Ultra high resolution

Mrtennis has a problem with hearing how instruments actually sound. For some reason this makes him uncomfortable, but I can understand that. What I find disturbing is his insinuation that striving to hear those details results in an inferior system.

I sit right next to the tuba and double basses in orchestra and the woodwinds are just a spit ball's distance away. I like hearing them on recordings like they sound in real life. Yes, I have a few homogenized orchestral recordings that sound distant and smeared all together, but I prefer those where I hear the brrr of the brass, ring of the cymbals and every nuance of the woodwinds and strings.

If someone wants a recording made from the perspective of the back of the hall, then buy recordings made from a distant perspective, OR sit further away from you speakers. I think that's a better alternative to building a system that defaults to that sound, no matter how high the quality (resolution) of the source material.

Dave

Details are definitely good to have and absolutely essential. It is the exaggerated details and thin, ill defined and scratchy 'tonal balance' of this details that I don't appreciate. Same goes w/ harmonics. Proper ' tonal' balance of these details and harmonics is the key ingredient of music to sound life like.

04-24-08: Nilthepill said:
"Details are definitely good to have and absolutely essential. It is the exaggerated details and thin, ill defined and scratchy 'tonal balance' of this details that I don't appreciate. Same goes w/ harmonics. Proper ' tonal' balance of these details and harmonics is the key ingredient of music to sound life like."

I agree, 100%.

Dave

dither is sometimes used as a technique in the design of digital hardware

Indeed it is ....but our ears behave in a classic digital pattern. Tiny hair movements trigger nerve bundles that send "digital" signals to the brain. Once a nerve bundle fires off - it takes time to "reset" so it can fire again. Certain forms of dither may indeed have an impact on what we hear....our ability to hear beat frequencies that are not actually there is perhaps a product of this strange digital ear phenomenon. I think part of the way reverb works so well is that the multiple later arrivals give our ears/brain more time to analyze each instrument/sound.

Nilthepil- For vinyl: Crystal Clear, MFSL, Telarc Digital, Sheffield Labs, Audioquest, Groove Note, just about anyone that bothered/bothers to press on virgin, or extra thick vinyl from original master tapes, and a lot of the Columbia Masterworks pressings are my favorites. CD: MFSL(some), Audioquest, Sony Mastersound Gold, Chesky, Sheffield Labs, Stax, Verve, Epic, GRP, Warner Bros. Mostly my tastes run to Jazz, Blues, R+B, with some rock and classical thrown in(I LOVE pipe organs) Those labels seem to be fairly consistant in their quality with those formats(some take extras pains to eliminate the variables and use minimum mics, special venues, no compression, etc. for the best possible sound). If you'd enjoy something entirely different/decidedly strange that will give your system a guaranteed workout: Find a copy of 'Dead Can Dance- Into the Labyrinth'. The dynamics, hall acoustics, drums(huge to bongos), animal sounds, instrument/voice placement(some acapella), recording quality, etc. are all killer.