The online review is outright boring, I'm going to hide my feeling about that. What interests me is the manufacturer's philosophy, his approach to the sound and getting down to the review conclusion. If the product is of my interest, I'd read the whole review. As you might already know, mainstream audio is predictable, you know what's coming. Expect extraordinarily transparency, detailed, ultra bandwidth and super-low noise floor, new revelations that unprecedented, I mum on their musicality.
Contrary to many, linearity never exists in reality. Stop rationalizing sound in their head, allow your heart to feel the music. By the way, how could linearity be possible with room gain? Think for a second, in your living environment with furniture and fixtures and all that? Music is a form of art, our system is a man-made and how will we make it work in a not so perfect world? I don't expect the readers here to be on the same page with me. Let's examine the two-channel system, you have got right and left channel that produces sound. Both soundwaves meet at a dead centre spot we perceive the best balance of sound. Thus, leaving us weaker sound at far left and far right, does the room gain compensate the weaker sound? I have no answer on this one.
I do know there's a difference listening to live and through the stereo. Apart from effortless-ness, the live sound has the unspoken liberty of ease that a stereo couldn't possibly have, how the way sound is projected. To say the least, a listening room is still the best ever solution for music appreciation. The live performance gives you the best experience.
As I continued to work on my room acoustics by changing up my room treatment configuration, this exercise unfolds the ripple-like nuances, the amplitude of sound waves that had me stunned. I listened to Norah Jones's fantastic Comes Away With Me repeated for hours. This recording amazes me how consistent each track recording is made, the other being Joni Mitchell's albums with stunning details. Absolutely unpretentious, direct and with zing, plenty of it. I grasped the nuances gently fading into the darkness, the residual acoustics energies, the darkness breaths and soon everything dies. The same experience I get a virtuoso who finishes his/her repertoire, freezes in motion to allow a moment of silence before the applause pour in.
Working hard to get the balance of sound, it's so easy to get the sound skewed that gives a bad name to sound tuning. Everyone is having his brand of sound, so it seems. Some risen the highs intensity while others beefing the lows volume, enough to produce a unique sound. Thus, everything and anything in a room alters the sound, this should be met no objections. Likewise, I found my articulation restricted to only highs, mids and upper bass. Across the board articulation is hard to attain but is not impossible to attain. A work pretty much ongoing. It's the question of bass articulation versus bass volume, and the bass rendition of American and European speakers, you know, one big bass woofer versus many smaller bass woofers.
My average listening volume is around 75-80dB, I could do so because highs-mids-lows are present. The caveat is my system is a little bass shy. Many speakers require ear-deafening volume boost to lash out the entire frequency vigour which is not a good thing in my opinion. This will inflict hearing loss in the long run. Evidently, some are not bothered by the highs while some are suffering listening fatigue. Somehow, loudness and timbre purity are not the best of friends.
The radiofrequency influences on the sound are largely overlooked, they have a far-reaching influence on the sound, more than you know. I thought the radiofrequency is mainly high-frequency noise. Boy! I was wrong. Its effect on the lows is discernible especially on the cello and the double bass. The woody resonances are subdued. Violin, for instance, we wanted to hear the woodiness that is a part of the sonic character. Ironically, the scientists to date failed to replicate the resin Antonio Stradivari coated on the violin body that gives a Stradivarius violin its tones. We want our system to at least distinguishes a Stradivarius tone from other makes, that's what a high fidelity system is about. That's why audiophiles pay top money for a high-end system. That's what separates a high-end system from a low-end system.
One distinctive trait of a high-end system is the super-low noise floor. By it, the details emerge from the backdrop rather profoundly. If you manage to achieve a super-low noise floor, you have already one foot in high performing sound reproduction. High-end always mean high priced, I've coined high performing on purpose to highlight the difference, high performing is about technique.
These days I find myself listening to music conversations and timing. A score is about musical conversations between band or orchestra sections and how music is layered up, that's where arrangement comes in to give colours and styles. Rock'n rolls and disco have its era. Classical and Romantic has its era.
I'm getting a little tired, finding myself landed on a branch preferring an intimate musical experience than a superficial loudness sensation. Then again, I realized I've said too much. Let me end with your mileage may vary. What's important is self reconciliation, may you find your peace amidst a troubling world.
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