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Interesting 2x2 grid to describe what a component sounds like ... do you agree

i stumbled into the following review of the audio note cobra combo amp -- by a site called twittering machines...

https://twitteringmachines.com/audio-note-cobra-lastly-the-best/

so please page down to about 2/3's through it... there is a photo of the unit with an interesting graphic shown -- posing a framework for describing where on a 2-dimensional sonic spectrum this unit sits --

axis 1 -- 'sonorous' vs 'vivid'
axis 2 -- 'euphonic' vs 'analytical'

this particular unit was plotted as highly vivid and somewhat euphonic

then, to further up the ante -- there is a linear scale below the grid -- where the center section is 'intuitive' and the ends of the scale, both directions, are called 'challenging'

i must admit this framework is interesting, if somewhat confusing ... i am not sure i agree that the two axes are mutually exclusive, they seem to have overlap, but there is some distinction -- the horizontal lower scale seems downright stupid to me

thoughts?  
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jjss49's avatar
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jjss49 OP
6,612 posts
 
i agree one axis is useful

the other i think is captured mostly by the first

x vs y axes should denote independent variables... this is not the case here imho, the 2nd is co-variant
pauly
1,012 posts
 
I like it. It gives you a ballpark as to the sonic fingerprint of the device. That is significantly more useful to me than measurement like THD which bears little to no correlation to what a device sounds like.

I won't use it to decide which amp to buy, but it may influence my shortlist.
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millercarbon
12,531 posts
 
This chart indicates a very primitive and simplistic understanding. I suspect however that even as our technology advances our understanding of it will always lag behind.  https://youtu.be/9463hBWy0ig?t=28
decooney
1,975 posts
 
@williewonka "I might feel different if there was some context as to how it was derived."


Agree, more context and a better understanding of each of the parameters from the maker of the graph would be helpful and very interesting. Anything that AudioNote puts out is worth studying. Some of the best gear I’ve ever heard, anywhere, particularly if one simply likes to sit down and simply listen to music. My local dealer is mainly AN and QS, and will ask him about the graph too. @jjss49 btw, I had been observing the new Cobra integrated when it first got introduced, also wondering why the transformers are so small. Hope to hear it some day and see how the sound relates to the graph :) 
jjss49's avatar
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jjss49 OP
6,612 posts
 
don't care it is plotted (as in a quantitative way) - certainly this is a subjective listening based judgement

just made me think about the two axes they chose... to me they are not distinct attributes to be separated as they do
tablejockey
3,892 posts
 
 Nothing new here...Just another subjective opinion.

 Are the latest   digital "vivid/euphonic" meters being used?  I'm not swayed unless equipment is tested with them.
williewonka
3,075 posts
 
this particular unit was plotted as highly vivid and somewhat euphonic
To me, the term "plotted" infers some sort of measurement had taken place.

But I believe this is an assessment made by "a listener" and as we all know all listeners are very different.

It is a nice graphic, but for me, it has very little merit

But I might feel different if there was some context as to how it was derived.

Regards - Steve



decooney
1,975 posts
 
Created by the sonorous Marketing Division, maybe. :) 

I'd be surprised if Peter Qvortrup had a hand in that graph. 
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