2. misc-audio
  3. 151104-89202

Is soundstaging emblematic of reality?

Now that finally I have a system that soundstages excellently, I’m wondering if it’s actually  a vital component of a real concert experience.  In most genres of music, unless you’re sitting very close to the action, you don’t get the kind of precise imaging revealed in a good stereo setup.  That’s because microphones are usually (with some rare exceptions) placed close up. If you’re sitting in the middle to back section of an audience (which most people do) you certainly don’t hear anything close to holographic imaging, or even what most people accept as satisfactory imaging. 
Granted, it’s loads of fun to hear this soundstaging. And I certainly love it.  Some people might consider it the ideal music experience. But is it an essential component of musical enjoyment?


rvpiano

Showing 1 response by gs5556

gs5556
1,249 posts
 
I would say it's not essential. There are many of us who prefer a classic performance, say a Furtwangler Beethoven or a Horenstein Mahler, in scratchy mono over a poor interpretation on a recording with acoustic gymnastics.

But it is an essential part of enjoying the concert experience, which is the reason why the San Francisco Symphony places the musicians further apart during recordings rather than in their concert positions. Makes it easier for the engineers to do their thing to fool us with the interaural time difference in our hearing.
More to discover