Over the last few decades, I have heard and owned many systems. It’s only in the last few years, after my interactions with David Karmeli, have I understood what to look for. David Karmeli whose moniker is ddk on Whatsbestforum is a firm believer in natural sound. Within my limited budget and room restrictions, I too over the last few years have been working to achieve natural sound reproduction. Below are the qualities of natural sound as detailed by another member, PeterA, of Whatsbestforum who also follows ddk’s philosophy.
- No aspect of the sound calls attention to itself
- The sound is balanced
- The system sound is absent from the presentation
- Wide listening window: able to enjoy most/all genres of music
- Portrays the character of each recording, nuanced venue information
- Allows a wide range of volume adjustment for what is most appropriate for a particular recording
- Natural resolution, not “detail”
- Able to scale up and down, large to small
- Room is energized and music is “alive”
- Enjoyable outside of listening sweet spot
- Images are stable as listener moves around the room
- Draws listener into the music
- Relaxing, zero fatigue
- Open, effortless, and dynamic sound
- No need to crank the volume
- No added or artificial extension
- No analysis of the sound into bits and pieces, music experienced as a whole