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<!-- #thumb --> <p>After <a title="Lunch is served" href="http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/lunch-served/11400/">yesterday’s post</a> I was thinking about the term <span>Separation</span> as it applies to the instruments and singers on a soundstage. *I spoke of how the elements in the recording were rounded and separate such that they seemed as if I could reach out and touch them. *They were palpable.</p>
<p>It occurs to me that I have, on many occasions, experienced great separation without feeling like I could reach out and touch the players – so I’d have to conclude the two are, themselves, separate terms that may be interconnected at times but not always.</p>
<p>The separation of elements within a soundstage is something almost hard to describe and easier understood once you hear it for yourself. *It’s somewhat like the old saying “you’ll know it when you hear it”. *Indeed, you can listen to your system and enjoy the heck out of it without ever really experiencing what separation sounds like.</p>
<p>It is probably also instructive to point out that this soundstage I am referring to is not something you’re immersed in. *Rather you are as a distant observer looking through a “window” at the illusion of players on a stage. *Regardless of the resolution of the system you almost always hear this presentation forming the illusion of soundstage even if there’s little separation of the elements.</p>
<p>Continuing with our metaphor of the distant illusion being viewed through a window, if the window is somewhat translucent you can’t see the individual players as well as through a perfectly clear one – thus while you know it’s a group playing in a defined space – it isn’t clear to you how many people are in that group. *Clean the window and all of a sudden you are aware not only of the number of people but the distance between them.</p>
<p>Each separated player has her own space and you can plainly “see” the individual and their space they are allotted.</p>
<p>Obviously we don’t “see” anything because it is only a sound picture that forms this illusion. *But even with your eyes closed, separation of instruments within a space is easy to identify once you hear it.</p>
<p>From a design standpoint the elements I have used to get better separation in electronics is almost always through improvements to the power supply. *If another designer were having a problem improving on the separation of instruments in their designs, this is the first place I would look, taking great care to make sure the power supply is rock solid even to the extent of placing individual spot regulation where it is needed – that being determined by listening to each element in the circuit.</p>
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[Source: http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/separation-2/11419/]
<p>It occurs to me that I have, on many occasions, experienced great separation without feeling like I could reach out and touch the players – so I’d have to conclude the two are, themselves, separate terms that may be interconnected at times but not always.</p>
<p>The separation of elements within a soundstage is something almost hard to describe and easier understood once you hear it for yourself. *It’s somewhat like the old saying “you’ll know it when you hear it”. *Indeed, you can listen to your system and enjoy the heck out of it without ever really experiencing what separation sounds like.</p>
<p>It is probably also instructive to point out that this soundstage I am referring to is not something you’re immersed in. *Rather you are as a distant observer looking through a “window” at the illusion of players on a stage. *Regardless of the resolution of the system you almost always hear this presentation forming the illusion of soundstage even if there’s little separation of the elements.</p>
<p>Continuing with our metaphor of the distant illusion being viewed through a window, if the window is somewhat translucent you can’t see the individual players as well as through a perfectly clear one – thus while you know it’s a group playing in a defined space – it isn’t clear to you how many people are in that group. *Clean the window and all of a sudden you are aware not only of the number of people but the distance between them.</p>
<p>Each separated player has her own space and you can plainly “see” the individual and their space they are allotted.</p>
<p>Obviously we don’t “see” anything because it is only a sound picture that forms this illusion. *But even with your eyes closed, separation of instruments within a space is easy to identify once you hear it.</p>
<p>From a design standpoint the elements I have used to get better separation in electronics is almost always through improvements to the power supply. *If another designer were having a problem improving on the separation of instruments in their designs, this is the first place I would look, taking great care to make sure the power supply is rock solid even to the extent of placing individual spot regulation where it is needed – that being determined by listening to each element in the circuit.</p>
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[Source: http://www.pstracks.com/pauls-posts/separation-2/11419/]