What is meant exactly by the description 'more musical'?

@mahgister  : "  does not means that there is no acoustics concepts behind all these different choices. "

I never said " there is no acoustics concepts behind " and as a fact I " said " the other way around when I posted that agree with @mapman ​​​​​@hilde45 .

Btw, just think why you can't argue against ( inside MUSIC reproduction at home )

what other gentleman likes. Maybe you can say: " is wrong or way deaf " but these are no true arguments against that " I like " of that gentleman even if you don't like what he likes/taste.

R.

How do you match a speakers and a desk when putting a tuned load on them for example without acoustic response by the room, you need the room response  perceived by the ears/brain which will add or substract 100 gram from the damping load to reach more "musical" timbre experience result and so  optimising  the damping tuning process  ?

How do we know that an electrical match exist as optimal at the end between two components ? if not by acoustic interpretation in some room and not in another and for some location ?

Electrical specs compatibility does not tell all the story, neither mechanical matching ... We need the three working dimensions , and the more important one is acoustics ( not mere room acoustic but also psycho-acoustics concepts)

"component matching" are always electrical,mechanical and acoustical matching ... They go together ...

Because musicality experience is not a taste after electrical specs matching, it is the convergence of three type of working dimensions controls... Acoustics being the more fundamental ...

Btw, @mulveling when I talk of " component matching " I refer to elictrical/mechanical matched.

 

R.

Let's look at objective measurements of four audiophile-grade amplifiers mentioned in this thread as "musical" (some of them may be not exact model mentioned, yet shall be close enough in "amp family sound"):

https://www.stereophile.com/content/plinius-sa-reference-power-amplifier-measurements

https://www.stereophile.com/content/plinius-sa-100-mkii-power-amplifier-measurements

https://www.stereophile.com/content/leben-cs300-integrated-amplifier-measurements

 https://www.soundstagenetwork.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1505:bhk-labs-measurements-hegel-music-systems-h360-dac-integrated-amplifier&catid=97&Itemid=154

All of them would be characterized by objectivists as highly distorting. And yet these amplifiers find many buyers who consider them thoroughly enjoyable. At one time or another, this or that authoritative reviewer would call them musical.

There could be many common perceptual phenomena at work, as well as individual hearing system differences. Also, preferred most often listened to music genres, and even specific artists.

It is no different from widely differing preferences in food, wine, closing, cars etc.Yes, there are common qualities that have to be present in all of them, yet it's the differences that make them unique enough for a specific buyer to choose.

I once had a conversation with a man who is both an accomplished audio gear designer and a successful businessman. He keeps multiple authentic vintage audio systems, almost all of them objectively highly distorting.

Why? Because each of the systems is best for reproducing a specific genre of music originating in a specific era. If one wants to hear the artist's intent, he better listen on a system that this artist used to approve the master mix.

So, my take is that "musical" has correlation with objective metrics, yet is heavily influenced by specific individual hearing system peculiarities, and specific gear that specific music piece was recorded and produced with.

First step must be electrical/mechanical matching. Acoustical matchimg is another and different issue that mainly depends ( everything the same ) of what we like it/taste..

R.

Electrical and mechanical matching of gear need the ears (acoustics) ...

And it is less about our taste than about the parameters of our ears coupled to the parameters of the system/room ...

If i want to tune my speakers with vibrations control with a damping load which must be fine tuned under 100 gram of precision for an optimal result , be it with springs or with a sandwich of various materials we must use our ears to fine tune it ..

if we want to pick an amplifier over another amplifier  choice we must put them in a specfic room and couple them with specific speakers for our ears to judge ...Electricals specs matching are not enough and will not tell all the story to be told  ... And it is less about taste than about our ears catching in an optimal way the   acoustic factors at play with this speakers room or this other one ... Taste there is, but taste it is not ....

Taste in audio, contrary to all the marketing aiming at the consumers ignorance, is secondary ; acoustics and psycho-acoustics knowledge primary ...

All that i described is basic...I dont know way much than you for sure and perhaps less on many others aspects but at least i know that ...

First step must be electrical/mechanical matching. Acoustical matchimg is another and different issue that mainly depends ( everything the same ) of what we like it/taste..