Audiophiles don't really want NEUTRAL. Audiophiles don't really like NEUTRAL.

I sure did but the Soundsmith I linked by mistake is an example of neutral playback in case anyone needs to see a flat frequency sweep.

 

Are acdc7369's views genuine? That is the heart of the "troll matter".

As for 3db, please go out and hear some hi-end systems.

As for kevintomb, your days of living (hearing) in the dark are numbered. Your perceptions regarding sound quality are going to be forever warped.

 

Tnt is a great site.

 

"... you can't please everyone ... So, you've got to please yourself ..." - Ricky Nelson

 

I like neutral.

I really don't want to hear anything but the recording.

 

Neutral, not neutered!

 

Trying to spice things up around here with a bump? Just the word audiophile is loaded with connotation.

A very nice sound bite in Steve's first post:

reminds me of one of the few times I've used the word "synergy"...

or I'd say "design accurate, equalize enjoyable". Or "give flat a listen, it will grow on you".

 

I don't want truth. I want my system to communicate joy, sadness...I want the music to touch my soul. That's what I'm after with my system. Truth (neutrality) be damned

 

Neutral gear and sound doesn't have to strip away or hinder the emotional content in music. There certainly is neutral gear that does take the life out of the music. But there is also neutral gear that can bring out the life and emotion in the music. I prefer the neutral gear that gives life back to music.

 

This THIS!

 

And THIS!

 

And on the 8th day, PWK created Klipsch speakers

 

I just checked your profile to see what gear you have. Very nice! What part of your system do you consider to be "Truth (neutrality) be damned"? Is it the amp?

I'm a headphone listener (gear in profile). I like tubes and hybrid amps with headphones. Tubes and hybrids have the ability to add more of that emotional life to music in a way that pure solid state doesn't do. Good modern tube amps and good modern hybrids can fit in with what I consider neutral and transparent. Some do color the sound a bit, but somehow still remain neutral and transparent. I know that sounds contradictory, but I still consider that neutral.

 

I want POWER.
I want DETAIL.
I want EMOTION.

Oh, and how i get 'em.

 

Why does one, neutrality, negate the other, beauty and emotional involvement?

Perhaps in budget systems, one might tweak something to make it psychoacoustically sound better due to its inherent limitations, but I don't get that ultimate, you need to sacrifice one for the other.

 

Ask Benchmark how they manage to strip emotion from the music while designing gear for neutrality. Benchmark isn't the only company to achieve that design goal.

 

I've never heard a Benchmark piece but was thinking of getting either the DAC2 or 3 as it might be time for a change here. Serious question for you: are you saying Benchmark gear strips away some of the soul?

 

People have every right to like the sound signature that they find the most pleasing.It's when they say that through this coloring and distortion the sound becomes more 'natural'

More pleasing and easier to listen too maybe,but taking a recording away from neutral/transparent does not make it more natural.

 

I wonder how many audiophiles have been in a rehearsal room listening to instruments "in the raw" or in a recording studio listening thru the speakers how instruments sound when they're mic'ed, I mean, to tell how is the real sound of a violin, or a Fender P bass thru an ampeg just to have the best reference for a pleaseant listening of music at home. Guess we can count them with our fingers, and for sure had already found the right equipment. And guess the others are still spending a lot of money trying to find something they think is the right thing, which is not a bad thing. For the people who sells those gears....

 

That cinches it.

I'm no audiophile.

 

What is not being discussed is that many audiophiles have a large proportion of their library devoted to very familiar recordings they have played for years. They buy different editions and pressings but they are the same music performances. With classical you at least have the possibility of different conductors and orchestras playing the same piece but with other genres that is rarely an option.

So what happens when you play the same recordings repeatedly. You get habituated to them and don't respond as freshly and intensely as you did when you were less familiar with them. So the hunt is on to "extract more information" from the grooves or pits. To do that and still maintain some reasonable tonal balance is hard. The easier path is to fool around with the EQ. Factor in changes in hearing treble frequencies as we age and yup a standard V15... sounds dull. I have several different cartridges including the V15 but I find the Shure does sound a bit more lively but still neutral with the Jico or Soundsmith styluses.

 

Thanks, but I can't really answer that. The system has evolved over many years, each piece got me a little closer. I rarely churn gear.
I'd say the most neutral piece in my setup is the Parasound pre. I wanted the control center of the system to just pass signal. You can pump character (soul?) in an analog system in many ways. The Delos and Frog cartridges are masters of musicality in their own distinctive ways.
After years of enjoying my tube amp's midrange magic, I man'ed up and picked up the hybrid van Alstine (tube input/FET output)-More control while retaining musicality. The Apogees have been in the system 27 years and I still shake my head at how good they are at channeling musical nirvana.

You're definitely a headphone connoisseur! Wow nice setup. I picked up the Massdrop Cavalli tube hybrid and like it a lot. BTW the Monoprice M1060 is a giant killer!

 

For a long time I pursued a neutral system, but after flying helicopters for over 30 years, I need a system with bass and treble control!
I love the sound of moving coil cartridges!

 

I may be misunderstanding the forum's definition of neutrality. In my head it translates as "exact reproduction of what the engineer heard in the studio, or a live event"
My experience is some of the worst sound I've heard was at live events, and most systems of friends that've gone the neutral route leave me cold.
But that's just my experience....and we all hear and respond differently to stimulus. That's what makes this hobby interesting!

 

I would think neutrality is to hear exactly what's on the recording. If the engineer mixed on a system that was not neutral, what is the "truth" - what he heard in the studio, or what's actually in the grooves (or the 1s and 0s...)? What if the mix engineer and the mastering engineer had vastly different-sounding systems?

I don't think it's my system's job to duplicate the Altecs or Tannoys used for '50s and '60s mixes, or the JBLs or UREIs used in the 1970s.