What do you seek the most from your audio system?

[Deleted member 15865]

Something that you won’t compromise on. I am putting down some generic properties of musical sound reproduction. Interpret them your own way.

 

[rikhav]

Believe me
One won't be happy for long if one attribute is significantly more then rest, when it comes to critical listening.
I would say balance of all is what anyone should aim for

 

[Deleted member 15865]

Believe me
One won't be happy for long if one attribute is significantly more then rest, when it comes to critical listening.
I would say balance of all is what anyone should aim for

@rikhav, that's a point of view.

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

If it’s accurate, it will be spacial, dynamic and everything what the artist intended for the listener in the track. If not, you won’t be appreciating real efforts of the music director or the sound engineer! Instead you will be listening to the “filter” the system has between the music and you.

But that’s just me!

 

[Sean de Silva]

Believe me
One won't be happy for long if one attribute is significantly more then rest, when it comes to critical listening.
I would say balance of all is what anyone should aim for

Absolutely. A balance between all those factors would be the ideal way forward imho.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

Those who say ‘all the factors balanced’ hopefully don’t mean all those factors maximised. Because that’d be utopian/cost a bomb. Give that we all have finite budgets, while some of us might opt for an all-rounder that balances all factors (within our budget), others might want to maximise one of those factors and be willing to compromise one some others to achieve their own objective function (sound goal) within their budget. There might not be one ‘ideal’ way that applies to all.

 

[Barun7]

As other have rightly said, it's a mix of all the attributes and maybe some more. For me, the connect should be there between the man and the machine. There's no point of listening to classical music just to prove something. If one likes retro - that's fine!
I personally seek music and not noise. Now when I seek clarity or dynamics, I know I won't get those from a Saigal/Talat Mahmood track as compared to an A.R. Rahman track - so I am ready to alter the expectations. I need the emotional connect. I am not blessed with a pair of golden ears so I prefer not to divulge into the depths technically.
To put it simply, if I can sing along a track while I am doing my work or reading the newspaper, the sound reproduction has done its job for me!

@SachinChavan thank you for initiating a lot of interesting threads. Amidst all the technicalities of hifi components, we need these threads too to put our feelings somewhere!

 

[rikhav]

Those who say ‘all the factors balanced’ hopefully don’t mean all those factors maximised. Because that’d be utopian/cost a bomb. Give that we all have finite budgets, while some of us might opt for an all-rounder that balances all factors (within our budget), others might want to maximise one of those factors and be willing to compromise one some others to achieve their own objective function (sound goal) within their budget. There might not be one ‘ideal’ way that applies to all.

Factors maximised also can be relative.
You can't have a realistic measure of any attributes.
So in my books all factors maximised and all factors balanced sort of mean the same.
Of course this is my perosonal opinion and this is how I see it and others would surely have a different view.

 

[Kannan]

Bliss, pleasure and solace. Of course the blessings of the better-half.

By the way, the choices given by the OP cannot be seen in isolation and are essentially interconnected.

So the poll cannot be answered in any level of accuracy

 

[square_wave]

For me, emotional connect is the most important thing in a music system. But I have understood that without reasonably high amount of accuracy and dynamics, emotional connect does not happen. Therein lies the conundrum.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

If it’s accurate, it will be spacial, dynamic and everything what the artist intended for the listener in the track.

By accuracy I intended to mean linearity - a more flattish curve that doesn’t favour any particular frequency at the cost of some other. That has no bearing on spatiality or dynamics.

By the way, the choices given by the OP cannot be seen in isolation and are essentially interconnected.

I can understand that some of us don’t prefer to dissect sound into its attributes. But if one wishes, it’s possible to assess the attributes - if that wasn’t possible, all that the reviewers could say was ‘excellent/good/poor sound‘!

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

By accuracy I intended to mean linearity - a more flattish curve that doesn’t favour any particular frequency at the cost of some other. That has no bearing on spatiality or dynamics.

if you meant what goes in, what comes out “amplified”, then spatiality and dynamics will still be there. I like to know what they wanted in their recording . For example the popular Pink Floyd should sound with all those spacial cues instrument timbre he intended in the recording at the same time several 90s Hindi numbers should make me hate those idiots whoever was sitting behind the console!

 

[fLUX]

I would say i prefer spatiality and emotionality, this combination gives a immersive experience for me. If these 2 attributes are missing, i fail to notice anythinge else in the music

 

[Deleted member 15865]

if you meant what goes in, what comes out “amplified”, then spatiality and dynamics will still be there

So a mono recording that’s reproduced linearly will have soundstage as per you?

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

So a mono recording that’s reproduced linearly will have soundstage as per you?

Will a mono recording have soundstage on Dynamic system ?

 

[Deleted member 15865]

Will a mono recording have soundstage on Dynamic system ?

Linearity, Dynamics and Spatiality are different attributes.

Linearity refers to the frequency response curve. Dynamics is about the dB difference between louder and softer passages. Spatiality is about placement of instruments in the 3D space.

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

Linearity, Dynamics and Spatiality are different attributes.

Linearity refers to the frequency response curve. Dynamics is about the dB difference between louder and softer passages. Spatiality is about placement of instruments in the 3D space.

I think we are still on different pages. So my answer to your previous question, is NO. On a mono recording you won’t hear a “soundstage”. On a stereo signal, with a linear system like a pair of genelecs driven from a dac like rme adi 2, the objects in space would be placed in space accurately as the artist intended, provided your room has the same acoustics and seating position as him. Tonaly what he heard would be what you will be hearing too.

While listening to a artificial sounding speakers like the Klipsch r51m driven from some tube amp, it would be more or less spacious than artist intended, with larger or smaller objects than Orginal than the artists intended, depending on where in frequency spectrum the instrument lies, and what’s the nature non linearity of the harmonic spectrum your system has.

this is my understanding. by the way I was not trying to contradict any of your statements.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

So, based on the limited response, Emotionality turns out to be the most sought after aspect of sound reproduction, followed by Clarity and Accuracy. Interestingly, no one rated Spatiality the highest.

Now if we juxtapose this against the demos in most audio showrooms, we see how the order is actually inversed! They’d try to impress with Spatiality (soundstage) and most buyers perhaps fall for it. It’s rare to find salespersons helping you see how emotive the system sounds. In fact very few reviewers focus on this aspect.I doubt frequency response curve discussions they devote pages to capture this important aspect.

 

[Barun7]

Correctly said. Perhaps this is because the feel of ownership has a lot to do with emotional quotient. Also the kind of relaxation, time, content and ambience one has in own home can't be replicated on a showroom. The goal is very different there!

 

[liverpool_for_life]

I'm finding that I really value details. The ability of one's system to bring to the fore as much of the detail in the music as is possible given the equipment and the limitations of the room. When I hear something in the music that I haven't heard before, it really does bring a smile to my face.

There are other factors as well (dynamics and clarity predominantly), but detail is where I hang my hat currently.