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Musicality vs Transparency & Detail

I would like to get the opinions of forum members on this topic. As I work to develop my audio system I wonder if the goal of extreme detail retrieval will sacrifice musicality. How have you been able to achieve excellent detail retrieval without getting an etched fatigue inducing sound. As an example when I have read about Shindo equipment I have always come away feeling that it was not noted for detail retrieval but was high on the list of emotionally satisfying.
Jean Nantais who frequently post here seems to feel that ultimate desire for detail has sacrificed musicality. On the other hand Arthur Salvatore of high-endaudio feels that the ultimate goal is the retrieval of low level detail as his first priority.

Can one go to far in the quest for ultimate transparency and low level detail retrieval? Have you ever retreated in system development to equipment or cables with less detail because of listening fatigue? Look forward to your comments.
montepilot

Showing 1 response by atmasphere

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atmasphere
12,088 posts
 
The way you get 'detail retrieval' is to not create distortion. Distortion obscures detail. The way you keep it musical is by not adding subtle distortions that are sensed by the human ear as loudness cues (odd harmonics). Feedback as a source of such harmonic content; often designers will use feedback to get rid of distortion, but the price is a clinical or harsh sounding unit.

The other way things are kept musical is by not altering the tonal balance. To do that usually requires wide bandwidth.

So it is possible to have ultimate detail retrieval with a musical presentation. One merely needs to pay attention to the design details that are important to the human ear.
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