Detailed sound? Real?


I have read about many audiophiles wanting more detail and air around the instruments to improve realism. usually, when i hear a system with these qualities, the sound is almost always thin and fatiguing. When I hear live music, it never sounds like air around the instruments and detailed. Most detailed systems sound way too detailed. When i hear live music, there is a sense of air, but not around the instruments. Actually, many times it sounds natural and mono. It seems to me that detailed systems are probably the most unrealistic in audio. Yesterday I heard a live performance of a piano and sax. The piano was so muffled sounding, much more so than on any system I have recently heard. The sax sounded more detailed, but still not like the stereos portray it. I think the secret to listening is to find something that sounds good and that you can listen to without fatigue. Natural Timbre, color and good bass, not overblown but good, gets you closer to the real thing IMHO
tzh21y

Showing 1 response by larry_yo

I thinks that's going too far, and although that may be a working definition for some in a very narrow sense, it's not very useful. "Live" music would be slim slice indeed for that camp.

I believe a more usable definition for "live" is any music which is not recorded in it's entirety and played real time. Therefore, some musicians use pre-recorded vocal, background singers, synthesizers, etc... are less live than others, but would still consider it "live". There are shades of grey in live.