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What is Musicality?

Hello fellow music lovers,

I am upgrading my system like a lot of us who follow Audiogon. I read a lot about musicality on Audiogon as though the search for musicality can ultimately end by acquiring the perfect music system -- or the best system that one can afford. I really appreciate the sonic improvements that new components, cables, plugs and tweaks are bringing to my own system. But ultimately a lot of musicality comes from within and not from without. I probably appreciated my Rocket Radio and my first transistor radio in the 1950s as much I do my high-end system in 2010. Appreciating good music is not only a matter of how good your equipment is. It is a measure of how musical a person you are. Most people appreciate good music but some people are born more musical than others and appreciate singing in the shower as much as they do listening to a high-end system or playing a musical instrument or attending a concert. Music begins in the soul. It is not only a function of how good a system you have.

Sabai
sabai
frogman
7,436 posts
 
Musicality is the measure of a piece of equipment's ability to let the natural elements of the recorded PERFORMANCE pass through it without so much editorialization that it loses the musician's intent. If the equipment adds "musicality" to the signal, that is a distortion.

Simply put, musicality IS accuracy; not the opposite of it.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Frogman,
That`s a beautiful definition of musicality. Natural being the all important term.
tubegroover
2,320 posts
 
Charles1dad I like the part

"If the equipment adds "musicality" to the signal, that is a distortion."

This equates to the "better than real" comments that is occasionally mentioned, kind of like a drug but one thing for sure, over time it becomes increasingly obvious, its always there when sometimes you know it shouldn't be. The thing is that we all hear differently and we have our preferences but unless you spend a lot of time listening to live acoustic performances it can become a bit tricky determining where that line lies. Again great observations Frogman.
charles1dad's avatar
charles1dad
10,250 posts
 
Tubegroover,
Good points, I use live jazz venues as my template. The closer the components approach that sound the more I like them. It`s become very simple for me now to choose or reject equitment.
frogman
7,436 posts
 
Thanks, Charles1dad and Tubegroover. On a related note, Tubegroover, Bill Evan's "Walts For Debby" (all of the Village Vanguard sessions, actually) does a great job of capturing the sound of the recording venue. If you ever have the opportunity to visit the Village Vanguard in NYC, you will hear what a remarkable job that recording does of capturing the sound of that space; the low ceiling, well dampened sound. Not a particularly attractive acoustic, but unique, and easily identified; for all those that say a recording's sound cannot be used as a reliable reference.
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