A 3-dimensional, holographic presentation is important to me, but I will also observe that (in my experience) the interaction between the speakers and the amplifier is a big part of that. Some speakers don’t seem to like certain amps, or maybe it’s more accurate to say that some amps don’t like certain speakers. In any case, it isn’t always something that can be predicted by specs or amp type.
Is Class A still the king of tone?
- Thread starter radical-squared
- Start date
Michaels HiFi
Well-known member
How do you KNOW what adds more or less? You have no idea (I don't mean that in an argumentative way but in a factual way) - nor will you ever be able to know was captured at the mic because:
The recording mic added flavor (yes they choose different mic for different flavors);
The recording room added flavor:
The engineers and artists added flavor;
The speakers in the studio added flavor;
The transmission between the groups to the ultimate recording on a medium added flavor;
The EMI and RF interfere in your room adds flavor;
And every single piece of gear, cable, speaker and your own room added flavor ALONG WITH your own ears.
And 1000000% - measurements don't tell you a thing about how much anything adds to the sound. To think they do fundamentally misunderstands the very nature of measurements.
Chasing the fake unicorn of "neutrality" is a chase for those who prefer to intellectually analyze music rather than listen to it and simply enjoy it.
Mind you that is 100% OK if that is what people choose to do and I respect their pursuit of that. What ever they enjoy they should do.
Feanor
Active member
The matter of the recording, how it's recorded, mixed, and master is beyond our control and mostly beyond our knowledge. But in terms of play back we have some control as to whether we hear the recording as it was produced OR modified by us listeners by one means or another.
My not against anyone tuning the output according to his/her preference, but personally I would prefer to do my tune starting with the recording as produced. For me, the best available assurance that I'm hearing the recording as produced, is that I use equipment that is the cleanest, most detailed, and most transparent.
Michaels HiFi
Well-known member
You will never hear it as it was recorded in the studio since you don't have the exact gear, room and speakers it was recorded on. Plus, it's been altered multiple times since then through the recording process.
Therefore by default anything you listen to it on is a deviation from what came out of the studio speakers at time of recording.
One literally have no reference standard to be able to know what deviates from the source thus one can't claim what alters the sound more.
It's an intellectual exercise in unobtanium and uselessness.
"I don't care to hear what a drugged out recording engineer and high-as-a-kite recording artist who are half deaf from years of crazy-high SPL's thinks sounded good at that moment after being up for 3 days straight."
That is actually a pretty close quote from my good friend in England who has recorded the biggest names in history on his take about people who chase the proverbial "as the artist wanted it".
But to each their own.
People can chase the intellectual or people can chase the soul of music. I know which I prefer.
Good points, but I wonder about live recordings. I know the basic mic-ing techniques. Went to school for it, not that I remember it all at this point. But when you hear that real space, the reverb of the place, on a good stereo, I think we're getting closer to how the real thing sounded.. Sure, there's the options of microphones, mic-ing technique style etc, but listening to an orchestra, or string quartet on a real stage in a real hall, I bet we get closer to the real thing.
Feanor
Active member
I ought to have been clearer I shouldn't have said "as recorded"; what I met is "as recorded on the medium". To be sure, we'll never hear it as it was heard in the recording studio. As it were, I'm talking about "straight wire with gain" from disk/file to the speakers.