Sound being immersive is an important, even vital trait - depending I guess on the aspect of it one may prioritize or define it as being. Indeed, immersive can be many things, like spanning a contrast range as that which envelopes the listener in a "wash" of sound that takes hold of the experience in its sheer fullness and uninhibited presence, while incorporating moments of intricacies that are more quiet and intimate in nature. Moving closer to a live symphony orchestra can aid an immersive feel, though not at the cost of the whole of the experience (i.e.: sitting too close) - the holistic aspect. It’s a balance, and one I try to live by and apply via my home stereo sitting just on the edge of the radiation bubble. Immersive is about a wide frequency span and being able to use most of the audible spectrum here low and high with full dynamic envelope. It’s as well and not least about size of the sonic presentation, not meant as a "fluffy" spatial image produced by a smaller speaker or one potentially without substance from a panel ditto, but rather one in actual correspondence with the size of the radiation area and overall height of a pair of large, preferably horn-loaded speakers. It’s about bass that can fill the entire listening space effortlessly like a floating, almost liquid presence that just exists/happens - at any desired SPL. It’s about having a coherent sphere of sound that makes the elements of all this come together. As such I find immersive to be a core trait in audio reproduction, and one that’s wholly essential for sound to appear less of a facsimile.
What is "immersiveness" in audio experience ?
I experienced immersiveness 2 times , one with headphone and one with my acoutic room/speakers...
I will define acoustically "immersiveness as a rightful balanced ratio between the "sound source" perceived factor (ASW) and the "listener envelopment" felt factor (LV) , this ratio( ASW/LV ) implicate also that the timbre experience is right to begin with , that the distortion rate is low already and that these two factors are already settled, then if imaging is optimally differentiated and the soundstage dimensions may VARY according to each album recording situation and is not fixed once for all ... If each sound sources own his own volume in space and is not reduced to be a small surface,which i called the holographical factor then Immersiveness conditions are there...
I will not for now enter in these acoustic detailed explanation as i experienced them concretely, i used these precise acoustic words in the context of my experiments and experience...In my room or with my headphone...I am not an acoustician... Only someone who want top high quality experience for the least money...If money was not a problem i would had never study and work without end which so much time investment with acoustic experiments and listening experiments... Luckily i had no money... 😊
I will now give a more subjective definition of "immersiveness" :
In any activity, when by repetition, learning,meditation, optimal set conditions, forgetting everything else, we go through the ACT of perception or through the GESTURE as fluid with pure grace , forgetting the ego desire, fears, and hopes , ONE with the experience, in the ectasy of presence without being located in or out, here or there,this is "immersiveness...
I experienced it when the sound was good at the end of a long process, finally, one time after my speakers/room where completed and under acoustic control; one time with a well designed headphone, after 6 months of optimization experiments...
Now I forgot "sound" each time i listen music ...Only music matter ... And there is no more the necessary habit who kill gradually the first marvellous impressions ever... Each time is a new "first time" with any albums, and no upgrade appear meaningfull, even if for sure improved upgrading is always possible for the better... But when you are more than happy, "better gear " keep his meaning but lost his appeal...
I discovered that when i was "fatigued" with my music in the past , it was not so much the habitual and repetition of the same music the problem, but the "sound" defects which was so bad and my focus on sound improvement so big it troubled and destructed the beginning of my perceptive immersion in music...
Now any album is an acoustic and musical miracle and we cannot be used to miracles anymore than we cannot be used to true love ...
For sure what i said has a meaning for normal life day to day...
If you live in a concentration camp , a bad recording sound of a Mozart piano concerto will put you in ectasy, nevermind the "sound"....
Then we audiophiles we ask for something "more" than just music as usual...
It is not because we prefer good sound to good music, it is because we love music too much and felt very deep his impact, especially if the soundfield is optimal....