Is there a glossary . . .

Let's face it: a large percentage of members on this music/audiophile forum don't even know what the term "song" means and this is one of the most fundamental concepts in all of music. I know the musical lexicon from a musician's perspective quite well, but I'm not well-versed in the more technical aspects of sound reproduction and all the electronics and analytical tools that play into that field. I suspect that there's a reasonable probability that if someone is asking a question in this particular forum, they may well not be familiar with all the acronyms or audiophile-specific terms. Answers not only benefit the OP (see, I think we've got this one down), but also the rst of us who do a search and find a topic of interest.

So, while use of terms and acronyms that are related to the field may present a sense of legitimacy regarding the poster's knowledge (and legitimately so, I suppose), it doesn't really help those of us who might need to be tiptoed through the tulips, as it were.

 

as someone very very new to all this, i can confirm the huge difficulty in someone understanding the lexicon. i know it comes naturally to many who have been around a while, or at least have a semblance of context behind the lingo.

yes, there ARE sites that describe the terms, but even the description of the terminology assumes some minimal knowledge to audio, which i did not have. let's take a descriptor from the stereophile site: "aggressive Reproduced sound that is excessively forward and bright." Erm.... what's excessively forward and bright? I know now what they mean, but I think you can see why someone new to this would have absolutely no clue.

Also, there was a mention above that such descriptors tend to be self describing and hence easily understood. Again, I would dispute that to a certain degree. Taking the same term "aggressive", a newbie could just as well imagine it to mean heavy on bass since it produces a thumping effect. Bright and aggressive aren't exactly terms that go together in layman language.

thankfully though, i found a few youtube videos that were very helpful (listed below). it took me a long while, and i think any youtubers here could make use of this gap to produce newbie friendly content that actually demonstrates how some of these would actually sound like. nothing like letting someone hear things for themselves than having to explain it in words.


Hi-Fi Lingo! What does forward, laid back, and mid-hall mean?
My fellow audiophiles, Let's talk about Treble (and the words used to describe it)!

 

But not quite as much sense as "the noisey background "

 

It feels like some people are dropping these terms without necessarily fully understanding their meaning in an effort to establish their “audiophile” credibility. People on the receiving end then equally misinterpret them as they are afraid to ask for clarification (that would then classify them as “amateurs”). The problem stems from the fact that a lot of people consider themselves as experts on a field based on knowledge acquired on forums & press which is usually superficial. That doesn’t mean of-course that a common language is not needed, requires however that everybody fully understands and interprets things the same way.

 

The term that was tough for me to come around to was “Romantic”. I thought it was really stupid and pretentious. Turns out I prefer sounds that lean towards Romantic vs. clinical or cold.

You could dumb that down to just say warm but there is a bit more going on that isn’t communicated by saying just warm.

The key to using, understanding or generally giving a damn about any of this is to have a desire to explore different playback equipment. If you have no need to talk about the difference between Shure or Ortofon cartridges or you are happy to stick with the same set of speakers for 30 years, it’s easy to think of it all as snobbery.

 

So the recording sounds dark? It's the equivalent of calling a color silent............

 

Not to me, I would think that to mean "Muddy" or possibly lacking detail from lower levels. But....you already knew that.

 

"Wooly"

 

No. Think of the music as a painting on black velvet. Use Elvis or a unicorn as the picture- doesn't matter. In the space where there is no paint, there is a black background. Now interpret "black" to mean "free from sound that is not the music." Quiet passages are dramatically so, etc., etc. It is, as @chervokas explained, a metaphor.

Just my understanding of the term. I'm happy to defer to a better or completely different explanation. Because that's how the exchange of ideas works. I am always learning.

 

"notes of cut grass and lead pencil"

I read that on a bottle of white wine and it has stuck with me as the lamest description of all time. The terms describing sound are very practical by comparison to the world of wine.

 

Grass is actually quite often used when describing wine.

 

I know and I find it odd. I know it's a note in the nose but the idea of drinking something that smells like my lawn mower is weird for me. Also, I'm not a big fan of white wine.

 

That lead pencil goes excellent with halibut.

 

I'll only eat Halibut if it has a very black background.

 

Except with wine there is a clear reference point for such terms. That reference point is exactly what the real world item referred to smells like. Wine can smell like it has hints of grass, or hay, or eucalyptus. Yes, it is absolutely unnecessary to use such terminology and it's not easy for amateurs to immediately associate. However it's easy for an amateur to find that reference point because those references can be accessed without actually drinking the wine by sniffing grass or licking pencil tips (dumb, yes. but accessible nonetheless. i've done one of the above.... don't ask. heh.).

The harder audio terms as @Dennis0675 points out, can require exploration of different equipment. For me to understand the difference between Romantic and Warm, I actually need to listen to romantic systems to actually identify that, which I may or may not have access to.

 

This topic goes far back, if you can find it, Harry Pearson did a series of articles on this very subject back in the '80s in "The Absolute Sound"

 

Not silent but dim. Silent would be black. Now you're on the trolley!

 

I like “awesome” or “sucks”

 

"Amateurs" as opposed to what, "professionals?"

Is there a certification or licensing board?

 

Perhaps "dilettante" or "neophyte" would be better than "amateur" for you.

 

My Tannoys have a snotty face.

 

Henry: It's not a death ray.
Jack: But it's a ray, right?
Henry: Yes...
Jack: That causes instant death?
Henry: Yes...
Jack: How is that not a death ray?

 

All audiophiles are amateurs unless they're getting paid for their audiophilia.

 

The same way dead civilians are collateral damage.