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


Once in awhile, I hear the term 'this amp is more musical' for some amps. To describe sound, I know there is 'imaging' and 'sound stage'. What exactly is meant by 'more musical' when used to describe amp?

dman777

Work done by Daniel J. Levitin shows, "Musical activity involves nearly every region of the brain ... and nearly every neural subsystem."

@cleeds This is correct, and even more so when you're playing an instrument as opposed to simply listening to music. However the limbic system plays a major role; I had things boiled down a bit too much...

"Musical"  has different meanings to different people.

To some people, AC/DC sounds musical; others think Johnney Cash is musical; there are those who would call classical musical . . . and possibly the same applies to the quality of sound that different equipment produces. 

 

IMO, the term more musical refers to the overall presentation of a given work.

The pacing, smoothness, dynamics, harmonics etc. - everything one would hear with live music.  Some amplifiers may sound very quiet with no distortion, but they lack the "soul" of live music...very analytical.  Other amps sound very warm and overly smooth and veiled.

It is a rare amplifier or piece of audio gear that balances the extreme to find the nirvana which is "musical".

 

My summary of this thread is that the term ’musical’ is not a good term to describe sound or equipment characteristics. It appears to have multiple different means to different people.  

 

My summary of this thread is that the term ’musical’ is not a good term to describe sound or equipment characteristics. It appears to have multiple different means to different people.  

Absolutely.  Like quite a few of the adjectives and adverbs "we" use to describe the sound we hear.  Back in '99 I found a dealer who had a used SLP90 and I took it home to audition in place of the B&K digital HT preamp I had in front of a couple of ARC VTM120s . . . something about what it did for the sound I was hearing grabbed me immediately and grabbed me hard, but I was, and still am, unable to articulate in words what it was.  "More musical" is honestly the best that I, personally, can come up with.