What exactly is PRaT???

Prat encompasses the full energy in the music or instrument to begin with. It’s the natural energy, like plucking a high end guitar versus a cheap one. The high end guitar will give off more prat, and allow more expression.

Getting prat in playback is aligning that energy of the recording and performance with the playback system.

The term dynamics is not clear enough - some hardware can make "fake" dynamics where everything sounds sharper or transients are more intense, but it may have nothing to do with what’s really in the recording. Power conditioners are a good example of this.

Prat can change throughout a song or within a mix.

Not all recordings have much prat to begin with.

Most people dont understand what Prat sounds like until you get into really high end, transparent systems. Even then, million dollar systems often don’t have it. They can be loud, shouty, "dynamic", but they aren't representing the energy of the music at each step of the song, as the performance evolves.

@clustrocasual  No offense, but none of this makes any sense to me whatsoever.  Define what the “natural energy” is in a recording to me because it means nothing and is completely nebulous.  Also, what are “fake dynamics” and who are you to determine what’s fake if you didn’t make the recording?  And how can PRaT change throughout a song???  Honestly this sounds like utter jibberish to me, but whatever floats your boat. 

@soix

Like you said in the original post, you don't get it. That's correct.

@clustrocasual Yes, I apparently and admittedly don’t get it. I’ve played drums in bands for decades and wrote professional reviews of high-end audio equipment for 17 years for the Soundstage network. Do tell, what is your system and what’s your experience in high-end audio other than you just know it when you hear it? I can tell just by the words and phrases you use that you have no idea what you’re talking about and have little experience in playing music or high-end audio. Please regale us with your system and expertise.

Typical loudspeaker step response:

TAD Micro Evolution One loudspeaker

The tweeter’s output leads that of the midrange, which in turn leads that of the woofer. How the heck do you think you will hear PRAT when all three driver’s are out of sync? And this speaker ain’t cheap . . . . .