Waddaya mean by ¨bright sound¨ ??!!

Are you truly after enlightenment or are you looking for a few members to cheer you on?

You are confused about what sound audiophiles enjoy. No one can tell you to stop liking the sound which makes your ears ache. My guess is that your hearing is damaged pretty good already.

 

It could be that many of us have a bit of nerve damage that makes high frequencies have a grainy sound and a bit of distortion perhaps. . . and we perceive that as bright.

I know I am very sensitive to high frequency grain, possibly due to nerve damage as my high frequency hearing is still pretty good, but I turn treble down or tune for lower high frequency output. I also have been schooled in what is very good high frequency reproduction from living with my late wife, who had exceptional, in fact supra-normal hearing (in college she was actually paid to have her hearing tested and evaluated). She hated my early stereo and guided me into my choice of components until she passed away, and if she was pleased with the sound I stuck with it. A great way to get her interested in my hobby.

 

But how does that work? If you can't hear anything above say 12k, how would having a system that emphasizes frequencies above that level suddenly make you hear them?

John K.

 

I can't explain it to you scientifically, but I have a ZVox unit for my TV and it has a thing called "Dialogue Emphasis" which is supposed to make dialogue on TV shows more audible for people who are older and have hearing problems. What it does is boost the treble significantly. And it works. I would imagine the same principle would work for the hard of hearing when listening to music.

When I drive my in-law's car, I always have to adjust the treble on the car stereo because it's always jacked up to the max. The reason - they're both hard of hearing.

 

I don't think it has anything to do with fear. And I do think there are some folks who prefer a sound that's overly warm relative to what's more of a natural or accurate frequency balance, because it can be pleasant in a way that a bright tonal balance sometimes might not be.

For me, there's a quality to the high frequency sound of acoustic instruments played in real space that few speakers possess -- a sense of effortless air and openness and high frequency extension but with no glare, hardness or hashiness -- like when you hear triangles and bells floating over an orchestral crescendo in an acoustically great hall.

Between the ringing and overshoot of tweeters, any kind of HF noise that might be modulating with HF overtones, and equipment (especially speakers) that has response bumps or impedance bumps not so much in the "air" range but in the 5kHz to 10kHz octave, lots and lots of hifi equipment has that glare, hardness and hashiness in the upper response that sounds, to my ears, both unpleasant and unnatural. Finding equipment that gives you that really natural mix of HF extension and ease is one of the big differences in my experience between the really great speakers (which are often outside of my price range) and the speakers we mostly learn to live with or match associated equipment to.

Now, of course, an overly warm sound with rolled off upper highs, and a kind of exaggerated, bloomy lower midrange can also sound unnatural and is also frequently encountered, but it's rarely a teeth-grittingly unpleasant coloration the way HF edge can be.

 

It's not necessarily that you can't hear them at all -- sometimes it is that you can't hear them at any level, but it also can be than you don't hear it very well -- it's more of a roll off of your ability to hear at those upper frequencies, not like a hard cut off, so you are inclined to turn those frequencies up in level until you can hear some amount of them.

 

Just make sure, if you're using a hearing test like this online, that your PC sound card and headphones or whatever have flat full power frequency response up to 20kHz or higher or you may not be getting a fully accurate test of your hearing.

 

Actually, the first stages of tinnitus is an increased sensitivity to upper frequencies - especially at high volume levels. Recordings that have upper mids and high frequencies boosted are painful to listen to.

It's probably why us oldsters are so fond of that "warm" sound.

 

Yikes!

 

Go here and scroll down to the 7th post by audiowkstation.

This is from another thread on the esteemed SH forum;

http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...really-that-bright.207747/page-5#post-5218112

I think Klipsh can make magic when you have a convergence of a SET with so-so HF response and hearing that has seen some miles.

 

Yet the OP is flying high and asking others what their deal is. Is there a multi-step program for any number of forum members who crave the wrong sound?

 

The trick with dialog emphasis is to emphasize the consonant sounds (k, f, d, t, sch, etc.). Those sounds are in the upper midrange to the lower treble. Make those consonant sounds stand out more and the dialog becomes more clear. When you can't hear the consonant sounds clearly everything ends up sounding like the way the adults speak in the Charlie Brown specials. Not understandable at all. Good dialog emphasis is more than just boosting those frequencies, but also includes processing to help make those consonant sounds stand out more with more clarity. That extra processing doesn't sound good to people with normal hearing. It's more than just a treble boost.

 

As stated in the comments for that video - this test is bogus because of the YouTube re-encoding. There's nothing on it above 16 kHz. (I personally confirmed this BTW.)

 

I can't speak to the scientific accuracy of these statements, but they are corroborated by own experiences. I've definitely become more sensitive to bright sounding recordings as I've grown older.

 

Yeah... in 12 steps... leave them alone. Hearing is subjective. You like what you like, and they like what they like. It doesn't make them wrong and you right, or vice-versa.

 

If we all had the attitude that "I like what I like", then how would we discover anything new? Where's the curiosity and open-mindedness?

If I find that Katy Perry and Taylor Swift recordings represent the finest music there is, yet I've never listened to more than the last few years of Top 40, then I could either bury my head in the sand or become curious enough to discover recordings from the 50s onward which could change everything I ever thought I knew. Right?

The OP comes here and asks to be enlightened. What would you tell him?

 

I don't know, but I wouldn't tell him that he "craves the wrong sound." Can't you see the arrogance in a statement like that?

 

That not always true. I'm 61 and my hearing has deteriorated over time whereby I now have some hearing loss starting at 8,000 khz (8Mhz) and I don't look for higher frequency compensation.

 

Unit check in aisle 3!

 

No, I can't. The first step to discovery is accepting that the familiar isn't necessarily correct. The OP is, as they say, doing it wrong. Proper reproduced sound isn't supposed to be a physical assault to the senses.

 

Were you wearing your earplugs at the 1969 Stones concert you attended in Los Angeles, which you have since said was not loud enough? Stones "Midnight Rambler" from 'Get Yer Ya-Yas Out!' What is the audience shouting?*

 

I would argue that your senses do not matter one whit when the OP is listening to his music on his rig.