As I read through the replies I noticed that most people seem to pick a song that they actually like or have an attribute that they feel stands out. For example - deep bass, 3D soundstage, type of bass guitar, or pick up a cymbal sound. This is interesting to me as these are recording attributes. I mostly prefer to hear these but I don't use them to judge the sound. How many of you play an instrument or have recorded anything? Not that this may matter. I listen for piano first. What does that sound like as most music is in the mid-range. To me SS cannot offer the piano sound I prefer as the decay of the notes is to my ears to fast. Tubes seem to delay the decay which I prefer as to me it sounds more realistic and I can hear the "wood" of the instrument. Same goes for the sax reproduction. After that I listen for space, separation, and the placement around instruments and vocals. Especially the layering of vocal parts. How separate are they and does the layering seem smeared. Then I listen for backing instruments. I hear many systems that have layering and separation but the tone if off. Drums and bongos especially. Most of these need to have a "boing" or you should hear the skin flex and the body of the drum box. Same as the piano, how is the decay of the notes. Too many times I hear bongos sound like a flat wack. Almost like the drum is made of cardboard. Last to me is the emotion. Does the system portray emotion which I believe comes from the note decay. Shinko resistors from my experience have been the best emotional resistor I have heard.
So to my ears, does your system lay out the music and make me want to listen and not just how much I love the song.
Happy Listening.
So to my ears, does your system lay out the music and make me want to listen and not just how much I love the song.
Happy Listening.