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Audiophile Bass?

I was reading an article about spikes vs. rubber feet and the author mentioned what he called "audiophile bass". His assertion was that the bass that audiophiles pursue is not real life bass. One comment from the article (paraphrasing) states that when you listen to bass at a live performance it will not be the tight, clean bass that you will hear from most audiophile's systems when they are playing music. The discussion in the article was that in order to get audiophile bass you would need spikes to reduce the transfer into the floor (because of the very small contact points). The rubber feet will cause the bass to be less clean and tight. I tried this on my system and he was right, with the rubber feet the bass was definitely boomier. But I do prefer the spikes. I like to here the notes on a bass guitar, it's not enough that it is just bass. Have any of you had similar experiences?
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Showing 4 responses by geoffkait

geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
By the way, the bass is not only cleaner but goes much lower, has more slam and is more articulate and natural and integrated. Its like you put in a very good subwoofer without the side effects.
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Excellent question. It all depends on how the files that are streamed are obtained. I do not know the sequence of events for how tracks or albums are streamed. What is their source? But I don’t hear people say, “Wow, the bass is much better streaming than on CD” so I suspect the same problem must extend to streaming. In fact, it appears many people prefer CD to streaming. Obviously it’s complicated because there are many ways to stream. When the CD is stiffened properly and the scattered light is eliminated it’s a whole new ballgame. And it’s not only the bass, it’s top to bottom. The signal to noise ratio goes through the roof. Which is what it should have done from the beginning. I’m not hot doggin ya. 🌭
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Much if not all of the obsession over bass and subwoofers has to do with the problem I spoke of a couple posts ago. If you could get all the bass information off the disc, the information that is actually there undiscovered, audiophiles would not feel so robbed of bass response. If you could hear what I’ve heard with your ears. 
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
I like bread and butter, I like toast and jam.  One of the most surprisingly things I've found in a sea of surprising things is how much bass that is on the CD is missing in action, which I attribute entirely to the fluttering of the disc during play and stray scattered laser light. Yes, I know what you're thinking - "but my system already sounds fabulous."
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