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"Breathing" of the air

Hi folks, I would like to ask you the following. With some audiophile set ups I'm able to hear what I call "breathing" of the air, as if the air surrounding voices and instruments is a living entity, as if one is capable of hearing individual air molecules, if you know what I mean. Are you familiar with this phenomenon? Is this quality inherent to some amplifiers or speakers? Can you mention set ups that have these characteristics?

Chris
dazzdax
nilthepill
842 posts
 
"..which is so evident in live music and rather difficult to reproduce properly at home, even with the "right" recordings."

Absolutely agree with Detlof on this. This is one of the many key reasons Stereo systems will never sound like the real thing: recordings can't 'thoroughly' record air and systems can't 'thoroughly' reproduce 'air'. But if done right can come awfully close in creating believable illusion.
nsgarch's avatar
nsgarch
2,524 posts
 
Steve Hoffman, the well-known recording engineer calls it the "Breath of Life". I might as well let him explain it. Browse this page of his website. It's fun and you'll learn a lot:
http://www.stevehoffman.tv/dhinterviews/
ngjockey
1,042 posts
 
Agree with Atmasphere about the confusion in the "air".

As far as "breathing", in vocals and particularly reed instruments, like sax, my experience leads me towards 2 and 3 inch soft dome mids first and planar ribbon mids second. It's a quality I demand but I'm not saying either is more accurate.
unsound
7,332 posts
 
I agree with Detlof.
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shadorne
7,477 posts
 
As far as "breathing", in vocals and particularly reed instruments, like sax, my experience leads me towards 2 and 3 inch soft dome mids first

These type drivers are well damped and yet extremely light - so you get very little "ringing" or coloration - they usually exhibit a very clean waterfall.
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