field a chance!

Detail done right, like my Schitt Yggi+ OG DAC is amazing. I think the new SimAudio North Collection amps are getting raves because of the detail but also the natural sound of that detail. They are (almost?) as detailed as the Benchmark AHB2.

I love the RAAL SR1a and the Immanis phones because they are uber detailed. The Immanis being like the North Collection amps with the natural sound. That is why there is a world-wide lineup of buyers to get these phones.

I have been listening to my SR1a phones for the past 4+ hours into the night as I work and there is 0 fatigue. Sound is so good I am not missing my 2-channel.

The KEF LS50 Meta + KEF KC62 sub in a small room is amazing. I liked the wall of sound of the Magnepan LRS+ with the same sub, but it definitely was not as nice sounding as the LS50 Meta. The LRS+ was more interesting sonically with the massive deep soundstage. The only time I did not choose detail.

If ones' nuance is another's noise......

DSP 'cures' a space, then you adjust to Now v Then....

Same with changes in ~ with that which begins the quest to define the sort of whatever IT is....

IT ends when you accept is as close as.....🤷‍♂️😎

@mapman ...How's the Ohms doing in that regard?

:)