Hi Detlof, very interesting thread. As a professional musician for three decades now (started young) I naturally have an imprint of a "live feel" in my bones, and that is always my first reference. My take on "musicality" is that certain systems reproduce sound in such a way that I am emotionally touched by good music consistently. Granted, great content on the lousiest system can sometimes touch your heart and imagination, but the key word is consistently. I have heard some systems that feel so "live" that even when hearing something for the first time I can anticipate the musicians next moves as if I was playing with them. I've heard systems that let a vocalists expression come through so clearly as to bring tears to my eyes. Criteria for accurately describing musicality is difficult at best, but I have noticed that it tends to happen on systems that are not inexpensive (shall I say usually over $5000, but more like $15,000 and up?) There are also degrees of musicality, case in point: this week I tested 4 optical cables for the output of my Denon minidisc player. Since it doesn't have a coaxial out, I was trying to make the best of the format. I use it for archives, much as intended, as a replacement for cassette tapes. One of the interconnects had what I can describe as musicality. Others were more detailed, or "faster'" with a bit more perceived output (midrange emphasis?) but this one interconnect (Audio One) was balanced at all frequencies and helped to diminish the shrill aspects of the minidisc format, allowing the the soul of the music to come through, even if not as strongly as with higher resolution formats. Also, I have listened to SACD's on many occasions now, and one time my body was actually fooled into thinking that I was hearing a real performance. Now, don't get me wrong I've heard vinyl setups that overall sound better than the best SACD playback, but this was the only time I have ever truly been fooled, be it only for a few seconds. It was a rather spooky experience. I would have to own a SACD player for a while to see if it does something close to that consistently over long time periods, but talk about musicality, Whoa! We have only words to convey the feelings we experience from a "musical" reproduction, but soul, spirit and emotion,are certainly some of them.Bravo!
Musicality" in a system? What IS that ?
I thought I would venture to bring a question in, the interest in which unites us all. What has happened, when we describe a system as "musical"? Is it just a subjective and passing state of mind, which fills us with joy as we listen and if so, what does it need for us to get there? System tweaking perhaps or rahter "ego tweaking" like good company, a good wine, a good cigar etc? Both perhaps? Or could there be objective criteria, which have to met for a system to attain this often elusive and volatile quality? I am convinced that there are...but to your mind, what are they?