Is your system too “lean & clean sounding” ?

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by Khorn, May 4, 2021.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian Thread Starter

    But do you find you listen to the really bad ones a lot or pass on them most of the time?
     
  2. elvisizer

    elvisizer Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Jose
    depends- lots of badly recorded things are still worthwhile despite the recording quality- I grew up listening to a lot of punk, so that's the genre i'm thinking of the most. I've got some live bootlegs that sound pretty bad too, but if there's no official live albums, what are you gonna do? I'll put up with a bad recording if I like the material, basically. I think that's pretty much how everyone does this, we all just have different ways of deciding if the material is good enough to put up with the recording quality.
     
    jupiterboy and Khorn like this.
  3. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian Thread Starter

    I guess sound quality is of paramount importance to us here as probably the most commonly asked question regarding both recorded music and equipment is: Which one “sounds the best”?
     
  4. Uglyversal

    Uglyversal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney
    In my view it is impossible to build an accurate system that would be true to the source because also the source -depending on what you consider the source- will sound different every time regardless of what the source is.

    It is possible to build a flat -not a compliment- sounding system and one that is very pleasing to listen to. You might even be able to build something that doesn't sound too artificially enhanced but you will never have something that is accurate.
     
    Khorn likes this.
  5. elvisizer

    elvisizer Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Jose
    could you explain what you mean here?
     
    Khorn likes this.
  6. Uglyversal

    Uglyversal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney
    What is A source?
    The actual musicians playing in different rooms which means different bands or the same one in different studios will sound different?
    An actual untouched recording of those musicians?
    A remixed original recording?
    A recording that has been mastered and equalized by engineers sometimes several times ina lifetime -generally ALL diferent sounding- to be released in some consumer format?
    The device that will play that format?
    I could go on but the source is a very ambiguous term and you might even be lucky if the music doesn't sound true to the source. Is that any clearer?
     
    Khorn likes this.
  7. big_pink_floyd_toole

    big_pink_floyd_toole I am not a bat

    Location:
    USA
    Can you provide some context here? I’m not sure how you come to the conclusion that opamps are somehow “not hifi.”
     
  8. big_pink_floyd_toole

    big_pink_floyd_toole I am not a bat

    Location:
    USA
    I generally assume “source” to mean “source material”, e.g. cd, flac file, etc.
     
    Big Blue and Khorn like this.
  9. mkane

    mkane Strictly Analog

    Location:
    Auburn CA
    clinical=uninvolving
     
    Khorn and Daring like this.
  10. jupiterboy

    jupiterboy Forum Residue

    Location:
    Buffalo, NY
    Most all the great music is not well recorded. I have always held that your gear should not change your taste. It’s hard, though. How many times does a friend send over their new recording and you put it on and think—I’m sorry this happened to your music.
     
    bever70 and Khorn like this.
  11. jupiterboy

    jupiterboy Forum Residue

    Location:
    Buffalo, NY
    IMO, it can be involving, particularly if the phase situation is good, but you need to have the gain worked out very well, too.
     
    mkane likes this.
  12. Uglyversal

    Uglyversal Forum Resident

    Location:
    Sydney
    Ok, but in reference to the OP question, what happens when you have several masters of the same file, all sounding different, perhaps all of them having some shortcomings and none being true to the actual musicians playing.?

    If the actual recording that is sold to you -made with professional equipment by experienced people- cannot be true to the real musicians and there might be several different sounding versions. How could we possibly expect to have equipment that is true to the source whether that is your file or the musicians?
     
  13. big_pink_floyd_toole

    big_pink_floyd_toole I am not a bat

    Location:
    USA
    Your point is valid, but you can only control what you can control.

    Find the best mastering. Buy transparent amps and flat measuring speakers. Treat your room. Add DSP or EQ if you wish. That’s about the best you can do (other than that one guy who built the 1500lb turntable).
     
    Big Blue and Uglyversal like this.
  14. Swann36

    Swann36 A widower finding solace in music

    Location:
    Lincoln, UK
    Spot on my old pops used to say listening to a live jazz band / trio was nothing like a record even a "live" one ...
     
    tIANcI and Daring like this.
  15. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian Thread Starter

    To be honest all I want is that a recorded sound reasonably accurate enough to satisfy me. I don’t really care to get a totally accurate reproduction cause I probably won’t know what that was anyway. I don’t want Yasgur’s farm on my listening room carpet. It would be too much of a mess to clean up.
     
    Uglyversal likes this.
  16. Daring

    Daring My quest to marry Stevie Nicks has failed

    Location:
    Grove Ok
    I love live music BUT there are certain albums that sound just right and would rather listen to than the actual performance so why is that? I think it's just the way our brain works.
     
    Khorn likes this.
  17. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    There are so many ways to describe the "essence" of how different systems sound. "Dead" can have a few different meanings too- "dead" as in lacking excitement and dynamics or "dead" as in mechanical, robotic, no soul.
    I heard a system without soul- and it wasn't "lean" sounding either, it was full of low and mid-bass (imagine that). But the metallic coolness was the essence of the sound, almost as if from a cold, barren lunar landscape. Two very popular brands too.....
    Dead, without soul, and not lean.
     
  18. Slippers-on

    Slippers-on Forum Resident

    Location:
    St.Louis Mo.
    This is why I could never be a Levinson owner! Its just to clean and accurate sounding to my ears. Its like im really listing to a machine (which I am) made to sound as perfect as possible. Almost lifeless. I've heard Levinson and Pass Labs back to back. Big difference. Levinson clean neutral and very fast. Pass Labs, was gritty, warm and no where as fast. But where the Levinson seemed like a machine, Pass Labs had life! I prefer the Pass Labs. 2 of my best friends have Levinson and I have a hard time listening to how they do it to perfect and clean. Its hard to explain how I hear these products.....This is also why I hate Raidho speakers. To me the humanness is gone out of Raidho. Of course this is my feelings about these products as others may hear them differently.
     
    Last edited: May 4, 2021
    Daring likes this.
  19. Daring

    Daring My quest to marry Stevie Nicks has failed

    Location:
    Grove Ok
    I think you are right. I listened to a ML 585 integrated and it was so clinical I was waiting for a dude with a white coat to approach me...lol furthermore it was 11k... excellent build quality though.
     
    Slippers-on likes this.
  20. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian Thread Starter

    That’s a scary scenario. I imagine sound that bad could be honestly disturbing. Was there an obvious cause to that sound?
     
  21. Slippers-on

    Slippers-on Forum Resident

    Location:
    St.Louis Mo.
    Yes sir...im totally in agreement with you. BTW I added to that posting...comments about Pass Labs versus Levinson.
     
    Daring likes this.
  22. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    yes, bad synergy. speakers that have a metallic coloration matched with a cool sounding amplifier.
     
  23. elvisizer

    elvisizer Forum Resident

    Location:
    San Jose
    in the context of discussing playing recordings, how could the source be anything but the recording being played? seems self evident <shrug>
     
  24. Khorn

    Khorn Dynagrunt Obversarian Thread Starter

    Oh no! I’m on pins and needles waiting for my new amplification and don’t really need to hear things like this. Now you got me picturing an amp and preamp with icicles hanging from them.
     
  25. I’ve been using Hexfreds. I have to try SIC diodes.
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine